robin's egg

robin's egg, a photo by myriadlane on Flickr.

a teensy sweater! this pattern actually comes in this teeny tiny size to great big adult sizes. easy and lovely.

i am still here, knitting away!

handspun mittens, a photo by myriadlane on Flickr.

here is a recent project made with yarn handspun by my lovely friend sorren, and mitten pattern by my lovely friend vivian.

knit happens! black sheep!

today i had the pleasure of chatting with michelle and emily at Knit Happens about copyright and how it applies in the knitting/crafting world, check out my first foray into the podcast universe!

Knit Happens - episode 69!

in other current events, this weekend is black sheep gathering down in eugene, oregon at the lane county fairgrounds.  angela and i will be teaching a couple of awesome classes, and the weekend will be filled with sheep, fiber, spinning, knitting, and all around good times.  come and join us!

yet another baby surprise.

just finished this bsj for my friend shannon's baby shower.  we don't know whether her little bundle is a boy or a girl, so i went with orange.  i had to go overboard with the dog buttons because shannon has a dog that she absolutely loves and dotes on, so this seemed to me the perfect combination.

these are both cotton yarns, for ease of washing.  also, i am proud to say that they are both stash yarns - leftover skeins from other projects!  despite being somewhat oddly disappointed every time i am forced to reduce my stash, i think it turned out quite lovely.  i even managed to pull myself together enough to single-crochet a border around the sleeves and collar.  you can see it a bit closer in this picture:

i really can never get enough of knitting baby surprise jackets.  the buttons always put me over the edge.

kind of a big deal

i have been teaching knitting at twisted for about four years.  before that, i did some informal teaching.  i have also been certified as a knitting instructor by the craft yarn council of america.  i absolutely love to teach knitting, and it is the thing i look forward to every week.  SO, i am very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very x10 excited to tell you that i am going to be teaching at sock summit 2011!

check it out!  registration starts wednesday, may 4 at 12:00 PDT:

Sock Knitting Without Needles!  Knitting Socks on a Sock Loom

Have you tried hand-knitting socks, and struggled through the process?  Do you have joint pain that prevents you from working with small needles?  Do you just want to try something new?  Knitting socks on a sock loom is a fun alternative to traditional sock knitting.  Using an adjustable sock loom, you’ll learn basic loom-knitting skills, including all the steps needed to create a sock.  We’ll knit a top-down baby sock in class, and you’ll have the skills to knit socks of all sizes on your sock loom.  We will not be using circular looms, but rectangular adjustable sock looms.
This is a beginner class for those who have not previously knit socks on a loom.

Class Level:	Beginner
Class Skills:	General knowledge of hand knitting basics, including casting on, knitting, purling, and casting off. No prior knowledge of loom knitting required.
Cost:	$75
Class Length:	3 Hours

The (C) word.  Copyright for knitters and designers

Are you interested in learning more about the subject that seems to ignite more on-line discussions, speculations, and arguments than any other?  Whether you’re a designer wondering how to protect your pattern, a knitter wanting to know what you’re allowed to do with a pattern, or anyone else, the copyright law applies to you.  In this class, you’ll learn copyright basics in the United States, including both protections offered by the copyright law and limitations enforced by the copyright law.  This is a lecture class, with time for questions.
This class is a one hour wonder that repeats three times in each three hour block it is offered in.
Friday PM: 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30.

Class Level:	All Levels
Class Skills:	None.
Cost:	$25
Class Length:	1 hour wonder

tulip season

this is my favorite time of year to sit on the front porch and look at my front yard.  this is nothing fancy, but it really makes me happy to see what the tulips do every year:

black sheep!

guess what?  this year I will be teaching at the black sheep gathering in eugene, oregon!  here are the details:

june 24-27, 2011

knitted triangle lace shawl or shawlette

(with my friend and team teacher angela davis)

friday, june 24th, all day, 8:30am-4:30pm

knitting projects using small amounts of handspun

(with my friend and team teacher angela davis)

saturday, june 25th, morning, 8:30-11:30am

where oh where?

where have i been?  2 places: spain, and in my office.  the former is much lovelier and more interesting:

sevilla

also sevilla, in the plaza espana

this was kind of a crazy thing we saw when we looked up at this church in arcos de la frontera, a white hill town south of sevilla.  it made us think.

this is the puente nuevo (new bridge) in ronda, also a white hill town.  

i don't remember what town this was in, but isn't it lovely?

portland gussets

i finished these lovely socks a few weeks ago and haven't had a chance to take photos until recently. yarnissima is wonderfully talented sock designer, and the yarn is hazel knits, so pretty much an unstoppable combination.

new favorite pattern of all time

perhaps the fastest and loveliest scarf i've ever made (and let me tell you, i have made a LOT of scarves over the years. This is stephen west's "clockwork" scarf in socks that rock lightweight, knit on size 6 needles.

i'm about to cast on another one of these to knit while i'm on vacation. clockwork 2 will be in green and blue wollmeise. (!)

mission accomplished

the first time i ever knit fair isle was a hat i designed myself in a knitting class.  it feels like it was a really long time ago...and, well, i suppose it was - probably 10 years now.  i was house-sitting the same week i started the class, and i went back to my temporary home and worked for hours and hours on that hat, falling in love with fair isle.

the other thing i fell in love with during that class was alice starmore's book, charts for colour knitting:

this is the ultimate fair isle chart book.  137 pages, nearly every one of them graph paper covered in little black dots.  these are charts from alice starmore's own pattern library, some collected from others, some adapted from artwork, some of her own creation.  she also describes fitting fair isle patterns onto the body of a sweater.  

my teacher brought this book to class on the first day, as a resource in designing our personal hat patters (with colored pencils!)  silly me--having no idea that this book is both out of print and rare, and sells for upwards of $275 on amazon and ebay--asked if i could borrow it until the next class.  the answer: no!  she never let that book out of her site, and now, knowing much more about alice starmore and this book in particular, i do not question that response at all.  in fact, i'm surprised she brought it to class in the first place and let us paw all over it.  

over the years i've always kept my eyes open at fiber festivals, used book stores, etc. etc., hoping i would come across this book, and hoping it would miraculously be in my price range.  no luck.  well, until this week, when on a whim i happened to check amazon and found it!  no, it was not cheap.  nor was it quite as expensive as all the other times i've searched for it.  in fact, it was the cheapest i've ever seen it.  and so.  a little hemming and hawing, a little consumer-guilt, and VOILA:

i am the very proud owner of an almost-new-ish copy of the book i have been lusting after for 10 years!  and now i've got to go and dig through my stash for a celebratory fair isle project!

p.s. there is actually another pretty-reasonably-priced used copy available on email...just sayin' if you're interested... :)