Glimpses of My Life, Lately

Things have been rather chaotic lately, so some pictures to hold you over until I can create a more content-worthy post.

On National Train Day, Michael and I dressed up a little old-timey and rode the train to Baltimore, where we proceeded to spend the entire day at the Baltimore and Ohio Train Museum.

We were mistaken three times as was figurines - we'd be standing with each other looking at an exhibit, go to move to the next one, and scare the living daylights out of somebody.  I think it was the hats.

Summer has truly settled in, and I've been kept jumping to land on things to keep Sweetness and Light entertained.  They've done so much growing lately.

I've been teaching a bevvy of classes at both Woolwinders and Fibre Space.  I love getting to teach new classes - and I have a bunch of new classes that I'm getting ready to roll out in the Fall!

I got a DSLR Camera, and I've been having way too much fun figuring out its capabilities.  Michael and I went to the farm this last weekend, and I had a bunch of fun with my tripod and setting long exposures.  Naturally, after a few shots of the stars, I couldn't help but play with flashlights.

Feline Friday

Just give me a moment, okay?

Crochet, Food and Art: Smithsonian's Food Cover

My husband just brought the June 2013 issue home.  He burst in the door with this frenetic look on his face and slapped the cover in front of me.  "Look!  It's what you do!"  Michael was referring to the fact that I've been designing a series of crochet foods, the latest of which are Sweet Strawberries and Outrageous Orange.

If you haven't seen the cover yet, Kate Jenkins, a fiber artist, created the absolutely stunning display at the right.  Called Wool Chow Mein Fake-Away, there's also really comprehensive article on her work at the Smithsonian website.  It doesn't surprise me that Smithsonian would use her crochet-based art as cover-art, because the Smithsonian has had a relationship with crocheters in the past.

Some of the many pieces crocheted for the reef:
mine are the orange ones in the middle.

The Smithsonian and I have a deeper relationship than just our mutual appreciation for food as art.  In 2010 I, along with many other crocheters in the greater Washington DC area, participated in the Smithsonian Display of the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef.  The project works to get local communities engaged and learning about Coral Reef Destruction and Preservation through a mix of community interaction, art and education.  For a couple of weeks my room mate and I frenetically crocheted hyperbolic shapes to help create the absolutely massive coral reef that dominated the ocean hall a the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History.

What I love about the Smithsonian June 2013 cover is not only the creative use of crochet as art (because well, it's cool and a little mind-bending, because handicrafts like crochet and knitting rarely get the attention that other forms of art do), but the way it touches on the tension in values in America today.  Crochet (and knitting and other handicrafts) are experiencing a wonderful revival, as people push back against our technology driven society by going back to the hobbies and handicrafts of their parents or grandparents.  In a similar way, many people are trying to get in better touch with where their food comes from - either growing their own, seeking organic alternatives, or participating in things like farm shares.

Kate Jenkins art, in a way, combines these converging concerns, in a lighthearted way that engages a viewer.  There's the moment of thinking, oh, a box of chow mein, before the viewer goes, "wait a moment - is that fake?"  And suddenly, the tension between 'fake food' and 'real food' gets blurred, and the viewer has to really think about the piece - the word it took to make it look so realistic and authentic, and the time it took to make the display.  Just like the time it takes to make and grow real food, and the work that is put into fruits and vegetables, shrimp and noodles, before the food makes it onto the plate.

The Crochet Cornucopia series, with my Strawberries, Oranges (and coming soon, Watermelon, Cherries and Carrots), is trying to work toward a same goal.  A person could just purchase toy food from the toy store, or buy plastic food to fill a fruit bowl.  By making the fruits and vegetables themselves, you are declaring that it's important to have quality items that will last years.  You want homemade fruit that will look beautiful.  You want toys for your children where you don't have to worry about them teething off the paint or have stuffing fall out.  You want quality things that reflect the time and care and thought you put into making them.

Check out the Crochet Cornucopia patterns on my Ravelry page.

Newport all worked up!

I've got a few more lengthy blog posts in the works, but while those are marinating, I wanted to share something exciting.  Textilemagician  from Ravelry just finished Newport, my crochet design
from Classic Elite.  You've got to take a look, it's gorgeous!

She chose to do a yarn substitution, using Tilli Tomas Rock Star and Pure and Simple, both in Moroccan blue.  She says of Newport, "Fairly easy project.  I am hoping that the silk will drop when washed."

It's so exciting to see the pattern all worked up and on somebody!  It's one of the best feelings to know someone took your thoughts that you put on paper, and then was able to construct what you envisioned.

Outrageous Orange

By Jennifer Crowley


Published in: Tinking Turtle Designs
Craft: Crochet
Category: Softies → Plant; Food
Published: May 2013
Yarns suggested: Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool Worsted
Yarn weight: Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi)
Gauge: 13 stitches and 12 rows = 2 inches in Single Crochet Through Back Loop
Hook size: 3.5 mm (E)
Yardage: 50 - 100 yards (46 - 91 m)
Sizes available: finished strawberry is 2.5" tall and 2" wide

Have questions?  Ask them here!

5 Ways to completely Mess up your Knitting or Crochet

The other day I was giving a private lesson, and my student mentioned she couldn't wait for the day when she stopped making mistakes in her knitting.  I laughed.  When I stopped, she asked me what was so funny.  I told her, "You never stop making mistakes.  You just figure out how to make worse ones."

Fixing mistakes kit.

Today's been one of those weeks where mistakes just keep happening.  I finally had to put my work down, but I can say with confidence here are 5 really good ways to make mistakes with your knitting or crochet:

1. Watch something entertaining while stitching.  It'll get you every time.
2. Knit or crochet while in a dimly lit pub with friends.  Bring your lace work, with lots of yarn overs.
3. Bring the project where you need to repeat each row to yourself as you make it to sit and stitch.  Start talking about whatever with your friends.  Look down. Realize you started working your last repeat halfway through the row.
4. Pull the wrong DPN completely out of your sock. Neglect to pick up one of your stitches.
5. Decide that you don't really need a lifeline.  Mess up and have to pull back completely to the beginning.

What are some of the best ways you've made a mistake with your work?  Share, so other people can learn!

Feline Friday - Cat Cuddles

Carrying Davidson With Me

I've been talking a bit the last few days about Davidson College (my alma mater), which has been on my mind since Michael and I are currently driving our way from Washington, DC to Davidson, NC.  As previously mentioned, we're going for Michael's brother's graduation.

I've been talking about how Davidson College played heavily into the designing I do today.  From resources like The Needlecraft Center to the art program at Davidson, this town and college started the transformation from a casual stitcher to fiber-arts professional.  There is, however, one other major thing I've taken with me away from Davidson that has been instrumental in leading me where I am today.

My husband.  Michael.

Back then, of course, he was my boyfriend, whom I had been dating for three years.  As a freshly minted graduate, I had an English Degree in hand, a job working for my alma mater (which I was very happy about, as the job market had just plummeted), and a plan to live with Michael and two other friends in a house off campus.  Michael and my friends were all seniors, and a year younger than I.

Early design project that has been revised,
and will be published later in the year.

I found myself with a profusion of free time.  Having no course load and a job that lasted from 9-5, I had evenings free for the first time in my life.  It was amazing. I was doing more spinning than I had ever been able to do, and was knitting and crocheting up a storm.  I quickly tired of other people's patterns, and began to work patterns of my own.

There was one such time, working on a pair of socks, that I began to write things down, so I could remember what I did for the second sock.  And it was about that time that Michael began to say, "You could make money from that."

At first, I scoffed at the idea.  There aren't many entrepreneurs in my immediate family, nor did I run into many people where I lived who ran their own business.  In contrast, Michael's father has run a successful small business most of Michael's life.  What seemed inconceivable to me seemed obvious to him.

Michael kept at it, though, asking thoughtful questions and encouraging me to learn enough about the industry to make an informed decision.  It was there
where I began to seriously think about what it would take to be a designer.  I wasn't ready yet to take the leap, and I had a lot of learning to do, but it was at Davidson that the seeds were planted.

Reminiscing about Davidson

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm heading to Davidson College (my alma mater) over the weekend for my husband's graduation.  It's got me thinking about how my experiences at Davidson have lead me to where I am now, designing knit and crochet.

Yesterday I told you about the Neelecraft Center, my very first LYS.  Today I want to tell you about the second of three things that heavily influenced where I am now.  The first was the Neelecraft Center, and the second would be Davidson's Arts program.  You see I was an english major and my senior year I had fulfilled most of my general requirements.  That meant I was taking classes mostly toward my major.  As things happened, my first semester Senior year I found myself taking three reading-heavy English classes.  There were weeks where I was reading nearly three books a week, plus associated articles with the text we were studying.

It was right about that time that Lauren Cunningham, one of my close friends and an art major, told me I should take a sculpture class.  (She said this, actually, as we were sharpening pencils for one of her really cool sculptures.)  I was dubious, but a few weeks later we were working on another one of her sculptures and it was so much fun I decided 'what the heck?'

Sculpture was amazing.  I've always liked to create things with my hands, and here I was being given the tools to be able to do that.  I learned how to work with wood, weld with metal, and cast in lost wax.  I got to play with plaster, and best of all, I was constantly incorporating crochet and knitting into my work.

Some of my sculptures were pretty weird.  I made a hand that's dressed up like a clown - it was made in a rush on an impulse, inspired my the "hand anteaters" my father used to make when I was a child.

I also made a piece titled "Rebellion against the Sampler."  The piece was inspired partly by the then incipient Crochet Coral Reef Project, partly by scrumbling, and partly by a desire to see just how far I could push crochet.  It inspired some rather visceral reactions from my peer reviewers, including one student who claimed it looked like something out of "Dr. Seuss trying to eat my foot."  At my professor's encouragement  I entered it into the student art exhibition, and won second place - beating people who were art majors!  It was the first time it occurred to me that I might actually be good at the sculpture and art thing, instead of just enjoying the heck out if it.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the third things at Davidson that brought me to where I am now.  Stay tuned!

Going back to where it all started...

Davidson Mascot, the Wildcat

This weekend Michael and I are returning Davidson, NC, the home of our alma mater, Davidson College.  Michael's brother is graduating, ending an eight-year run of family members attending the school. (His poor parents) Davidson is a small school that nobody really knows about.  If you've heard of Davidson you've probably heard of either Stephen Curry or free laundry.  In the fiberarts world Davidson is the alma mater of Ann Shayne '85, better known as one of the co-author's of Mason-Dixon Knitting, and the blog by the same name.  While I don't know her personally - she graduated far before I went to Davidson - I'd like to think that some of her coolness rubs off onto me.

I've got mixed feelings about going back.  I've been told things have changed quite a bit since I was there last (in July 2010) - and I'm nervous to see what has changed, and what has remained as I remember it.  I'm excited though, because Davidson was a major influence on where I am now.

Davidson introduced me to my very first LYS (local yarn store), in the form of The Needlecraft Center, right across the street from the campus.  God bless them.  I was a poor college student who could barely afford the yarn out of their "Discount Drawer."  Still, the staff took me under their wing, listening to me cry about classes or homesickness, teaching me to push myself to become a better stitcher, and occasionally helping me fix my mistakes.

Elaine McArn is the owner of the Needlecraft Center.  She's one of the first people who taught me there are different ways of knitting.  She's also the woman who pointed out I was knitting with entirely twisted stitches - and that just might be the reason that my sweater had a mind of it's own.

Then there were the knit-nights at The Needlecraft Center.  Happening every other week, I loved to hang out with the group of women there.  I made some really good friends, like Garret Freymann-Weyr, who later helped me get my nanny job working with Sweetness and Light.  I liked seeing what the women in the store were making, what was happening with jobs and relationships and family.

There's more to the story about the Needlecraft Center, and how it intersected with Davidson, but I'll have to share that tomorrow, in another post. Stay tuned for part 2!