We’re nearing the end of T2 week

For my birthday T2 gave me the project he completed in a school arts residency. The students all embroidered symbols of the State of Maine. T2 chose the Seal of the State of Maine. In a week, working every day (I think) he drew out the design, learned to embroider, and did all the stitching. Very impressive IMO.

Last week, continuing their studies of the State, the kids went on a field trip to the Capitol. I went along. In the House I saw this rendition of the State Seal and thought I’d share it, too. Personally, I like mine better!

I’m very lucky to have good friends. Some (most?) of those friends are on the weird side. Which may be why they are my friends. Chef to Cook forwarded this fun to me:

Click on it. Really. It’s a knitted mask, part of an exhibition in The Netherlands. There’s a whole series of masks like this; each one slightly weirder than the last.

This is the perfect example of why I’m a “fiber worker” and not a “fiber artist”. Only on a dare would I knit something like these masks. I’m so much happier knitting socks and sweaters. I am unimaginative and happy to be so!

For those of you who haven’t figured it out, I’m a geek at heart. I play in code, dream in code, and occasionally speak in code. So, in honor of that I share with you my Knitter’s Geek Code (from Knitty).

-----BEGIN KNITTER'S GEEK CODE BLOCK-----

------END KNITTER'S GEEK CODE BLOCK------

I haven’t figured out how to add: I mostly knit socks, and I’ve got a Evil Knitting Machine that calls to me, trying to get me to knit on it.

So, what’s your knitter’s geek code?

I’ve been up playing with the website. Fortunately my DH set up an alternate site for me to muck with as I’ve really mucked that one up. This one seems to still be happy though.

I’m trying to add a Works In Progress list to my sidebar. But not just a simple list; I want a little bar that graphically shows where I am in the project. Oh, and I want the input to be through the existing interface, not playing with the code each time. Yes, I ask for too much.

Given that it’s 1 am and that I can’t make it work, I may go to the fallback: code it by hand. But, that wouldn’t be so much fun.

So, on knitting: Saturday I taught a knitting class. It was supposed to be for teenagers. The first class was five third graders, one teenager and a parent. The second class was two adults. Go figure. Well, one of the adults picked up the sticks and really went to it! In the 1.5 hours we were working, she knit at least eight inches on her scarf. Eight perfect inches–no dropped stitches, no extra stitches, no mistakes at all. Mel also owns Tamarind Restaurant in Rockland and I plan to have a great meal with her soon!

I promise not to do any more knitting or programming until I’ve had some sleep.

Here’s another “blog-along” like the Knit from Your Stash site I wrote about last week. This one has its own rules, including one day “off” (where you can add to your stash) every month. It does require you to inventory your stash before starting–which is what will prevent me from participating. I’m not going through all those boxes!

Honestly, the “stash” shown in the blog seems wimpy compared to mine, and I don’t think mine is all that huge.

Perhaps I’ll have to make up my own “stashbuster” event that accounts for fleeces, roving, and handspun.

It’s all over knitting blogs. I’m not sure I can participate (even with 2.a.), but I may give it a try. In the event of an emergency I always have 5 to fall back on. Anyone wanna try?

Knit From Your Stash 2007!

From Wendy Knits

L-B mentioned to me that she was thinking about attempting to knit from her stash exclusively in 2007. I, of course, laughed at her initially, but started thinking that attempting to knit from my stash exclusively was not a bad idea. Both L-B and I have stashes of epic proportions. L-B had suggested a period of 9 months of knitting from the stash, so that we could go to Stitches East next October and buy yarn there.

So, in a phone call, we sketched out our guidelines.

Knit From Your Stash 2007: Guidelines for L-B and Wendy

1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 — a period of nine months.

2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:

2.a. Sock yarn does not count. What? You think we are made of stone?

2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.

2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project.

2.d. We each get one “Get Out of Jail Free” card — we are each allowed to fall off the wagon one time.

3. We are allowed to receive gifts of yarn.

4. Trading stash is allowed.

5. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.

Anyone else who would like to join us in this is welcome to do so! Feel free to link to this page or to post the guidelines on your own blog. You may also alter the guidelines to suit your own situation.

I spend a lot of time on-line.  Probably too much time.  I often come across cool patterns and references that I’d like to share with you–and keep for myself.  Since the demise of my last computer, it’s very clear to me that keeping links/bookmarks on my own machine does nothing in the event that the hard drive dies and doesn’t let any one else know what I’ve got squirreled away.

So, now I’ve got a del.icio.us page.  When I find something I want to keep track of, a pattern I want to find again, or a reference I don’t want to lose, I’ll post it there.  Drop by and see what I’ve found so far. I’ll probably make a link to it as well.

In other news, please check out the new issue of Wild Fibers Magazine. (Subscriptions here). I’ve got a dyeing article published there, but the reason why you should read this magazine is the incredible photos and layouts.  This issue is fantastic and well worth tracking down if you don’t have a subscription.  The editor loves to travel and this time she’s off with the camels in the Gobi desert and weaving in the Andes.  The pictures are well worth your time.

I’m writing from my new computer, so feel free to click on the Google ads on the page to help pay for it ;-).

Tomorrow I’ll have pictures from another project I completed (my knitting machine sweater), and I’ll add some more pictures in my WIP album.

Some days you are struck by inspiration.  Or, just struck.  Yesterday, at work, I saw a seemly innocent pile of sheep puppets.  We often have a few around, but the Boss just ordered a 1/2 dozen which had been placed up on a high shelf, looking forlorn.

I had a flashback to the Wallace and Gromit short "A Close Shave", which is mentioned in my "movies that knit" in the left column.  In it, W&G rescue a herd of sheep from the evil mechanical dog, Preston. The getaway sequence has the heroes and the flock on a motorcycle, shifting into different configurations to stay on the moving vehicle.  Here’s a picture of them at a stop, reaching Gromit in prison:

Then they drive away, and at one point are positioned as an upside down pyramid.  I couldn’t quite do that in the window of the shop, so I did this instead:

Note the cartoon bubble above the sheep on the left.

If you’d like to adopt (buy) one of these lovely ladies, give us a call at Unique One,
we’ll ship you one–but it will mess up the pyramid.

In other news: I ordered a new computer at 6:15 am today.  She should be here within two weeks.  Yeah!

I ran into this today and it scared me.  I’m not entirely sure where it came from as I was Stumbling at the time.  The file was called "Grandma made me something special".  "Special" must mean different things to different people.

If you click on it you’ll see it full-size.  Make sure there are no children around when you do it, as severe mental trauma may occur.  I do believe there was a horror movie based on the upper left picture, and Darth Maul was based on the picture in the lower right.

So, Grandma’s knitting can be used for good or evil.  Or, multi-million dollar movies.

(Honestly, I’m just avoiding the knitting machine . . .)

I’m a bit twisted in my tastes. Odd might be the word.  I came across this knitting site and it appealed to my inner freak.

The site is called Knitting for Psychopaths.  Hummm.  What do psychopaths knit?

• Eviscerated animals.
• Animals eviscerating people (the unicorn is especially fun).
• Bondage fun.
• Conjoined teddy bears.

Stop by and check it out.  It’s just this side of disturbing.