Wednesday

Inspiration...

... Swedish style!.



Min Inspiration is a wonderful blog I like to visit. It's the warm cup of cider kind of place for all sorts of soft and pretty and inspiring things. Lately, Mia's focus has been on crochet. Sunny, bright and spring-ish... just the place to visit on a gray day.

Oh.... and she has lovelies on Etsy, too! How Mia's plays with colour.... oh my!!

I was web wondering...

..., because it is Wednesday, and look what I found!


Apparently, one of the segments I taped for Knitting Daily TV aired and the free pattern for the project I demonstrated is yours for the taking! The scarf is an homage to Paris with a heavy "reduce, reuse, recycle" bend. Be warned... you will be expected to make you own "yarn". The segment is all about raiding your drawers and closets for inspiring textiles to cut up and knit! Yes, I know, as if our collective stash were not big enough. But, really, think of all the possibilities! Download the "Paris Recycled" pattern and you will then see some lovely detail shots.... me like!
I wish I could tell you more about the airings of Knitting Daily TV. You'll have to check your local PBS listing. Go figure, the Rochester, NY carrier we pick up from the other side of that big lake does not run the program... why I otta!

The project is included in the latest book edited by the ever-fabulous Ann Budd. Knitting Green should be hitting shelves in early May. Do look for it!


I lifted the picture of the elusive Ms. Budd from the Knitting Daily site just in case you wish to catch a snippet of her knitterly allure...


I've yet to see the book and have no idea what the final layout included. When I sent Ann my scarf and "pattern" I also included the story of my scarf. I don't know how much of it was used in the final edit so I have included it below in it's entirety...

Paris Recycled

Lately, being green to me has less to do with acquiring new “green things” --- although I do believe this to be very good and very important as the glow of a compact florescent illuminates my desktop-- but more to do with re-purposing, re-creating and “new“ using the things I have already amassed.
Before I donate, throw into the recycle bin , or --gasp-- toss something out completely I try to take time to consider what I can do to turn this "thing" I already have into something I want and will use....
Chipped and broken plates and cups are stored away waiting to be transformed into a colorful garden mosaic; old, worn jeans and overalls are piled fresh and ready in a box to be cut and pieced into a hardy, homespun comforter; special cast-offs of luscious fibres that once hung in my closet wait folded in a basket to be used as a lining or a pillow back or something else new, useful and pretty.
Hence, my Knitting Green project….
On my first trip to Paris-- ahem, let's just say a few years back-- I purchase a long, lovely, smoky blue silk skirt. I had come upon a little boutique just off of Avenue des Champs-Élysées that was filled with all sorts of silky thrills. After a very long time touching and sniffing and snuggling and trying on I deemed one special skirt to be mine. I adored it! The only problem... it was encircled with a bazillion ¾” knife pleats and after a few years the allure of a high maintenance piece of clothing-- as fabulously “Parisian” that it was-- faded. I eventually ended up tossing it in the wash to see what would happen. It came out still long and still smoky blue but without the pleats it was never the same. It had hung in my closet-- unworn-- for years. Every Spring Cleaning I would pull it out, toss it onto the donate pile, pick it out of the donate pile and re-hang it. "Maybe I'll wear it this year... I bought it in Paris!". Eventually it ended up in a basket in my studio waiting for purpose.
Well, with the aid of a straight edge and a rotary cutter the new raison d’etre of my Parisian skirt showed itself..... a soft, lovely, smoky blue silk--- scarf! It would be knit as long as the knotted lengths would allow in simple garter stitch with a few dropped stitch rows tossed in for subtle interest.
I stitched a little hand-stamped label onto the scarf. Just in case my memory fails… I’ll always have Paris!

Friday

A new place...

... to visit!

If you are on Facebook... and if you are interested in being part of Gifted... I have started a FB page for us!!
There is not much there at the moment but it is my hope that the closer we get to "launch" we can all use this as a place to gather and share projects from the book, exchange favourite gift ideas, and be inspired to make special things for special people!
Oh... and maybe start Knit-Alongs and share trunk show info and photos and event announcements ... and... and...
Simply log onto your FB account and search for a group called Gifted: Lovely Things to Knit and Crochet. Click "join" and... tada!
See you there!

Wednesday

Today it is...

... all about the *green*.
The hope inspiring fresh green in my garden...

A favourite lime green bowl layered with black and natural coloured crockery that always makes me happy...

A muted green piece-- from a local potter-- I have had for many years set against the pea soup green of a newly cherished painting I picked up in Patzcuaro, Mexico...



The way the grass green sings with the purple in my freshly unfurled Moroccan runner...

And the soothing willow green knitting project on my needles...

The design is a greatly modified version of a free pattern available from Classic Elite Yarns. You can't really see much but it is a quick and satisfying top-down and I am about halfway done the first sleeve. The yarn... a perfect weight for my kind of spring weather... Garnstudio Silke-Tweed. The talented designer, Cecily Glowik MacDonald, has a new book with Melissa LaBarre coming that I can't wait to have and to hold. It is called New England Knits and will arrive just about the same time as Gifted.
I hope you had the happiest time discovering all the greens of your day!