Yarn Ball Boogie

Summer is here.  Which means that this time of year it’s particularly torturing to knit with chunky weight alpaca.  Unless I lock myself in my room with the A/C on.  However, I still have 2 alpaca garments to finish up by July 1, and 2 other projects.  And an article to finish writing.  And move apartments.  Oy vey.

Is it just me or does really beautiful hand-dyed fingering weight yarn look so much better in the A/C?  I hold it and go “oooooooooh.” Almost like a ball of ice cream that I could just eat.  Or some yummy, yummy candy.  But, if the A/C isn’t on, I’m like, “ugh.  sweaty, sweaty balls of yarn.  get away from me.”

Have ya’ll seen this—–>

I can’t take my eyes off of some of these colors.  EGADS.  Some of the best dye jobs I’ve seen.  And I’ve seen my fair share of dye jobs.  I’ve even done a few of them.

Get your dye jobs here……

I’ve been drawing a lot of “sea creature” things lately - shells, crabs, seahorses, etc.

Maybe my inner self is trying to get me to go to the beach soon.  I think this drawing belongs in someone’s beach house somewhere.

Hope you all have a wonderful, safe summer.

xoxo

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I heard a good friend once say, “Spirituality is how you feel about what you do.”

LOVE that.

I felt really, really good after this past weekend.  As a kid, I always struggled to identify.  This isn’t a psychotherapy blog, so I won’t get into it.  But generally speaking, one of the best things for me about the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat was that I didn’t have to struggle to identify.  I immediately belonged.  Just because.  Guilty by association in a really good way.  And I love short sentences, in case you haven’t noticed.

These boys really contributed something special to the show and tell night:

The first thing everyone said was “where’s the pattern?!?!”  So adorable, and the best possible knitter strip-tease I’ve ever seen.  Ok, maybe it was the only knitter strip-tease I’ve ever seen.  I have so many photos, so many memories, I’ve uploaded them all on Facebook here:

Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat 2010 Photos

The next project for the the 4 men in the photo?  A new knitted hammock to replace the one they broke.  Just kidding.  Those hammocks were like uber-hammocks.  I think they were made for more than one person on purpose.

Now, here comes the spiritual part.  You may ask (as I did) - John, where are all the KNITTING photos????  For me, it was more about the experience.  The “being around” the knitters.  In the company of.  Amidst.  Among.  Belonging.  Embraced.  Welcomed.  I truly felt all of that.  I made real friends.  I wasn’t inebriated.  I heard bullfrogs, for pete’s sake!

There is one more photo that I will post in a bit after I clear it with everyone - I got there later than everyone so I didn’t hear the photo “rules” that there is buzz about, so I want to make sure I don’t upset anyone.  But I took a couple group photos that I’d love to share.

I feel like such an ugly shell I’ve wanted to get rid of for so long was finally at least cracked this past weekend.  I’m so grateful I went, I’m so grateful for the friends I made.

Spiritual.  Yeah.  I’d say.

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I could just cry.  I mean, literally.  So many highlights.  So many beautifully gifted men converged on one spot in the most idyllic spot I could have imagined.  I arrived at 10:30pm on Thursday night to a sky full of stars and a choir of bullfrogs by the lake.

I’m a nervous, anxiety-ridden person by nature usually.  But, walking in to a room FULL of men sitting around knitting, chatting, laughing, and blissing out on the peaceful click of knitting needles was just breath-taking.  Anxiety was relieved of his duties at that point.  I will always remember this.

This little guy was definitely a highlight for me:

He lives at the Foster Farm. Carole Foster, our guide, was so great.  I could have stayed there all day.

Between the new friends, the free yarn (by some kick ASS sponsors) the swag, the setting, the food, the lace, and the spirit I felt all around me the entire weekend, I have just begun to process the memories.  I’ve had a smile on my face since I’ve returned.  I’ll do another post later with more photos.

Shout out to KnitterGuyTed and QueerJoe.  Just amazing amazing amazing guys I feel so fortunate to have met.

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So I sit here a little on the edge of my seat.  Partly because I’m trying not to get too comfortable in this chair (not that it’s all that comfy), and partly because I have a shitload to do.  I’m on the rinse cycle at the laundromat down the street.  I don’t usually like to leave my G Star Raw jeans in the dryer too long unattended in Brooklyn, NY.  Ok, I don’t actually dry my G Star Raw jeans, but it sounded good for effect.  But I do actually have G Star Raw jeans.  They make my butt look, well, fucking hot.  And I’m almost 40.  I can use all the help I can get.

Anyway - the other reason I’m kinda on the edge of my seat is because I’m about to leave for the Men’s Knitting Retreat at Easton Mountain.  It’s the first time I’ve been, and I better find a boyfriend or I’m never going back.  I don’t know about other boys, but I’m going there to stalk.  Not knit.  I mean, what could be better than a slew of men all knitting together in pajamas watching a movie???!!?!?  In the woods!!!  Alone!!!

Ok, I’m kidding.

Mr. Queer Joe outdid himself organizing this whole thing, and I won’t steal the show by causing a scandal.  But, for the record, I’m VERY capable of causing a scandal.  Sometimes unwittingly.

Oh shit, my laundry……….

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I love the start and the end.  I love seeing the horse out of the gate, and then I love to see who wins.  I love opening the package and then adoring the piece already put together.  I can’t IMAGINE what a woman must go through for 9 fucking months waiting between sex and getting to see the beautiful baby.   I would go out of my mind.  Clearly I would need lots of help being a patient mother.

But I’m learning to embrace the process more.  PROCESS.   Even with my sketching, I find myself sometimes obsessively working on something until it’s finished.   There are probably some psychological indicators that would help me understand all this, but ah yes, it’s all about the process.

I give you the beginning:

This is what a baby lamb’s skull looks like.  I drew this yesterday (obsessively).  I love skulls.  I’m constantly searching for what’s underneath.  The deep meaning in everything.  And skulls are a beautiful, bony example of the underlying cause of things.  They’re beautifully metaphoric objects.  And for knitters, a lamb is, well, where the whole yarn thing starts.

And this is where is ends:

In a beautiful ball of “oh-my-god-is-that-Madeline-Tosh-yarn” yarn.

The above is the “Lichen” colorway in worsted. Now comes the process of making something.  I think a beret.  I have 2 skeins of it so I don’t want to be wasteful…..But, I guess I could send it to someone if/when I make said beret for a test knit.  Anyone want to go on my test knitter spreadsheet?  Yes, I’m a nerd.  Kind of.

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A lot of things are coming into focus these days.  I’m not sure what they mean, but I’m going with the flow.  I’m trusting myself for the first time in a long time.  I’m trying to just be where I’m at, you know.

Sometimes I do things like email my tattoo girl and say “will you consider an apprenticeship with me?”  and then I say to myself, “what the HELL were you thinking?”.

Now, I’d like to think of this in two parts.  1) - the part of me that really expressed something that I wanted to express.  2) - the other part of me that follows shortly thereafter to shoot down part 1).

This used to happen a lot more than it happens now.  Thanks to therapy and sobriety, it happens less and less.  But I’m a little raw at this point in my life, unable to align compassion, wit, knowledge, emotion, fear, intelligence, creativity, and balance.  (among other things)   I’m just trying to breathe.  And exercise expression whenever I get the urge to.

My grandfather.  I never met him, but I miss him.  But from what I do know, he was crazy and a gifted tattoo artist.  I have a bug eating at me that says “John - follow it.  Trust it.”  And I’m trying.  I’m working through a lot of fear in my life right now.   The trick is to not let it isolate me.

This is my next tattoo (I think/I hope):

I’ve loved lilies for as long as I can remember.  So I drew this little number up.  I want it on my back - with a couple of the lilies extending up on my neck, lower skull region.

What does all this have to do with knitting?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

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So I have something you can buy:

Well, not the model.  The pattern.  Had you goin’ didn’t I.

I gotta tell ya how much I love Burly Spun.  I think I’ve been guilty of buying it just to swing the ultra large skeins around in the air while squealing.  And then I usually throw it on the floor and roll around on it like a dog.   I’ve made so many things from it.  I’ve even felted it.  (not recommended - it ends up feeling like 6,000 cardboard boxes compressed and wrapped with wire binding)

Things have been so crazy at work this week, that I have literally felt the knitting juice squeezed out of me.  Like, no.  You’re not knitting tonight.  That sock yarn blanket, fuhghettaboutit.  (Brooklyn)  Oh, and I don’t know if any of my little monsters read this blog who sent me yarn, but if you do, and  you are, THANK YOU.

Lada Gaga calls her followers her little monsters.  (useless trivia)

On an off-related story:  my neighbors upstairs are probably the most inconsiderate neighbors I’ve ever lived under.  They’re the kind of people who will say “Shhhh!!! Don’t slam the door!”  when their 4 year-old slams the door, yet as they are leading their offspring upstairs, door goes BOOM.

I have a problem with oblivious people.  Do you know any of those kind?  The ones who slam things, plow into you on the subway like you’re not even standing there, go so deep into the phone texting zone they forget where their ass is?   I think oblivion can also serve a meaningful purpose.  I just haven’t figured it out yet.

So don’t be oblivious.  Buy the pattern that’s only 4 bucks shown above.

I’m off to get an antibiotic.  I always get a teeny bit nervous around this time of year.  This very week last year, schools in NYC were closing because of H1N1.  And now I’m all raspy, chest pressure, congestion, coughing, low fever, blech.  BUT - I’m learning.  I know now it’s better to get an antibiotic on board at the first sign, instead of waiting til that moment where I go….”um…ok.  you’ve suffered enough.”  No suffering.  And there’s something to be said about a Doc you have a good relationship with.

Off to take a shower.  And slam the door going in.

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Hi peeps.

Believe it or not, this is yarn:

It’s from Anny Blatt, called “Plum”, I’m assuming for the feathers.  Get it, “hi peeps - into feather yarn?”  Nevermind.

Sometimes something strikes me and I don’t even know why it’s striking me.  Like this yarn.  When I saw it on Ravelry, I kind of gasped.  I knew I had to have it.  But I had no idea what for.  So I bought it.  As it turns out, feathers and fur are on trend for Fall 2010.  Many collections feature the stuff.  Now, I don’t know how you feel about the controversy that is using fur in fashion and should we do it or not, but I was just about ready to use it.  There’s something to be said about thinking before you act.  (Which I’m not known for doing) Seeing fur walk the runways this past Fashion Week in Bryant Park (which, I might add, I’m sad to see move to Lincoln Center, of all places), I thought, ok, what’s so bad about using fur.  We’re dominant to other species.  We can kill.  We can be over-the-top.  We know how to accessorize.  Enter all my justifications for wanting to be like other people.  But I really want to tell on myself and go on record as saying I want to renew my vow to never use fur.  Never.  Never.  Never.  And to think I was about to.  (for something I’m working on…)

So I look at feather yarn a little differently.  I don’t know if anything was killed to make this yarn.  I think I’m choosing to believe that someone just walked around a chicken coop and gathered loose feathers and strung them together with cotton and then dyed them a bad-ass color.  And it is a discontinued yarn.  So.  I do have plans for it for a small collection I’m working on for the Fall.  Stay tuned.

I was in Downtown Yarns the other day (my favorite yarn store)  and I noticed this:

Well, of course I just had to have it.  Another one of those impulsive “I have no idea what I’m going to do with this” moments.  But I trust my brain.  I know if it sees something, it takes a while for what it’s seeing to form words and design.  It’s the whole aesthetic thing, I guess.  My brain is kinda like a kid that pesters its parent to buy candy.  “Pleeeease??  Can you buy this for me??”  So the yarn is called Sekku from Noro.  It’s nylon, wool, cotton, and silk.  And it’s like thread.  Strong, wicked, colorful thread.  Yum.

And I leave you with this:

This is how I’ve been sketching lately.  I’ll start writing instructions for something, then for some reason, on the same page I’ll start doodling.  I had to rewrite the instructions for this on another sheet.  That crazy wire-wig hairpiece thing got in the way.  And I didn’t see it getting any smaller.  By the time the paper sees an image like this, it’s already gone through several stages in my head.  Ok.  Time for more coffee…………

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Ok.  So let me start this thing out by giving a couple shout outs.  You’ll have to forgive me, because since I haven’t blogged for 12 years, I might have forgotten how to link, download photos, etc.  My buddy Scout (woo woo!) paid for my subscription to keep this thing running because she won the lottery and is a nice girl.  Well, ok, so she didn’t win the lottery.  Secondly, thanks to all the emails I got wondering if I was going to ever blog again.  It’s time.

I told myself for a while that I would when I was ready.  Truthfully though, I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready.  I wanted to quit.  I wanted to close a chapter, or be done with it for some reason.  But it’s good for me.  I get to share, vent, stalk, lie, be honest, cause trouble, shout-out to companies, yarn friends, yarn fiends, and make friends.  And I’m thinkin’ I’m on the verge of making a few more friends.  Don’t ask, it’s a HP kinda thing.  Where ma people at???!?!??!

I bought a scale the other day.  Why?  Because I’ve started weighing crack.  This kind of crack, you silly privacy-invading DEA boobs:

It’s alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the Sock Blankie’s fault.  I saw it on someone’s flickr page and I went ballistic, for some reason.  It’s like, “oh my GOD.  I finally have a reason to use up all that damn sock yarn.”  So I am.  I just hope it doesn’t end up being some ritualistic burn thing I need to do when it’s all over.  Chant with me, “cuddly warm blankie.  cuddly warm blankie.”  That’s right.  Ahhhhhh..  You have to weigh these little “5 gram minis” and swap them with other like-minded crack whores.  That’s right, I said it.

I’ve even joined a couple “Blankie Madness” groups over on Ravelry, which specialize in tormenting enabling enriching my life.  I’ll post the progress as I go, but for now:

It’s coming along.  I thought I’d want to shoot my eye out after one or two squares, but alas.  No such luck.

The other things I’ve been doing lately?

-Vogue Knitting.  (wait til you see what we’ve been planning.  You’ll die.  well, not “die”, but…)

-Tahki Stacy Charles I’ve been with them the last two seasons, did some of my best work so far (within the constraints one is given with a yarn company), and now I’ve moved on.

-Irina Shabayeva If you watch the video, or see the images, I did all the chunky knits in the show for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week F/W 2010.  Thrilling.  My buddy Josh did the other AMAZING intarsia wing pieces.  Check it.

And working on my own collection, too.  It’s been a busy busy busy couple years.  But I think this is enough for now.  I’m kinda looking forward to writing here again.   Again, thank you to all you guys who want me to continue this - bring it on.  Love.

xoxo

j

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