Knitting on fire

On Ravelry

2009-08-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

BTW, on Ravelry I'm known as Inkmama, so come say hi. All my projects are there.

Languid lace

2009-03-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted here in so long because Ravelry has taken my attention. It's there I post photos and work.

But I'm excited to be doing lace again. It's the Aeolian shawl in the Spring 09 issue of Knitty.

Here it is:

The magnet board very much helps me to keep track. The magnets are strong like bull. They do not budge.

I love this pattern.

At the Fair: satchel and birch shawl

2008-08-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

One of my Weekend Getaway Satchel, on display at the fair--the one that was a Division Winner), one of my salmon kid mohair birch shawl and me.

A few finished knits

2008-08-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

First prize at the Orange County Fair

2008-07-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is the first time in my life I've ever entered something at a county fair, but each year we go to the Orange County Fair, a major Southern California fair where people flock to eat deep fried anything and watch pig races and pet cows' snouts. Personally, I love visiting with the llamas. They look at me with their big brown, long-lashed eyes and I feel certain they know that I love them and knit and all that.

Anyway, I entered two items--my Weekend Getaway Satchel, designed by Marta McCall--and my salmon birch shawl. Both took first prize but the Satchel was a division winner. What a hoot! Great fun, and actually, great gratification.

Maurice, the woven duct tape purse

2008-06-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

Check this out, a wonderful purse my son wove using duct tape. Here's the pattern.

Save the date: July 13

2008-06-15T06:50:00.001-07:00

I have another book event for Knitting Through It: Inspiring Stories for Times of Trouble:

Sunday, July 13, 1 p.m.
Barnes & Noble at Newport Center/Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Bring your knitting and bring your questions re: writing essays. Don't let me sit there all alone!

Teal appeal

2008-06-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

That's the name of the Ravelry group that I belong to, and with reason: I'm in love with teal. Seems like all of my current projects are teal, or white.

My plastic tote bag...

Debbie New Scribble Shawl...

Cup cozy....

Cell phone holder beginnings...

And my teal flip flops that I just bought at Jack's Surf shop.....

I love teal. Can you tell?

Save the date

2008-05-31T08:23:00.001-07:00

July 13, a Sunday, at 1:00 p.m., I'll be at Barnes & Noble, Fashion Island, in Newport Beach, talking about essay writing and knitting and my essay, "Knitting: My Urban Escape," that's in the anthology, Knitting Through It: Inspiring Stories for Troubled Times (Voyageur). Pen on Fire will be there too. I hope you can make it!

Book signing: Knitting Through It

2008-05-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

Join me on Saturday, May 24, at Borders Bookstore, 25222 El Paseo, in Mission Viejo where I'll be signing Knitting Through It, an anthology of writings about knitting. Some are by contemporary writers like me, and others excerpted from the WPA’s Federal Writer’s Project. All tell stories of knitting through adversity.

The book also includes black and white photos from the Library of Congress archives along with some knitting patterns to help knitters through their own difficult times. One photo I particularly like is one of prisoners at Sing Sing knitting.

My essay is called: "Knitting: My Urban Escape."

My writing book, Pen on Fire, will also be on hand.

So bring your yarn and needles and join me at Borders a week from Saturday at 1 p.m. Should be fun!

Knitting Through It is out

2008-02-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

My essay, "Knitting: My Urban Escape," is out in this wonderful book of essays and photographs. Mostly contemporary pieces, a few historical. Every day I read another essay I like so much. Voyageur is one of those smaller presses that makes the most beautiful books. More here or here.

What I've been doing...

2008-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've been crazily knitting, actually. Here are some photos....

And by now you must be familiar with Ravelry. A yarn porn site, if there ever was one. Go to ravelry.com. So very cool!

Knitting Through It

2007-09-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

The anthology, Knitting Through It, edited by Lela Nargi, with my essay, is now on Amazon and available for pre-order (though it's not out until March of 2008).

I love knitting narratives and anthologies, and love Nargi's work, so I'm glad to be included!

The first knitting narrative I read was Nargi's Knitting Lessons. It still remains among my favorites.

On, and off, the needles

2007-08-29T14:13:00.001-07:00

From Erika Knights's Simple Knits with a Twist....a tote bag knit from plastic bags cut in strips. Fun! And when you think about it, when something like 100 billion plastic bags end up in U.S. landfills (and take upwards of 500 to 1,000 years to decompose), it's a good project, period.

And my tank is finished!

Here is the beautiful Catherine ...

2007-08-25T21:19:00.001-07:00

... recipient of the Tutu tea cozy. Isn't she a gorgeous bride? (Too bad we don't have the tea cozy in the pic with us...)

Tutu tea cozy

2007-08-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

From Tracy Ullman's Knit 2 Together. So many interesting patterns in this book. I was looking for a wedding gift for a friend who appreciates handmade things. It came down to this cozy and a felted wine sack. She doesn't drink much wine but does drink tea. So I went to Old Towne Orange and shopped for a beautiful vintage teapot. I had already made the body of the cozy, and when I was back home and tried it onto the teapot, saw that it was a tad big for the teapot.

Still, hopefully she'll like it and have other teapots to use it with. It's the most fru-fru cozy; reminds me of a French poodle.

The Birch shawl is finished!

2006-02-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

Here it is, unblocked and basking in the sun. I used Kid Seta, a little more than three balls. I don't know if I just knit loose or what, but I had to run out and buy more. The only place around here that carries Kid Seta (in gorgeous colors!) is The Sheared Sheep, a new knitting shop in Newport Beach/Costa Mesa. I loved knitting the Birch, once I figured out how to keep my place. I used stitch markers every 10 stitches and I also used big Post its. I placed one on either side of the row I was on, in the Rowan magazine, like a horse with blinders. And I always wrote down the row's number, too.

Weekend Getaway Satchel

2006-03-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

I'm making the satchel from the Fall 2005 issue of Interweave Knits and I can't wait to begin.

I just ordered from www.knit2purl2.com on Wednesday and the box arrived today (Saturday). Here it is, so much lovely yarn. As someone else said, I've never received so much yarn at once. (That's Travis outside the window, holding up the photo of the gorgeous satchel..)

I ordered the hardware from the suppliers mentioned in the pattern: Oregon leather co. for the buckles (I called them) and the bag opening and other hardware from www.ghees.com.

I can't wait to start.

Bushoong Zigzag bag and more

2007-01-17T08:06:00.000-08:00

Here's what I've been up to lately.

Finished the Bushoong Zigzag bag from Vicki Square's Folk Bags. I'm basically happy with it but it pooches a little bit--probably because some of the yarn strands pulled too tight in the felting process. But when it's full of my junk, it's hard to tell.

Here is my Mason-Dixon warshcloth/potholder. Brian held it up and said, "It's charming!"

And buying yarn, of course--too much, perhaps, though can a knitter ever really have too much yarn? What you see hanging on the candle sconce is Claudia Handpaints in seafoam. The color is much lovelier in person. I met a woman at Suzoo's Woolworks in Costa Mesa--Sandy was her name--wearing a shawl made from the yarn and it was incredibly lovely--ethereal, even.

Lucy bags

2007-07-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting bunches but remiss about posting. Here are a few Lucy bags I've knit in the last couple of months, in an effort to use up stash. Mostly I used Brown Sheep worsted.

And then there are a pair of socks that I started long ago. I used Lorna's Laces sock yarn. Finished them in time for summer, of course. But they will be there for the fall...

A few things I'm working on

2007-08-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

I love working with white yarn, and this white cotton yarn by Blue Sky Alpacas is so delicious to work with, and so soft. It's a Blue Sky Pattern I bought last year: The Fitted Tank, designed by Alison Williams.

The blanket is from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I started it last August and work on it sporadically. Here it is on my son's bed. Learn more here.

It has been ages since I posted

2007-05-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go?

It goes where lost socks go, I'm convinced.

It's not like I haven't been knitting. See....here are a few things I've completed. There are more; I just don't have pics. I'll post them soon. Promise!

The first two photos are of a Knitpicks bolero sweater, knit with their Sportshine (cotton and microfiber), clasped shut with a pin that was my grandmother's.

This red sweater is made using Katia mohair. It's the To Dye For sweater in Stitch 'n Bitch. I've made this sweater four times. Just make the sleeves a few inches shorter as the pattern is written for a gorilla.

And this is a red heart I knit for Brian for Valentine's Day.

Jaywalker socks

2007-02-20T08:08:00.000-08:00

I'm making these socks and I love the pattern. So fun to see the zigzagging pattern emerge.

Thanks, Deborah, for posting your pics of the socks.

Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

Rose petals on the floor leading from the bedroom door to the dining room table (in our cottage's living room) where Valentine's Day treats awaited.

Last night, bleary-eyed, I knit a lil heart for Brian. He has one from last year, or the year before, that I knit that's hanging from the rear view mirror of his van. Here is another.

Knitting exhibit

2007-02-11T07:51:00.001-08:00

This is in NY right now. I wanna go!

Click here.