With Sprinkles on Top

I have had the pleasure of working with quite a few indie dyers now, and the Pico Accuardi Dyeworks folks are among the very nicest. They share space with Lantern Moon in a warehouse near Portland, Oregon, and recently on a visit to their digs, I came away with a very interesting skein of Acid and Weed sock yarn, which results from a dye process that involves acid overdyes on a ground of natural plant dyed yarn.

Meet Sprinkles. Now part of my new Jack in the Pulpit Socks. Photos are the lovely work of Vivian Aubrey.









Folks who are part of the Pico Accuardi Dyeworks sock clubs (two) will be getting this kit this year. Otherwise, you will have to wait until June of 2011 to get your hands on this. Acid and Weed sock yarn is available in other colorways now. Check the Pico-Accuardi website for retail outlets.

And watch for the August retreat. Deb's family owns a legendary Italian restaurant here, and I have heard that there will be wonderful food!

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!

Ophidian

Introducing Ophidian, a new bit of loveliness that will be debuted at the Twist of Fate retreat this month.

Ophidian is a top-down triangle shawl that combines garter stitch with beaded lace, a mix that I have been exploring lately with great delight.

She is shown here in Hazel Knits fingering weight in the hazelnut colorway and Socks that Rock Heavyweight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the Vancouver Violet colorway, two very different yarns in two very different weights.

I will allow her to speak for herself... photos by Alex Tinsley, modeled by Vivian Aubrey, both co-workers at Twisted yarn shop in Portland. Thanks, guys!!

As always, click for bigger, and in this case, the whole picture!

Rosalind, Wherefore Art Thou?

Why, here!



I am celebrating Rosalind's release to the world today.. won't you celebrate with me?

Rosalind was originally published as part of the Shakespeare in Lace club in 2009 from Wooly Wonka Fibers. As of today, she is mine.. and yours.

From the pattern: A tale of loves lost and found again, mistaken identities, royalty hidden away in the forest.. and one of the greatest heroines put to paper.. this is Shakespeare's comedy, As You Like It. In this garment, I tried to capture Rosalind's trials antd tribulations as she strives to rescue her kingly father and gain the love of her life, while disguised as a boy. The yarn is humble enough, a fingering weight shetland, but the design is comfeaturing cables, lace, beads, and a labyrinthine center panel. I hope you will agree that althoumay go far afield, all comes right in the end, and with a regal beaded flourish too!

I made Rosalind in a Shetland fingering weight yarn that has heft enough to cable well, but you can substitute any yarn you fancy. If you have extra yarn at hand, you can easily size her up by adding more repeats of the body and center panel charts. As written, she will require 1200 yards and 780 beads, which are placed using the crochet hook add-as-you-go method.

You can find her here on my website and here on Ravelry, where some folks in my group will be starting to work on her shortly.

Take a walk down memory lane with me

The wonderful Knitmore Girls have released the interview that we did at Sock Summit 2009. You can hear them on iTunes or their podcast page. And please don't listen too carefully. Be kind, and take the extraordinary circumstances into consideration, won't you?

Jasmin Canty is the best interviewer ever, and Gigi is lovely and so charming.. what a great mother and daughter duo!

Postcard from the Mountaintop

Hello from beautiful Friday Harbor, WA!

I am here with mentoress Cat Bordhi and assorted other luminaries of the knitting world at the self publishing retreat that has happened every year for the last six years. I am destressing, thinking, knitting and sketching new designs in a rather mad fashion. I feel there is so much to do and so little time, but here in this timeless beautiful place life goes at a different pace and to a different rhythm.

I am here until Wednesday, then on to Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat, where I am teaching a class on Diamond Fantasy. I will be testing the waters by presenting some new ideas about "intuitive" knitting. .That's all I can say for now, but I am looking forward to seeing how the class receives my new ideas and methods.

The Diamond Fantasy was one of my first patterns and is still one of my favorites. It has a lovely rhythm and a very satisfying structure that has enough variety and enough sameness to keep a knitter's interest indefinitely. I wish I had time to knit hundreds of Diamond Fantasies.



May all of you find your knitting rhythm today...

The Recap

What a year it was!

I never could have foreseen all the changes, all the highs and lows, all the paths that joined or were parted. Looking back over the events of the year, I truly feel I have aged years, and those who have seen me lately know that I am looking it too.. I am no longer hiding my silvery locks. It feels as if a rather heavy dose of reality has come down to roost around me. And as these things go, it is now time for a little backwards look, a fond farewell to 2009, and a glad turning to 2010 and whatever it may hold.

Some of you know (and probably many of you don't!) that for the last 10+ years, I have been happily residing in Vancouver, Canada with my dear husband Burt, and Mooshie, the famous cover model cat.

That has come to an temporary end, as I now have a home in Portland, Oregon with my son Ari, who is grown but unable to care for himself at this time. Living with someone who is in constant pain is such a lesson in humility as I witness daily the courage and strength of my son. It is truly a privilege to be able to support and care for him at this time.

Actually, it all started at Sock Summit, which was an incredible high, as everyone knows... Sock Summit forced me out of my comfortable anonymity in Canada and broke me out of my reclusive lifestyle, probably for forever. While the experience was fraught with a certain anxiety, experiencing the nirvana that was SS09 was the high point of my life, and my life has changed forever as a result of being there. I am sure I am only one of many who can say the same.

After Sock Summit ended in August, I went from the heights to the depths as I traveled to California to take care of my son. I stayed there for several weeks, then went on to Portland, my chosen destination, in order to make a home there for the two of us.

I could not have chosen a better place. Portland is wonderful and it has embraced me with open arms. I am so grateful for the friends and acquaintances who have helped me get a foothold here, and of course for the folks at Twisted for giving me a home base.

Yes, so much to be grateful for.

Now that I have landed and have an address, I can do lots more designing than I could when I was living out of a suitcase.. isn't that amazing?? And the designs have been flying out the door at a rather amazing rate. I think those of you who watch my work will be pleased when they begin to come out on ravelry and other places. I will also be traveling and teaching from my new home base, and I hope to meet many of you as I appear at the various fiber events and classes.. please do check my website soon for details.

Thank you, dear readers, for patiently waiting for posts here, and for your support, as always.

Happy, happy New Year to all of you!

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!

Dog days

Yes, we are in the dog days, and here in San Diego it is beastly hot. The impulse is to be lazy and do absolutely nothing... Yet, work continues in a rush after the high of Sock Summit, and in its aftermath I follow the muse to wherever she is leading...

I have several as-yet secret projects that will be revealed in their good time, and in the meantime here are some lovely links for you:



Aphrodite on the Twist Collective Blog!!! Somehow things all look more beautiful on this site.. please do take a peek at Sparklefaerie in her glory...

Joy of Sox is now out! My project is called "Afternoon Delight" and the book is a gorgeous and sensuous delight. Please do check it out...



For this design, I used Sundara FSM in robin's egg, one of my favorite colorways ever, and I can't say enough lovely things about this yarn and especially how it is with beads.. splendido!

Hoping coolness will return soon...

After the Epitome

I was there... I was there. In years to come, this will be a legend.

And as was the case for many at Woodstock, I don't actually remember much. I taught, I knit, I hobnobbed with the greats.. and I missed so much. I did not get much sleep. I did not attend the Sock Hop in favor of knitting a few more samples for my bootie class the next day. I did not meet everyone I had wanted to look up in the Marketplace.

But in the end, I saw that it was all perfect. And that everyone's experience of SS09 was different from everyone else's.

I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few to add to the huge number that have already been posted around the internet:

At the opening ceremony, Judy Becker (foregraound) sitting at the table with Barbara Walker.

The teachers' dinner was highlighted by Stephen Houghton knitting with whatever was handy...


Yes.. those are tampons.

Cat Bordhi in the Convention Center lobby the evening before Day 1.

The marketplace vendors setting up for business.

Stephanie and Tina cracking each other up in the opening remarks.

Right to left, Abby Franquemont, Ann Budd, and Denny McMillan. Having a blast.

Fabulous Jasmin and Gigi of Knitmore Girls fame, after our podcast interview.

The Luminaries: From the left, Lucy Neatby, Cat Bordhi, Deb Robson, Anna Zilboorg, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, and just a tiny glimpse of Nancy Bush on the other side of the podium where Stephanie and Tina were keeping things in check.

Wow. Just wow.