Madrona Recap

I haven't yet written a proper recap of my Madrona experiences, largely because I forgot to bring my camera (bad bad me), and also because it's so incredibly hard to capture the fabulousness that is Madrona in so many prosaic words. Madrona, that event that some of us pine for 51 weeks out of the year. Madrona, that some of us love and adore to a ridiculous degree.

Fortunately, I don't have to now because Franklin Habit just posted an end-all description of Madrona in his blog, the Panopticon. Do please give it a read.

And yes, I am so enjoying my 15 minutes of fame, thank you for asking.

My Day, and an Update

It's my birthday! So, since I am probably unlikely to be wined and dined in a manner befitting a woman of my vintage, I am celebrating by wishing each and every one of you a wonderfully peaceful and happy day.. May all of you glow with the joy of creating something beautiful today.

AND, here is an update of all the teaching I will be doing between now and September, and it's quite a list! I hope you can join me in one of these classes on knitting, beads and other creative explorations (I throw a little of everything into my classes!)

Keep in mind that schedules do change sometimes.. please inquire of the venue in question if you are interested in coming to a class.

A reminder for those of you who live in or around Portland, OR: I offer frequent classes and workshops at Twisted Yarn shop, and I host drop in clinics on most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the shop.

The list of workshops:

Knitting Bee Workshop, January 29, on Lace Design (Portland, OR)

Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat, February 16 - 21. Still space in my class on Harmonia's Rings and the mini workshop on hooking beads. (Tacoma, WA)

Fort Vancouver, WA Workshop, February 26 on Heart to Heart Scarf (Vancouver, WA)

Knitting Bee double header (2 workshops on beads), March 12 (Portland, OR)

Knot Just Yarn Retreat and Workshop on Heart to Heart Scarf, March 18-20. Still 3 spaces left! (Burlington, WA)

Serial Knitters, 2 workshops on beads, April 2 (Seattle, WA)

Millstream Knitters Guild, workshop topic TBA, April 9 (Salem, OR)

Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival, workshop on Aquitaine beaded gloves, April 16 (Mt Hood, OR) Still space available!

Midwest Masters Weekend, a weekend of workshops! April 29-May 1 (Neenah, WI)

Olds Fibre Week, a week of workshops! June 24-29 (Calgary, AB, Canada)

Sock Summit, a week of workshops! July 28-31, August 1 (Portland, OR)

Knitting Cruise to Inside Passage and Alaska, with myself, Samantha Roshak and Annelie Wallbom, Sept 11-17 (Seattle to Alaska and back)

Maiwa Fiber Symposium, workshop on Lace Design, Sept 24-25 (Vancouver, Canada)

Hope to see some of your shining faces in my classes!!

Scarf Sale!

Get your holiday knitting on!

In honor of the magnificently giftable qualities of knitted scarves, I am having a sale on selected scarf and shawlette patterns in my ravelry shop!

Purchase two of the selected list of scarf patterns, and receive 25% off your total price! This is like getting the second pattern for 50% off!

Choose from: Gothic Leaf Scarf, Knotty Scarflet, Angel Pearls Beaded Scarf, Confluence Shawlette, Due Amori Gloves and Scarf, River Rock Scarf, Wings of Song, Butterfly Wrap and Victorian Shoulderette.

Just in time for your last minute holiday gifts.. so get moving! This will be in place until the end of the year.

Happy holidays, Sivia

Tallulah on my Mind

The place: Tallulah Falls, Georgia.

Balmy southern nights, steamy days. Welcome to the Albert-Evans family reunion.. the first within memory. It is quite something to see cousins, aunts, uncles and others that last seen, were kids like me, and are now going gray, like me. It was a bit surreal but wonderful to see everyone again. Unfortunately, no pics were taken of the event itself.. I forgot my camera. But I do have a remembrance sock.. Tallulah.





These short but very sweet toe-up socks begin with my newly favorite round toe and feature a beaded openwork rib, a sculpturally fitted back, and just a hint of beaded ruffle at the top. The first sock was improvised and finished on the plane trip home. The first pair is a gift for my mother and her pair contain no beads, but my pair (yet to come) has to have them! I am hoping that the beads, inset into the openwork rib pattern in the front and around the top rim of the sock, will give an impression of sparkling water drops that catch the light now and then.. a lovely effect.

I am also including instructions for working heel stitch over the toe-up heel turn, and making length adjustments based on the individual knitter's row gauge.

See Tallulah's emergence here.. soon!

Black and Other Sheep

Oh lord, it has been a long blog silence. I seem to have a difficult time with day to day fodder. Oh blog readers, can you forgive me?

There are no lace or beads in today's post. Please excuse. However, last weekend I was incredibly fortunate to visit the legendary Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon. Out of the dog house and into the sheep house.

I adore sheep faces! So now, lucky readers, you get to see a few of the sheepy personalities I saw at the gathering.



This young man obligingly allowed me to photograph his back. The answer is obviously "YES!"



First, to get my cute quotient just as high as it can possibly go, here is a baby kitten that someone had in the sheep area. Awwww.



And here is the requisite bunny. He was, according to his owner, asleep with his eyes open. So sweet, and apparently so relaxed too.



Another blissfully sleeping baby amidst the din and b-a-a-a-a-h-ings.



A young Jacob, raring to go.



This fellow almost looks like he should be sporting a unicorn!











Thank you for indulging me in my sheepy obsession.

I met so many wonderful folks at the gathering, and saw so many old friends. I did feel dorky asking people if I could take their picture though. Must get over that.

I did come home with a few choice booty items. I hope you agree that I exercised enormous restraint.



Left to right, a Jenkins Turkish Delight spindle (I got a tiny itsy-bitsy Jenkins too.. it stole my heart), a luminous glass shawl pin (actually a laying tool) from the wizardry of Sheila and Michael Ernst, and three skeins of precious yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts: a Seduction in a particularly lovely colorway and two STR skeins in new vibrant reds that had to come home with me.



And here, six precious balls of Elemental Affects shetland fingering weight yarn that will be part of a Plum Frost cardigan if all goes well. The plain part of the sweater will be Imperial Stock Ranch's Tracie fingering weight, which I am hoping will blend beautifully with the shetland.

May you all have sheep around you in plentiful quantities.. either in four footed or fiber form. We heart sheeps everywhere.

Cattywampused

I am at a very mythical place... Blue Moon Fiber Arts sock camp, also known as Camp Cattywampus. Mad, crazy things are happening here, and I am teaching classes on knitting with beads to the lovely campers here.

Dr. Seuss is the reigning muse this year, and Tina Newton and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee are the reigning geniuses as ever.

A few pictures follow of the lovely surroundings, a happy group of campers in my bead class, and some of my fellow "camp staff"!

















Tomorrow I depart from this magical place and travel up to B.C. where another workshop takes place shortly, near Kamloops B.C.

For today, I am still happily Cattywampused! A happy Suessical day to all!

Postcard from Portland

Help! I've been kidnapped by a bunch of crazy Irish musicians and am being held captive in Portland Oregon!!!




The lovely Nancy Conescu, her husband the legendary Mike Doolin, and friends. It doesn't get much better than this, folks!

Yes, the rumors are true. I now am a resident of Portland. See my apartment?




My mother, who knows me well, says that I have always wanted an apartment this empty and she may be right. I would like to have a nice knitting chair though.

And no, I have not moved out of my place in Vancouver. I still am happily married to my Canadian husband and my stuff is all still there with him. I am here in Portland to make a new home for my son Ari, and I am awaiting his arrival soon. I hope that a new situation will bring healing to him on many levels. All good wishes are very much appreciated at this time.

Knitting is happening too. I have a lot to catch up on as I didn't have a lot of internet access while I was in transit over the last few months. More promised soon!

Pure Enchantment

We never know the hidden talents of folks we see every day.

For instance, I knew Jamie from our working together at Three Bags Full where she is assistant manager, and I had met her husband in passing. I even knew that he is a photographer, but that is as far as my knowledge went.

Fate, or perhaps just the openhearted generosity of Jamie and M.Scott, threw us together to solve a problem: How to get some photos of my silk Aphrodite while it is still in my possession? Having kept one of the two Aphrodites that were part of the Twist Collective trunk show when they visited Three Bags Full recently, I knew that I wanted, no needed some new photographs of this piece. Jamie and M.Scott came through in a flash, and what a flash it proved to be! They are a brilliant team. This is just a taste of what was filmed that day, with more to be seen soon on the Twist Collective blog, and on the cover of several new patterns to be released soon.

OK, here is another taste:

Please click for bigger so you can see all the lovely detail.

Jamie (known professionally as Sparklefaerie) can be seen at sparklefaerie.com; M.Scott at altphotoart.net.

Sweet Visitation

Last Tuesday I had a sweet little visitation with one of my "children".. Aphrodite, now part of the Twist Collective family.

The occasion was the Twist Collective traveling trunk show which landed at Three Bags Full and took over the shop for the evening.

The shop was quite transformed for the show.. cleared out, lined with chairs, and filled with excitement!

The models began to circulate...












And then my little creations, both of them, came out to play...





A splendid time was had by all. It was thrilling to see these garments in person.. so much better than in pictures.

One World

Come and join the One World Moebius KAL, now in progress over on Ravelry here. All are welcome...

And here is my newest Elegant Arrows, in Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn, with a beaded picot edging. The picture was taken by my hubby as a rainy Vancouver dusk was falling outside. How nice to have a new bit of bright color in residence!


With enormous gratitude to Cat Bordhi, who brought us the gift of Moebius knitting... thank you Cat!

Lace and Shakespeare

What do these two have in common, you say?

Well, more than you might ever think!

Here is a big, big hint... Design is now is progress!

Yes, that's right, another subscription lace club for 2009! This is another gem, folks, so get over and reserve your spot if you enjoy my designs, and the other stellar lace designers that are slotted for the club in 2009.

I had Great Fun deciding which Shakespearian theme was to be mine, but there was really no contest. I love Rosalind, my favorite heroine in the works of Shakespeare. The new lace shawl will have elements of the best of the story, complicated but with a neat resolution (just like the Bard's plays)...

You articulate, well-read knitters, leave me a line if you love W.S.!!!

Uno Amore, Up Close and Personal

Kristine asked for a closeup of the scarf, so here it is... ask and you shall receive!



Click for bigger.. hope this fills the bill.

She also asked for information on how the beads go into the design. Here is a description of sorts.

First, the beads go across the beaded purl edging. After the edging is complete, the pattern separates into several patterns across the row, of which two are beaded: the right and left cables and the Fan pattern, which only contains 3 beads in itself but after 20 rows becomes the Beaded Center Pattern which features one centered bead every fourth row of the scarf. Most of the 500 beads go into the beaded cables, and you could still get the impact of beads by just beading the center stitch in my opinion. Hope that helps you sort out your bead priorities!

In other news, I have written a draft of the Rolling Thunder Glove pattern but still need someone to test the larger size. Is anyone up for that??? Please contact me here or at my regular email address, siviaharding AT shaw DOT ca.

In other non knitting news, I have taken up learning the ukelele! Hehe... more on that later, perhaps MUCH later...

Happy almost Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!

Flippancies, as promised

Here is the Merriam-Webster entry for "flippancy"... in case you ever wondered:

flippancy

Main Entry: flip·pan·cy
Pronunciation: \ˈfli-pən(t)-sē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural flip·pan·cies

Date: 1746

: unbecoming levity or pertness especially in respect to grave or sacred matters

Now, God forbid that I be flippant or pert about a grave or sacred matter. But somehow, these new sockies just make me want to smile.

So, without further ado... here is Flippant!

Someone came into Three Bags Full a couple of weeks ago wearing some thongs (on her feet) with little socks underneath, and they were SO CUTE that I had to make my own version. I have done the pattern in three sizes and two lengths, but I would recommend that you make them with some negative ease, especially the shorter one (pictured above and below). See the previous blog post for pictures of the longer version.



It is such a little project, you can use little leftover bits from other sock projects, like the above sample, which is done in Sundara's Fingering Silky Merino in Robin's Egg. Ahhh.. so very, very nice. The other sample is done in koigu, which is nice too, but silky merino? Mm-hmm. Hands down sweet.

Please forgive my unretouched feet in the photos. I didn't have time to search out someone with a pedicure, so here is proof that I am not vain, about my feet anyway.

Click here for the pdf file of the pattern. And have a giggle on me.

I gave myself the finger

I saw this on Nathania's blog today and couldn't help myself...

You Are a Pinky

You are fiercely independent, and possibly downright weird. A great communicator, you can get along with almost anyone. You are kind and sympathetic. You support all your friends - and love them for who they are. You get along well with: The Ring Finger Stay away from: The Thumb

What Finger Are You?