30 January, 2007

Laced With History

So the show Laced With History has opened at the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan and Parthenope and Stella are there. Any of you in the area should go and check it out.
Here's the blurb:
http://www.jmkac.org/exhibitions/

LACED WITH HISTORYJanuary 21—May 20Many contemporary artists use lace as a formal or theoretical starting point in order to address issues related to personal history and cultural memory,class and gender, the processes of making, and the relationship between form and content. Laced with History begins with lace made by historical andcontemporary lace makers. It then moves to the sculptures, drawings, paintings, and jewelry of 30 contemporary artists who use or reference lace.Together, these artists offer a new context for understanding lace—namely, its role within contemporary art and, by extension, contemporary culture and society.

I love it when my art degree pays off.

19 January, 2007

A New Sweater

I felt like I needed a new post. It's a new year and maybe time to spend more time on the interweb (the internet, aka the "interweb," so called by my friend Matt's grandma--I love it).
I sifted around the house for some finished projects, or nearly so, to see if I could find something inspiring. I think I succeded. I found this great sweater that I had totally forgotten about.


It's a vintage Columbia pattern from 1916 or so knit out of Cascade 220 (why is that such a good yarn?). I followed the pattern pretty exactly except that the stripes of the darker green were some sort of fuzzy angora blend thing originally but I thought that looked silly. The buttons are these cool brass knots that were in my grandmother's button box for my entire childhood and then I got the button boxes (wheeee!) to do with what I will, and so this is what I did. They are great buttons, I'm sorry I didn't think to take a good picture of them. I am going to eventually format this one for sale but the pattern notes and the original pattern are on the island and I am in philly, at least for the duration of the cold. The boats to get across get pretty unreliable when the weather is crappy. The boat captains don't like to go out when it's not likely for anyone to be coming or going. There aren't enough sweaters in the world. Okay, now stop laughing. But there are an awful lot of accessories out there and shawls and scarves and hats and stuff but if you really want to make a sweater you're back looking at a Rowan book (not that there is anything wrong with that, my favorite sweater is from Vintage Knits [just re-released btw] and it also has pretty f-ing excellent buttons) or thumbing through the myriad books and magazines which is like finding a needle in a haystack. Maybe it's that people don't knit sweaters as much as they used to. When I started working in yarn shops (first knitting job was at the Weaving Workshop [now the Knitting Workshop] in Chicago in 1997) everyone just knit sweaters. You would come in with your copy of Knitter's or your Alice Starmore book and pick out yarn and go off and knit yourself a thing. You'd make a hat if you had leftover yarn. I want that again. Lets all knit sweaters. They are great.

02 January, 2007

Geyl

Happy New Year!
I hope you all enjoy this new pattern as a new year's treat!
Geyl is named for a friend of mine who took a shine to this shawl last winter right after I had knit.



Again, this shawl uses Koigu. About 9 skeins total. I used mill ends and scraps and just randomly changed colors every few rows or so. It's really pretty simple, and is shaped like a square with a slit so it stays on really nicely. I hope you like it, but if you don't bear in mind I will be out of town until the 8th!

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