Jill Draper Blogs

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-10T11:27:00.000-05:00

2012 is looking like it will be the year of dozens.

12 sweaters in '12, 12 pairs of socks in '12, 12 anything knitted & finished in '12

I've decided to take on these challenges myself. MY goal is to both knit 12 garments AND release at least 12 new patterns in 2012.

It's ~~insane~~ ambitious and maybe not possible but this gal is going to try her honest best to get it done!

January's sweater is already to the armholes and a sweater I started this Fall is finally shot (see above) and a bunch of new patterns will be available for the first time this weekend at Vogue Knitting Live in my booth #2304 and there will be a new sweater kit available at Knitting Central's booth #2201.

Here's a little taste:

What are your ambitious undertakings for 2012?

Let's try to cheer each other on and make 2012 the year of doing!

November - I hardly knew you

2011-12-03T10:04:00.000-05:00

Wow! November seemed to arrive and leave in the same breath, during which projects were made and ripped. My NaKniSweMo met with two disasters which proved to be two too many to overcome. The yarn I picked is perfect, sunny shades, warm & lofty. I tried a colorwork neck down yoke which I've never done before and something, somewhere went terribly wrong. It ended up a size big enough for me and a friend to share and I'm still not exactly clear on why. Slightly discouraged, I heard the voice of my Favorite Knitter - Elizabeth Zimmermann whispering "Ah, well these are the things that happen sometimes with designs" and put it away and moved on.

That sweater has been set aside until a time I have a good movie and lots of ripping and detangling time. I will make a sweater with the yarn, just not that one. Not yet.

The good news is my very own Empire sweater is finished and blocked and waiting for buttons to be sewn on this afternoon. It is cozy and Autumnal and just plain old perfect.

Over at Double Knot, Cal & I are working on some holiday hints, crafts, and favorites so you can check in over there over the next month if you're needing a little inspiration for things to make, eat, or buy.

Hope to be back soon with triumphant sweater pics and a few accessories that have been done for ages & just waiting to be shot. New patterns coming soon!

NaKniSweMo -what?!

2011-10-31T14:55:00.000-04:00

That crazy combination of letters either means something to you or you think I just suffered some sort of stroke. Don't worry. I didn't.

NaKniSweMo was thought up by Shannon Okey - maybe you know her as Knit Grrl or the face of Cooperative Press? I could go into some lengthy explanation of what NaKniSweMo is but you should just go over & read the description on the Rav group. I'll wait.

So...Cal said she was going to do it and so did cross border bud Natalie who claims to be making TWO! I've decided I can't resist the challenge of knitting something in a month that's not on a deadline for a publication.

Do you want to try it? Well here's a tiny incentive to get you started. Free shipping in my shop starting today and going until next Monday if you use the code NAKNISWEMO*. BUT that's only the start...I want to see pics of WIPs and finished sweaters so, if you upload a finished JDMS sweater pic to my Facebook Group or Rav group - you'll be entered in a drawing to win a gigantic hank of Empire.

Yup, 1280yds of aran weight NYS Rambouillet wool.

Oh, and I know the "real" NaKniSweMo is supposed to be 50,000 sts but I've never been a stickler for the rules so as long as the sweater is either made from JDMS yarn or from one of my patterns AND started & finished in November it counts.

*again, because of my dislike of strict rules, if you want to order yarn and not use it for NaKniSweMo and still get free shipping, that's okay too :)

Long time, no blog

2011-10-24T13:50:00.000-04:00

I know, I know... it has been ages since anything new got typed in this space! It's because I've been so busy doing things, I've hardly had a chance to photograph then or type about them!!

Let's see, after Sock Summit I ran head first into fiber fest prep. I had a lovely time and came home with many goodies from Finger Lakes Fiber Fest, Southern Adirondack Fiber Fest and NYS Sheep & Wool (aka RHINEBECK) luckily I was also selling some stuff along the way.

In no particular order and without pics of everything because well, I don't want to seem like a yarn & notions hoarder (I'm not and I will swear that to you unless you have a trip planned to my studio). OH and some of it is for top secret present making :)

A cute elfin project bag from Stitched By JessaLu -

is it wrong to hope these guys do a little work on the project inside while I sleep?

Recycled Silk from Hampton Artistic Yarns

I *may* have gotten more than the one hank but it was the first time I got to see it in person! I've been coveting online for a while, now the question is what to make with it?!

Also a bag of crazy, tropical fruit batts (nope, not intended) also from Hampton Artistic Yarns, besides just plain liking Debbie, she makes some really lovely stuff.

This pile of crazy might be my first hand spun "art" yarn. I think these colors should keep me warm & happy on the most grey Winter day.

Also from a lovely Rhinebeck vendor who didn't label their hanks (please, please, vendors: label your yarn, I'm both slightly disorganized and a little overyarnwhelmed and I will never find the card I wrote your info on)

From what I can remember this yarn is 10-20% angora and the balance is Merino. What I know for sure is, I bought a sweater's worth mainly in pearly grey and a few bright rose hanks and this sweater will be AMAZING and for ME.

Also irresistible was this rainbow hank of fingering weight SW Merino from Steam Valley Fiber Farm

Honestly, the picture does not do this beauty justice! Phylleri creates fantastic colorways and I have no idea what this is destined for but it will be good!

Let's see... I also designed a window for Wing & Clover in Rhinebeck

Scheduled some classes at Purl SoHo, including a brand new class to make Fraternal Knee Socks from the toes up

Made pies, ate pies. Knitted some, ripped more. Started tweeting. Saw friends new & old from near & far. Made plans. Dyed lots and lots and lots of yarn.

So that was my "Summer Vacation". What have you been up to?

Sock Summit round up

2011-08-17T16:05:00.003-04:00

Okay, I know, I have no socks on in this picture and most of you have already seen the shoes, but I love them! Haven't seen them yet? They are from the lovely Ren @ FairySteps and after wearing them all day standing on my feet for two days straight I love them even more!

I'm barefoot because the weather for the week Cal & I spent in Portland was absolutely dreamy! Honestly the weather was the least "best" part of our week in Portland. I could go on and on about how many kind and enthusiastic knitters I met.

The above picture is Lise and ~~a dear knitter whose name I didn't write down & has gotten lost in my memory of new faces~~ LeeAnn, both wearing the Summit pattern from Knitty - which I have been dreaming of knitting in my "off" time, knitted in fingering weight & DK. I love when a pattern works in multiple yarn weights and one of the awesome things about Sock Summit, this was a totally chance meeting!

And crocheters too! Let's not forget about the crocheters! The above pic is a close up of the MOST lovely freeform crochet I've ever seen. Done by the equally lovely Bonnie Pierce.
I love her use of color, some freeform crochet can be a bit, well, garish and hers is so sophisticated & truly lovely!

The awesomeness of Stephanie, Tina, and their crew of henchmen (Natalie, Debbie, Rachel and all the rest) at putting together such a huge and perfectly run event really awes me. Did I mention they did it all while smiling the entire time. They did.

I was going to post a pic here of the HUGE line to get in the first night but decided some of the tons (hundreds? thousands?) of knitters waiting anxiously to get in might not want to be revealed...
So instead I'll post a few pics of why Portland is kind of awesome:

Yup, a giant bike rack AND a sign that there is additional bike parking..IN THE GARAGE!
Love that!

Portland has its quirks too. On my first day there I saw the *second biggest pile of pretzels* I've ever seen. Just laying there on the sidewalk, a garbage bags worth of pretzels but not in a garbage bag. I guess there was also a craft beer fest happening at the same time but the pretzels were the only evidence I ever saw of it.

Cal & I had one of the most delicious dinners I've maybe ever had at Biwa which I heard about thanks to a tweet from Grace Bonney the woman behind Design Sponge and luckily it was walking distance from our hotel. To be fair, NYer walking distance but since Cal & I were at one time NYers we were happy for the outside stomping time. I had one of the most delicious cocktails along with our shared meal of lots (and LOTS and LOTS) of little bites. It was called the Community Garden and I don't exactly remember the make up but it included tequila, Pimm's and a heaping dose of fresh mint & cucumbers "growing" out of the glass. Crisp and much needed after teaching & vending all day!

I went to an amazing lecture given by Karla & Gladys aka "the pooling ladies". I am tempted to ramble on about how inspiring and creative their work is but maybe you should just join their Ravelry group & see for yourself. Basically they have figured out how to make hand dyed yarns behave in amazing and fresh ways. Did I mention, they want all their pooling knowledge to be open source? They do and that rocks. Since attending the lecture I have started two pooling projects but both are gifts so they'll have to remain under wraps for now.

The quick sum up:

I had a booth. I taught classes to some of the nicest, most talented, not to mention FAST knitters. I ate really, really well, even from food carts. I got to see a few West Coast friends I see rarely and one I had never met in real life before. I was welcomed to Portland by attending the Teacher dinner surrounded by knitting luminaries I felt so lucky to be in the company of. I did not make Cal want to kill me or if I did at least she resisted the urge. I went to the beautiful and beautifully run Happy Knits - if you ever are in Portland, go visit, you won't be sorry. I found out that Denny's (at least in Portland) has turkey bacon and it's pretty good. I found out that Denny never ever tires of "put a bird on it". I realized Stephanie & Tina are even bigger sci fi nerds than I am. I remembered that no matter how fantastic a trip I have I am always more happy to come home to my house, my kitties and most of all my love.
I know the next Sock Summit won't be for another 2 years but I'll look forward to it until then.

*this is a Get Smart reference for those of you non-nerds out there

I'd like to introduce you to....

2011-07-26T09:00:00.002-04:00

(hopefully) a few new friends...

It has been a dog's age since I posted here - sorry! but if you remember waaaay back in June I said I was working really hard on some brand new yarns.

Well, as you're reading this Cal & I are winging are way to Portland to SOCK SUMMIT the yarn is already safely there in booth #823 waiting for our arrival. Luckily, it wasn't too camera shy before it left and I got a few pictures.

Evie who thoughtfully shared some of her hair for this yarn.

Artemis - 70% NYS Romney Lambswool 30% Mohair

Sport weight 337yds 4 oz

Why Artemis?

The ancient Greeks believed she was the protectress of woman & wild animals. This yarn is made, in part, from goats raised by my mom, sheared by a woman, milled at a female owned mill and dyed by your truly (who definitely qualifies as a woman or a wild animal) and all within the bounds of New York State!

Aurora - 70% Wool 30% Silk

Lace weight single 460yds 50g

Nimbus - 70% Angora 30% Silk

Lace weight 2 ply 435yds 50 g

And what of Earth is this?

Empire

100% Rambouillet Wool

Aran weight 1280 yds 1.5lbs

A mega hank of hand dyed Rambouilett Wool designed by me & made exclusively for Jill Draper Makes Stuff! Can you tell I'm excited?

Even better this yarn is made from sheep to skein right here in New York State. I couldn't be more proud of this locally grown, milled and dyed yarn, I hope you love it as much as I do!

If this isn't enough eye candy for you, I've posted a whole bunch of preview pics in my Flickr pool in the set Sock Summit Preview

I hope the July heat is, at least, treating your garden well and I promise to tell you all about Sock Summit when I get home.

Until then Happy Knitting!

There is nothing in a caterpillar...

2011-06-12T11:44:00.000-04:00

...that tells you it is going to be a butterfly.

That is what Buckminster Fuller said, at least, and if he could imagine the geodesic dome he must have been pretty ingenious.

This picture is from my amazing, lovely, inspiring week at Squam Art Workshops. Without knowing it, I have recently been feeling like this little guy. Working hard, chewing away a little bit at a time waiting for the day to emerge as a changeling, almost the same but not quite.

More on that in the weeks to come. For now, just know, it might not look like anything is happening but something (good, I hope) is in the works...

Back to Squam, the week started slightly rocky. Cal, Carisa & I had a little trouble getting to Squam. If you own a Ford Windstar I strongly suggest taking it to the dealership and having a real, true assessment of it, especially the rear axle. With no warning because of a recall I wasn't notified of, this happened:

And it was scary. Luckily all involved are fine; Cal & I now know what it's like to ride (and knit!) in a van on the back of a flatbed tow truck, so there's that...

~~Almost~~ All my troubles disappeared though, once I entered the serene setting of Squam, met my cabin mates (Hi, Maple Shaders!) the wonderous Elizabeth and settled in for a beer on the dock.

This blog post would be pages long if I detailed every kind, creative, interesting person I met at SAW, I'll give you the short version and just say, if you have never experienced this, you should. Every day at lunch & dinner, a table on the way into the dining hall would fill with works in progress, I was so impressed at the quality of work being produced!

And to top it all off, this ^ was the scenery outside my door! How could it be better than that!

Well, there could be some gorgeous lady slippers in bloom scattered throughout the woods & along paths that looked something like this:

Or nightly, one could hear fascinating talks given by Stephanie Pearl McPhee, Ysolda, Thea Coughlin & Sarah Ahearn...
I could go on...and on...and on...

But, I'll try my best to finish this post up succinctly with 10 things I learned at SAW:

1. Everything they say about Canadians is true (wait, is what they say that all Canadians are talented, kind and hilariously funny? Yes? Then it is true)
2. There are lots of amazing LYSs I've never been to but absolutely need to go see ASAP,
Princess Animal, Happy Knits & Lettuce Knit I'm thinking specifically of you!
3. Tall, thin, blond, gorgeous women can be intelligent, fun, and interesting - what can I say, we all have our prejudices...Thanks Jen, Thea & Noel for showing me the light!
4. New Hampshire in June can have a 40 degree temperature drop in 24 hours
5. Kitchener stitch is named for a general who hated sock seams rubbing on his toes almost as much as I hate it
6. If you are going to SAW and really want to fit in you MUST have at least one Hodge Podge Farm garment to show off, it is perfectly acceptable to have drafted the pattern from Cal's book, made it in one of her classes or purchased one of the lovelies she makes herself - I have two of the three in my closet...
7. You can make monoprints with supplies from the grocery store & help from the fabulous Maya
8. Five days can seem like and eternity and gone in a flash at exactly the same time
9. It is perfectly normal to return home from SAW with 2 twigs, an acorn and 4 strike anywhere matches in your pocket as well as long list of blogs you need to start reading immediately
10. The most wonderful man in the entire world lives at my house and no matter what kind of craziness I put him through I can be sure to return home to a prepared meal, glass of wine & clean kitchen

Okay, back to the dye house for me (that's my basement for those of you in the know :) and hopefully off to a wonderful day for you filled with stumbled upon wonders and just a little bit of letting it all go for a while and soaking in the moment.

Shoes & more Sock Summit

2011-05-24T15:46:00.001-04:00

If you're in the North East and like me you probably need some color right now. The picture above is yarn my booth set up at Clermont a few weeks ago. I realized I had nothing but bright happy colors to combat the grey days we've been having.

Wow! This Spring has been flying by. I've barely put away Winter stuff and it's practically June already!

I've finished one sweater to wear at Squam, (you can buy the pattern on Ravelry if you want to make your own) have a few inches of new knee socks done. Oh, I can't believe I haven't shared these beauties yet...

Yup, I know.
They are divine. They are HANDMADE by the fabulous Ren at Fairysteps. I could honestly go on for at least an hour about how fantastic these shoes are. If you are one of my real life friends you have probably already heard about them in detail. After a few weeks wait while they were carefully crafted they showed up at my door & I was absolutely thrilled. The sky blue leather is so soft and buttery and they are so incredibly well made they were well worth every penny. I'm not sure I've ever loved shoes so much.

I've been trying to wrap my head around the fact that Cal & I are teaching at SOCK SUMMIT and on top of that I might get the rare treat of international buddy Alisa joining us in Portland!! I am so happy. So happy, in fact, that I nerdily typed into the map (original version here) the Summitistas so generously provided all the vendor names on their places. Is this crazy? Kind of. BUT I'm teaching & having a booth so my actual shopping time is going to be really limited, which means I need to come up with an organized plan so I don't miss anything!

Wanna take advantage of my dorkiness? You can! Below is a link to the 2 page black & white pdf you can download & print yourself. This is just how the layout stands now, things can always change so about a week before Sock Summit I'll update this file with any changes.
Sock Summit 2011 Vendor Map

What are your "can't miss" stops at Sock Summit?

Spring has sprung, but it's a little rusty

2011-05-19T08:55:00.000-04:00

Yay! First strawberry. Well, almost.

Unexpected tulip. I didn't plant any pink ones, thanks squirrels!

The backyard now smells fantastic! Lilac & Honeysuckle in bloom.

Admittedly these photos are a little over a week old. Why? Well, because it has been raining for what feels like forever!

In the intervening weeks since my last post I've gone to Philly for a family wedding. Which was fun but of no interest to you guys. While in Philly though, I made time to stop at the fascinating Mütter Museum - if you are planning a trip to Philadelphia or live nearby I highly suggest stopping here. BUT only if you are not easily "creeped out" it is a medical museum at the College of Physicians so there is some stuff that I guess ~~some~~ most might find a little gross. There is no photography allowed inside like most museums, so I guess you are going to have to see it for yourselves.

I will say though they had a plaster cast of Chang & Eng the "original" Siamese twins, that I loved seeing. I read a great novel about their lives and have been sort of obsessed ever since. They fathered 21 children between them! No pun intended.

I have been busily preparing for my week at Squam Art Workshops. Getting excited and trying to make lots yarn for the Squam Art Fair, which by the way is open to all, not just Squam attendees. Oh! And there is free beer :)
I have a waaay too long list of projects I hoping to complete while at Squam. Wish me luck! I did complete something *for me* to wear there. It just so happens I'm also teaching a class on said "thing" starting this weekend at Wing & Clover. I think there are still a few spots left, details on Double Knot. It a pretty quick & easy knit with no shaping and barely any purling. Okay, there is purling in the ribbing and once you separate the front & back but not too much :)

I have been rabidly following waaay too many discussions of Sock Summit on Ravelry. I still can't believe Cal & I are going! I mean, seriously check out this list of classes. I could happily attend ANY of the classes on this roster & learn something from each one.
My classes are here and Cal's are here, come have socky fun with us!!!

I better get back to dyeing yarn. Let's all keep our fingers and toes crossed for some sunny days.

Dinner as the sun sets

2011-05-05T08:14:00.000-04:00

Two posts in one week, that might be record breaking for this blogger!

As the weather here in Upstate NY starts to warm up and the days stretch longer and longer I often find myself still working away as the suns sets, only now it's after 7 instead of after 5. So, I'm always looking for quick fix dinners that are healthy, unfussy and don't have me at the grocery store starved looking for some arcane ingredient. What the heck is sorrel anyway?

In the Spring and Summer this is one of my "go to" quick dinners. Oh, and if you are a fussy weights & measures type, this isn't for you. I use "ish" as a unit of measure.

Grilled Trout
You will need one trout per person, the lovely local market here has fresh, boned & gutted trout that are absolutely perfect, the only thing that could be more perfect, for the more intrepid among you, is if you catch & clean them yourselves

You will also need;
1 large lemon or two small lemons (this is for two servings)
a handful of fresh herbs, I used dill in this round but I usually use whatever is up in my herb garden, parsley & thyme are also super delicious
olive oil
salt & pepper, I have to say here you really should use kosher salt & freshly ground pepper, I don't want to sound all food snobby but it does make a difference
asparagus
arugula

Part of what makes this dinner so good is the smoke from a charcoal grill, you could (I guess) cook inside but it's so nice out why not pour a glass of wine & sit on the deck.

Wash herbs, arugula & asparagus and trim off the hard ends from the asparagus. Set aside while you start your charcoal.

While charcoal is getting ready, soak kitchen string in water for tying your trout up.
Salt & pepper insides & outsides of the fish and insert thin slices of lemon (about 1/4"), some lemon zest and add lots of herbs. Sometimes here I sneak a little butter in to, why, because butter makes everything better! But it isn't necessary.

Tie up your fish, I use some method -I think- I learned from watching Martha Stewart tie up a roast.
Rub olive oil on both skin sides of the fish and put it in a pan made for using on the grill. Once the charcoals are at that beautiful glowing but not flaming stage, put the pan on.
Toss your asparagus with a little olive oil, salt & pepper and put around the pan directly on the grate, keep turning as necessary and take off as soon as they are tender crisp.

After about 5-7 minutes flip the fish, it will take about the same time on the other side.
Plate your trout, grilled asparagus & dress your arugula in a nice mustard vinaigrette and dinner is ready to go!

Enjoy outside, with crisp, white wine or lemony wheat beer.
So that's my quick fix, go to dinner, what about you? I'd love to hear what you make when you realize it's dinner time & have nothing planned.

Socks, Sheep & Squam

2011-05-03T12:22:00.000-04:00

I really don't have a thing for the letter S it just keeps popping up! If you've read (or heard, even though this is the internet I would believe from wherever you are reading this you might have heard me, I'm so excited) my squealing on Facebook & Ravelry but the fantastic Cal Patch & I will both be teaching at this year's Sock Summit and we've been jumping up and down, calling each other & making sure "it is real" and in a general state of giddiness for months. FINALLY the classes have been announced and registration starts tomorrow at 12pm PDT! I will have a booth at the marketplace there as well and the ONLY bad part about teaching & having a booth is I don't think I'll have time to take any classes. Which truly is a shame because there are some of my knitting heroes, (new & longstanding) teaching amazing classes!

Cal is teaching Embroidery & Applique for Socks and Fanciful Crochet Edgings for Socks both of which, to this mainly 'plain vanilla' sock knitter, sound perfect!
Franklin Habit, Amy Singer, Lucy Neatby and Cookie A all have classes scheduled that sound so interesting and completely unique. I could blab on about them but I'm sure they describe them best themselves, go read the descriptions! Let me know in the comments what you've signed up for so I can "knit" vicariously through you.

On the sheepy front, there is a Fiber market day scheduled at The Clermont Historic Site on May 14th from 12 - 4pm. I'll be there with gobs of yarn in tow and hopefully we'll have the beautiful, dreamy weather we should be having in May! I hope to see some of you there.

I do all my scheduling on a google calendar and recently the monthly view started showing Sqaum!! That means it's less than a month away. I can't believe it. I am so thrilled to be going, a week by a lake in NH with friends and crafty, fibery, people and classes - even yoga, honestly, what could be better? Cal & I will be drving from Upstate NY and need travel mix suggestions. What are your favorite songs or albums to drive to? One of my all time favorites is Nebraska, if you've never heard this album (really? where have you been living?), please, go to your local record store & pick it up. In preparation for Squam I have been reading a Ravelry thread, called "what are you making to wear at Squam", and feeling panicky about not having enough handmade clothing to wear when there...

But then I finished this sweater. Yay! It was started for a class I'm teaching at Wing & Clover, and it fits me perfectly, I am so happy with my color choice and it's even season appropriate!

I'll keep you updated as my Squam projects progress, keep your fingers crossed for me that I keep crossing "to-be-mades" off my list.

This post is being brought to you by the letter S

2011-02-27T08:51:00.000-05:00

Syracuse, NY
First, I've been meaning to tell you all about this amazing fiber retreat I'm teaching at next month in Syracuse. The picture above is a swatch I knit for the retreat, I'll be teaching a double knit cowl class using this pattern. I'm also teaching re-knittable aka...
Short row heels & toes. There are lots of advantages to short row heels & toes but I especially like the fact that if you wear a hole through your precious hand knit socks you can just pick up the stitches & re-knit. At this retreat I'll be in the fine company of teachers like buddies Cal Patch & Kristy Mc Gowan as well as Jennifer Van Calcar of Holiday Yarns, Sandy Wiseheart who co-founded Knitting Daily, Kerry Dorn, Lisa Ann Merian of Spinner's Hill & Beth Coye.
It should be a fun fiber-y weekend, I hope to see you there!

Rav event here

For those of you (GASP) non-Ravelers you can find more info & register through Yarn Cupboard

Spring & Summer are also filled with lots of stuff I'm dying to tell you all about! There is of course the fabulously local Chancellor's Sheep & Wool @ the Clermont Historic site in Germantown on April 23rd which is usually nice (read: sunny, not too hot, not too cold) weather and the grounds of Clermont are so lovely they're worth a wander even when not dotted with yummy fiber booths.

Then later in the Summer there are two events that I can guarantee you'll be hearing more about as they get closer...

Sqaum Art Workshops & Sock Summit! Yes, the Squam & the Sock Summit. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to go to both of these for the first time this year! They are still pretty far off so, I'll save all the juicy details for a later post.

Finally on my S theme I created a Facebook page for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival. If you haven't been, it is in Greenwich, NY, near where I grew up, and it is a newish & fantastic event. This is the third year and I suspect it will be even better this year than the past two. Around 100 local vendors, with lots of space to walk (even with strollers or walkers!) and not so crowed that you can really interact with the vendors & smoosh to your heart's delight.

Well, that does it for now.

Happy Sunday!

Color at Fashion Week & Rhinebeck

2011-02-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

So in my excitement & blathering on about fashion week & warm weather I forgot to mention something I wanted to let you know about! Why does the first warm weather of the season melt even the most organized of brains? No worries though, it is supposed to snow tonight so my Spring daydreaming has been cut short...

I wanted to remind you that I'll be teaching one of my favorite classes next Sunday and for the two following Sundays (2/27, 3/6 &3/13 from 11-2) at Wing & Clover in Rhinebeck, Knitting in Color

This class is meant for those who have knit lots of projects but are afraid to "go off the map" adding a second color to your knitting projects is a fun & easy way to make that hat you've knit 150 times exciting again! Also, it's a great way to personalize projects. You could add a band of fair isle at the cuff of a sweater, a monogram to a simple pillow pattern, a slip stitch edge to a basic watch cap. the possibilities are literally endless!

Which brings me to my next fashion week trend spotting, pop art & trompe l'oeil. I have always been a huge fan of trompe l'oeil, I have owned & proudly worn both "skeleton" & "tuxedo" t-shirts in my life.


(photo courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Vera White, 1952)

Probably the most famous trompe l'oeil in knitwear is the extraordinary "Bowknot" sweater designed by Elsa Schiaparelli for her 1927 collection (which if you're interested in re-creating, the instructions can be found here - thank you Schoolhouse Press!) and while I'm rambling on about fashion & designers I mention that if you are not familiar with Elsa Schiaparelli's work - get thee to the library! Or at least use google to see some of her amazing, prescient, funny and brilliant surrealist designs.

Sorry, back to this season...

Jeremy Scott showed a reworking of the classic skeleton tee in sweater form for both men & women.

Betsey Johnson showed a softer side of gun ownership - that is IF you count a gun print sweater as gun ownership

a new take on her wink collection

and a short sweater with what looks like a an old ruler with a ruler pun on it, remember those rulers you would get at the county fair?

Maybe visual gags aren't your thing, or maybe the wink is a bit much but just a Cheshire cat grin would suit you?

What better time than now to learn how to not only knit intarsia but in Knitting in Color I also show you how to design your own intarsia patterns and give you knitting graph paper to explore with. I can't wait to see what you dream up!

Fashion week & February thaw

2011-02-18T13:58:00.000-05:00

For the first time in a long time we have windows open in the house. It's cold in here but it feels so nice to be able to have fresh air circulating again. Here, in upstate New York we are getting our first taste of Spring. The few feet of snow in the yard are starting to melt away, very possibly to be replaced, sooner rather than later but I won't think about that now. Now I'll put yarn outside to dry for the first time in months, use the grill and bask in the balmy 50s.

At the same time not so far away in Manhattan NY Fashion Week wrapped up yesterday. I love flipping through pictures from all the shows & was planning on sharing a little wrap up of what I found lovely & intriguing especially when it comes to knitwear design. I poured over so many pictures and found so many things I'd like to share that I think I'll break it up over a couple posts.

images via style.com

The first thing I noticed; and maybe because as a first time Sock Summit attendee (did I mention that yet? - I'M GOING TO SOCK SUMMIT!) I have hosiery on the brain; was the amazing display of tights & socks. The legs pictured above are mostly from Anna Sui (on purple background) the deep rust are Charlotte Ronson & the plaid-ish ones are from Libertine.

Intarsia, plaid, lacy and textured I love (and would like to own) all of these. I'll admit a little bias here, I went to a Catholic high school and the only thing we could change from day to day was our legwear. I had an epic tights & socks collection, and still have a hard time resisting a really good pair. I have never made hand knit tights but it is one of my goals for 2011, to have a knitted tight pattern available, so this will be the year! I figure, I've made socks & I've made boy short bathing suit bottoms -once- so really the only part I haven't done is the thigh shaping, how hard could it be, right?

I'll let you know how that project goes along. I'm hoping to develop at least one knitting pattern based on each of the themes I see in Fall 2011 - wish me luck!

Sweater for moi & a few more contest-y days...

2011-01-22T15:51:00.001-05:00

As knitters, we often end up gifting more of our knitted goodies than keeping. As a knitwear designer most of my knitting ends up at magazines or as shop samples (which shops you say? well, you can find my yarns and patterns at a few lovely shops; Clay, Wood & Cotton, White Barn Farm, Wing & Clover, Yarn Cupboard and even more coming soon)

So? What does that have to do with the Thomas Moran painting opening this post? I love the Hudson River school of painting & love even more the parts of the Hudson Valley that still look like this, which by the way there are still quite a lot of! I decided I needed a new sweater just for me, this was partially spurred on by a question asked to all the contributors in the January issue of Knitting Today

"What is your knitting New Year's resolution?", mine was to make more stuff for ME!

I started by sketching dozens (really) of ideas. I wanted something fun to knit but not completely overwhelming. Something different than the sweaters I design for magazines, a little weirder and slightly off mainstream tastes. Once I made on the sketch to the left, I knew I had it. I've had the Thomas Moran painting above saved to my desktop for ages because it reminds me of my favorite time here in the Hudson Valley.

I dug through my stash of "orphaned" Splendor, luckily I had 2 solids and a multi that worked perfectly for the sweater I had in mind! Then I made gobs of swatches, pulled out & reknit. The swatch I have posted over here to the right is gigantic, I can't emphasize enough the importance of giant swatches. You might be able to tell in the mini bobble (leafy) part of the swatch I changed the pattern mid-stream, noted. It is a one row change from knitting on the wrong side to purling but to me made all the difference, the bobbles stand out a bit more & each one has it's own color.

I then blocked it like crazy because the ribbing, stockinette stitch and bobbles all had waaaaay different gauges, I could adjust this by increasing or decreasing but I like a relaxed ribbing, it is much kinder on the *ahem* lower torso.

Blocking a swatch, crazy, you say! But, if you plan on blocking the finished piece you absolutely HAVE to also block the swatch. Since the swatch is telling you how the finished sweater will look and feel, you want to treat it just like the finished sweater.

A close up "beauty" shot

My swatch is 45 stitches across and 6 1/2" wide which gives me a gauge of 6.9 sts/ in. I am roughly 36" at my high hip which is where I plan on the sweater hitting me and I'm using a 3x6 rib so I need a multiple of 9. Okay here comes the mathy part:

6.9 sts/ in multiplied by 38" (I want a little room in there) is 262.2.
262.2 divided by 9 (the mutiple of my stitch pattern) is 29.1333
Since you can't cast on tenths of stitches I'll go with 29 multiples of 9 for a total cast on of 261.
Just to double check, I divide 261 by my gauge of 6.9 sts/in, which should give me a blocked circumference of 37.8" so I'll have almost my desired 2" of ease.
Now to cast on & start mt sweater. I plan on blogging my process although only in the size I'm making so if you want to follow along I'd love to see what you do!

I hope all that technical stuff hasn't put you to sleep!
Don't forget there's just over a week left to enter my contest on Facebook (details in my previous post here.) There have already been quite a few winners & I'm so happy to have all the new people as part of my facebook community.
Have I mentioned lately that I love knitters & crocheters? They really are some of the most kind people you will ever come across.

New Classes & a Contest...

2011-01-11T11:34:00.001-05:00

On Sunday I taught the first session of Thrummed Mittens at White Barn Farm. It was an absolutely beautiful day & the class was really fun. It was great seeing the combination of wool & yarn everyone picked out, I can't wait to see the finished products!

Now, are you wishing that you had signed up? If you are, I am teaching another 2 session class starting this Saturday at Wing & Clover in Rhinebeck, These mittens are a fun quick knit & will keep your fingers toasty in the frigid Hudson Valley Winter!

The classes are Saturdays, January 15 &22 11:00-2:00, contact Wing & Clover 845.876.1035 to sign up.

At the end of February, at Wing & Clover I'm teaching one of my favorite classes, Knitting in Color. I think a lot of people don't try colorwork because they're intimidated by the techniques. I personally love color & rarely knit solid pieces. Once you've tried fair isle, intarsia & slip stitch colorwork I think you'll be hooked & find yourself adding just a little to every project. Classes are Sundays, Feb. 27, March 6, 13 11:00-2:00 (3 sessions), you can contact Wing & Clover 845.876.1035 to sign up.

Didn't I mention something about a contest? I did!

So, here's whats happening, a local chocolatier, Lagusta's Luscious had a contest on her Facebook page (through which my dear friend Cal will be enjoying some yummy artisanal chocolates). I loved the idea & thought it was a great way to grow the community & give you some yarn! This is how the contest will work:

1) ask your knitter-y, crochet-ish, fiber loving friends to "like" Jill Draper Makes Stuff on Facebook

2) if 7 people post "I'm here because so & so - (that's you) sent me" I will send you a hank of Splendor, I'll pick a fab color for you, don't worry!

I guess there have to be some rules, so here they are:

* you have to live in the US

* you have to be 18, I guess, the legal stuff kind of eludes me but it seems appropriate, sorry minors

* Even if you get 150 people to like the page I can only send yarn once but I really appreciate it & think you have amazing networking skills!

* We'll run the contest until the end of January

How does that sound?

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-04T13:45:00.000-05:00

December flew by in a total blur but 2011 is off to a great start. I've been busy dyeing lots of new colorways in both Splendor & Hudson. I'm scheduling lots of classes here in the Hudson Valley and slightly farther afield, I'll update classes here often.

One of the classes I have a lot of fun teaching (and wearing the finished product from) is Thrummed Mittens, I have classes for this scheduled at Wing & Clover and White Barn Farm. Thrumming is an ancient method of knitting unspun wool in with yarn to make a garment that is filled with soft, downy, wool which keeps fingers nice & toasty.

I've been swatching lots for submissions to magazines & new patterns. There are a few new JDMS patterns in the works. Over the month of January I plan to share with you my process for designing & knitting a sweater from start to finish. Coming soon sketches & inspirations...

One of my many 2011 goals is to keep up this blog more regularly. I love hearing what you think, seeing finished projects & sharing in general crafting goodness. Please feel free to share here, in my Ravelry group or my Facebook page.

Hard at Work

2010-11-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

That, is if you call dyeing lots and lots of yarn & working on a bunch of new patterns hard work. In some ways it is but it's also the best job I've ever had!

Anyway, there's lots more to be done so I'll leave you with some new stuff I've been working on.

Husdon Superwash Merino - Cobalt

Hudson Superwash Merino - Volcanic

New pattern - Late Fall, just a quick, easy, slouchy hat made with chunky yarn.

Splendor Sock - Yarmouth

I'm also sharing handmade gift ideas over at Double Knot Studio, between Cal & I we'll give you 30 different ideas to either craft or shop handmade this year instead of the mall or giant retailers.

I wish you restful weekend full of turkey sandwiches (I like mine with dijon mustard, apples & NYS cheddar)!

From Sketch to Garment

2010-11-16T16:21:00.000-05:00

I've found it impossible to keep up with blogging while teaching classes, attending fiber fests and my baby brother's wedding(!), all while also trying to design & keep my shop stocked!

Eeep. It has been a looong time between posts.

But I thought I would share a little of what I've been doing...

So that is the sketch I sent to Knitting Today when I pitched my cape idea, (man, it is a lot harder to draw kids!)

And here is their picture of the finished garment:

I love that the model is wearing rainboots & crazy tights like my sketch is! I have another pattern featured in this magazine for an adult cable sweater, a super quick knit in bulky yarn.

What's next you ask? Well you'll just have to stay tuned to my infrequent blog posts to find out.

In the meantime, you could always check out Double Knot Studio where Cal & I blog about all manners of crafty things.

Fiber Fest Season

2010-09-23T11:01:00.001-04:00

What can I say, almost nothing in the whole world makes me happier than a few days of yarn-y, fiber-y goodness and I get two full weekends in a row! Last weekend I headed out to Hemlock NY to the Finger Lakes Fiber Fest which although a long trip was well worth it.

Hemlock is about 30 miles from Rochester and in some of the most pastoral farm country imaginable. The drive from the house of a friend I was staying with in Geneva to the fest was the most amazing way to start each day winding up & down hills surrounded by green and the slight smell of nearby farms which I will fully admit to kind of loving. This is what I woke up to each morning the view out my window:

Not the best photography in the world but this view of Seneca Lake was amazing!

The day I went to set up I spotted this guy tied to a fence the same way people do with their dogs when they run in for a cup of coffee.

My dear friend Kristy accompanied me and made sure I was fully caffeinated throughout the show. She was equally enamored with this llama but I'll spare her from posting her pic with the llama. Kristy just had an absolutely beautiful knitting book published and if you are a lover of top down knitting and elegant silhouettes I highly recommend it.

It's called Modern Top Down Knitting and includes some of the most beautiful projects I have ever seen. There are knitted dresses included in this collection that could be straight off the runway but easily wearable and finishing techniques explained that give beautiful couture touches that will make these garments favorite pieces in your wardrobe.

I've got to keep this post short because on Friday I leave for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Fest and I've still got lots to do....

This is some of what you will see this weekend:

Hope to see you in Greenwich!

(and if you are going, DO NOT pass up ice cream from the Icecream Man I grew up in the area and might be salivating just thinking about the cone I will be enjoying in a few short days)

Cormos & the perfect drive

2010-09-05T17:28:00.000-04:00

I went to White Barn Farm - a new knitting store in Gardiner - to drop off some yarn and I took a route I hadn't taken when driving that way before and found one of my favorite drives. It has cliffs & low, wide, slow moving water, all the things I love about the Hudson Valley. It reminded me that a whole group of 19th century painters found inspiration in this same landscape and there are still a few places that if you squint your eyes a little to blur out the phone wires & houses in the distance you can see some of the most beautiful views around.
I was driving, so no photos of the drive but...
Paula, the proprietor of White Barn Farm & caretaker of the Cormos that also reside on the grounds was kind enough to let me make a sheep visit to go out & see the flock. I love shooting animals of all sorts and these Cormos were not only photogenic, I think they may have been posing for me:

More on White Barn Farm to come...

This weekend is a double market weekend for me! Kingston Farmers Market with Cal (of Hodge Podge Farm) and at the Woodstock New Paltz Craft Fair with the Ulster County Hand Spinners. Cal & I were nearly blown away at the Farmers Market but here are some shots form this month & August's market:

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Zimmermann!

2010-08-09T12:22:00.001-04:00

EZ revolutionized knitting before I was even around, much less a knitter, she would have turned 100 today! So, as you work on today's projects don't forget to whisper a little thank you to EZ into your knitting.

EZ knitting on the sleeve of the jacket she is wearing, taken by Walter Sheffer.

What's that, you don't know who Elizabeth Zimmermann is? I wrote a brief article for Etsy to get you stared but, really you should be heading to the library or bookstore to read her words for yourself.

I'd love to hear your thoughts & memories of EZ as well as see projects please, leave links to your EZ inspired knitting!

Long Time No See

2010-07-13T13:04:00.000-04:00

Wow.

I'm slightly embarrassed when I see the date of the last post. Well, I'm not going to lie it's been a tough month. I really needed some hope & the promise of good things to come...
and I found it, in the place I can almost always trust to be hopeful & inspiring: the garden.

I started a bunch of heirloom seeds way back in March and it seems like a loooong time coming but, the first signs of lots of veggies in the making are finally making an appearance.

This is a teeny tiny bud that soon will be producing one of my favorite scents...lavender!

Over here we have the first of many tiny cukes destined for salads & pickling

This (if it survives the nightly groundhog attacks!) will be a cosmos

The very first of my most treasured garden crop

TOMATOES!

Then there are 3 varieties of bush beans, green, wax & purple (!) They will make a show stopping bean salad. Yup, I called a bean salad show stopping. Just you wait...

Oh, and I've been dyeing lots & lots of yarn

Splendor by the dozen and a new addition that will be in my shop this week:

Hudson: a springy, silky, superwash Merino worsted weight. I love this yarn! I use it to teach my Hudson Valley Winter Socks class, an intro to sock making that uses worsted weight. I think it is a less scary proposition for first time sock makers to use "normal" sized needles instead of those "toothpicks".

Stay tuned for lots of new yarns being introduced for Fall, larger dyelots & patterns for all sorts of cozy knits....

I know it's officially Summer when...

2010-06-03T15:52:00.000-04:00

Two things happen:

1. The farmers market in town opens - buh bye Southern peaches & California strawberries

2. I can start using my backyard as the florist shop it is meant to be

I'm happy to say both requirements finally being met, it is SUMMER!!!(evidence of both below)

Here's a pic of Cal & I in our booth at the Kingston Farmers Market last weekend. It only sprinkled for a minute, otherwise it was a perfect day, and no, I have no idea why we are looking off camera & smirking...

We're both fair & freckle-y so the sunhats are definitely a necessity for long days outside, Cal sells them in her shop

Here are some amazing peonies that just needed to be cut & brought in I hate to see their droopy heads laying on the ground, fallen from their own weight.

I think these are weeds but they are pretty enough for me not to pull them...

And because really what would the internet be without some cute animal pics...

2010-05-25T14:54:00.000-04:00

Craftiness in 2 time zones

2010-05-11T11:14:00.001-04:00

This weekend I am lucky enough to have my yarn & kits in TWO craft fairs represented by the ladies of Clay Wood & Cotton, with a helping hand by the talented Knit Knit.

It's too bad I won't be able to make it to either. I love both Philly & Austin for completely different reasons.
Well if you're there, have an avocado margarita for me in Austin and clams on the half shell in Philly.

Chancellor's Sheep & Wool

2010-04-27T13:14:00.000-04:00

I had a great Saturday at the Chancellor's Sheep & Wool Showcase. The weather was absolutely perfect, I got to see lots of friends (even my mom, brother & sister in law to be showed up!) and meet some really nice people.

The show is held at the Clermont Historic Site which is probably the most beautiful location I've ever attended a craft fair or fiber fest at.

The pics are slightly dark - it was only 9am when I was shooting them...but you still get the idea. Lots & lots of yarn!

I've also been hard at work coming up with some transitional patterns for the Spring/Summer season - which is making it very hard for me to attend to my baby seedlings & necessary garden preparation - if only there were a few more hours in each day!

Here's a little preview:

Patterns & Kits coming soon...

Teeny Tiny Designy

2010-04-16T08:36:00.000-04:00

So I read a NYT article...

It was all about the "movement" towards mini-houses designed in a mid-century modern style. Described in the article it is a hobby, partly as an escape a partly as another consumer based obsession, driven by the desire for Eames & Noguchi furniture that is out of reach.

I prefer to think about the escape-ism aspect.

This dresser is a little over 4" x 2" x 1"!

No green thumb? How about these already fruiting tomato plants? Or irises?

Both are under scaled like much in the miniature world to 1:12 meaning each inch represents a foot.

So these are super tiny and amazing works of art, right?

Check this out

That's a DIME people, next to a perfectly formed pull xylophone.

Or maybe you need a mission style bookcase to hold all your art & design books?

You could personalize your tiny environs with a monogrammed pillow measuring just over an inch

I love this salad set and can't believe they are hand carved

All this tiny, beautiful furniture & accessories without the commitment to have to "live" with it, all of these tiny perfect worlds that never need to be vacuumed or have laundry done to stay neat. I get it, now to resist starting another collection that could easily take over rooms...

Rainbows & Unicorns

2010-04-10T12:13:00.000-04:00

Okay well that is totally false advertising but I do sort of have rainbows...

This is some Splendor sock yarn I have been dyeing to get ready for the Chancellor's Sheep & Wool Showcase on April 24th. Obviously I have had Spring on the brain. It has been lovely here, the perfect weather for drying yarn & roving in the sun.

I also spent more time than I'm willing to admit organizing my Flickr & Ravelry hand dyed yarn pages because once I saw the colors all laid out together I couldn't stop...

Maybe I should make thes for breakfast tomorrow in keeping with the theme:

I saw these on Swiss Miss but they are originally from here .
We don't even own food coloring but this is definitely an excuse to go out & get some! The crunchy side of me has been considering what natural stuff I could substitute for the coloring but, honestly I don't think a few drop of food coloring is all that bad for you.

As for the unicorns you are going to have to go out & find your own but, if they can find living "dinofish" thought to be extinct I guess anything is possible...

Follow the Fiber: The Crocheter

2010-04-02T08:03:00.001-04:00

Yay! Cal has finished her piece of our Follow the Fiber project and 4 oz. of undyed Merino top has passed through 3 sets of hands to end as a lovely crocheted hat!

It is pretty amazing to watch the process

of this

turning into this >

I am so lucky to have these amazing & talented women as friends! If you want to follow the step by step progression you should check out Cris' first post and the my subsequent post for all the fiber-y goodness. Beside the fact that I love the hat - Cal has amazing crochet skills that always make me want to take a little more time with my hooks, you have to check out her hand wound center pull ball. Seriously! It looks like a skein from the yarn shop.

Well, I've got to pull some wool out of a crock pot so that's it for now.

Happy Friday!

Yipee Spring

2010-03-23T13:25:00.000-04:00

Well it's cooled down to normal Springtime temps here but, not before I got really excited & started seeds. Nature is amazing! These teeny tiny specks get put into the dirt & with a little water & sunlight they will eventually be big beautiful flowers (haven't started my veggies yet)

Here are 2 pics a mere week apart - they really grow up fast don't they?

The left one is from 3/18 and the one on the right is 3/22!

So far I have poppies, cosmos, zinnias and a wild flower cutting garden mix.
The beautiful weather was also a great time to get some new yarn outside to dry...

Can you tell I've been thinking Spring?

I'd love to hear & see what other people are planting - please share!

A harbinger

2010-03-09T13:01:00.000-05:00

It's been in the high forties here all week. A welcome change from the recent and crazy snows. I'm sure we have at least one more good snow before Spring is here to stay but, at least I feel hopeful that is around a not too distant corner.
I've been thinking about taking out my seed packets and starter boxes. Possibly most disturbing I have been dreaming about tomatoes. Yup, tomatoes.

I have restrained myself all Winter (with admittedly only a few slip ups) from buying tomatoes at the grocery store. I love tomatoes - I mean really. I am one of those people who can eat a tomato like an apple and thinks there is nothing better in the Summer than a cucumber & tomato cut up with a little salt, pepper & vinegar. Every time I buy a tomato out of season at the grogery store I am dissapointed by the styrofoam-y tasteless substance masquerading as a perfect fruit.

Today, another trip to the grocery store brought me home with bag full of carrots, beets, turnips & potatoes, those resilient root vegetables of Northern climates that always remind me of the fingers of the hands that grew them.

When getting out of the car, I saw it....

The years's first crocus!

I almost cried. It means I can take out my seeds & growing boxes, Crockett's Victory Gardens & Alys Fowler's Garden Anywhere. It will be hard for me to buckle down and get some "real" work done today - but I will. Soon enough though I will have tiny seedlings in the window and yarn drying in the sun instead of in front of fans. That first tomato, still months away suddenly seems worth waiting for.

Welcome back old friend!

Follow the Fiber - The spinner

2010-03-02T15:15:00.000-05:00

Well, not too long ago 4 oz of lovely Merino fiber was handed from Cris of Into The Whirled into my itchy little fingers. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it!

The (almost) final destination of the fiber is Cal who will crochet it into something fabulous. I decided for her I'd make a nice balanced 2 ply with not too long color repeats.

After undoing the nice tight daisy chain it was in for neat keeping I split the fiber into 2 even parts - one for each ply...

I shot them on a blanket I crocheted a million years ago because I couldn't believe how similar the colors were! Did you plan that Cris?

My next step was to split each of those 2 balls into quarters. Why quarters, you ask? Like most humans I'm a creature of habit and have found this thickness to be both easy to draft and a nice break up of the colors.

Next stop, my Lendrum folding double treadle spinning wheel

I LOVE this wheel! The green yarn hanging out is called a leader, it's a scratchy wool (I use Icelandic) that's used to pull the top into the wheel. I spun two singles clockwise with a lot of twist because when I ply them they get twisted counter clockwise and will lose some of the twist I spin into them at this point.

I love watching the way the colors "change" from top to singles, a two ply and finally a finished piece.

The singles then get put on my Lazy Kate and the regular head gets traded out for the plying head on the wheel.

The plying head has a much wider orifice and larger bobbin to accommodate more & thicker yarn. The drive band also gets changed to fit the larger head.

This little device has made my life SO much easier - what it is meant for is to count fishing line depth - what I use it for is as a yardage meter. I use a niddy noddy to wrap the yarn off the wheel, through the meter into nice neat hanks.

For yarns destined for my shop, I wait for a nice sunny day and with the help of a stratigically placed roll of white craft paper I shoot (what feels like) a million pictures from lots of different angles to show the most true representation of the color.

I use Photoshop to crop & do any clean up or color correcting and finally the yarn is ready to be made into something that I hope will be loved for years to come!

I am lucky enough to have amzing customers who have shared their finished projects with me. It is always so interesting & fun to see what the yarn "grows up" to be. I know in Cal's talented paws it will be something amazing! You can follow the fiber on the next step in its journey at her blog

I know I will be!

Follow the Fiber - The dyer

2010-02-24T10:06:00.001-05:00

I am lucky enough to have incredibly talented (as well as fun) fiber friends. Two of them are practically neighbors (well they live Upstate ;) Cal of Hodge Podge Farm and Cris of Into the Whirled. We are all members of our local spinning guild & at a long ago meeting realized we all had Etsy shops - a threeway friendship was born. We are often discussing techniques & supplies, sharing success, lots of laughs & sometimes frustrations.

Over beers or maybe it was coffee and idea was hatched...

Since we all specialize in a different but, related part of the fiber arts what if via bloggin we followed a humble 4oz of top through each of our fingers.
Well Cris is the Dyer so her piece needs to be first. Read all about her process & see what I got to work with next here

^ That's a little preview. Even though I usually dye my own top I loved reading about her process, it is completely different than mine! It is a luxury for me to just get to spin - no mixing colors or waiting for the wool to dry.

Well, I've got the lovely top she prepared in my hands now and a perfect snow day to spin in front of the fireplace. And I better get spinning too, beacause once I'm finished it's off to Cal for her to crochet some marvelous creation with!

For the love of Socks

2010-02-18T11:56:00.000-05:00

I am one of those people that is ALWAYS cold. I don't know, I must have been a cat or a lizard in a past life...
For that reason (and a few others) I love hand knit socks! Really. It sounds so funny but once you have hand knit socks on your feet no others really compare. Luckily my mom is a prolific sock knitter. So I have a few great pairs that I didn't even have to graft a single stitch of.

I guess I have been thinking lots about socks lately. I am teaching a sock workshop in Rhinebeck, NY which is super fun. I love watching people acquire new skills & surprise themselves with what they are capable of.

These are the socks my class will be making

Done in worsted weight yarn & #7 needles I think they are a very conquerable sock for newbies to double points or heel turnings.

They are made with my own hand painted superwash Merino and I have a hard time taking them off.

I've also been dyeing some of the most squishy sock yarn - I'm calling it Splendor because it is a blend of 80% Merino wool 10% Cashmere & 10% Nylon and quite heavenly to knit & wear.

Alright, stop distracting me...I have socks to knit!

What you leave behind

2010-02-08T08:31:00.000-05:00

While I spin I often watch the History Channel or National Geographic and the other day I saw part of a show on "bog mummies". Apparently the conditions in bogs (cold & alkali) are the perfect set up for mummification...

Anyway, the part that snapped me out of the somewhat dreamy state I'm usually in while spinning was that one mummy still had his stockings on. Knitted stockings! I have tried to search out an image to share but alas, no luck. Maybe it's better, it was a slightly gruesome sight. It got me thinking though, about handmade things and their durability versus the modern trend of forced obsolete-ness.

My favorite class in college was a costume history class where we got to go into the archives of the Costume Institute at the Met & look at, talk about & sketch; up close w/ no glass separating us from the Charles James' and Vivienne Westwood's, the teeny waisted 18th c dress or the Toledo art pieces.

What will this era leave behind? Will we be known only by our plastic water bottles and disposable diapers? That bookshelf whether it's from Ikea or West Elm certainly won't be around in 100 years, in fact we're lucky if it makes it through the next move.

That sounds so dark, sorry! Here's some pictures of beautifully made stuff that I suspect will be around for a long time:

Wood Clinic Sewing Machine - I bought one for my niece (because I wanted one)

and it is as amazing in real life

Across the Grain Spalted Hickory Jewelry Box - forget turning ballerinas this is a jewelry box worthy of your treasures

Lora C Designs - or maybe it's Lorac? made this amazing quilt. I am a huge sucker for quilts, ever since seeing the Gee's Bend exhibition at Moma I can't get enough. Especially the modern look not so fussy style ala Denyse Schimdt

Amazing paper art

2010-01-29T18:42:00.005-05:00

There are some mediums as an artist that you just never touch. I would have said any kind of "paper craft" would be mine. It brings to mind die cut scrap-booking and fussy old Victorian valentines. Well a few artists I've come across recently have totally changed my mind!

Last night I saw a few episodes of Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno if you haven't seen this go & watch it now!

I have always loved Isabella Rossellini and this made me love her even more, funny and informative. But, the thing I couldn't stop being amazed at was the sets & props. I am pretty sure they are mostly made with paper which (to me anyway) is an amazing feat!

The artist's name is Andy Byers and I can't believe I've never come across his work before.

Yup, those are leaves! I guess this isn't "technically" paper art but Jenny Lee Fowler does use paper in her cutwork as well. I love these & was really excited to find out she is teaching a few classes at a new shop I'll be teaching at too (more on that soon!)

The work below is the AMAZING work of an artist that goes by Crankbunny. Her work is so beautiful & intricate it was really hard picking which images to post. I always loved pop up books or any kind of book that had a 3d quality

The State of Organization

2010-01-21T15:57:00.003-05:00

Today a box I made was featured in the Etsy "Finds" on Etsy.com. It is funny to be included in a grouping called organization nation because try as I might my craft space is well, slightly less than organized. I pine for a clean uncluttered craft space you see in so many aspirational magazines and blog postings but, alas my personality and available studio space won't allow for it...I've decided to share some pictures of parts of my studio I love and although it may never grace the pages of Martha Stewart living it is my happy place...

A close up and a bit further back on my fabric shelves, not perfectly pressed or all turned with folds facing out but, I can usually find what I'm looking for and always need to iron it no matter how neatly it's folded.

A collection of embroidery hoops, my much loved dress form, a strange vinatge toy called The Little Red Spinning Wheel although it actually & inexplicably makes I-cord (remember those little mushrooms with a hole & 4 pegs) well it does that or more rightly, you do that with this, the giant wheel is purely decorative...

Above on the right is a combination of two strange and amazing gifts when I think about them I call them Harold & Maude. They were separate gifts from different people at different times but, they just seem right together. Harold is a pigeon skeleton and Maude is a perfectly preserved butterfly some friends found just laying in the street. The picture on the left is just some of my straight knitting needles, the giant circulars too big for my case, double pointed needles and crochet hooks. Somehow though it always seems the one I need for my newest project is still enmeshed in a forgotten or abandoned something.

Anyway, if anyone is reading this I'd love to see pictures or blog posts of your loved & lived in but not ready for TV studio spaces.

Anticipation

2010-01-17T11:07:00.000-05:00

Two things will be revealed about me in this post.

1. I am an unabashed Carly Simon fan - do with that what you will, I know it's cooler to be into Dirty Projectors or Grizzly Bear...
2. I hate waiting! Not for most things, I am actually quite patient in life but with fiber it kills me to wait.

I bought yarn to dye & add to my shop (eventually) but it's so hard to wait for it to dry! I just want to play with it now. It's been so cold that even with fans on the drying racks it is taking d a y s, yeterday was sunny enough it got to sunbathe for a little while.

Here is a little peek

I feel the same way when I've just dyed a new batch of top, all the top I've dyed before becomes "old" and I only want to spin the newest braid off the drying rack.

*sigh*

More on goats and a little something on bunnies too

2010-01-12T14:17:00.001-05:00

Angora comes in both rabbit & goat shapes...

Both goats and rabbits have breeds called Angora, I think this is because they are both originated near Ankara, Turkey. Why we call the fiber they produce mohair for the goats and angora for the bunnies still remains a mystery. I am lucky enough to have a good supply of both mohair and angora from my mom's little farm in Upstate New York.

I have been s l o w l y processing the first shearing of Elijah pictured in my last post. It is really rewarding to go from this:

To this:

There are a few stages in between that don't make for interesting photos so here's a quick rundown of the steps

1. Acquire a beautiful unwashed mohair fleece, keep the fleece in a old pillowcase so the fiber can breathe

2. To wash the fleece I first lay out an old sheet (really old, you will NOT want to sleep on this sheet again)

3. You will need a plastic mesh basket (like you would have in a dorm shower) that fits into a plastic storage bin, pick through the fleece, making sure all locks are laying the same way pick them open & lay in the basket

****the more you pick the locks open the cleaner & shinier they will get***

4.Once your basket is full or opened locks fill the storage bin (or sink) with hot water & a couple squirts of dish soap -

***I tried Castille soap first & it just didn't get the locks as clean***

5. Push basket of fiber into hot soapy water and let it soak for about an hour

6. Dump the water from the bin which probably looks like a disgusting tea at this point repeat steps 4 & 5 twice more and then continue changing water but stop adding soap until the water in the bin looks drinkable

*** I do not advise actually drinking this water***

7. Since I dye the mohair & it needs to be wet to absorb the dye I dye it at this point. I put the locks into a crock pot (one dedicated to dying) , turn the heat on low

8. Pour acid my acid dye mixture on top, poking it into the fiber and let it simmer until the dye is exhausted & water in the post is clear.

All that's left after that is to spread it out on a sweater rack to dry and then I have dome what I think of as a "preliminary" carding on my Ashford drum carder.

I plan on eventually carding the mohair into with some of the angora from the aforementioned bunnies.

To be continued...

On Goats

2010-01-09T13:03:00.004-05:00

Goats are truly incredible and under-appreciated creatures of the earth. I am constantly amazed at the plant and animal life that surrounds us on this planet. I have a collection of natural history books that I can thumb through for hours and never tire of the different combinations of textures, shapes and colors of the plants & animals we share this planet with.
But back to goats...

The picture above is a goat I've been calling St.Cashmere, he is being raised by nuns at a convent in Upstate New York. The picture on the right is my mom's sweet angora goat, Elijah.

So from the various species of goats we get milk for delicious cheese and silky soap, lovely fiber in the form of mohair or cashmere and then there's this:

Rectangular pupils!!!

seriously

It seems like from my quick web research that it has to do with enhanced peripheral or night vision but, I went to art school so don't take my word for it, that's what the library is for.

Welcome one & all....

2010-01-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

So, like every other human with internet access, I decided after much friendly prompting I too, should have a blog. Here it is.

I make no promises as to what you might find here. There will be animal photos, random fiber-y rambling, works in progress and hopefully some information that someone will find useful...