Month: September 2012

Noro

My love affair with Noro began in the late 1980s.  The first time I held a skein of Eisaku Noro’s Kureyon, my eyes were opened to his “world of nature.”  An undefinable palatte of unlikely color combinations speaks to his philosophy about the purity and preservation of nature   A recent article written by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton in the premiere issue of NORO Knitting Magazine published by SoHo Publishing Company mentions, “by specially adapting industrial carding and spinning machines, Noro was able to produce yarns that were totally unique and that put much less strain on the environment than usual in the industry.”  “The yarns were very colorful and ahead of their time, and they were not easy to sell.  They were deemed by many as unsellable.”

I’ve been organizing my yarn and recently discovered some vintage Noro.  It’s interesting to reflect on the generations of this fantastic yarn.  Recently, searching through a basket of Noro’s Hitsuji at my lys, I discovered buried treasure…the first color of Hitsuji from Lot. No. A.

I recently completed a sweater designed by Jenny Watson, Noro NOW!, design 3, using Noro’s Hitsuji, Col. No. 7, Lot No. A.  I am also eagerly working on a project with Noro’s Silk Garden.

Mitered Square Blanket

Once the cover of  Horst Schulz’s book, Patchwork Knitting opens, color and texture radiate from the page.  It’s as if the cover of Pandora’s box has been removed filling my creative space with numerous possibilities.

Domino Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro also explores the techniques of patchwork knitting. In 1993, Hoxbro was introduced to Schulz at a handcraft fair in Germany and later travelled to Berlin for a course in “the new knitting.”

In 2006, Kay Gardiner and Anny Shayne, founders of www.masondixonknitting.com published Mason-Dixon Knitting.  While flipping through the pages, there appeared on page 108, Mitered Square Blanket.  Stripes of color playing with the geometrics of a square teased the right-side of my brain.  I began to collect colors of Cotton Classic by Tahki Yarns/Tahki-Stacy Charles, Inc., (1-3/4 ox (50 g), 108 yds (100 m), mercerized cotton, and needed a way to keep track of colors already purchsed, in order to eliminate duplication.  The Mitered Square Blanket calls for 40 hanks in assorted colors.

I punched holes on index cards and categorzied the yarn by color.  The color-coded cards are fantastic when making color selection and act as a device for playing with color combinations too.  I’m playing around with color combinations and plan on making a trip to my local yarn store for more yarn.

Nuno Felting 101

Hear ye, Hear ye all blog followers of knitorious…On October 7 and 14, join knitorious at the A Work of Heart craft lounge in San Jose, CA to partake in the festivities.  From 9:30 am – 12:30 pm, tantalize your creative tastebuds learning the basic techniques of nuno felting. Just add a little water, soap and agitation and watch what happens.  Check-out the class description at www.aworkofheart.com.  Why not visit the craft lounge and get an up close and personal look at the scarf on display?

Anemone

After knitting a scarf in garter stitch with Kauni’s 140Effektgarn www.kauni.com, using a size 10-1/2 needle, I decided to add wooden beads of various sizes for resists.  After the fulling process, I was amazed at the sculptural piece of textile that emerged.  Upon removing the wooden beads, random  tops of the indivdual sculptures were cut-off. The frayed edges and openings add depth to the dimensionality of the felted textile. The randomness of resistance paired with the openness of the piece invites the admirer to look beneath the surface.

Manipulating the piece to visually examine the change of surface, triggered a memory.  The act of looking, color and dimensionality brought back memories of exploring the coastline in Northern California with my daughter. While the opening and closing of sea anemones kept rhythm with the in and out of the tide, we climbed on the frayed edges of rocks searching for jellyfish, sand crabs and shells amongst beds of kelp.

%d bloggers like this: