Immortality Achieved

If you click on the title to this post, you'll see my photo on The Yarn Harlot post about BEA / BookExpo America. Not much more to say right now.

Knit on!

The Yarn Harlot Comes to New York...again

Today was my Yarn Harlot Day; I was privileged to see Stephanie Pearl McPhee three times at three different events. The last event included other knitting glitterati: Debbie Stoller, Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne. This morning I arrived at BookExpo America at 8:50. Anyone who knows me understands what kind of a miracle it is for me to have gotten to the Javits Center that early. What motivated me? It should have been my job. Sadly, my goal was to get in line early for Stephanie Pearl McPhee's autographing free copies of her newest book -- Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting. Happily, I was third in line with most congenial fellow knitters. Strangely, only two of us were knitting -- the first person in line and me. Well, we were all standing.

Celebrities don't usually impress me. For one, I'm a jaded New Yorker. My first job after college was at The William Morris Agency where famous people of all sorts were everywhere. I used to see John Lennon and Yoko Ono in my "hood" and once even studiously avoided making eye contact with them in an elevator at Saks -- even though I was only one of two non-Lennons in that elevator. New Yorkers give famous people lots of private space in the public arena. Meeting The Yarn Harlot was different. It mattered personally and, unlike most celebrities, she actually seemed to wish to speak with us. I was happy to get her new book. And, this is a Big Secret ... Stephanie (if I may call her that!) also autographed a copy for my daughter, Caroline. No one will be surprised that I found Stephanie as sweet, witty and personable as everyone has reported her to be.
All those on line were invited to come to Highbridge Audio's booth at 1 pm to get autographed copies of the audiobook edition of At Knit's End. Again I was third in line and in the company of delightful fellow knitters. We shared goodies -- like the tee shirt and the fact that at Storey Publishing's booth, just next door, they were giving away the most adorable boxed skeins of yarn to promote Judith Durant's One Skein Wonders. One generous stranger, when I admired her "Knitting Rules Button" (no longer available), gave me her duplicate. Aren't knitters lovely people. I'm looking forward to listening to At Knit's End on my ipod. I do hope Stephanie's knitting hand isn't too cramped by all that book signing today. In between these two autographing sessions, I actually did accomplish a lot for my job. After all, they did make all this possible.

There was one more knitting extravaganza in store. After meeting My Dearly Beloved and sharing lunch, I headed for the panel discussion about marketing knitting and crafts books in retail bookstores. In addition to Stephanie, the panel included: Debbie Stoller of Stitch 'n Bitch fame; Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne, authors of Mason-Dixon Knitting; the president of the Craft Yarn Council of America, Mary Colucci and Rene Martin (sorry, I can't make the accent work) of Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC http://quailridgebooks.booksense.com/. The panel was ably chaired by David Didrikson of Willow Books and Cafe in Acton, MA. http://willowbooks.net/infohistory.html.

Stephanie, Kay and Ann joined most of us in the audience who were knitting by working on their own projects.

Although the panel was meant to educate booksellers about marketing craft-related books, particularly knitting books, the majority of the audience was knitters. However, it is hoped that the conclusions reached by the panel will be received by retailers. Stephanie, who says her life recently has been one long book tour (Go, Stephanie!) explained how time and again bookstores vastly underestimate the number of attendees to expect at her appearances. Debbie Stoller, an avid feminist (yay feminism!) explained how she originally found herself defending her love of knitting to those who thought it was, paradoxically, "only" women's work. She feels her Stitch 'n Bitch series has fueled the current revival of the craft. Ann and Kay described wonderful and successful appearances in small town bookstores, despite smaller turnouts than one might expect in urban locations. Mary related how her work with the Craft Yarn Council of America works to educate the various segments of the industry, consumers, manufacturers, publishers, about trends and needs.

Not surprisingly, everyone agreed that the national bookstore chains haven't a clue about the importance of knitting or other crafts --- and that they are missing the boat in a big way. David and Rene, on the other hand, each have had great success with knitting events. They've listened to knitters, knitting authors and worked with local yarn stores. The panelists reported that book store owners and managers always underestimate the audience size for knitting book authors. Their appearances inevitably draw a larger audience than appearances by novelists, nonfiction writers or poets. Partnering with local libraries and using school auditoriums has been a successful strategy for larger venues.

Various suggestions were made, some from the audience. Because knitters tend to be "loyal as dogs," (Stephanie's phrase), if bookstores have the right titles, they'll win a following. Knitters will know at a glance whether the bookstore is serious about serving their needs so the panelists suggested making sure that hard-to-find classics, like Elizabeth Zimmerman, were kept in stock. The audience confirmed that they must resort ... gasp... to Amazon for a lot of the classic knitting books. My own suggestion is that book store owners ask local reference librarians or craft guilds to provide extensive bibliographies. David and Rene agreed that knitters make great audiences and tend to be quite tidy, apparently important to some booksellers. Stephanie assured the panel that all they need to keep knitters happy is enough cake. She also pointed out that knitters buy books -- lots of books because a book seems so cheap in comparison to the cost of yarn to make a sweater. It was also suggested that knitters ought to be invited to purely literary events as a way of insuring an audience. The popularity of knitlit or craftlit events was noted. Let's hope retailers get the message.

It was a truly fascinating discussion. I find it interesting that libraries have outstripped book retailers in this area, at least at our libraries in New York and Sussex County. I'm always surprised by how poorly the national chains deal with subject specialities. On the knitting and spinning list serves, the local libraries' excellent collections in the crafts are often noted.

Tagged by Caroline

Havng been tagged in a game I didn't know I was playing, I'll join the fun. Apparently the rules are that you must tell 8 random things about yourself. And, you have to tag others. The thing is, I don't know any other bloggers besides Caroline and Spinning Spider Jenny but she's busy enough without getting tagged.
1. On May 6 Marsha, my beloved partner of 10 years, and I were civilated (NJ's legislature wouldn't give us marriage tho' the NJ supreme court mandated that we be given every privilege of marriage). I made up this word to point out the adsurdity of it all.
2. I was born in Spain in 1947 and have lived in the U.S., France, and Germany.
3. I have two wonderful children, Sam and Caroline and a great new child, our newish son-in-law, Scott.
4. My parents christened me in the Episcopal Church in Madrid when I was born. Two years later the whole family converted to Catholicism at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In November, 1966 I became an ex-Catholic. By the end of college I was an atheist. When I married my children's father I converted to Judaism because, as an anthropology major, a fan of The Book of Ruth and someone who had lived in Germany, it seemed the right thing to do. It turned out to be a great decision.
5. My profession is Judaica librarianship. I love it and am very happy in my place of employ and really like the people I work with. Maybe even love a couple of them like family, would you believe? How lucky is that????
6. Besides knitting, which I learned over 50 years ago, the other fiber arts in which I dabble or have dabbled are: crocheting, embroideries of various kinds, needlepoint, dyeing, macrame, sewing, quilting, spinning, weaving (in my youth but I want to take it up again soon). I also have a number of non-fiber interests.
7. We have 3 cats, one in New York, the other two in the country. We'd have many more, and dogs, and angora bunnies, and .... if we only had the time and room.
8. I have been surprised by the gifts middle age brings. Despite inevitable health issues, it is a very liberating time of life. I'm happier than ever before. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have had the advantages and happenstance experiences that have made up my life. You never know!
9. Like many librarians I'm a confirmed dilettante. No, it's not self-deprecation. It's just that I don't want more than a cursory knowledge of a wide variety of subjects and to concentrate on the few I wish to delve into more deeply.
10. When I was approaching 30 I was disappointed that I hadn't yet learned everything I needed to know. As I approach 60 this October, I'm delighted that there's still so much to discover.

It turns out I couldn't stop at 8. Oh well.

Shetland Fleeces No.1

Last fall in the monthly newsletter from North Country Spinners I spotted a notice from a shepherd in Garrison, NY, offering Shetland fleeces for sale. Having grown up in Garrison, I was intrigued and decided to call. Cynthia, the shepherd, answered. She was very friendly and lots of fun to speak with. We discovered several coincidences. Not only did we have Garrison in common but we'd both attended the same college. And, Cynthia's husband is a distinguished author of dictionaries, essential in every library (and I'm a librarian). Over the course of several conversations and e-mail exchanges I ended up with my first fleeces. Yes, fleeces, not fleece. I couldn't help it -- they sounded so yummy.

When the fleeces arrived in early November in my small city apartment, I was somewhat taken aback. They were much dirtier and smellier than I expected. Properly so, it turns out. The cats were just fascinated by the strong aromas of the farm animals they've never seen. I did some research and discovered that Shetlands tend to get awfully mucky. Although I'd handled raw fleece before in workshops and such I was unprepared for the real thing.

Molly's fleece, a light gray mix, seemed the right one to start with. I was wrong. It was probably the dirtiest and had the most sunburned tips, most of which I pulled off as I teased the fleece. It took a couple of hours just to pull the tips off and tease.
Did I mention that I didn't begin this process until about 9 pm in the middle of a busy work week? It took about 4 hours and still there's plenty of grease and grit in the fleece. The first water of each scouring turned as deeply brown as a good cup of coffee. And, the fleece, in my airless apartment, took days and days to dry. On top of that, it looks as though I may have felted it slightly. I hope not!

After posting inquiries on Spindler's and my knit list, I got the names of some reliable wool processors. The person who answered the phone at the Zeilinger Wool Company laughed in the kindest, most supportive way when I described my apartment-dwellers's predicament. She reassured me that she processes the fleeces belonging to many urban spinners reluctant to clog their buildings' pipes. And, additionally, she told me that if I waited until January I'd get a 25% discount. Who could resist such a wonderful company.

Again I called the nice lady at Zeilinger who explained just how to pack up and label the fleeces. She explained that Shetland was not fine but medium to coarse fiber. And, she seems awfully intent on saving me money, for which I'm very grateful. All four fleeces are squished into one carton. Off they'll go to the post office tomorrow morning.
I'm posting photos of two of the fleeces' skin sides because the colors are are not compromised by the sunburned tips that the processing will mostly remove.)

When the roving comes back -- the lovely lady also told me I didn't want pencil roving -- I'll post the pictures. Can't wait.

Beer Can Cozies for Sam

Call it a mother's paranoia but I really thought the reason Sam wanted me to knit him beer can cozies was so that he could make fun of his old mother. It is a little far out and verges on kitsch, don't you think? Well, I finally made them for him and he's delighted with them. He's placed an order for more cozies with his name or monogram knitted into them.

For the brown cozy I used some of my earliest spun yarn -- extremely funky -- which I'd plied with a ladder yarn at an NCS workshop.


It turns out that Sam really wished he'd had one of the cozies with him at a particularly chilly end-of-season Mets game this year. Photograph taken as we were about to set the table Rosh Hashanah dinner (note the lovely Madeira cloth on the table). 9/22/06

Plying with Caroline

What a lovely afternoon of spinning we had yesterday. Caroline learned to ply so very quickly. As Caroline noted in her blog, we improvised a pretty cool substitute for the upturned flowerpots Jenny Bakriges recommends,instead using two book boxes weighted with hefty tomes. Caroline didn't have felt-cover pebbles for winding the singles around so I suggested tennis balls. They really worked well.



The green fiber was used as packing material in a carton from Grafton Fibers. Thank you, Linda Diak! The black fiber was in a little sample in a registration bag from MAFA or SOAR (??). It's Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, spindled in the grease and the roughest, uckiest fiber I've ever spun. It'd make a great rope because it seems awfully strong. Or, perfect for medieval hair shirts?



As you can see above, we have here a definite case of the student surpassing her teacher. As I was plying Caroline could tell that I wasn't plying tightly enough. It's my consistent issue, actually. The yarn strand running horizontally across the skein is the model I'd made from the fresh yarn and meant to reacreate while I was plying. After washing the skein last night, I could see that I'm going to have to add a little more twist.

I'm really enjoying sharing spinning with my daughter whose innate mechanical skills were again apparant as she understood what I told her almost immediately. I decided, too, to pass on two of my way-too-many spindles, a Golding ring spindle "(3" maple) and a Greensleeves barebones. She's also "borrowing" my mid-sized niddy-noddy. Oh well, one does need all the proper supplies.

Sarah Bradberry's "Stoke-on-Trent Tote" #1

Litmus's tote, pre-felting. Note the little paw prints left by Phoebe Rose who is looking longlingly on this lovely wooly object she's thinking of making her sleeping bag.

Materials: Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride worsted weight: 2 1/2 skeins of Victorian Pink and almost 2 skeins of Brown Heather. #8 needles.

I'm a little worried about the handle -- will it felt tightly enough to be strong enough?

Post felting photo to follow. (Couldn't resist the alliteration.)

North Country Spinners Blankie Project

My spinning guild's 2006 project was afghans. Originally they were to be donated to the Salvation Army and / or the Red Cross. As I support neither group, I didn't participate except to donate a partially completed afghan and yarn found on our recycle table in New York. Instead, I worked on the Sanctuary Blanket Project at work. Sorry for the blurriness. This year we'll be knitting PICC sleeves for cancer patients at Hackettstown Hospital.
(Sorry for the blurriness; as my cataracts ripen I'm less and less capable of focusing, it seems.) 1/5/07

Ed's Christmas Scarf

Ed chose this wonderful alpaca and wool blend and the garter stitch pattern early last summer after I bought the yarn at Sparta's Yarn Loft at their summer sale. It's about 6.5' long. We gave it to him for Christmas and he seems to love it. The DB and I have an arrangement -- she's the fiber enabler par excellence and I make our presents. Lucky me.

Ice Tea Cozies; The Genteel Version

Here are two ice tea cozies in cotton. They were originally knit for Sam who'd asked for them. But, they turned out a little too femme. Instead I gave them as a present to Elaine who remembers an aunt having these. I love the little faux lace cable stitch! Photograph 10/1/06

Presents for Dawn and Linda

My Son Learns to Knit

On Saturday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend I taught my son to knit. He's been asking for a couple of months and we finally found time when both of us were free. I really had fun teaching him, seeing how he quickly and easily he learns. Today he called for a follow-up lesson -- he's having trouble with what he's calling "transfers". I don't think it actually has a name except, perhaps, "turning the work." The last time he tried fiber arts was 23 years ago when he was five. I still have the yards and yards of chain stitch he made with his big sister's fat crochet hook and red acrylic yarn. Much to his dismay I'd kept it. At the time he didn't want to do anything but make the biggest string he could.

Reincarnation of the Interminable Socks

Click on the link above to see my first attempt



To reclaim the yarn, I wound it on a ball winder and then steamed it to relax the yarn. I boiled water in my vegetable steamer pot with a steamer basket, let it sit covered for 15 minutes, placed the two balls of yarn in the pot, covered, for 10 minutes.

Materials
Main color: 2 skeins "Online" Linie 1 Supersocke 50g/210m 5% wool/25% nylon; Variagated with royal blue the main color.
Contrast color: Schoeller-Esslinger (Schoeller-Stahl) Fortissima 50g/210m 75% wool/25% nylon; Bright red #20 (1/2 of the skein).
Bright red reinforcement nylon thread saved from Lang bright red sock yarn.
#1 needles
Gauge on stst: 9/1".
Pattern Stitch Basket Weave Rib
Over 8 stitches and 12 rounds
Rounds 1,3,5,7,9 & 11: P1 *[K3,P1]* repeat ** to end of round
Rounds 2,4,& 6: P4, K3, *P5, K3* Repeat ** to end of round
Rounds 8, 10, & 12: P1, *K3, P5* Repeat ** to end of round
Size: for a generous leg and shortish foot
Directions
Cast on 84 st in k2p2. Continue for 1"; [Alternative, p1,k3, to mirror pattern]
Start pattern and continue until leg measures 6". Begin decreasing 1 st every other round until there are 72 st. When work measures 7", begin heel. Divide work in half, placing 37 stitches on thread, stitch holders or needles -- whatever works -- for the instep. The extra stitch is needed to make sure the pattern, which continues over the instep, has a purl stitch at each end.
Keeping decrease line in center of 35 stitches for the heel and bebing the heel flap. Knit to end of 35 stitches, turn and add cc with reinforcing thread if so desired. Purl 1st row and begin whatever heel stitch you like. Continue until 18 rows or flaps on outer edge (having always slipped either the first or last st of every row) and then turn heel. Use whatever formula works for the heel you like. Pick up 18 st. at each edge of heel and begin gussets. Decrease until reach 72 stitches. Divide work evenly among 4 rows in a logical way -- there will be 19 stitches on one needle to allow for the extra purl stitch. I advise arranging the needles so that 2 hold the 18 and 19 stitches of the instep pattern and 2 hold 36 stst stitches. This will prevent, perhaps, losing track of where the pattern ends. Continue for whatever length. For the DB make foot 6.5", measuring from heel flap.
Toe Begin her favorite toe, adding cc and reinforcing thread if desired. Knit 1 rnd in stst with cc. On next round begin dec: on every needle
Rnd 1: K1, ssk *knit until last 3 sts] k2tog, k1
Rnd 2: stst
Repeat rnds 1 and 2 until 16 st total. Arrange on two needs, with bottom of foot on one needle and instep on another. Do the donkey ear trick if desired, leaving 6 sts on each needle. Kitchener st close.

Pooling
Note the pooling, particularly on the sock on the right. It was a little startling. I did notice that it seemed to be caused by a lack of other colors for a space of about 5 of the color repetitions on the royal blue ground. Luckily the DB loves it.

Second Afghan Completed for Charity Project

R.L., Who Puts Together the Stettenheim Stitchers' Afghan Blocks



R.L., with the second of two whole afghans she has valiantly and enthusiastically crocheted together. R. does a lovely job, patiently completing the afghans that The Stettenheim Stitchers knit. She works with H.L., who decides how to assemble the blocks.

On Sunday H.L. presented the completed afghans in the opening ceremonies of Mitzvah Day. R.L. has also been The Stitchers' liaison to the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services and the Mitzvah Day chair.

We meet Jenny Bakriges at Rhinebeck

Click on the link above to Spinning Spider Jenny's to see the photo of Caroline and me.
We were so happy to run into Elizabeth (right)and Jenny, left. I met Elizabeth at NCS's Fibre Fallout. And, you can read all about Jenny's Spinning Silken Fibers Workshop I took in August in the archives.

Here we are, having just finished some, dare I say it, lambchops. On the left is April, in the middle is Caroline and on the right is April's friend Sharon. Refreshed, we're off to explore and ....buy fibery things.

A Human in Sheep's Clothing and her Shepherdess!




And some real sheep




My real score of the day was to get to Hatchdown before all the spindles were gone. I bought 3. Way too many but will probably sell one to a blogger I met at Beth and Jenny's booth where we bought some lovely Roving from Beth (left) and baby camel from Jenny (right).

Sweater and Hat for Little Ethan James

Hope this fits although probably not for long. I knit this for the first grandchild born to one of my college friends. Very exciting. I used a pattern from Little Badger and acrylic in three colors so that the young parents can wash it. I have a feeling that the hat will fit a lot longer than the sweater.

Charity Project at work finished

At work I've been facilitating a charity knitting project. We call ourselves the Stettenheim Stitchers, after the name of the library where I work. At least seven of us have been making blocks to sew together. Above is H.L. with the first afghan, completed today. She knitted several of the blocks.

There's a second afghan requiring only ends to be sewn in and an edge crochetd as well as about 20 (of 49) blocks for the third. We're determined to keep going.

The wonderful thing is that everyone has her specialty. J.R., pictured below, knits blocks when her busy schedule permits. R.L. has sewn all the strips together, besides knitting blocks and recruiting her daughters to do the same. H.L. (photo below) has knit many of the blocks and is our designer. And, D.M., her daugher and sister have been knitting like the wind. My job, besided knitting a few blocks, has been to sew ends in and crochet the edging. It's been a lovely collaborative project.


The completed afghan(s) will be donated to the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services' Sanctuary Project after being featured next week during our second annual Mitzvah Day. JBF&CS presents the afghans to children going into foster care so that they have something of their own to take with them from placement to placement. We find this a very worthwhile cause as we can imagine how comforting a warm blanket can be for a child who's lost her family.

NCS Fibre Fallout

The morning mist over the lake at the Johnsonburg camp NCS used.





Rita Buchanan, an extraordinary teacher and accomplished person, before beginning the one day workshop, one of the very last she gave before retiring.


NCS members Jenny (blond hair with back towards camera, Karen and May: can be seen in Spin-Off in a photo taken at the same workshop which photo includes yours truly)

Dyed Soy Silk from Jenny Bakriges Spinning Silken Fibers Workshop

Finally, here's a photograph taken 10/1/06 of the soy silk we dyed in Jenny's wonderful workshop. Unlike the rest of the class, I used one color for each section of silk. I didn't want the muddiness that might have resulted from painting on variagated colors. The soy silk takes the colors brilliantly. My favorite is the bright fuschia cochineal.

An Homage to the Red, White and Blue

Finally, they're almost done, these socks for my DB. They are inspired by the enthusiasm for patriotic iconography following 9/11. Yes, I know, the fad became trite way before the socks were finished. What can I tell you? Even though I'm a New Yorker I didn't wish to knit an homage to our fair city in the hue of its native costume -- black. And, I'm not at all fond of orange, white and royal blue, the city's emblamtic colors. So, we decided on muted shades of our national tricolor. This project became a sort of albatross, hanging about the bottom of my current- project knitting bag for almost five years. (At least I didn't have to hang them around my neck.) They're also my first original sock design. Sewing in the loose ends took over over two hours on the one sock I've finished. Why so long? It was late, I was tired (but doggedly determined) and I was seeing double and fuzzy.