Happy Blog Anniversary, Steph! (A Give-away...for the Knitters)

Stephanie Pearl McPhee -- The Yarn Harlot

One of my Very Favourite People  celebrated a Blog Anniversary yesterday -- 11 years since she "cast on" in "Fibre Space" (with apologies to arlee)...

In the above photo, she's knitting on the ribbing of a sock I made for my daughter's friend P -- a Christmas 2014 commission.  The location?  The Hilton Doubletree Edmonton (formerly the Mayfield Inn).  The event? "Comedy Night" -- the Friday night opener of the "Stix in the City" weekend event back in October 2014, sponsored by River City Yarns.  

It was a "bucket list" moment for me...and one in a million  several thousand for Steph, I'm sure.  (grin)

But without that first connection...

• I'd have missed all the glorious books about knitting and knitters;
• I'd never have laughed so long and so well;
• I'd not found someone who so deeply understands what it is to be
• Canadian; and (simultaneously)
• A knitter... 

Happy Blog Anniversary, Steph -- and many more!

P.S. Thanks to Joe and 'The Girls' for enabling you to enable us all these years... ;-)

P.P.S. What would a knitting blog anniversary be without some YARN?

I have three (count 'em) lace weight yarn prizes to give away on a random basis:

• One skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace - 100% Baby Alpaca - 800 m..847 yards in colour #21 (Lavender Blue);

• One skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace - 100% Baby Alpaca - 800 m..847 yards in colour #03 (green mix); 

• And two skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud lace weight yarn:
• One 440 yards in CA07 - pearl grey; and
• One 440 yards in C740 - green mix.

So...If you are a knitter -- or you know a knitter that would like to have any one of these three lacy prizes...Please post a comment on the blog saying so, sometime between NOW (i.e. Saturday, January 24, 2015 at almost noon Mountain Standard Time) and midnight wherever you are on Saturday, January 31, 2015.  Three winners will be chosen by a random number drawing process when I get up on Sunday, February 1.

Happy knitting!

Practically Perfect Weekend - Part I

When I posted on Friday, I was headed to Edmonton to attend "Stix in the City", sponsored by River City Yarns.  It was a Big Deal for them -- and for those of us attending.  Many knitters and crocheters were able to attend the full weekend of events with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Fiona Ellis...

I was just thrilled to be one of those at the Friday night "Comedy Club".  First, though, I had to pick up my entry ticket at RCY, the shop.  And of course, I had to browse...and though I recently protested to my daughter that I didn't want any more yarn (she gave me yarn for both Mother's Day and my birthday), this wee skein paid no attention and insisted on coming home with me...

"Wild Berries" - hand-dyed 100% merino
Indigo Moon Yarns, Gabriola Island, B.C.

What's a knitter to do?

I beat a hasty retreat!  Stashing the yarn in the trunk of my car, I dashed across the parking lot to Laser Quest and surprised my son at work.  Nothing like a hug from one's #1 son to start an evening off right.  :-)

When I got to the Hilton Doubletree hotel, knitters were already gathering in the lobby, waiting for the doors to open.  At 5:30 we trekked down the hall to the room, picked our seats, took up some wine and more knitting...

The Main Event was scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Just before that time, I made my way to the...ahem...facilities. Afterward, coming out into the hallway -- there she was!  The Yarn Harlot herself!  A typically inane, "I can't believe I'm talking to a celebrity" conversation ensued:

MB: "Hello!"

YH: "Hello!"

I put out my hand: "I'm Margaret." (smiling broadly)

YH (also extending her hand and smiling broadly): "I'm Stephanie".

MB: "I know." (grinning even more broadly) "Um...if you need the washrooms, they're right there." (pointing down the hall)

YH: "I'm okay...but am I going in the right direction [to get to the meeting room]?"

MB: "Yes...right this way." (pause; still grinning) "I have a gift for you."

YH: "I like you already." (grinning back)

By this time we were at our destination, so I ushered Stephanie to the hostesses for the evening and said something like, "We'll catch up later".  YH: "We sure will" (both still grinning).

Okay.  If' the Good Lord had come for me then, I would have been perfectly happy.

Blessedly, though, He didn't...and so I was able to enjoy Stephanie's anecdotes and laugh till my sides hurt and tears ran down my cheeks.

And to give her my wee gift, and  have her sign the book I brought, and tell me how please she was to see it had already been read (tell-tale dog-eared pages and a couple of coffee stains on the frontispiece...)

And to have her allow me to photograph her holding my sock..and to knit a bit on the ribbing...

That was the sweetest gift of all.  Thanks Stephanie.

 

 

Where I'll Be This Evening

I haven't a formal "bucket list" but if I did, seeing this woman would be on it -- and that item will be checked off tonight in Edmonton.

The speaker/author/knitter/teacher/humourist and proud Canadian?  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee -- aka the Yarn Harlot.  

I'm taking one of her books for signing, along with a wee knitting-related gift.  And a sock-in-progress.

More later.  A bientot, mes amis!

Be Still, My Beating Heart!

Oh! I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself!  I knew this event would be happening in Edmonton in October, but today it was finally announced: "Stix in the City" at River City Yarns -- featuring Fiona Ellis and ---- Oh!  Breathe! -- the Yarn Harlot herself, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  I have all of her books.  I follow her blog.  If she had a podcast I would hang on every word.  This gal is a) Canadian; b) a prolific and talented knitter; c) a spinner; d) a mom; e) a knitting humourist extraordinaire -- with a big heart (her major charity is Medicins Sans Frontiers, but there are others).



The event runs October 24-26 and includes several options.  I'm opting for the Friday evening "Comedy Club" event with Stephanie, as I have to be home on Sunday to sing at church.  That said, there is a Friday afternoon kick-off at the store -- a "Meet and Greet" where I'll be able to have a book (or two) signed and get to talk to these remarkable fibre artists of the knitting genre.  The evening event is at a nearby hotel, and includes cocktails, a reception and a talk by Stephanie, including time for Q&A.  At the end of the evening (8:30 or so) I'll have the option of driving home or driving to my daughter's for the night...I suspect the latter!

And yes...I'll be taking a sock-on-the-needles with me.  :-)  I can hardly wait!

Yes, There is Knitting

Knitting remains my primary form of stress relief, in and around the creation of pieces and preparing pieces for entry into shows, or awaiting the results of those entries, or following packing instructions for sending an entry to a show, or...well, you get the idea!

This week I finished one knitting project and sent it off to its intended recipient -- wee Miss Fiona, first child of Erica and Jeff, and first grandchild for my cousin Randy and his wife, Deb.

Clockwise from Left: Size 0-3 mos, in Schachenmayr Nomotta's Regia Canadian Colo(u)r ("Manitoba", I think - discontinued); 3-6 mos, in Patons Stretch Sock, colour #31242 (Olive): and 6-12 mos in ? some sort of cotton blend for which I've lost the label.  Yes...all were made out of left-over sock yarn, and I still have yarn left over.  The pattern?  River City Yarns "Baby Socks", which I bought in early May when I was in Edmonton -- with the last of the RCY gift certificates my kids gave me for Mother's Day 2013.  I bought the pattern (not kitted up) -- not because I don't know how to knit plain socks (I can do that in my sleep) -- but because I needed sizes and stitch calculations.  I may be able to create original patterns for my hangings and pictures, but for knitting?  Not so much!  :-)

Yesterday I finished off the first sock of a pair pour moi (!) in scrumptious Katia "Darling" -- a softly-spun super-wash merino-and-nylon blend.  Not from stash.  I bought this yarn at The Shop back on a gloomy day in March when I thought spring was never going to come, and I needed some portable colour in my hands:

The colour, by the way, is #208.  Each 50-gm ball is 208 yds, and for my favourite Plain Vanilla Sock pattern, the first sock took somewhere between 35 and 40 gm, so I've cast on sock #2 with the rest of the first ball (no; I don't care if they match.)  :-)

Now, while I knit on sock #2 of the pair, I return you to Regularly Scheduled Art Quilting...

Finally Caught Up (for now)

A couple of my cyber-friends have complained because I haven't been posting much.  Even my last two posts, almost back-to-back, were sort of "non-posts" when it came to my work (as in, I didn't mention it).

I just checked, and my last "real" post was two weeks ago.  Two weeks.  Goodness!  Where have I been?  What have I been up to?  In the years (decades, even) of my life before the Internet, none of you would have cared.  I wouldn't have known most of you.  Maybe even now, that's the case -- but I enjoy sharing with whoever is out there paying attention...

So.

Since that last post, I took a piece from inspirational photo through this process:

Affirming the Lay-out

Stitching the Harrow with Water-soluble Stabilizer

Harrow Stitched

Stabilizer Dissolved

Thread Auditions

Field Hand-stitched

Gulls hand-stitched

Today I faced the piece, and by June 14, when it makes its first public debut at the Stettler Art Walk, the sleeve and label will be attached.  Meanwhile, the photo has been sent to the 15 x 15 Group for our latest theme, "Nature" -- and within a few days, all shall be revealed.  Stay tuned!  :-)

In addition, I've been out in the garden -- edging, weeding, waging war on dandelions (I like neither their greens nor their wine), planting, mowing, cleaning (my car), "summerizing" my car (replacing winter with summer tires), etc.  

And I've had my SAQA Co-Rep hat on, posting about events, keeping tabs on a workshop scheduled for September, writing articles for and drafting a Regional newsletter, researching the creation of small groups within the Region, and like that...

Oh.  And knitting for my Eastern cousins' first grandbaby -- and today's WIP:

Pattern from River City Yarns, Edmonton.  Yarn: (L) Left-over Paton's 'Stretch Socks'; (Centre) Left-over Regia 4-fatig sock yarn in 'Canadiana Color' (spelled the non-Canadian way); and (R) Left-over I-Have-No-Idea sock yarn.  

Tomorrow is the 6-month anniversary of Mark on the Body.  As I work in The Shop tomorrow, a post will follow on Friday. 

Meanwhile, I'm linking up (for the first time in quite a while) to The Needle and Thread Network...you might want to drop by and see who else is there.  'Bye for now!

I'm So Excited

I can hardly stand m'self!  It's been quite a weekend -- and it's not over yet.  :-)

I don't have many photos from the Edmonton Festival of Quilts and those I have...I can't share online.  :-(  However, it was a grand show -- 300 pieces, not counting the special exhibits such as the Primrose Quilt Challenge (miniatures with the theme, "I've Been Everywhere") and the charity quilts and the "Bees".  Yes...the Edmonton Guild has a number of small groups (bees) within its purview, catering to quilters who want to meet in small groups and explore various techniques, such as applique, surface design, making bags from scraps, etc.  Great fun!

The venue was, in reality, far too small for the ambitious displays and vendors.  Parking was a nightmare because the women (quilters) were vying for space with the men (ball tournament players)...and there was also a wedding at a church nearby, so that parking lot was unavailable.  Whoa!!

Blessedly, everyone took it in stride (we are, after all, Canadian) and lined up and parked nicely and walked whatever distance necessary... It was good for us, after all, and it was a nice day! (Forecast showers held off, thank goodness!)

I made two passes through the exhibit halls...including vendors...with a break for a bite to eat in between.  Ran into some art quilt friends, saw the work of many others, and more.  Found my favourite vendor -- Copperfields Books -- which had been missing in Red Deer in April (the dear fellow made it to RD and came down with the flu and spent his weekend in the hotel room!!).  Made a purchase and solicited him to look for the latest Double Trouble DVD for his inventory.  Yeah!  I await news...

Eventually, mind overflowing, I made my way back to my car...and south to...Central Sewing.  This is where the excitement builds -- trust me!

It's their anniversary, and they've been having BIG sales for several months now.

And I've been pondering an 'embellisher' for 3 years now.

Today...their sale prices caught up with my dream.

I am now the proud owner of a Baby Lock Embellisher -- 12 needles, thread port, stand for thread/balls of yarn...

Be still, my heart!  I have landscapes forming pictures in my head.  Miniatures.  Felted backgrounds.  Uses for the merino fleece and wool felt batt and on and on and on.  I'm tempted to take "Summer School" into a fall semester...and hope that I come out in January with the start of an inventory enough for the next Lacombe Art Show and Sale!

This is what happens when you're a knitter (age 8) who learned to embroider (age 10) and later to quilt (forties) and spin (fifties)...

Eventually the fibre and floss catch up with each other and become...fabric!

Oh...and then a pit-stop (for over an hour) at River City Yarns (South), in order to spend some of the gift cards my kids gave me for Mother's Day.  Again -- WHOA!  I really wanted a Namaste bag, but their inventory had small ones...and large ones...but nothing that was 'just right' (with apologies to Goldilocks).

So...I went for a book featuring free-form knitting that I've been wanting to play with (Freeform: Serendipitous Design Techniques for Knitting & Crochet -- 2nd Edition -- by Prudence Mapstone)...and a roll of Sulky 'Sticky Fabri-Solvy' to add to my fabric-creating play inventory.  Believe it or not, these two items took 3/4 of the gift card funds...so just a wee bit left over for another visit...but LOTS of play time in between!

Thanks to my kids and my friends for a wonder-filled weekend!

Stay tuned...

Summer School 2013 - Part I

Encaustic Adventure

Every year at the end of May there's a Fibre Potpourri held at Olds College in Olds, Alberta.  Not to be confused with Olds Fibre Week at the end of June, the Potpourri is organized alternately by the Edmonton Needlecraft Guild (ENG) and the Calgary Guild of Needle and Fibre Arts.  Both are part of the national organization, the EAC -- Embroidery Association of Canada -- but in addition to embroidery, the Potpourri offers opportunities to explore and learn about different hands-on artistic media, generally focused on fibre.


Olds College was founded in 1913 with a focus on education in agriculture and home economics.  These themes continue, and the grounds are particularly lovely, as there is a very busy horticulture program.   These blooming trees and tulip beds are but  samples of what I passed each day as I walked to and from the class area to the residence -- a four-bedroom townhouse -- I shared with two friends from Calgary and J, a new acquaintance from Edmonton.  (She knits and teaches knitting at River City Yarns, as well as doing embroidery.  Check out her Knitting 101 and Tunisian crochet classes starting up there soon!)

This year, Edmonton was in charge of the weekend; J and her colleagues arranged for a variety of classes featuring:

• Margaret Vant Erve of Ontario - embroidery with flat silk, "Wild Rose and Dragonflies";
• Diane Scott, also from Ontario - stitching on mono canvas - the 3-dimensional "Apple a Day";
• Karen Osatchuk of Edmonton, AB - quilter - making 'cigar silks' with photo transfer, and silk ribbon embellishment - "Nostalgic Memories";
• Joyce Sirski-Howell, also of Edmonton - a Master Craftsman in Counted Thread, "Herringbone Stitch Variations Biscornu"; and
• Arlene Westen Evans of High River and St. Albert, AB - "Waxing Poetic with Fabric and Collage".

Arlene's class was where I found myself, with my friend S and 11 others.   Thirteen is a large class and two days a very short time to learn anything but the very basics about encaustic wax painting.  That said, Arlene taught with humour, wisdom, and as much depth as she could inject into so many lively minds over such a short time.  I came away completely exhausted, my brain buzzing, and my mind entirely uncertain as to whether or not this technique would be of any use to me in the future.

I admit I was drawn to the class because of the word 'fabric' in the title.  Almost immediately I realized that the question I had to address for myself over the course of two very full days was, "Why would I want to coat fabric with wax?"  Encaustic work is a very painterly process, and I am not a painter; I'm a stitcher.  I like the feel and the 'hand' of fabric as I work with it.  Wax renders fabric very stiff and though I could needle through it, it could get messy as it softens under the heat of one's hands.  You can bet I'd hesitate before asking a sewing machine to stitch into waxed fabric!

Basic supplies
for encaustic wax painting

Nonetheless, I organized my work space with these basic supplies -- some from home and some from the kit Arlene provided each of us: beeswax in yellow (natural) and white; a tin of beeswax mixed with demar resin (a hardener); a small electric fry pan; a heat gun for fusing the wax to the surface of each piece; several cat food tins to hold the melting wax; wood and particle boards - substrates for each piece; natural bristle paint brushes in a variety of sizes; paper towel; vinyl gloves (which I never wore; I don't like working with gloves on my hands); assorted papers, fabric and threads; a larger board to serve as a hot pad for the heat gun; and a recycled piece of plastic shower curtain with which to protect the top of the table.

Water colour picture under wax,
 embellished with Pitt pen

I began with paper.  I glued a failed water colour painting to the one board that had a painted surface (part of a grab-bag of collage materials, it had come to me that way).  One needs an absorbent surface on which to apply the wax, so the paper provided that on the painted substrate.  After a few layers of wax, the picture took on a rather attractive glow and was, in the end I think, prettier than it had been to begin with.  I added the fence and other brown lines (and the birds) with Pitt (C) pen; in the final piece, the birds disappeared (impact of the heat gun) and the fence looked rather fuzzy, but it's still an 'okay' sample.

Fabric and paper collage,
red water colour wash

Next I moved to fabric in a collage on a wooden substrate.  It too was okay, but of course the fabric doesn't look much different in texture than the rice paper that's also on the piece.  I was going for a Japanese effect, very formal, which others assured me I'd managed to achieve.  Again, an 'okay' sample.

Finally I played with fabric -- two pieces of which I show here, plus a sheer piece that turned out less well.  I coated each piece without a substrate, and peeled them off the plastic table cloth when the wax had hardened.  Perhaps they could be worked into with thread and beads; perhaps they could be adhered to paper or cardboard as covers for small books.  It's useful to know I can do that if need be in the future but in the end, at least for now (never say, "never"!), it's not the way I want to work with fabric.

Waxed Fabric I

Waxed Fabric II

So what came out of my encaustic adventure?

• a new-to-me technique that's thousands of years old, and which may or may not serve some purpose in my future work;
• an encounter with a wise, sensitive, thoughtful, discerning teacher, Arlene Westen Evans; and
• the realization that on the artistic journey, I'll never be finished with "stepping outside the box".   Step out of one, and land in another one...step out of that one into another...and so it goes.

Oh...and one other thing.  At lunch hour on Saturday, three of us hoofed downtown to the Different Strokes Art Gallery.  There we saw some examples of encaustic wax painting, as well as many beautiful examples of oils, water colour, textile art, jewellry, pottery, glass ware, silk scarves, leather work and more. I found that a former teacher of mine, also a textile artist, Betty Caskey, has pieces in the shop.  And...I struck up a conversation with the proprietor, Deborah Ohlhausen.  She invited me to send her some images of my work, so there may be an opportunity there...Stay tuned!

A Bit Overwhelmed...

Yesterday afternoon I headed up to Edmonton -- well, to Sherwood Park, actually -- for a trunk show with UK-born Australia-living embroiderer, quilter and fabric designer, Lynette Anderson, sponsored by LQS, Lori's Country Cottage.  

I got up there early enough to run a couple of errands, to browse the books at Chapter's in Sherwood Park Mall and have a bite of supper...and then it was off to the presentation at the Broadmoor Public Golf Course clubhouse.  The sun was shining, the air was warm...a perfect evening for quilters to gather!



Lynette is a charming woman, fun to listen to.  She wears funky clothes and jewellry and rolls with the punches (two very key suitcases were stalled in their transit up from Market in Portland, OR, and arrived at the eleventh hour, leaving her short of clothes for over 24 hours.  Solution?  While waiting, travel up to Banff from Calgary and stay at the Banff Springs Hotel...  Breathe....Ahhhhhhh.....)


The evening began with the trunk show.  Lynette recruited her husband, Vince, to show her pieces -- a selection of table mats, wall hangings and small quilts, as well as a few accessories (slippers, bags).  Her signature is primitive-style hand embroidery with hand piecing (lots of English Paper Piecing) in country-style colours with a largely muted palette.   Her hand-stitching skills are exemplary, and her embroidery -- largely stem stitch, back stitch, straight stitch, blanket stitch and French knots -- is exquisite.  Many pieces are worked in miniature, including yo-yo's!

Following a break for browsing the pieces, the wares (fabric packs, kits, patterns, button packets etc.), making purchases and enjoying sweet treats and beverages (coffee, tea and water), Lynette spoke to a Power Point presentation illustrating her sources of inspiration, concluding with a description of how she designs her fabric lines.  She's been to Japan where the fabric is printed, and had photos to illustrate that part of the process too.

What interested me most was her initial process, from sketchbook to print, whether it be of pattern or fabric.  I am not interested in doing either of those things (designing fabric or patterns) but in the process...which is akin to most of us as artists.

Lynette draws inspiration from nature, from childhood memories, from her family and photos.  Her dog, Hugo, and three cats are major players and feature in both her quilts and in the lines of buttons she's designed to go with some of her patterns.

I bought a wee box of flower-and-butterfly wooden buttons (plain, not painted), which I might just colour up to use in "Back to the Garden"...and I bought a set of ten skeins of her favourite Cosmo cotton embroidery floss from Japan, in the colours she favours.  (She also uses floss from Weeks Dye Works, and "whatever I have to hand in my work room", she said with a smile.)

After the presentations and Q&A, there were some door prize draws.  Sixteen chairs in the room had yellow dots under them -- and I found one on mine.  Each of us received a fat quarter (that's a 1/4 metre here in Canada) of one of Lynette's fabrics...and a ticket.  From the tickets, two more prizes were drawn -- one from Lynette (fabric) and one from the hostess, Lori.  I won the latter -- and here's what it included:

From left: a DEL-720 LED desk lamp, a packet of 60 'Rustproof, Nickel Plated Steel Safety Pins' from H.A. Kidd and Company, a safety pin fastener (also from H.A. Kidd), a packet of 3 assorted thimbles (ditto), a packet of 'Bobbin Mates' which keep thread and matching bobbins together (ditto), two packs of Schmetz sewing machine needles (one 'quilting' and one 'microtex'), a box of 35 mm x 0.5 mm glass-head pins (H.A. Kidd) and one of 50 mm x 0.6 mm flat-head pins (ditto)...my first fat quarter (from the yellow sticker on my chair) ...and behind...ten (count 'em!) fat quarters of Lynette's fabric!!!

Oh. My. Goodness!!

I drove to my daughter's...where I was to spend the night...in a bit of a daze.  I got in about 10 p.m., and after preliminaries...she gave me an envelope -- the Mothers' Day gift she and my son bought together: a fistful of gift certificates for River City Yarns in Edmonton!!!

Be still, my heart.

Is it any wonder I'm still in a daze?

Overwhelmed, indeed.  With gratitude and grace.

Something Old, Something New

I believe one is never too old to learn something new. Yesterday I took a class in entrelac at River City Yarns in Edmonton (their south-end store) -- and had a great time. I came away with the beginnings of a new scarf made in "old" (read: stash!) yarn, and I think I might have just found another addictive knitting technique. The yarn is Emu Super-wash DK, 100% wool (breed of sheep not supplied), and the entire piece will use all 4 balls (119 metres each) that I have in my stash. I'm thinking this one might be an ideal project to donate to the craft-and-bake sale coming up at church.

Another something new is the recent photo I received from my DD, sporting her new Sweet Tee from Interweave Knits, Spring 2009 (it's a self-portrait, always a tricky thing to do). In the words of Stevie Wonder, "Isn't she lovely?" (I'm no proud mom, am I? My late DH and I often wondered -- and I still do -- how we managed to produce two such good-looking, good-living kids...)

You might notice that DD's shirt doesn't have the Fair Isle floral embellishment around the yolk -- that was by request. Also, I think the yolk is a bit wider than the original pattern, but IMHO that gives it a very elegant look. Try making it in a sparkly black-and-gold yarn to wear with great black pants or a long black skirt...or perhaps in a sporty denim, with a long-sleeved turtleneck worn underneath. This pattern has so many possibilities, that I expect I'll make it again.

This version took three balls of Berroco Comfort Worsted; DD's chosen colour way was "Maine Woods", #9839 (scroll all the way to the bottom of the linked page). Generally good at math, I messed up the calculations on the yardage I ordered and bought seven balls! LOL! No worries; I like the yarn well enough I'll use it for something else. Perhaps an entrelac scarf...?