Archive for February, 2007

Older Entries »
h1

dyeing day! and stash enhancement, cosy style

February 27, 2007

pink polka dot, originally uploaded by cosymakes.

i had a dyeing day yesterday with my friends amanda and susan. it was great fun and we all came away with some interesting wools. i’m not only a one-of-a-kind sort of knitter, but i’m also a one-of-a-kind sort of dyer. couldn’t reproduce anything i do. i’m sooo happy to have some new rovings to spin. it has been a while.

besides dyeing day stash enhancement (see my flickr!), i also had some vacation stash enhancement. while in seattle visiting my friend laurie i bought a bunch of wool to sustain me through the rest of the book and the thesis. i tend to buy single skeins because i mostly make accessories and need a variety of colors (my painter background coming out again!). i tried to buy colors and textures i don’t usually dye. i also bought some bfl and falkland top to try out and some great sweaters to recycle the wool from. laurie and i also traded some sweater sleeves (it takes me forever to use a whole sweaters worth of yarn- more variety the better i say!). i must say, i taught laurie how to rip apart sweaters at the end of the summer and now she is a ripping lunatic… i think she has more sweaters than me. i love passing on my defects).

anyhow, now i think i’m set for a while. i ordered some batts off of etsy and found a bit of wool at the thrift store. i think i’m becoming more experimental in my old age… and am feeling woolie and blessed just talking about all this stuff.

Posted in dyeing, knitting, thrifty | 2 Comments »

h1

shawls vs. scarves

February 24, 2007


lace books, Originally uploaded by cosymakes.

i’ve been working on a couple of lace shawls for the thesis. one is a stole, mostly in butterflies. the second (still in planning and ripping) will be a garter stitch shawl with a thick old shale border in a different yarn. both utilize recycled sweater wool.

as a knit piece, i seem more pulled to shawls than to scarves as a thesis project. although i like scarves and wear them all the time (even inside, my apartment is cold!), shawls seems to be deeper objects than scarves. meaning that i haven’t found much historically about scarves and therefore feel less connected to them.

the one mention that i do know of said that they were very wide (i think it said a foot and a half!) and very long – like a stole. you’d wrap it over your head, around your neck and throw the tasselled ends over your shoulders.

when i mentioned my scarf aversion to my friend alissa, she was a bit set aback- and for good reason. it’s true, when you’re a new knitter, you knit scarves. it’s what you do. i just don’t know how long we’ve knit scarves and why or in what form- and that makes me a bit less likely to want to knit them. i want the connection to the past. at least we’ve found plain watch caps and other plain knitting. but no scarves that i know of. anyone know anything written on the topic? it is ironic that what i value about knitting is that it is part of its times and biodegrades with the times, and yet i haven’t the imagination to figure that scarves have been around for a while. i guess rich history is only awarded to those who excelled (the beauty of shawls alone!) and perhaps those who made money at their craft. once again, i fear that by ignoring the shawl i am leaving out the common people who i claimed as my own in this earlier post.

on the other hand, i suppose that this lack of writing might have to do with scarves being easy and adaptable. why would someone need to write down such a pattern? the only historic patterns i’ve found are indeed from the world wars, made to instruct people who didn’t knit much before and children. you can find info on such patterns and other interesting world war stuff here, here, here, and here.

so, did people wear knit scarves before then much? can’t imagine going to war wearing a shawl… and there have always been wars. maybe another reason that there aren’t many patterns or history written is because you don’t have to replace scarves nearly as often as items like socks, and the simplicity meant that the complex patterns didn’t need to be passed down through the generations. who knows? those are my hypothesis, for good or for ill. maybe new knitters who didn’t immediatly need a pair of socks have knit scarves. and if it makes you feel any better i am working on a really long ribbed scarf for the thesis, although not quite as wide as in the description above. if it’s going to be that fat, it better be a shawl.

on a side not, have you seen this thrifted bootie pattern typed on a note card over at the brainylady blog? the use of wool over instead of yarn over dates it at least a bit… and i love the use of a safety pin. wonder what a dip is? what a great find!

Posted in history, knitting, scarves, shawls, thesis | Leave a Comment »

h1

thrifting

February 23, 2007

thrifted quilt top, originally uploaded by cosymakes.

one thing that ben and i both *love* is thrifting. i think that i get this from my mother who i call the ‘queen’ of all garage salers. the queen in that she is truly interested in fun and quirky things and digging through other people’s stuff, not in that she’s pushy and there a half an hour before time. i think that a lot of my taste for interesting things comes from her. i also inherit my creativity from her. thrifting, creativity, art, and craft all fit together in a nice little bundle for me.

anyhow, this is my favorite thrift store find of the vacation. it’s an old quilt top (year? anyone know fabric?) and truly the epitome of patchwork. some of the patches of fabric are so sweet and small and all of the fabrics are lovely. i’m not so sure what i’m going to do with it, but i plan to have a long life with this quilt top (and spend a lot of time staring at it!).

runner up was a vintage scottish wool throw that i found in pittsburgh. however, i insisted my friend carrie buy it because she doesn’t have near enough blankets. for me, blankets are something that makes a house/apartment a home. if i can cover everyone up in a nice blanket and give them tea, i’m doing well (especially in an apartment as cold as mine!).

i made a mosaic of some of my favorite blankets/throws/quilts over at flickr, then the site glitched. i’ll try again later. head over there if you want some more eye candy (you can click on it to the right).

Posted in community, thrifty | 8 Comments »

h1

mountain berry hat

February 22, 2007

mountain berry hat, originally uploaded by cosymakes.

one of the commissions i completed while on vacation. the other is here. they were both finished in the chicago airport where i was stranded for 24 hours. too bad i didn’t have emily’s socks that i owe her in my carry on! the chicago airport looked pretty much exactly like the denver airport that we had a layover in on the way back, with the key exception that it had great music.

ingredients:
new zealand handspun from the lovely melissa
thrifted neon pink, muted purple, and middle purple wools
bright berry purple - recycled sweater wool
dark purple - recycled sweater, 50% mohair/25% nylon/15% angora/10% wool

i like this hat a lot. the only issue ever was that i used too many colors and insisted upon cutting them if the stripes weren’t really close- so there were A LOT of ends to sew in.

the panta is for my lovely friend becca and it has indeed been a long time coming. she now owns four knit headbands by me including a very early panta made out of some of my own handspun. you can see it in action here.

Posted in cosyknitsliterally, hats, knitting | 6 Comments »

h1

home again home again

February 21, 2007


home again home againOriginally uploaded by cosymakes.

the good news: pittsburgh looks more than promising as our next move. yay!

i’m one of those people who has to spend several days readjusting to her real life again… so it’ll all spill out over the next two weeks. i spent a lot of time doing the things shown in this picture: hanging out with friends (in seattle and pittsburgh), petting dogs, drinking tea, and there’s a cribbage board on the coffee table in front of us. less time knitting. although i must say that for the week before i left i was trying to give my body a break and then during this week and a half of less knitting i’ve been knitting on some commissions. i now need to focus focus focus. the goal for march is to imagine and reimagine the thesis in its final form unto completion. imagine. reimagine. imagine. reimagine.

Posted in community, knitting, thesis | 4 Comments »

h1

continuity

February 10, 2007


camo baby socksOriginally uploaded by cosymakes.

camo baby socks. i really like making baby socks. these were done with some hand dyed worsted weight wool on size 5 needles. for this family.

one of my first commissions at Regent were socks for a friend who has continued having me make socks ever since. they’ve always been baby gifts for her sisters and their families. so far i’ve knit 4 pairs of adult socks and this is the 3rd pair of little ones for one who’s still on the way.

i got a nice email from the first sister who i knit for the other day (including pics!), saying she had started knitting and was working on her first scarf.

i love continuity. and now, i’m off to seattle and pittsburgh to scour for yarn and hang out with friends. have a great week… i may post, i may not. we’ll see how it goes.

Posted in community, knitting, socks | 3 Comments »

h1

dirty dishes

February 9, 2007

dirty dishes, originally uploaded by cosymakes.

because these beautiful pieces of pottery from emily haven’t stopped being used since they showed up earlier this week!

i love pottery and i love soups and stews, so what could be better than the four soup bowls.  i’ll take photos of the other ones when i wash them and post them on flickr. emily has been very gracious and let a bit of her part of the trade be in the thesis show before i send them to her.  thanks em, for both your beautiful work and for being lenient with a girl who’s bitten off a bit more than she can chew!

Posted in community, knitting | 1 Comment »

h1

lithuanian socks

February 9, 2007

lithuanian socks, originally uploaded by cosymakes.

designed up by Nancy Bush, based on “a photograph of an undated pair of socks in the National Museum of Lithuania in Vilnius.” and found in Folk Socks.

ingredients:
reddish- lovely semi-solid superwash merino from fearless fibers
grey- Araucania nature wool

you all already know that i’m a big fan of simple colorwork, so of course i enjoyed these socks. several things occurred to me while i was knitting them.

remember this? well, brittany’s come in 5 packs! so i accidently found the fourth needle and thus finished this sock. i’m such a dork and that should tell you how organized my needles are. a lot of them are ‘stored’ like this.

i’ve also been thinking a bit about the texture of different wools and it makes sense to me that many cultures with knitting traditions in more than one color tend to knit with rougher wools. i’m thinking lopi and fair isle… i’m sure there are more. superwash merino was not the best choice on my part. it’s beautiful yarn and i love love love semi-solids, but not the best choice.

lastly, i came across some difficulty early on in my knitting when i read the first chart for this sock upside down! when i got past the heel and the Vs didn’t line up like they should have, i realized that i had read from the top down instead of the bottom up. for this reason, my socks have one more repeat on the top section. sigh. so much for trying to knit from the pattern. should have made them in my size too.

i knit this pattern for the thesis partially because i’m ¼ lithuanian. that’s a big chunk… in fact the biggest chunk that we know of. my grandpa on my mom’s side was all lithuanian. i also theived these socks that i made for ben for the thesis. i’m imagining a clothes lines of socks. we’ll see.

Posted in knitting, socks, thesis | 3 Comments »

h1

counting our blessings

February 8, 2007

lot # 711, originally uploaded by cosymakes.

i bought and spun this roving up in one day. i’d say that i really wanted to spin. maybe i’ll dye a bit today although i won’t be able to spin it until i get back from pittsburgh.

there probably won’t be any blogging or much internet activity for a while because ben’s going to audition for two sacred music masters programs. i’m going to hang out with friends in pittsburgh, where the second audition is and he’ll meet me there. moving on seems so close suddenly, and with that i’m thinking a lot about our lives in vancouver.

first off, we suddenly have a social life… 2 1/2 years in and now we’re moving. good timing on that one, but i truly feel that it takes quite a bit to actually be at home in a place. our first year here was horrid. ben had horrific work, i’d never lived anywhere but missoula. hard times.

but then the second year crested on the horizon and amazing things started to happen. ben got a decent job (not one that could pay for my school, but livable and good). he started taking organ lessons from rachel and became friends with her and her husband (a world famous organ composer. they also have the love of horror movies in common).

i started being more involved in my neighborhood, volunteering at the thrift store. i actually had time to really learn to cook and live the way i wanted to. i found a spinning wheel and a drum carder at the thrift store. i sold some of my knitting. i started attending a church that i love. i met sarah and we took spinning and dyeing lessons. people actually started approaching me to learn how to knit, whereas the first year i couldn’t force anyone to knit with me (with the one exception of my friend erin… thanks erin!).

more recently, wool has become my life. i have a shop, this blog, flickr. i knit, i dye, i spin. it has been the fast road to a mature fiber artist here. i came to regent to write poetry or paint and now i do fiber art. it seems that it came from nowhere, but i’ve never felt so happy doing something in my life. it’s still quite puzzling to everyone, my mom, ben, me.  on top of that surprise i have this amazing book deal and i’m knitting my thesis.

recently, ben composed his first major organ piece and premiered it. the world famous composer (who would never play anything he didn’t actually like- and he’s a picky man) played one of ben’s pieces in his most recent concert. the theme of the concert was to link himself to bach through organist composers. ben’s piece was played as an encore to continue the legacy.

my friend susan was over to knit last night and we talked about the possibility of staying here another year. i was so eager to get out, but now that it’s coming, i’m counting the blessings that happened to us in vancouver. i guess we’ll see.

Posted in community, knitting | 4 Comments »

h1

merino wool

February 6, 2007

merino – pink, originally uploaded by cosymakes.

i think i’ve finally come to terms with merino wool. i don’t really like spinning it, but if i must, i want fat thick and thin singles that i won’t stress out about. so, i probably won’t buy much more merino roving. it’s too slippy for me. yes, nice and soft and lovely feeling, but slippy. it’s also too slippy for colorwork, but that’s a thought for another day.  i’ll let others spin it (unless for the thick and thin) and if i need it, i’ll buy it.  how does that sound?

i’ve spun a bit in the last couple days because my arms/neck/shoulders (i.e. my electrical system) has been on red alert. i’m knitting some larger projects for the thesis now and they’ve been taking a beating. i think when i get back from pittsburgh i might go in and get a massage (my health insurance covers it! and it would only cost $5! god bless canada and their health system!). it’s tough, this knitting for school and a living thing :).

Posted in knitting, spinning, yarn | 4 Comments »

Older Entries »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 126 other followers