Happy New Year!

Went to bed in an absolutely foul mood last night and now I'm awake waaay too early. I think the mood was an indicator that it's time to go back to work. I do best with structure and almost 2 weeks of very little structure is wearing me out. I've drifted from reading, to knitting, to spinning, to watching movies, to eating...it's a little exhausting.

So today, we'll journey up to my parents' house to ring in the new year and watch football on TV. I'll be back in my own house by Monday morning reading to tackle the new year.

Have a safe and enjoyable time everyone! See you on the flipside.

Book Review: "Spin Art:

Spin Art: Mastering the Craft of Spinning Textured Yarn, Jacey Boggs
originally published: November 2011
finished reading: 30 December 2011


I must admit, the first time I saw Jacey Boggs' yarns I wasn't impressed. As a knitter and a spinner, what use did I have for yarn with felted eyeballs in it? I figured she was a fad and that she'd blow over and disappear, leaving the field for serious spinners. I can't tell you how wrong I was and how happy I am to have been so wrong. 


This last summer I took a 3-day class with Jacey at the prodding of a fiber friend. My mind was blown. Apparently, when she takes on a challenge, Jacey jumps in head first and completely immerses herself in the task. When she started spinning, she spent 4-6 hours a day making yarn. That's pretty incredible for a new spinner. I've been spinning for almost 20 years (off and on) and she said things that made me re-evaluate what I was doing and actually do it better.


What does that have to do with this book? Let me tell you. Boggs spent so much time spinning in order to figure out what the fiber will do so that she could then make it do what SHE wanted (know the rules so you know which ones you can break). If you understand the structure of fiber and the effects of the work you're doing, you'll understand the resulting yarn and be able to incorporate it into your own work very precisely.


Spin Art is essentially a multi-day workshop with Jacey sitting next to you and showing you what to do. She starts you off with easily do-able yarns. Even if you've never tried "art yarn", you can make these first few. Once you conquer those, you will be able to work your way through the book trying everything. The pictures are wonderful and while her descriptions may seem strange, do exactly what she says the first time through. It will all become clear, I promise.


One of my fiber challenges for 2012 is to work my way through this book. I expect to be hung up on a few once I actually get started, but I plan on spending as much time as I need to get a good, usable yarn before moving on to the next one. I have plenty of stash for this project and I plan on turning it into some incredible yarn. 

Book Review: "My Friend Dahmer"

My Friend Dahmer, Derf Backderf
originally published: March 2012
finished reading: 29 December 2011 (review copy)




Extremely disturbing. I have this fascination with serial killers and I'm not sure where it comes from. I love watching the shows where they take you into a prison to talk to the prisoners and look into why they committed their crimes. My husband frequently says, "Why do you watch that stuff?" I can't answer.


My book rep friend had this on his shelf of things I could pick through and of course I snapped it up. As graphic novels go, it's dark and the drawings are kind of chunky, but I think that adds to the alienation of the subject matter. Backderf actually knew Jeffrey Dahmer in high school and brings a unique perspective to his life.


Dahmer was a complex guy and Backderf shows his high school career through a teenager's eyes. All of the friends knew something was wrong with Dahmer, but they incorporated his weirdness into their own lives - up to a point. Backderf illustrates how each of his close friends interacted with Dahmer until they had enough, an encounter that felt so wrong they stopped seeing him as a harmless goof and saw a glimmer of the monster he really was.


Interesting book, but deeply, profoundly disturbing. Backderf brings up a point throughout the story - how did all the adults in Dahmer's life miss what was really going on? Saying that it was the culture of the 70s only goes so far. How does an alcoholic teenage boy who has a thing for taking apart road kill just keep flying under the radar? I have no answers, but what I keep coming back to is, how many more of them are there? It's been keeping me up at night.

Book Review: "Poisoner's Handbook"

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, Deborah Blum
originally published: January 2011
finished reading: 28 December 2011


I almost gave up reading this book halfway through the first chapter. I'm intrigued by any book using science to figure out how people died, but the first chapter was full of the politics of how the medical examiner's office came into being. I kept thinking it would get better (and I was right) but I almost missed it.


I think what I wanted more of were stories. I watch shows like Law and Order, because they pull the science and the work behind the scenes into every day life. I want to see how the science fits into figuring out what happened. Blum takes us through the labs in New York City, but how many times do I need to be told about grinding organs into paste and distilling them down into their components? Let's face it, it's more interesting to actually be doing that work than it is to be reading about it (over and over).


I learned a lot and was mostly interested throughout the book. It's a good read for those of us curious about the science that goes on in the background. If you're looking for in depth stories about the victims, look elsewhere.

Book Review: "Ladies First"

Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman, Queen Latifah
originally published: 2000
Finished reading: 17 December 2011


I love music, always have. My tastes are all over the board, hard rock, country, even rap. However, I have a couple of rules when I listen to music: 

1. I have to be able to understand what they're saying 
2. There's a no repeat rule (repeat something too many times and they're gone) 
3. No misogyny 

Queen Latifah has always followed my rules and she's frequently in my playlist. I love that she's a strong woman, doing what she loves, and doing it well. Ladies First is an explanation of how she got to be so strong and the amazing support system she's built that keeps her that way. 

I want to give this book to all the young women I know. Actually, all the women I know, young and old. Everyone could benefit from Latifah's wisdom and the way she's dealt with the tragedies, triumphs, and even the bad decisions she's made.


I admire her so much for her art. What I'm taking away from this book is her ability to re-evaluate her choices, to learn from her mistakes, and to keep moving forward. A good lesson for everyone at any age.

I have fallen down

and I'm having a hard time getting back up. I was doing so well with the blogging thing - then work blew up. I had a week of meetings for which I had to prepare (not just show up and look engaged). Then I was in the process of cleaning off my desk for my 2-week holiday (hooray). This just doesn't leave much time for blogging and thinking about creativity.


However, I was creative and engaged in daily art. Here's what I've been working on:

1. finished Hens' Christmas stocking
2. finished Little Big Man's hat
3. finished Sassy's hat
4. down to the toe on my sister's second sock
5. actually wore a sweater I knit to a holiday party (first outing!)

I'll try and post pictures of everything in the coming days. It's a busy time, but now that I'm not getting up and going to work every day, I seem to have a little more free time. At least until the first of the year...

Day 13: Knitty

Do you read the Knitty blog? Do you know what Knitty is? Let's start there. It's the longest running ezine for knitters. Free patterns, wonderful columns, and a great review of all things fiber. My friend Amy is the founding editor and my friend Jillian is the editor of KnittySpin (Knitty's sister publication) and the glue that keeps it all together.

There's also a Knitty blog where Amy, Jillian, and Kate (editorial assistant) take turns posting about their fiber adventures and today, Jillian wrote about me. Go read the post here. It's true, every word. 

Frequently I get a text or a phone call that starts with "Do you want to...". I've said for years that there are 2 people I would willingly go anywhere they asked and pretty much do anything they asked me to do - Jillian is one of them. So it's no surprise that I would have the missing pieces of her stash. 

When I got the text from her, I knew exactly where the bag of fiber was - I could picture it on my shelf in the fiber room. It was pretty gratifying to walk into that room on Saturday, see the bag, and actually lay my hands on it within a minute of walking into the room. Also, there's the superhero aspect of it...

One more story about how we are fiber symbiosis at its best. We were at The Spinning Loft on Saturday and were piling up bunches of fiber for consideration. She threw a gorgeous hank at me, but I decided it didn't work with what I had going and set it aside. She picked it up and put it in her own pile. Anyone want to take bets that at some future point I will be looking for "something" to finish off a project I have going and she's going to say, "Wait a minute..." and come up with that hank?

Book Review: "We Wish to Inform You..."

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, Philip Gourevitch
originally published: September 1999
finished 12 December 2011

I have always felt an obligation to read books like this - books written about the terrible things human beings do to one another. In 1994, I was safe in my little house taking care of my 3-year-old son. Not worrying that we would be hacked to death by our machete-wielding neighbors. People we'd lived next to for years without incident.

I read these books to try and understand why. I know that it's unlikely I'll ever be satisfied with the answer, but I continue to try. Gourevitch does an admirable job interviewing people who lived through the genocide in Rwanda - either as victims or perpetrators. He provides a history of the region that includes how the Hutus and Tutsis came to this crossroads, how the colonization of Africa contributed to the divisions, and how the western world was aware, but did nothing to stop the bloodshed. I was ashamed at the time that we did nothing. I'm still ashamed.

Maybe I read books to convince myself that if I had been there, I would have acted differently. I like to think I would have been a righteous gentile during World War II. I like to think I would have been someone who stood up to the interahamwe when they came to kill. I don't know, I will continue to be grateful that I've never been in the position to find out.

Day 10: Future Creativity

I was Jillian's second today, Uhura to her Kirk. We tripped over to the west side of the state to pick up a loom she had loaned to a friend and drop it off to another friend. As expected, we had lots to talk about. 


Earlier this week I received the e-mail that let me know I'm officially accepted as a vendor at Fiber Expo 2012. There's lots to do between now and then. Jillian told me I needed a plan...here's the beginnings of it:




This week, I will be

1. ordering a sign with my logo on it
2. placing an order for fiber and yarn (including any new base fibers needed)

By the end of 2011, I will have

1. finished my financial statements for my accountant
2. a spreadsheet that tells me what I sold at each of the fiber shows I did in 2011
3. a list of colors that will always appear in my shop/at shoes
4. an idea of limited edition and one-of-a-kind colors

By the end of January 2012, I will have

1. all the fiber and yarn up on Etsy
2. a booth plan
3. table coverings
4. display materials
5. pattern support for the yarn (hat, mittens, shawl)

We also laughed a lot and I got some knitting done. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be driving around gray, wintery Michigan. I finished my holiday shopping (stocking stuffers) and even managed to pick up a couple of things for myself. 


Jillian always knows when I need a kick in the pants and she never kicks me when she knows I can't take it. She tells me things that I sometimes don't want to hear, but really need to. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is the very best kind of friend to have. 

Day 9: Friday Roundup

Gratuitous fiber shot

Hmmm, it doesn't seem like I've done much creatively this week. I am slowly getting pictures of fiber up into Etsy. Not very creative, but the photos are fabulous and it makes me feel better about having all this stuff around the house.

I am plugging along on the stocking. I will be turning the heel this weekend and that means I'm in the home stretch. Not much sense posting a picture - it's a striped stocking, there isn't much to see.

Tomorrow, I'll be making a trip to the other side of the state to pick up a friend's loom. What I'm looking forward to is the road trip. She's driving, so I'll be able to knit and we'll talk about everything under the sun. I'm hoping to get some insight about my work for pay life from her. She's a great life coach.

I think I need to clean off the table (covered with fiber) in order to be more productive (read: creative) next week. Sounds like a weekend project to me.

Day 8: Superwash Wool

As a spinner, it's important to try new fibers. In the beginning, a lot of us want to "wait until I'm good" before trying exotic (read: expensive) things. We don't want to ruin our good stuff because our yarn is lumpy or drifts apart or just doesn't look the way we want it to. There were lots of expensive things I avoided, but other things too - like superwash.

Sarah on merino superwash

Superwash is a treatment that sort of glues down the scales of wool so it won't shrink. You can put superwash treated wool into the washing machine and dryer and it will look just as good when you pull it out as when you put it in. The fiber tends to be a little flyaway, slicker than untreated wool, and has a hand to it that while you know it's wool, it feels different. I avoided anything with superwash on the label as a new spinner. I didn't like how it felt and didn't like the resulting yarn.

It wasn't until I started dyeing it for sale that I actually tried it myself. Surprisingly, I like it now. I think the slickness of it put me off in the beginning. I couldn't control it very well and blamed it on the fiber instead of my inexperienced fingers.

Henriette on merino superwash

And here's the thing...superwash soaks up dye like nobody's business. You splash dye on superwash and you can almost hear a slurping sound. When I'm cold-pouring, I try to get the same amount of dye on each bundle of fiber. With untreated wool, you can push the color around a little and have it soak in. With superwash, you better be sure of where you're putting the color - because it isn't going to move!

The colors are intense and my superwash fibers usually have bits of white in the top/roving. I used to just keep putting more dye on to get all the white gone, but now I actually like the bits. It's soothing to see them coming up when I'm at the wheel and they're a nice contrast to the intensity of the colors.

Superwash is also very kind to beginning dyers. You can cook it a little longer than you should or let it boil in a pot and it's not going to be a total waste. I try to be very careful when a dyepot is on the stove or my little propane kitchen is working away on the deck. But you know, life sometimes happens - the phone rings or the dog gets sprayed by a skunk and you have to deal with it before you can get back to the pots. Superwash is forgiving and it's saved me on a couple of occasions.

One last thing, it's cheap. Seriously, you can get some great colors on fabulous fibers out there and they won't break the bank.

Book Review: "It Ain't All About the Cookin' "

Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin', Paul Deen and Sherry Suib Cohen
originally published: 2007
finished reading: 4 December 2011

I love biographies, always have. I'm in the middle of reading another non-fiction book that's really bringing me down and needed something to pick me up. Paula Deen fit that bill. I loved that the book sounded the way she sounds on her show (and I've been dropping the "g" off all my words for the last several days). She pulled no punches when talking about her life - the times when she was mean to her boys, her failings in her first marriage, approaching her step-children - it's all there. Instead of making me judge her, these revelations made me like her even more.

I found Deen's book inspirational in a way that a lot of self-help books are not. This woman struggled a lot with the deaths of her parents, being married very young, having little to no money, and yet she came out on top. This is the American dream. A woman with very few options took the bull by the horns, gritted her teeth, and built herself up step-by-step. She pulled her family up with her and they're all still going strong. I'm looking forward to seeing Paula Deen cookin' with butter for a very long time.

How is this related to creativity? Here's the thing, Paul Deen picked herself up and was her own best advocate. When she finally found the thing she loved to do best, that's what she threw herself into. That she's become an author, TV host, product spokeswoman, multi-millionaire is all the result of finding her bliss. If that's not creative thinking, I don't know what is.


Edited to add:
I actually wrote this post yesterday. Then discovered that the batteries in the trackpad had died. Would you believe we were completely out of AA batteries? Why did I throw away all the corded mice? I couldn't post until I got new batteries and re-connected the dang wireless trackpad. It still counts, right?

Day 6: Creativity

Today, I got nothin'. I've been trying to take pictures of everything to get them into my Etsy shop. It's a huge job and exhausting (but it will be worth it when I'm done).

I can't even show you some of the pictures. My daughter informed me when we were pulling into the driveway that the batteries in the mouse had died. She couldn't have let me know before we drove past at least 3 places that sell batteries? So the camera is full, the mouse is empty, and I'm tired.

Tomorrow I play hookey and will knit with my friends while watching some version of a Jane Austen story. I'll be back with creative stories galore.

Day 5: Immersion Dyeing

Orange luxury pack

In August of this year my friend Lynne Vogel was teaching a color/spin/dye workshop at Harrisville Designs in New Hampshire. If you're a knitter, you should have heard of Harrisville. They do the yummy yarns in the Vivian Hoxbro kits and they do a bunch of other amazing yarns for knitting and weaving (tweeds - mmmm!!).

Harrisville has a giant classroom space as well as room for dyeing. So a couple of years ago Lynne started teaching there and let me tell you, the students are a little rabid. She's had some of the same people coming for more than 5 years to her workshops. I'm sure it has something to do with her style of teaching and what she teaches, but that's pretty amazing no matter who you are.

Yellow BFL & Merino pack

This year the class only had about 10 people. We had a chance to split the group into 2 groups and in addition to the color pour technique that I first learned from Lynne, we got to try immersion dyeing. I like to think of it as stone soup dyeing. Essentially, you throw a color in a cold pot and heat it up. You can add the fiber while the pot is cold or wait till it's warmed up a little and then throw it in. Different colors will strike at different temperatures and superwash soaks up dye like nobody's business. So you get some amazing results with this combination.

We started with superwash (no chance of felting if we got lazy about watching the pot). Once the dye stock gets to almost boiling, you take it off and let it sit, covered, for about 20 minutes. This gives the dye time to exhaust and also cool off a little. When I'm at home, I let them sit until they cool off enough so I can stick my hands in. I have some of those giant heat proof gloves, but in my haste, I've messed up a lot of fiber by being too quick to get my hands in there and the fiber out. If you can wait, do, the fiber will thank you.

Usually, the dye exhausts into the fibers. Sometimes you get left overs. This is where it's fun. At first, I was trying to completely exhaust so I could start again with a new color. After a while, I figured it was more fun to just throw a little more dye in and see what came about. Then I started experimenting with other fibers.

Red luxury pack

When I came home, the Hub helped me set up a little propane dye kitchen and I went a little wild. It occurred to me that I could do sample packs of fibers. A lot of times new spinners are hesitant to buy something they've never spun before (they don't want to "ruin" it). I put together packets of luxury fibers so that people could try little bits to see if they liked it enough to buy more. It's been a lot of fun. You never know what's going to come out.

The luxury packs have 1 ounce each of merino superwash, merino (50)/bamboo (50), merino (70)/seacell (30), and merino (50)/tencel (50). The BFL/Merino pack has 1 ounce each of bluefaced leicester (BFL), BFL superwash, merino, and merino superwash. There's also a 50 yard skein of wool, the light colors are merino from Australia and the dark colors are Michigan grown and processed wool.

Four ounces of something is enough to play. I've spun all the fibers as singles and then plied different singles together. My plan is to take one of the packs and spin and ply every combination to see what I come out with. Then I have to work on some sort of pattern so people know what to do with the yarns they've spun. Again, 4 oz is enough to make a cute pair of fingerless mitts, cuffs for a special sweater, or even a simple shawlette. My problem is deciding which pack to experiment with - I love all of them.

Day 4: Glass Marble Magnets

The purple paper stash

I cannot take the credit for this idea. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I have become addicted to Pinterest. I kept seeing people repin this blog post and figured it would be fun for the girls to have a go at it. We went to Michael's yesterday and picked up the flat bottom marbles, glue, and magnets. After homework was done tonight, they sat down and started. I still have a ton of paper from my scrapbooking days, so they've raided the paper stash and are having fun comparing what they've done.

I was pleased with the flat bottomed marbles. I expected to get the small ones (even though I think they're too small). Then I found these. They're about 1.75 inches across and not perfectly round. I think they have a little character to them more than the smaller ones. Apparently, glass is sold by the pound. There were giant bags of small marbles for $6.99. These bags were something like $2.59 and there are approximately 18-20 in each little bag.






Here are Sassy's first few pieces (purple):

And these are Hens' (green):

They're branching out now and trying colors that aren't their favorites. I asked what who they're going to give these to and they both looked stricken. "We have to give them away??!!!?"

Day 3: Etsy Shop

I have an Etsy shop. I opened it a couple of years ago because I was dyeing so much fiber and I couldn't spin it as fast as I could knit it. Then I decided to start dyeing sock yarn. That was a lot of fun too, but again, how much sock yarn can you stash? (Okay, a lot, I know, but it was getting ridiculous).

I spent some time today taking pictures of some of my yarn to upload. It's kind of a challenge to come up with creative ways to take pictures of yarn, but I try. Here are some of my results. Thoughts? Do they show the yarn to its full advantage? What else would you like to see in a yarn photo?

Kat:

Lula:

 Sarah:

Sassy:

Sharon:

Day 2: Friday Roundup

Friday is going to be the roundup day for creativity. I'll revisit anything I've done during the week and provide any updates as well as look forward to what I'll be doing next week. I managed to snag the work camera and wow! I had forgotten what a great camera can do. The ease of taking these fabulous pictures made my head swim. I think my search for a new camera is at an end - I want one of these! (Nikon D5000)

Re-pourposed stocking

As it turns out, I could not rip out the beginnings of the stocking. I looked at it and looked at it and couldn't bring myself to pull out the needles and waste all of that effort. I channeled my knit friend Erica and said - "Hey, it's big enough for a hat!" So I bound off, wove in the ends, and pulled it on. It's a bit snug for me, but I'm a pumpkin head. I think I'll throw a couple of tassels on the points and shop it around. If it fits and someone likes it, it's theirs.

Stocking 2.0

I cast on again (with about 30 fewer stitches) and came up with this. It's a lovely start and I'm sure I'll be able to finish this in plenty of time for Christmas. I thought the stripes were a little small for the scale of the piece, so I increased those as well. In the hat, the stripes are 5 of the dark green, and 3 of the other 2 colors. In the new version, I went with 7 of the dark green and 5 of the others. There isn't much to see here, yet, but I already like them better.

Lynne Vogel Ltd top (2 different colorways)

I also wanted to share a skein of yarn that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. It's really gorgeous and while it doesn't technically fit into creativity this week, I'm still in love with it. If you're a spinner and don't know who Lynne Vogel is - go find out! Her etsy shop (here) is lovely and filled with wonderful patterns. She doesn't dye much anymore, but when you can catch whatever she's dyed, consider yourself lucky! She also consults with Three Waters Farms to work on colors and occasionally, you can find some of her colors there. (Again, no affiliation with either of these shops, except that Lynne is my friend and there's that fabulous indie artist thing that I live by.)


Anyway, this picture is a better representation of the colors of this wonderful skein of yarn. I love it!




Up next week: ATC 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these fish cards, but they will be used next week in conjunction with the artist trading cards I have. There will be mod podge, watercolor crayons and pencils, and funky paper. Stay tuned.

Day 1: Knitting a Stocking

We have an exchange student from Germany living with us this year. She has really integrated into our family and is a joy to have here with us. Many years ago I knit my own babies Christmas stockings and 2 years ago, knit some for my sister's kids. It would be weird for everyone to have a hand knitted stocking except for Hens. During my Thanksgiving break, I started.

She loves greens. When she got here, she and Sassy painted Little Big Man's room for her and it's a lovely green between Kiwi and pear - bright and airy. Every sweater she owns is green and she's bought 2 scarves since she's been here (both green). When I was dyeing in September I did a special colorway just for her and she's since learned to spin and is currently knitting another scarf of her very own handspun. It's lovely. (I'll post pictures when I can get the needles out of her hands.)

H stocking, version the first

It wasn't a stretch choosing a color. The problem was which greens to choose (green is one of my favorites as well). I got the yarn out, balled it up, and started knitting. One of my continual issues is the denial of how big knitted goods get away from the needle. I look at my cast on stitches and think, "Oh that needs to be a couple of inches bigger." It almost never does and I end up with this  -->.

Perhaps the ruler is obscured there, but the thing is ginormous - 9.5 inches (almost 24 cm). It's the scale that's the problem. If I keep knitting on this many stitches the stocking would be large enough for Jack's giant. Perhaps I should add sleeves and call it a toddler sweater! I know I must rip it out and start again, but I do hate losing all the work already done. {sad trombone}

Giving props to Kristen Nicholas here. The stocking is based on her No 3 - Yikes Stripes Stocking from her ebook Kristin's Creative Christmas Stockings. It's a fabulous collection of 6 stocking patterns that you can knit as is. But she's Kristen Nicholas, so there are tons of variations for you to experiment with. She has extra fair isle charts, a tutorial on duplicate stitch, embroidery stitches, and gorgeous full color pictures of the stockings - all for $10. You don't even need to leave your home - buy the ebook and it will download right to your computer or tablet. (I'm not affiliated with Kristen in any way except to say that she's a fabulous indie designer and I believe in supporting fabulous indie designers every chance I get.)