September 5, 2007

High-Flying Fibers

Okay, I have no excuse for my absence over the past few weeks. No excuse, that is, except for the fact that I think the heat has fried my brain for good. Honestly, the thought of knitting or crocheting hasn't even entered my head for probably the longest time in my life since I first learned the joys of needlecraft. Yarn? Nope! Not even the softest, silkiest yarn in the world — I just haven't wanted anything fiber-y piled up in my lap for any length of time!

I also have been having to do a bit of traveling (not the fun kind of traveling, either), and I've spent way more time in airports than I care to, thanks to the storms that have been hitting all over the country and messing up flight schedules. Stuck in an airport, unable (and unwilling) to knit or crochet — not a good situation for yours truly.

I'm back at home now, with my feet on solid ground, and this morning it was actually cool enough that I turned on the car heater for the first few minutes of my commute. So, with all that in mind, I think I'm beginning to rally and climb out of my funk. Which brings me to this week's project: Fayla Reiss's Multichain Scarf. I read an article the other day that was all about how young celebrities are wearing scarves in spite of the heat, and this scarf strikes me as a great one to wear even on a hot day, because it's so light and airy. In fact, I think I feel my interest in crafting beginning to pique …. Maybe there's hope for me after all!

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August 10, 2007

Keepin' Cool

Oops! I missed writing last week — again! No real excuse this time, just a heavy workload and a poor memory. Not a winning combination in a blogger….

Where I live, we're in the middle of a terrific heat wave, as I'm sure many of you are. I can't really think about knitting or crocheting or anything except keeping cool, and I'm definitely looking forward to cooler weather, when I can start getting interested in warm sweater and wooly scarves again. Until then, however, I'm going to share a couple of hot-weather projects, two adorable bathing suits: NexGeneration's crocheted bikini and Tina Whitmore's knitted bikini. I can't think of a better way to keep cool than to wear one of these cuties to the pool or the beach (and I think you'll love the extra accessories included with each swimsuit). I hope you enjoy them — and I hope you stay cool!

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July 27, 2007

A Feather for Your Thoughts

I heard somewhere (can't remember where) that you should always keep any feathers you find, because it's bad luck to refuse a gift from nature. For the longest time I kept every feather that came my way, tucking them into the huge pine-cone wreath my aunt made for me, which I kept hanging on my front porch. It must have worked, because a purple finch built her nest in the wreath, using the feathers to line it. She came back to the nest and reused it for several years, bringing me hours of pleasure as she raised her little ones and helped them learn to use their wings. I lost my mom the first year the bird was there, and there was something strangely comforting about watching the life cycle unfolding on my front porch.

I bring up feathers because I just finished writing up a project for Uncommon Threads that I thought the crocheters would appreciate — and it has feathers worked into it (the show airs next week on HGTV, but you can still find it on the Web). It's a beautiful Freeform Crochet Handbag that uses many of the yarns I featured in the yarn quiz I told you about last week. I was really excited to see so many of the yarns I'd been playing with all worked up into such a gorgeous piece. Since I'm still on my crochet kick, I think I feel inspiration striking! Hope you enjoy this project, and may it inspire you too. Have a great weekend, everyone!

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July 20, 2007

Knit a Magic Spell

Like many, many people all over the world, I plan to spend the weekend reading the new Harry Potter book (what a great excuse for not getting the housework done!). I'm a fan, not a fanatic, but I do love to curl up with a good book, and I enjoy all the hoopla surrounding the whole business. Watching all the little Harrys and Hermiones in the bookstore is a treat I wouldn't miss — and having worked as a children's librarian and storyteller in the past, I have to rejoice anytime children are encouraged to read and use their imagination!

A couple of years back, I knitted a Gryffindor scarf for my friend Saundra, who's a fourth-grade teacher, and she tells me that I have become legendary among her students because, according to them, it's the best scarf of its kind they've ever seen. All I can say is, I just found the instructions on the Internet and knitted it out of dime-store acrylic yarn, which was the only kind I could find in the right shades of maroon and gold. There are some fun "magical" knitting and crocheting patterns out there, so I picked my favorite Knitty Gritty project for something special to knit in honor of the publication of the final book in J. K. Rowling's series. If you have a little wizard or princess, I think either of them would be positively enchanted by one of Bev Galeskas's Magic Hats.

I also have to share something with you: check out our new Yummy Yarns quiz. I had the most fun working on it and trying out some great fibers that I'd not used before. Hope you enjoy it!

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July 13, 2007

Wired and Wonderful

My friend Connie amazed me the other day. She was wearing the most beautiful necklace that she'd crocheted out of wire and beads, and when I asked her for some patterns so I could share them with you, she said, "Oh, I don't use patterns. I just start crocheting."

Well, there are some things I can make up out of thin air, but an exquisite gold-and-bead necklace is most assuredly not one of them. I wish I could have shared the design with you, but at least we have a few really gorgeous knitted and crocheted pieces from past shows that you can duplicate. One, from an episode of Jewelry Making, is knitting expert Lily Chin's Beaded Choker, and the other is a Viking Knit Silver Bracelet, designed by Nancie Wiseman, who has been a guest on both Jewelry Making and Knitty Gritty. It looks like Connie is in good company — now if only her talent would rub off on me!

I had some kind responses from viewers that I want to acknowledge. Kim wanted to know about how we were going to manage some sort of uniformity to all the donated squares, and that's a very good question — to which I have no answer! So I'm going to pass it on to other, wiser persons in the hope that someone does have an answer. I'll let you know when and if I learn any more details.

Janice said that she really liked the Hemp Beach Bag, and we are so on the same page! I'm planning to make one (or more) to use as shopping bags as I too am over those plastic things (although I am still hoping to knit a shopping bag out of shopping bags eventually).

Finally, Dori enjoyed the episode on loom knitting and hopes we'll do more of it in the future. I don't know yet what's in the works for upcoming seasons, but I'll certainly let "the powers that be" know that it was a hit!

Have a great weekend, and keep those fingers flying!

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July 9, 2007

Technology: Bah Humbug!

I've been wrestling with technology lately (and losing), and it's made me realize just what I like so much about knitting and crocheting: they're basic and simple and uncomplicated. Most of us, to one degree or another, are locked in a daily struggle with 21st-century technology: working online eight-plus hours a day, driving cars that are like moving supercomputers, submitting ourselves to the verbal impudence of those "scan it yourself" thingies in the supermarket. So it's such a blessed relief to go home at night, have a nice meal and a glass of wine (if one is so inclined) and just settle down with needles and a ball, hank or skein of fiber for some meditational needleplay. It's very restorative after a day in the world, and the results are satisfying on a deep, almost visceral level. Personally, when someone compliments me on a sweater I've made, I feel a deeper sense of accomplishment than I do when someone compliments my computing skills! I'm very glad I have a modest talent for writing (and I'm the first to admit that it is modest at best), but to the day I die, I will be grateful to the special women in my life who shared the gift of needle arts with me. I hope each of us will have the opportunity to pass our own gifts to at least one person. The world is complex enough and likely to get more so for the next generation, so we owe it to them and to the world to keep these arts alive.

Last week I mentioned the crocheted gift I'm making, and I've finished most of it. One thing was still stumping me, however: the container. I tossed around the idea of crocheting a hat and using it as a basket, but somehow that just didn't click for me. Then, quite by accident, I rediscovered a project from a past episode of Uncommon Threads: a Hemp Beach Bag. It requires only one skein, which I already have (being a yarn junkie, I frequently buy single skeins just so I can play with the yarn and get a feel for it), and it looks like it should work up very quickly — it had better, because the friend's birthday is in two days! There's still plenty of beach weather left to enjoy, so I thought I'd share it with all of you with my best wishes for sunny skies and calm seas!

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June 26, 2007

Crocheted in the Shade

I have been a crocheting fool for the past week or so! I don't know what got me started, but suddenly I just wanted to crochet instead of knit for a while, so I grabbed a hook and some cotton yarn and went to town. I'm putting together a gift basket for a friend whose birthday is next month, so I'm making her a set of assorted natural-fiber face cloths and a cotton-and-linen bath mitt. (Wish I could link to the patterns I'm using, but unfortunately they're copyrighted, so I can't do it. Just a hint, though: if you Google "sedge stitch washcloth," I bet you'll find one of them. Don't let on I told you.)

In checking out DIY's crochet projects, I found one that I thought was really neat: a crocheted seagrass hat. I love hats, but here in the South, even the most lightweight one can be way too hot in the summer. This one, however, looks like it would keep your head cool as a cucumber. I think I'll make one, turn it upside down and let it serve as the gift basket; then my friend can take all the swag out of it (I'm also including some handmade jasmine soap I found at a crafts show) and wear it when she goes out in the sun. And of course I'll have to make one for myself — the most fun part of crocheting or knitting stuff is wearing it yourself and basking in other people's reactions!

A note to Roxanne and other interested viewers who missed all the details of the Knit-In, here's a link to a page with lots of information that may be useful. If you need more info, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

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June 15, 2007

The Sweet Smell of Knitting

For years, one of my dreams has been to visit Provence during the lavender blooming season. I admit that I am not only a Francophile but also a lavender fanatic, so it would seem natural that I would place this high on my list of things to do and see before I die. For now, though, I have to content myself with growing lavender in pots (although I do hope to plant it in a border around my patio "someday") and finding crafty things to do with what I harvest. (Admittedly, these days the harvest is modest: before I sold my house and moved into a condo, I had a huge — in excess of a hundred pounds — pot of lavender that was simply too large to take with me, so I left it for the new homeowner.)

I happened upon this project, which couldn't have come at a better time, since my lavender is finally blooming: a gorgeous Flaxseed and Lavender Eye Pillow. I had a silk eye pillow like this once, and I heartily recommend them to help you sleep and to soothe tired eyes and achy heads. I haven't tried the linen yarn recommended, but I have some odd skeins of silk yarn that I may try for my first one, since I don't have enough of it to make anything very big. (One caveat: If your cat is anything like mine, don't leave this pillow where he or she can get at it: lavender seems to have an effect somewhat similar to catnip's, and your eye pillow could become a cat toy!)

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June 7, 2007

Oops! I Did It Again!

It looks like I took yet another mental vacation last week, but in truth, I was asked to flex my rusty acting muscles for a couple of days and just couldn't say no. I had the opportunity to participate in a presentation of readings from the works of Southern humor writers, which was a big thrill since I got to work with some awesome actors and read some classic laugh- (and thought-) provoking material. I was so excited to be back on the stage that my poor little blog got lost in the shuffle.

Besides my blogging, my knitting got put on hold for a while too, but I did discover something that overjoyed me no end: bamboo sheets! I think I've mentioned previously how taken I am with bamboo yarn; well, I found sheets woven of a cotton-and-bamboo blend that are fantastic! They're as soft as silk (and I'm a very picky sheet person), and they wash like a dream. They're also purported to be hypoallergenic and antibacterial and to retain those properties for as many as 50 washings! All I know is that I seem to sleep better on them (and my cuddle-cat, Tom, seems quite comfy on them too, thank you very much).

Since we don't have any projects specifically for bamboo yarn (I hope that will change in the seasons to come), I've chosen another way to honor this miracle grass: a "Bamboo" Mat Tank Runner. Knitted out of organic cotton yarn, it looks like it's made of bamboo slats, and I think it could easily be adapted for placemats or a table runner. (Be sure to check out the coordinating "sushi" bath accessories while you're at it.)

And now, I think my bamboo sheets are calling me….

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May 25, 2007

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I hope everyone's ready for the long weekend — I know I am! My patio is long overdue for some sprucing up, and if I don't get some baskets planted soon, it will be too hot to enjoy them by the time they bloom. So I plan to spend a lot of time doing stuff out of doors at home this weekend (with time off for attending a couple of cookouts and catching the new Johnny Depp movie, of course). So with the great outdoors in mind (and since I really haven't figured out how to knit my very own Johnny Depp), I'm going to share a couple of patterns for Hanging Basket Liners with you. One version is knit on straights and the other on circulars, so whichever your preference, there's sure to be one for you. And they're knit out of kitchen twine, so you can use all that money you save on materials to buy some really gorgeous plants to go in them.

Have a great holiday, everyone, and join me next week for more fun with fibers!

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