Spiral!

The glorious red blob is finally shaping up into something really special, and I'm loving it.


The spiral is, to me, a constantly intriguing motif in knitting and I love patterns that play with and incorporate its structure. I'm enjoying this sweater so much, I might make two - what a great pattern!


I had a wonderful time in Virginia teaching and got to meet a whole bunch of wonderful knitters. Between the recovery from my trip and preparations for my real vacation, things have been a bit crazy, but I'm gearing up for a hell of a lot of knitting over the next month.


As of tomorrow, and for the entire month of July I'll be relaxing on the west coast on a much needed vacation. I'll be passing back and forth between Seattle, Portland and the Oregon Coast with knitting always by my side and happily leaving the NYC humidity behind. I plan on knitting a lot and finally getting to play around with some new design ideas. I will have my computer with me, so you may not notice much of a change around here, other than hopefully more knitting output than normal. That's what vacations are all about, right? At least for us knitters.

Goodbye Brooklyn, hello Pacific.

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Diary of a Makeup Artist.. Entry #01

There are so many stories I could tell, and yet because of my profession I cannot. Sitting in a makeup artist's chair is much like sitting on "the couch" in a therapists office. Confidences should never be broken lest your wishing to never work in the entertainment industry again. I try to be what you'd call a "listener", because people in my chair are typically not interested in family life, however the ones that are interested get an ear full.

As I've stated before I have had some interesting gigs. Last night I worked at the Rock Scissors Paper Championship Finals. Seriously ROCK, SCISSORS, PAPER... I kid you not!!

From the roar of the crowd you would have thought it was the Super Bowl! But mostly I believe it was the free flow of inebriation and cameras on the inebriated egging them on. An interesting part of the evening was when I was instructed to glam up one of the contestants who was so incredibly nervous she had NOTHING for the camera, personality zero. A bit of makeup and coaxing helped. She was one of the final two. I hope the makeup didn't hinder her ability to win as she did not do so. :-( The show airs sometime in August

Heat Wave..

As the summer heat rolls around, business slows as does the fun.. It's just too stinking hot in Vegas to do anything but find a puddle of water to sit in and and try not to get sunburned. Because business is so slow our budget tightens. It makes for a difficult summer, with all the time in the world and no money to do anything. One has to get creative to keep the family entertained. Here are two low cost things we have found to be fun so far... Black Mountain Aquatics Center in Henderson. This is by far the kid's favorite thing to do, they have a big kids slide and a little kid's playground. You can bring in your own lunch and refreshments and the entrance fee is a mere few bucks if you buy a pass.

Boulder City Library. This year we have discovered the convenience of the Library and it's movie selection. If you get yourself an online pin you can request just about any movie you can think of and no matter the location of the DVD they will send it to your local library for... guess?? FREE baby! We have been going back in time renting entire seasons of The Munsters, The Addams Family, Bewitched and I couldn't believe my kids actually enjoyed the Partridge Family. They also have an extensive Disney Classics collection, we've recently seen the Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Gnome Mobile and the Cat Outer Space. Our online book bag is full of other fun titles, just be careful not to request too much at once or you'll have 17 movies to get through in a week!

So, what does your family do for everyday summer entertainment?? Suggestions please!

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New Yarns. New Blobs.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all of your kind words on the past few posts. It's fun to finally get all this knitting out there, as its been piling up somethin' fierce throughout the spring. I'm psyched that so many of you are getting the itch to knit big garter-y blankets. Good timing too, they'll be done just in time for fall. And in case you missed it, I updated the last post with a link to a picture of the full blanket (check the very last lines of the post).



Now that we've cleared the air of the finished knitting, I can get back to babbling on about all the many random things that are running around unfinished. I'll continue to ignore the projects whose lengthy hibernation hasn't yet ended, if it ever does. (Scott, Scott? Where are you?)



I've been hit with a fresh new wave of sweater-knitting-fever, and have had a couple of absolutely wonderful yarns stashed and waiting for a time just like this. The most important of them are the following:





A big batch of hand dyed yarn from Sundara. I procured 10 skeins of this unbelievable red last Christmas (self-love Christmas presents are great, aren't they?) and have been thinking about it all year. It's her (sadly now discontinued) worsted merino semi-solid, and I've finally found a worthy use for it.



I've started Meg Swansen's Spiral Yoke Pullover, a sweater that has been on my list for a long time and is, I think, a great match for the yarn.





In a rare display of self-restraint, I actually knit the sleeves first this time. Something I should do more often, because when you're as excited as I am about a certain yoke pattern, you don't want to stop for anything once you reach the underarms.



The other stash jewel that I've been coveting to work with is a big batch of Queensland Kathmandu Aran Tweed that I snagged from the WEBS sale this year. Chocolatey, tweedy, woolen spun, and soft (cashmere, silk, merino, thanks) - I'll knit you any day.





The nameless blob seen below? Yep, you guessed it - another seamless sweater. You'd think I'd tire of 'em, but I can just never get enough. (I guess this is the same syndrome sock-knitters are plagued with, right? There can never be enough handknits to cover your feet?)



This is a design of my own that I've been itching to realize for some time and hopefully will. Don't hold me to it, though. Designs always have a lifespan of their own.





I'm off to Virginia early in the morning to teach at the Purl Jam over the weekend. If you're signed up for some of my classes, I'll see you there! BT e-mail response times over the weekend will be delayed, as a result, but I'll surely be fielding double-time when I return. Until then!

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