Month: August 2023

Posted on

When He Drives

When he drives, I get to knit. And when he drives all the way to Pittsburgh from Chicago, I get to knit a lot! I actually knit more than what you see here. The scrubbies and the other hat isn’t here. What makes this group unique is that they all came from the same ball of yarn.

This is one skein of Caron One Pound Ombre in the color, Sepia. I started the scarf before we left but it’s what I worked on when I got in the car. The scrunchie was next. The Christmas stocking and then the pom-pom. There was nothing left. Well, there would have been. Went a little crazy on the fringe for the scarf. I started to put them back together and decided that was being a little too yarny. 

These items are being made for the craft show in October. I have decided what I am going to make: Scarves for kids and adults, Scrunchies, (my inexpensive offering), the Every Day beanie with a yarn or fur pom-pom, Christmas Stockings, market bags, scrubbies and wash/dish cloths.

I loved the results so much, I picked up four more balls of the ombre in fun colors. Also picked up some new Caron Macchiato cakes and then sent for some of the new Anniversary cakes. The good thing is I’ve used more than I ordered. (No idea if that’s true but I thougjt I’d give it a shot.)

The fun thing I made that’s not shown (yet) is the double knit beanie. It started as a simple beanie but my mind changed mid knit. I’ve had the pattern for years and don’t know what was stopping me from doing it. I brought a lot of yarn with me but there was nothing I wanted to use with the brown tweed. There was some off white tweed at home so it waited and I finished it off this morning.

I ordered the Anniversary cakes with the idea of making a poncho. But I certainly have several of the cakes I can use. I’m sure I will do it. I’m feeling pretty confident after the double knit hat.

It’s a DIY cable show kind of day around here. I’m making catfish for dinner. I decided to whip up an apple/celery/red onion salad. Which would be better if I actually had red onion. I am also making coco bread. Sweet garlic coco bread. I know, I should have my own show, right?

Posted on

Sunday Shout Out – Timeless Elegance on Goimagine

morse code bracelet from timeless eleganceMy first Sunday Shout Out – Timeless Elegance on Goimagine!

This is my favorite piece from Timeless Elegance, a Goimagine shop started by Kemberly Myers. She found a unique and powerful niche. From her Meet the Maker page: At first I created all types of jewelry. Then when I discovered how to make morse code jewelry, I began seeing how significant these minimalist pieces were to people with their personalized messages. When I realized I could have a part, even though small, in encouraging, motivating or even helping someone through their grief journey, I was taken.
Since then I pour my creative heart into my dainty pieces, with the hopes of impacting someone else’s life for the better.

Kemberly shares a feeling known to those of us who create and are blessed to be able to use that creativity as a means to support ourselves and our familes. We love crafting for ourselves but to know what we create can be used to bring joy, comfort and connection is a priceless blessing.

What I really love about her story is she was only making jewelry to appease her mother and found herself hooked. I’m betting her mom had a good laugh at that. I bet there is also no one prouder.

If you don’t know about Goimagine, it is a marketplace for handmade goods. True handmade. Not massed produced. Not drop shipped. Real handmade by small businesses with owners like Kemberly (and me) who were just going about their daily lives when the fates decided we needed to do something else. Something that mattered more than we thought it could.

Check out Kemberly’s shop and all the other shops on Goimagine. Spread the word that there is a place to get quality, handmade wares with the care and concern built right in. 

 

Posted on

Knitting in a Political World

Stack of multicolored granny square circlesIt’s hard to imagine knitting in a political world. But here we are. The world, not just the United States, has a climate where everything is viewed politically. Think I kid? Have you seen the uproar over M&Ms and the Barbie movie?

Knit and crochet have not escaped it. The craft has had to deal with politics and racism simply because racists and extremists knit and crochet like the rest of us. Once the skill is specifically used to create, say, a double knit scarf with the name of your favorite president and you place it on a knitting site where millions can see it, you can expect some support and some backlash. And because we have become a place where tempers flare hotter than those from the sun, discussions are left to burn and arguments happen right off the bat. After that, a nasty word here and a slur there, and all of a sudden knitting makes headlines.

One of the groups on Facebook allows political/social discussions but every once in a while, someone will post about it being a crochet site not a political site. Members are quick to point out that not only are such discussions allowed, the member had to acknowledge that when they joined the group. Trying to push away the discussion because of a sense of unseemliness or ‘why must we talk about it here?’  is, in its own way, a way to dismiss the person and the issue. That is an ability afforded to some and taken by others.

I am blessed that I have not yet encountered racism in the yarn world. That could be because I don’t do yarn shops that often and when I do, the people have been very kind. I am often the only black person in the room when in a knitting group and I am aware of it but I am also aware of my right to be in the room and to own the room if I should. My own knitting group, StitchCraft, is racially diverse. 

I am not one to push the subject away when it happens because I do want my knitting and crochet to be a safe haven for me. I want it to be the blessing gift that it is and that blessing is with me wherever I go and wherever I knit. That means there should be no place I feel unwelcome or where knitting is filled with tension other than in my yarn.

In order to maintain the meaning it has in my life, I have to defend it. For the most part, knitting remains untouched. But there are those exceptions and they cannot be let go as a one off. I am a woman wherever I go. I am black wherever I go. I am a knitter wherever I go. I will go where I please. The politics of the world will not stop me.

Posted on

The Anidi Cowl

The Anidi Cowl. A textured cowl from designbcb.The Anidi Cowl is my latest creation! The physical product is available at designbcb and the pattern is ready to go as well.

The pattern in my head was going to be one way and the needles went another way and I just went with it. I love how it turned out and I love the yarn with it. The yarn is Jarbo Cookie from Hobii. I will do a yarn review on it but for right now, look at the color: that rich, neutral and look at the texture from the definition. This was a fun yarn to work with. And I have some of it left. I have two or three skeins of it; different colors. YEAH!

It was a very quick knit and the pattern is beginner friendly.  You can start it in the morning and with some focus have it done that very day.

I am beginning to appreciate my own work in the practical sense. There is an urge to make another one of these to actually wear. I used one of my cowls last winter and it did what it was supposed to do and it also got some compliments. That’s everything I want for my customers: a product that works well and looks good on them while doing it.