I won a book!

My local library has a summer reading program.  In the Adult division, you can get prizes if you read a certain number of books and write a review.  Normally, I read a LOT of books, but I was working on a play this summer and didn't have as much time as usual.  So I was well behind.  Then I managed to do some catching-up, and when I went tonight to see what prizes I had won, this is what I was given:

Actually, I got to choose them all.  The packages of wildflower seeds appeared to all be the same, but there was a choice of two bookmarks (the other has a stylized coffeecup with "Read" on one side and "Relax" on the other) and three shelves of books, most of them review copies.  I could choose my book.  As you may imagine, that was not easy.

First, I checked the two mysteries, but neither seemed very interesting.  One was from a series set in Maine, the other about a bartender in Milwaukee, and while my connections there made that appealing I wasn't as excited as other people might be that it includes drinks recipes.  I looked at most of the books on all three shelves.  A number of them are ones I either have, or have read, or both.  or they are in my "waiting" queue - usually a book being passed around my family and I'm waiting for my turn.

So I went with a book that I thought I'd be unlikely to take out of the library, a historical novel whose central character is a cook.  Uncorrected proof, so I'm spotting typos in the first two pages, but interesting enough, and I'm sure I can pass it to a friend once I'm done.  I won't be able to sell it to Half Price Books, although I intend to take a carton or two of books and magazine there on Friday.  Just another version of recycling - while they work out my price, I do a little shopping......

Pop-Up Purchases

I went to a pop-up market this evening.  Now that the show has opened and we are not rehearsing every night, I can get out occasionally.  There are free jazz concerts in Bushnell Park (with perfect weather for it tonight), and since there are two sets I could opt to hear one, then go to the market.

These are essentially temporary flea markets, and while the Hartford Denim Company has a large enough indoor space to host one, this one was outside.  And unfortunately, a number of the merchants packed up before I could circle back and shop, due to lack of light, including one who does fun ornaments that have reflective eyes, or spots, depending upon the item.  I've purchased from him at a popup market in the past and thought about getting something this time, but he was gone by the time I circled back.  I did manage to purchase a few items, and chat a bit with some of the vendors as well.

First purchases were at the Vintanthromobile.  There were many tempting items but also a crowd, so I picked items I was sure would fit and I could integrate into my wardrobe:

I was very happy to find the shawl - I have wanted one of them for some time!  Yes, even with all the shawls I make (I had one with me tonight, in case it got cool), I covet ones I cannot make!  At right is a flirty skirt, yellow is not a colour of which I am fond, but with the orange flowers and trumpet styling, it's very cute.  The bag - well, of course I bought one.  This is like a basket with straps, and came in handy as I shopped more.

While I was paying, the owner saw the shawl I'd brought with me in case of chill (and never needed) and asked me about it, and whether I make things for sale.  No, I told her; for fun and gifts and the occasional commission, but I am afraid that if I set up a business, I'd promptly not have time to make enough items.

I love woven blankets like the one on the right:

I have purchased many over the years at various mercados in Texas, and this one is so soft I could not resist!  It's light enough to be a perfect summer blanket.  The vendor seems to specialize in vintage camping items, or maybe it was just the setup tonight.  The dress on the left is a vintage Hawai'ian dress, which I could tell by not just the fabric but the styling.  A key item is the sleeve:

That particular overlapping-petal style is typically Polynesian, and not found on similar garments that are made for mainland crowds.  Although I've always thought of these as something for older women, they are VERY comfortable to wear around the house, especially when it's warm.

There were food vendors, both the prepared kind (if you wanted to arrive hungry, or got hungry in the course of the evening) and farmstand:

Yes, I am part of a CSA, but some items we haven't gotten yet - or I ate what we did get, and the next delivery is on Thursday.  From one vendor came the potatoes (red and purple), onions, and one cucumber.  The bigger cucumber (which reminds me of the ones that grew in the little plot under our one window air conditioner, and so were constantly watered by the drip, when I lived in San Antonio as a child) and the cherry tomatoes (I seem to need more than my CSA is likely to give me because the tomato tarts I made for the green room at Sunday's show were very popular, especially the vegan one - I need to make at least two of those this week!) came from another vendor.  They are also the source of the bread.  Because of the heat I wasn't baking my own, but I didn't get any at the farmer's market on Sunday.  My starter is sulking from being banished to the back of the refrigerator and slow to slough off the hibernation.  So I was happy to buy a loaf, and can report it is very nice bread.

These went into the little inside pocket of my own bag, not with the others in the basket-bag:

The unmatched fused-glass earrings are more likely to be pins for me.  I love the one with the polka dots!  OK, I love polka dots.  Since I don't have pierced ears, I need to convert them to other uses, or to clips, and I just like the idea of using the one on the left as a lapel pin.

The other is a pendant from a glassblower who had many interesting items; I almost bought a spiderweblike suncatcher to hang in one of my office windows.  But that pendant attracted my eye because the inclusions look so much like lithops, which I like.

I browsed items from a third vendor, whose items come recommended, but all the rings I liked are too big for my fingers.  Ah, well, I was running out of cash.  I did get a bumper sticker from Hartford Prints! on the way to my car, but I won't put it on until daylight.  And I need to work up a cord to go with the pendant.

So glad to have had tonight off!

Charity Knitting for July 2013

So much for my intention to write the blog more regularly!  I have two reasons:  One, I have been involved in a summer Shakespeare in the Park production of "The Winter's Tale" which has taken up almost all my time not working.  Nightly rehearsals on weeknights and all day Saturday, plus Sunday during hell tech week.  But it has been a lot of fun, the people are great to work with (and on some levels less crazy than theatre people often are) and we're into the second weekend of performance so it's fairly smooth.  Of course, weather does interesting things to the production, but unlike most "in the park" productions we have an indoor alternative and even rehearse a "rain transition" in case we have to change mid-show due to a change in weather.

I did make it known that I knit, and do so during rehearsals and performances (since I am the Stage Manager and therefore am backstage - or more accurately, since we have no backstage, back-of-audience) as a way of keeping focused.  It works well enough for me.  I do have to maintain plain work, for the most part, or anything my hands can autopilot.  So with two organizations sending out calls for items to be delivered in July, I was able to create the following items.  For Afghans for Afghans, three wool sweaters:

The pink one (which has appeared on the blog before) is Bernat Felting Roving in the easy-peasy Steppe Sweater pattern, about 26" around; the one at right is a multicoloured wool called "Icelandic" which I knit in a basic Icelandic-sweater-style pattern and came out about 31" around (and actually had been knit sometime in the past and was all-but-finished in the stash); and the one on the left (32" around) I made with yarn from my trip to Argentina a few years ago. 

  

The organizer of A4A, Ann, went to Buenos Aires a year later and I told her where I had gotten yarn.  At the time, I thought I would use this green for a sweater for them, and originally intended to use it as trim with a multi, but that yarn wasn't cooperative.  Then I had a hurtful experience when I sent these sweaters in 2011:

 

I ran out of yarn with the one at top left so sent it as a cap-sleeved vest (they accepted vests for that campaign) and I was told it was going to be thrown away because the volunteers didn't think it qualified!  I was also told the one at the top right had sleeves too short (I tried it on and they reached my wrist) so it would be thrown away also - and it was alpaca!  After that, I decided they were nasty ungrateful and unkind people and there was no reason to waste my knitting time with them.

That is when I joined the Mittens for Akkol knitters, who are warm and friendly and a very fine group.  I've been happy to knit for them for the last couple of years.

But the green yarn nagged at me, so when I heard about the girls sweater campaign this summer I thought I would overcome my bad feelings and send sweaters.  Besides, I had that pink one going and then found the other, which I think had been intended for a previous M4A campaign and not gotten done in time.  The three together just fit into a Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate box, which turned out to be cheaper to send than even surface mail!  So off they went.

And the Steppe Sweater pattern, being mostly plain knitting in the round until the armholes, is perfect for autopilot knitting during rehearsals.  Things got a little fiddly because I realized I didn't have enough for a whole sweater, so I added the multi - Patons Kroy Sock in Spring Fields, five strands held together.  I think it gives a nice, bright touch that some girl should enjoy:

I ended up knitting the sleeves from two ends of the green yarn after it became clear I didn't have enough to make both sleeves all green, so the green ended at the same place on the sleeve, and then finishing with the multi.

 

At the same time, when it was really hot or when I needed something small (the downside of knitting sweaters of a piece, which is great because finishing is minimal, is that they get big and HOT to carry around and knit) I made caps for PatPat's Hats, which gives hats to oncology hospitals and other places to distribute to children (and some adults) who have lost their hair to cancer treatments.  I forget how I found out about them but they are in Connecticut and hats are easy to make!

 

Earlier this summer they sent out a call for hats kids could wear at Camp Rising Sun, which is a free camp for children who have been diagnosed with cancer, which has been providing kids with camping experiences for thirty years.  These hats needed to be cotton or thin yarns, because it is summer, so I focused on those.  I had just gotten some frozen yoghurt pops and thought it would be fun to mail the hats in that box, so my goal was to make enough to fill the box:

Most are cotton, a few are not, such as these three of Bernat Baby Jacquards (and I still have some of that ball left, but I didn't want to make too many alike) and the two of an oddball of Fiesta yarn that I thought an older boy might like because of the colours:

 

Although it is easier for me to autopilot knitting, crocheting is faster and a nice change of pace, so two of the caps (one of the "pink lemonade" ones and one in Brown Sheep Cotton Fine) are crocheted:

I got seven hats out of six balls of Sugar 'n' Cream that I had in my stash waiting for a use.  I wanted them to be as different as possible from each other, even the ones where I used a similar pattern, and I think I came up with a nice variety:

 

I made three in ribbing patterns to stretch over different sizes of heads.  It makes a difference when a child has no hair, or a little hair, and different types of hair.  All striped, because plain hats are dull: 

These are my three favourites of the bunch.  Two are in a short-rows pattern from KnitPicks that I often use when making hats, and the third is just a plain hat with stripes.  It was the last hat I made, and I was integrating the yarns I had left.

 

So with all the charity knitting done, am I working on something for myself?  No, all the projects I have queued for me require concentration (at least to begin) and the next weekend of performances is beginning, so I am doing another Steppe Sweater for Mittens for Akkol (getting a jump on next spring!) until the weekend, when I will have time to set up a new project.  I did finish two shawls for myself earlier this summer, but they will have to wait for another post to be reported.

 

Torso for Ta-Tas

A couple of months or so ago, a friend talked me into contributing to a community art project sponsored by a cool local indie shop.  The theme is to:

Come join in the "Celebration of Life" - ART is a healing tool, bringing awareness, comfort and hope to all those touched by battles fought and the ones still to come.

The idea is that you pay $10 and get a plastic torso, the kind that are used to display shirts and other top-body clothing.  Then you decorate it and return it to the shop and they will put it into the show.  I do not have art skills, but I figured that I could do something or other.  My friend, who is a photographer, planned to print out a bunch of her photos and decoupage them onto a torso.

Me, I do yarny things.  And I had seen something called the Tango Tunic which seemed perfect for this project, especially in a pink recycled cotton yarn I happened to have around.  I started it and posted when I had the collar done, and it grew fairly steadily.

But I couldn't just leave the torso plain white, or covered in one of my T-shirts.  I had a vision, which due to time I didn't fully accomplish, but I did the key elements.  First, I removed a breast:

This did involve buying a new tool, which is a hotknife.  I have decided that I really like having this in my arsenal, although melting plastic is really stinky.  Yes, I did ventilate the space well.

Then I did my own decoupage, for no other reason than to highlight the surgical site and to make the torso a bit more interesting looking than a solid colour would be.  I added colours, using torn tissue paper and Mod Podge(R), being randomish in placement although I had a design for the colour sequence.  I took photos as it progressed:

   

    

 

I could not leave the hole as a hole, of course.  I had planned to do a backing wall with the plastic I cut off, but it didn't fit when reversed and I didn't have time to reshape it.  When I picked up the torso I had purchased some earrings, and one disappeared before I got home.  So the other became the centerpiece of the filler, strung on silver thread:

   

I thought of doing more, as a mandala design, but I ran out of time.  I still might do a few rounds quickly before I deliver this.   It's due today, of course!

Here is the dressed torso.  I am adding a note that if someone buys the artwork, s/he can remove the tunic as it is fully wearable.  That is also why I decorated the torso, so if the tunic is being worn it's not just a boring hunk of white plastic.  It's still not very artistic, but it is OK, given my skill level.

These are a couple closeups of the tunic hem and collar:

 

 

I have seen a lot of the torsos that were delivered in the early days, by real artists.  So I know how mine does not compare.  But it's for a good cause and that is what really counts, right?

 

Added later:

 

When I went to deliver the torso, the organizer complimented it several times, and then realized what is in the cutout area.  She said "it's the earring!"  When I bought the pair and got home, one was missing.  I think I tried to call to see if it was there, but hadn't had time to get back to the shop.  I thought the other had gotten lost in my car.  Meanwhile, they found it at the shop and tried to figure out to whom it belonged, and the artist even checked with people he thought might have bought it.  Nothing!  So I may be getting the earring back as a pendant, unless he can make another to match.

 

Quite a few friends posted on my Facebook page that they think the piece is actually art.  I am very flattered by that.  It's not just the crocheted tunic, it really is the torso underneath.  I still wish I had time to do something more mandela-ish with that space, but she is what she is.

 

And yes, I did make sure she transported very safely:

 

The show opens this coming Thursday evening at MCC on Main.  I cannot be there but I will go the following week to a showing of the Swan Day CT documentary, and I look forward to seeing all the torsos on display!

 

Those 10 Questions

In recognition of tonight's 250th episode of "Inside the Actor's Studio", I am providing my own answers to the Pivot Questionnaire* asked at the end of each show:

1. What is your favorite word?    Serendipity
2. What is your least favorite word?    Can't - whether used as an order, instruction, or defeatist statement.  It's a challenge, either for the person who says they can't do something (especially if they do not try), or the person who says that I (or someone else) can't.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?  Sunshine, sunlight.  And really clear, crisp night skies when it is so dark all you see are the stars.
4. What turns you off?  Closed-mindedness and small-mindedness.
5. What is your favorite curse word?   Oh!  I don't really curse.  I tend to use made-up things like "Jiminy Christmas!" and "Holy Moses" and "Poot" and stuff like that.  Or I do the Shakespearean Insult sort of thing, sometimes in non-English langauges.
6. What sound or noise do you love?   Laughter, especially of children.
7. What sound or noise do you hate?   The screech-BANG! of a car accident.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?   Astronaut.
9. What profession would you not like to do?   Oh, lots.  Pediatric oncology would be a really, really tough one.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?  Heaven is not a concept my religion has.  But I think I would like to hear "sorry, we made a mistake and are sending you back - you have more things to do." 

How would you answer these questions?


* Created by Bernard Pivot, based upon the Proust Questionnaire.



PS:  Today is the 60th Anniversary of the date on which Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed to the top of the world and touched the sky.

Progress Report on knitting and crocheting

Despite having a 60+ hour workweek (my timecard said 59, but we have to file it on Friday morning so I estimate eight hours on Fridays and adjust as needed - and this week, I need to do it) I managed to make some progress on the items I showed last week.

First, I had to un-do a lot of progress.  I took the shawl on a retreat last weekend.  And I realized I wasn't terribly happy with the result:

Oh, it was growing nicely and I liked the feel of the fabric, but I didn't like the contrast between the stockinette and garter spaces.  I thought it would look better with bigger stockinette.  So I ripped it back, to the shock of people around me, and started not quite over, but from the end of the first stockinette panel.  This is how it looks today:

 

It has about the same number of panels but is much bigger.  I do have some more yarn, that I will use for the applied I-cord border.  You can see the difference in these close-ups, before and after:

  

I do like the new version better.  As you can see, I've made some good progress on it this week, thanks to a lot of meetings that filled part of my days.  And with those hours, I didn't go out much in the evening, although I did knit on a chemo cap (just basic ribbing, hardly worth showing) for an organization called PatPat's Hats while I went to a movie and post-film discussion at the Wadsworth Atheneum on Thursday night.  A bit of a treat for me (almost-)after a LONG week of work.

In the evenings, I had time to make progress on the tunic, which required more focus than I could manage in the meetings, at least until I was well into the body:

Next stage will be the border, again requiring much focus, so I will work on it this afternoon.  I'm almost glad the rainy weather will keep me inside!  But I have to come up with something portable and simple to take with me to Manhattan tomorrow, where I will roam one or two museums and dine on Peking Duck with friends.  Maybe it will be a scarf for a veteran, I have some yarn in stash just for such purpose.  And I even know where it is!

Whence all this pink in my knitting and crocheting bag?

I've never been really fond of pink, so was surprised to realize that I have three projects going on that all contain pink.  First, after getting all those sweaters knit and mailed, what do you think turned up as my "idiot" or when-I-don't-want-to-pay-attention knitting?

 Yup.  Another Steppe Sweater, this one about 26" around so approximately size 8.  I may send it to Afghans for Afghanistan, which is doing a campaign to get 500 wool sweaters for girls by sometime this summer.  The yarn is Bernat Felting (a discontinued yarn) so 100% wool roving.  Or I'll keep it for the Mittens for Akkol fall campaign, which is mostly socks but also other clothing items for the smaller children.

When I went to visit my grandmother last weekend, I wanted something easy that she (one of the people who taught me to knit) would appreciate.  I had been thinking for some time that this yarn - Gedifra Fashion Trend Fino Stripe, also discontinued - would make a nice baby blanket:

It's the 10-Stitch Blanket pattern worked on fifteen stitches and with a longer starting strip so it comes out as more of a rectangle.  That is only the second ball, so with each strip being about 3.5" wide this could end up fairly large, or have a matching sweater or something.  We'll see what happens by ball four, since of course the rows just get longer so the balls don't go as far the more I knit.

Then I made the collar of a tunic that will go over the torso I am decorating for a breast cancer awareness event.  I photographed it over a black T-shirt so the pattern is more visible:

It's going to be a whole tunic and luckily those are the only hearts involved.  I really had to pay attention to get them to work properly!

Before you worry about me knitting only for others, or only in pink, I'll show you this:

The color is slightly more blue than it appears in the photo, and it's a handdyed yarn (wool and maybe silk) I've had for a long time.  At the bottom is my first test piece, using US#13 needles.  I didn't like it - drapey enough, but the stitches were too big to make me happy.  So I switched to US#10, and after a couple false starts, it's moving along.  The original pattern is called the Flying Geese Shawl, but of course I am doing it my way.  I am alternating garter and stockinette in each "V", and I plan to do an applied I-cord border.  One of the false starts was trying to figure out an integrated I-cord and it looked too weird, so I am leaving it for after.  I do have a WIP with integrated I-cord borders, but couldn't remember how it worked so decided I'll just add it later.

Thanks to some long meetings, the shawl is growing nicely.  I have to focus on the tunic to get it done by the end of this month, because the decorated torsos are due by June 1st.  So that is my quiet at-home project, when I can focus on the pattern.  I'll post more pictures when these get bigger.