blogdogblog

Tops, Toes, Woofs

Six interesting knitted tops at Barkica, and some nice knitted Turkish-inspired slippers from Lowie (select "Click Here To View").

Happy weekend! We have houseguests. They remind you to make phone calls, not 219,000 ponchos.

But, of course, make ponchos, not war. Cheers!

Knit Together Now

Pardon me, international readers, while I address local knitters today. We thank you.

US Knitbloggers: We've all pretty much heard and seen enough hoopla about Martha's poncho, culminating, perhaps, in the No Poncho Pledge. And we are completely puzzled here over the buzzle the poncho raised...if you google it, you'll see that not only Lion Brand has jumped on the knitwagon to accomodate the outcry for the poncho pattern, but a number of other yarn outlets have too. The 8000+ member KnitList has been full of the poncho, and likewise, Martha's Poncho-lust has appeared in our blogging community. Lion Brand, in fact, reports that their free crochet pattern has been downloaded at the rate of 25,000 to 30,000 copies per hour.

Knitters and crocheters! While we (25,000-30,000 an hour!!) are representing ourselves to the world as slaves to the fashions of Martha's crocheting gal-pal and co-inmate, individual rights are being imperiled in this country to perhaps the most dangerous degree yet since the rollback began with the election of the present administration. If we could bring the same passion and press coverage to domestic politics as has been brought by the poncho, there would be no danger, as there is today, of courts being stacked by people who are not going to allow you to choose what is in your personal best interest.

Heads-up! It's the "nuclear option" and it can hurt you.

The so-called nuclear option being considered right now in the Senate is a way to prevent filibusters over judicial nominees. Instead of making sure federal judges have broad support in the Senate, the nuclear option will ensure that the most extreme nominees face no opposition on their way toward the bench. Consult your favorite local news source or read about it here.

If the nuclear option goes forward, the Supreme Court can be packed with up to four new Justices who will make sure that your only concern as a woman is something as non-threatening as whether to use acrylic or wool yarn for your poncho.

Why should you care? Take a look at the bios of some of the judges who are being reconsidered this term here.

What can you do? Visit MoveOn PAC for the background on this issue. Check what the opposition is saying. Go find your senate representative's phone number and make a call.

In less time than it takes to download a poncho pattern, you can request that your senator oppose the nuclear option and assist in requiring judicial nominees to have broad support in the Senate.

Make sense, not ponchos, m'dears, or we'll have only ourselves to blame.

Yet Another Final Digression

Before we hit the high road of tackling our scandalously high stack of WIPs, we share a final wacky textile adventure with you: Knitting with Polar Fleece.

But first, this message from our soapbox. A fiber/textile guild is a terrific source of information and ideas. I miss my guild in New Jersey enormously. Practically the first thing I did upon arrival here was look for a guild—there are several very active ones in Austin, and I joined a couple. I'm rarely able to attend, but I'm always glad when I can be there and hear what others are envisioning and see what they are working on. A guild is sort of like a church in a sense, because like a church, a guild is actually the people who gather together in one place with a broad yet singlular purpose. A guild is different than S'n'B because there is a more formal structure. There's a newsletter, a monthly topic, stuff like that. Dues are usually minimal, but collectively, they allow famous knitters to be flown in for workshops--for example, Maureen Jamieson will be giving a weekend workshop here soon, courtesy of the Austin Knitters and Crocheters Guild. I like guilds. Your experience may vary, but I like them. A guild is as good as the people who are in it, and you are very very good, so please think about checking in with your local guilds. Thank you.

Anyway. At my meeting last Saturday, while we were rabidly needle felting and discussing specs for machine knitting purses to felt, someone mentioned knitting with Polar Fleece. Now that's the kind of creative tangent I live for. Polar Fleece!!! "How would you do it?" I panted. And someone replied "Like when you knit with plastic bags."

Well! That's all we needed to hear.

Observe a single yard of flaming neon Polar Fleece (and the ever-helpful Mikey):

I used a rotary cutter, which is like a pizza cutter but more expensive and much sharper, to cut the Polar Fleece into approximately 1/2 inch strips.

Ow! Rotary cutters are every bit as sharp as those felting needles we discussed previously. Be careful! Especially if, like me, you always run with scissors.

Is it yarn yet? Yes, and within a half-hour or so.

We knit merrily along on US17 Addi circulars, because that's the biggest set of needles we own. I cast on a dozen stitches, kept two on each side in garter stitch, and did the rest in stockinette stitch.

The resulting fabric is curiously appealing, stiff yet comfy, not drape-y but stretchy. At first I thought I preferred the original yard of uncut flaming neon, but the more I squished it about the more I began to think how much more comfortable it would be to walk on than a regular cotton rag rug (of which I have many).

A Polar Fleece bathmat would be a machine-washable and low-cost luxury, I think, but a Polar Fleece knitted scarf would have to be knit on much larger needles than US17, because at this gauge, it's really too stiff to think about wearing. On the other hand, it would make a fabulous Bucket O' Chic. Or, you could think of it as the PoorKnitter's Point Five --just cut the stuff in thinner strips or bump up the needle size :-)

Wednesday. Della thought we could have used our time more productively.

Polar Fleece is a cosy medium, just waiting to be further explored. We wish you happy spelunking in your hobby/passion today. Cheers!

JabJabJab

I forgot to tell you yesterday about some fun I had at a guild demonstration over the weekend, so let me go on and on and on about it for you today!

Needle Felting (Be Careful! You'll Put Your Eye Out!)

Jabjabjabjabjab-ing with felt-making needles is an amazing craft and a tension reliever at the same time. My workshop leader demonstrated how to create shapes from jabbed roving by using cookie cutters...a flower-shape, for example, filled with yellow roving and then jabbed innumerable times, becomes, with the jabbed-repeatedly addition of a tiny brown circle, a Black-eyed Susan to decorate a felted bag. (Or in the case of this black and white photo taken by P. Tittizer, a Gray-eyed Susan.)

Cool. The bags, by the way, were machine-knitted, then felted, making this a project that took only a few hours. Smart! The needle-felted object, in this case the flowers, is needle-felted directly onto the surface of the felted purse, where the little fibers bond irrevocably and nearly instantly. Sweet!

The technique is extremely interesting. Because I had mostly seen little grotesques made by needle-felting, I wasn't that interested in the concept, and while I thoroughly enjoyed jabbing maniacally on felt flowers, I couldn't quite see myself making stuff like that for any reason. Being an inquisitive type, though, I came home and began looking for needle-felted creations that were more than, and I found three enviably splendid examples to send you off to.

First are the elegant felted hats made by Constance Willems. Form plus beautiful function.

Second are the whimsical items felted by Birgitte Krag Hansen. Very light-hearted objects that include wigs and a large bird puppet (plus the ubiquitous trolls).

And third are the slightly scary hats and clothes felted by Elina Saari. Whoa! and WOOF! We like!

Materials required for needle felting are simple and portable: the very sharp and slightly dangerous needles, some roving, and a foam block of some type to prevent you jabbing the needles into your thighs (don's ask me how I know this part). It's an excellent skill to have in your fiber-tool kit, not only for embellishment, but for all types of creative expression, as evidenced in the three urls above.

Courtesy of Mielke's Farm Fiber Arts, there are instructions to make this cute little ladybug.

You can buy a kit, or you can see what you have in your fiber closet and then just get to jabbing :-) Cute, right? Personally, so far we adore the jabbing part, but have not matured enough artistically to make anything to show you. Are you needle-felting? Send me a link to your felt-fotos!

Pups

Another nice day in the garden, made even nicer by being able to harass the neighbors by barking at them non-stop. Dachsunds. Wonderful to live with, but you probably wouldn't want to live next door to them.

Tuesday already . . . imagine! What are you working on? If needle-felting, please confess and show us your stuff. Even if it is trolls.

Have a happy day! Cheers!

(Sometimes I feel like I'm) Tied to the WIPping Post

There are a scandalous number of WIPs around here! We used to confine ourselves to one big work-in-progress and a single pair of socks, but now, there are projects that have been lingering in the sidebar for months. We are going to have ourselves tied to the WIPping post and get busy with the fa knizzle (we are also enjoying musical mashups lately...have you heard this one? 9.6 MB MP3). So why hasn't anyone made a mashup featuring the Allman Brothers Band and Snoop? We need new software around here.

It's Spring Break week in Austin. Everyone is ready to par-tay and I'm happy that I only have to go to work this week :-) I don't have any classes to attend so I hope very much I am able to make a dent in the shockingly high stack of abandoned WIPs.

Knitting

We were knitting-in-public (KIPping) Saturday afternoon, feeling quite pleased with ourselves because we can knit a pair of toe-up socks on two circular needles when we follow Chery's directions.

So what are the chances that a knitter would walk up, sit down beside us, and say (in a rather dismissive tone of voice, we are sad to report): "I always knit two pairs of toe-up socks at a time on two circulars." Well! Why didn't we think of that? We have a new quest! Two pair at a time...who knew? As soon as we finish these green ones, right after Chery tells us how to deal with the heels, then we are so on that project! Of course, we will also be finishing up the Starmore vest and winding the wool for the "Knitted Stitch Pullover"-that-will-be-a-cardigan by Meg Swansen. Peg? Start your engines for our knitalong.

Speaking of socks, I've been meaning to mention Sandi Rosner's nice book Not Just Socks (ISBN: 1-893063-10-0). Just today I found my copy (and yours, too, Emma), so I'd like to commend it to you if you find yourself surfeited with self-patterning sock yarn. There are over 20 cute ways to use up self-patterning sock yarn, and only a couple of the projects are socks. I like this little book and its creative spirit. Cute projects, and plenty of room for further interpretation of Rosner's ideas.

Pups

We had some lovely weather over the weekend; it was the first weekend in six weeks that it hadn't rained throughout the weekend. The pups and I took some short walks and fooled around in our garden. Della and Mikey are wondering when the wisteria will leaf out. And Little Jack is practicing his invisibility skills. Look closely. Can you spot the miniature longhaired dachshund in the ferns?

(Please don't let on that you see him.)

Monday! Have a very happy one!