Labor Day Pattern Sale

All patterns in my Ravelry Store are 20% off this weekend only. Today through Monday, Sept 3. 2012.

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Sunrise Moonset detail

Yesterday I received a lovely letter from Interweave with a printout of their new ebook (check it out) "Spinning for Crochet". I was delighted to find that my Sunrise Moonset Vest was included in this collection of articles from Spin Off. So I went back into my photo archives and selected examples of works by friends, participants at my workshops, and a few things of my own. You can find this gallery here. Thank you Interweave for keeping this beautiful technique alive in the minds of your readers.

click to enlarge

 Also! Gotta brag on Becky Cook, who sent me this photo of her Best in Show skein at Michigan Fiber Festival 2012. Inspired by Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, Becky dyed her fiber with the hot pour technique and spindle spun this gorgeous skein of sock yarn. Way to go, Becky!!!

Cloudland

Cloudland

Last spring I stood on the bluff at Cloudland Canyon and watched the thunderheads billowing in the updrafts. It was tornado season and after the crazy twisters of spring 2011 I had my eye to the sky. I could feel the cool mist from the updrafts cutting through the warm, humid air and they were blowing the lightest strands of hair from my face as effortlessly as they threw cabling strands of cumulus heavenwards.

Then I discovered Malabrigo Finito on a trip to Haus of Yarn in Nashville. I fell in love with the cloudlike softness and the delectable colors. Paloma was the first one in my basket.
It wasn't surprising then when I had the urge to knit spiraling cables.

my newest offering

I tried various forms, but I wasn't happy with the feel of the fabric. Cables tend to bind, draw in. I wanted this glove to feel espansive, like a second skin, totally pliable, like clouds for the hands. So I came up with a lace pattern that looks like cables. Now this pattern is available for purchase and download on Ravelry as Cloudland.

Although the Cloudland Canyon State Park website doesn't talk about it, this was once Cherokee land before the Removal and Trail of Tears. It was more than likely sacred land and unpopulated. I wish I knew more about its history, more about the woodland era in Southeastern Tennessee and  Northwest Georgia. I'm glad Cloudland is still wild land, with the few trails that were once built in the '30s falling to rack and ruin. It's such a contrast, this place, to it's commercial sister Rock City on the eastern face of Lookout Mountain and I hope it stays this way for a very long time to come. In an era where it seems more and more difficult to preserve land from development, this is still sacred land in that regard. These gloves in a very small way are my blessing to this land.

Nostalgia

New blood is a good thing, and I am very lucky to have found the web assistant I have needed for some time. Kelly is a recent Sewanee grad, new to but excited about knitting, an embroiderer, artist, and historical preservationist. Welcome to the fold, Kelly!

Kelly introduced me to about.me yesterday. I chose this photo for my page, one of my New Mexico creations from 1985, the beginning of my fiber art career when I knit exclusively with La Lana Wools yarns. Back then Luisa, owner and mastermind behind La Lana called her famous Potpouri Forever Random Blend simply "floor blend". BTW, La Lana closed the doors of her brick and mortar Taos store in February of this year, but you can find them now on Etsy. Anyway, If I remember correctly, the yarns in this sweater could have been "floor blend" or they could have been "Florence's Blend" (where did that name come from...come on...) and of course I sat on the wood floor of La Lana to chose my skeins from a pile of rapturuous color, mulling over each skein till I found the perfect ones, a definite sit-down job. This singles yarn was handspun from a carded blend of naturally dyed wool and mohair locks. You can definitely see madder, cochineal and logwood here, with a crocheted edging in cochineal dyed handspun tussah silk. The background? A natural adobe wall mudded with native clay. I loved the way every skein was different,  the way the colors lived in the natural surroundings of Taos like native denizens. Knitting this yarn was a total experience, sitting in an adobe house by a huge window in a foot-thick wall that let in waves of radiant New Mexico light and wafts of cedar, sage and chamisa with posole simmering on the stove and Pat Metheny playing on the stereo, in vinyl no less. Getting up to flip a record was a great way to stretch, to keep from sitting too long. This photo brought it all back to me in a wave, so I just had to use this as my avatar for Facebook, Ravelry and Twitter.