Odd Ball Post

This is a bit of an odd-ball post. The semester is ramping up so I will be sharing some of the work I'm doing. My classes this spring: Tailoring II. We make the coat to go with our vest and trousers. Culture, Gender, and Appearance - this is really Fashion/Costume History. It's over in the the Textiles/Fashion Department. Technical Production - this is a credit that I receive for working on a show-related costume. This semester I'm draping a costume for a dance piece called "Corner." The unique challange in this will be fitting one costume on four different dancers - with different shaped bodies.

The class that will explain the first and second photos in this post is Wig Making. For years I've had cast members asking me, "What is my hair going to be like?" My internal response always being, "I don't do hair - and I don't care!" That response came from my lack of experience more than dislike. Our first assignment in wigs is practicing the technique of venhilating hair into wig lace. It's similar to crochet or latch hooking rugs, so it's an easy crossover for me. These are four one inch squares of different types of hair and wig lace. Aren't they totally creepy?!!!


Abraham thinks they are.














And finally...knitting content. This is a scarf I made while cooped up during the infamous Ice Storm 2007! It is some Wool in the Woods boucle that I picked up at a shop in Oak Park, IL when it was closing (so sad). I alternated some other stash yarns into it so that I could maximize the yardage. I knit a bias garter stitch with something like 26 sts, and ended it with some crocheted loops of varying lengths. I also edged it with a double crochet once around. The hat is Grumperina's Odessa pattern which you can find for free over on MagKnits. It knits up from one ball of Rowen Cashsoft DK and is an easy, fast knit.

Okay, can anyone that has switched over to the new blogger tell me why my vertical shots won't download to blogger vertical? Or let me edit them once they are downloaded? If you shed some light I'd appreciate it. However, I'm thinking of switching to a different blog host.

Tschuss.

Schaffer Anne

Feast your eyes on the delicious Schafer Anne yarn that I received via a swap of sorts from Kelly at Kelp!. If you haven't checked out her site you ought to. She takes really great pictures of her work - very good light in them. Not like mine. I have little patience when photographing. I'll have to work on that because this photo doesn't do the Anne justice.

Anyway, Kelly has been working on an Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature in Malabrigo (I'm astounded at the rate she cranks things out). I too love love love the Malabrigo and have accumulated three skeins intended for a shibori knitting project. She lamented the possibility of being a skein short so I offered to check an Indiana knit shop if she could send me a swatch. For those of you with Malabrigo experience, you know how varied the kettle dyed skeins can be, even those belonging to the same colorway. She was only finding darker ranges than what the project consisted of, but Cass Street Depot turned up as close a match as I could have hoped for. For my efforts I have been handsomely rewarded with this amazing colorway of Anne, of which I am currently very enamored with. Anne is not available locally, so it is rather precious to me. I'm on the hunt for a fantastic lace stole that will show it to it's greatest advantage. If anyone has any personal faves let me know.

The experience of this exchange reinforces some things about the bond shared by Knitters. As much as we want to hoard all the yarn for ourselves, we also delight in assisting a fellow Knitter in the search for yarn. In the same vein, we enjoy giving yarn to a fellow Knitter, since we know they will appreciate it for it's squooshy goodness and knitting potential. It can't hurt to have good fiber kharma!

Tschuss!

Burrrrrrrrr!

A sock for me! This picture does not do the colorway justice. It has much more tan in it than appears here. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock. Tomorrow I will post a pic of some beautimous yarn that I received in the mail yesterday from Kelly at Kelp!

It is fantastic and yes, not something I can get locally.





As promised...an obligatory icycle photo from Austin's two and a half day ice storm. That's leftover mistletoe in the foreground.

Tschuss!

Back to the grind...

I was quite busy as soon as I returned from Indiana. I cut and constructed two dresses for a production of "Present Laughter" at the Zach Scott Theatre here in Austin. Remus and Abe both like to lay behind the sewing machine when I work at home. Here is Remus looking rather content to rest his head in the opening of my dutiful Kenmore. I have an Elnita, a higher quality machine, but it is having some tension issues and needs a servicing. The Kenmore is always happy to get out and handles well. I'm lucky to have an extra to fall back on.


As for knitting content, this is a closeup shot of the poncho/capelet that my mom requested for Christmas. She intuitively wore a dark shirt underneath to show off the pattern. This is the third of these that I have made and I think it is the best of them. I used Jaegger DK Extrafine Merino that That Guy brought back from Ireland. It has much better stitch definition than what I used previously.

Today was my first day of classes - delayed by two and a half days due to a spectacular ice storm in central Texas. Normal fare for a midwestern girl but not for southerners. They simply don't have the equipment to deal with the ensuing road conditions. It made for two lovely days of being a bit of a shut in. Now it is back to the grind! I'll have some icy photos for you tomorrow.

Tschuss.

Garn und meine Neffe

More pictures from my holiday vaca. These are from Wisconsin and were taken last week. This is not the yarn that I spun on my sister's wheel. No, mine was quite a bit more uneven as I was getting used to the feel of spinning. This was a merino roving that I got from an eBay purchase a year or so ago. She had only spun coarser fibers in the past so spinning this was a lot of fun for her.







The obligatory nephew photo! He's getting so big now and starting to talk more. When he first wakes up in the morning he has a sort of checklist he goes through. "Tow" (actually "cow" exept he hasn't got that "k" sound down yet), "moon," and "hair." They have taught him some baby sign language as well. Sometimes he signs and says the word together, which is pretty friggin' adorable! And when he notices the spinning wheel he says, "Mommy."

Tschuss.

Happy New Year indeed

There has been a lot of traveling since Dec. 27th. I flew to Indiana and then drove with my parents up to Wisconsin to visit with 2nd sister, the brother-in-law, and of course, the adorable nephew. On the way there mom and dad attended a wedding in the north Chicago suburbs while I visited a former favorite shop in Evanston, IL. Vogue Fabrics! I managed to do some damage to the wedding account by purchasing my dress fabric.

Once in Wisconsin I tried out my sister's wheel. Now I want one. I'll post some pics of what I spun, plied, and knit soon. In the meantime, here is one of the Christmas knits.

The always cute Lauryn models her hat. Pink and black yarn by Nashua, a mohair/wool blend. The white yarn is some old stash yarn. I learned in a roundabout way what happens when you carry one yarn under and the other over - one becomes dominant. In this case, the pink sits a little higher up than the black. The white also recesses a little. We like it though, and the pink spirals in as the decreases occur. The pattern is something I made up, although the twisted band that I began it with came from a book of folk hats that I copied out of years ago from the Evanston Public Library. They had a much better collection of knitting book than Austin has - I checked out several Elizabeth Zimmerman books there when I first started knitting.

More pics to come once I have more regular wi-fi access! I hope you all had a safe and happy new year.
Tschuss.