Vogue Knitting Destination

The Hotel deLuxe in Portland, Oregon was the starting point for a weekend of knitting, moonshine and the beautiful landscape of Imperial Stock Ranch.  Arriving a day early, I decided to check-out the local flavor.  On my way to Josephine’s Dry Goods on SW 11th Avenue, I got lucky and  found Knit Purl located next door to Josephine’s.  I found the perfect color of malabrigo’s Rasta to knit the  Rasta Neckwarmer designed by Breean E. Miller.  It was so convenient to walk next door and purchase the perfect buttons at Josephine’s Dry Goods.

Our journey  began the next morning as we boarded a coach for our weekend with Doreen Connors of Vogue Knitting, designer Nicky Epstein, Dan and Jeanne Carver, owners of Imperial Stock Ranch.  “Sustainability” is not just a buzz word for the duo…They live a life of commitment, hard work and respect for the land.  I am proud to say, “I’m an Imperial Yarn Girl.”

After returning from “the ranch,” I had an extra day before flying back to Northern California.  At the knitting getaway, I overheard fellow knitters talking about Portland’s flagship yarn store, Yarn Garden.  With an extra day to spare, I hailed a taxi… destination Yarn Garden.  I was greeted at the door by the owner, who graciously explained the history of the store.  I was slowly drawn to her garden of temptation.  A garden of beautiful yarn in three different rooms organized by gauge.  By now, my suitcase and duffle bag were stuffed with yarn from Knit Purl and  Imperial Stock Ranch, so I had a few skeins mailed home.  Much to my surprise, the package arrived ahead of schedule.  This was an unforgettable trip, one I will remember forever.

Knit Summer 2012

Flags, buttons and butterflies oh my! Join knitorious  at A Work of Heart located in dowtown Willow Glen, CA for a summer camp of knitting. Embellish your knitting with buttons and craft felt.  The craft felt used for embellishment, reflects the current trend of “going green” and is comprised of post-consumer plastic bottles.   Check-out the summer camp schedule at www.aworkofheart.com.

Needle Felted Wrist Ornament

Everyday in my creative art space, I stare at a stack of recycled felted sweaters and contemplate what to do?  I could cut off the sleeves and construct a purse or draw circle templates in graduated sizes for layering adding dimensionality to surface design.  Maybe I’ll cut the sweaters into strips similar to a log cabin quilt and create a piece of fabric.  Hmm…needle felted fabric.

Perhaps I’ll stare at the recycled sweaters for a bit longer as I ponder the idea of needle felted fabric.  Boiled wool lends itself as a support for needle felting, which I’ve got plenty in my stash.  Thus, begins the co-mingling of boiled wool and the unspun fibers of roving.

Collage for Design Inspiration

The grid-like appearance of mesh consists of open space and a network of lines.  These spaces in a network are found in fashion from shoes to eyeglasses.  What knit stitches could properly translate the visual of a mesh or grid-like appearance?  While pondering the answer to this question, I found a book at my local library which may hold the answer.  Reversible Knitting by Lynne Barr “adds something different to the stitch pattern references that many knitters may already own, and offer exciting new patterns with a reversible twist.”  The chapter on Openwork, stitches 19-27 create open space using yarnovers and dropped stitches.   Stitch 25, Half-Nelson or Stitch 22, Cane Lace present an opportunity to work in a mesh or grid-like pattern.

Stitches West 2012

This year at Stitches West, I enrolled in two classes taught by Wilhelmine Peers. The first class I attended was on Thursday, February 23.   Designing Using a Photographer’s Frame set my creative juices flowing.  Wilma instructed us to pull pages from a magazine that caught our attention without over-thinking the image.  The stack of magazine pages were then prioritized according to our favorites. Thus, began the building of a collage with color, patterns and shapes.  After the collage was finished, a photographer’s frame was moved across the page in order to detect possible design translations from our selected magazine images.  Below are pictures of various design possibilities from my collage.

Knitinterest-clique

Since today is leap day, I decided to start another blog.  Yes, another blog.  A blog about the latest happenings in the world of fiber.  Sticks-a-gogo will still highlight the creative endeavors of Knitorious, and Knitinerest-clique will explore knit and purl stitches up and down, and all around the West coast.   The word “clique” defined as “a small exclusive group of people” describes all the individuals that come together in their lys or guilds sharing a common desire to knit and/or crochet.  These “small exclusive groups of people” multiply to form a global community of individuals keeping a long-lived tradition alive.

So, why don’t you follow me, Knitorious  at http://knitinterestclique.wordpress.com as I travel up and down the West coast encountering an eclectic mix of talent in my own  backyard.

Wet Felting

“Rain, rain go away come again another day.”  I, knitorious want to agitate the fibers of wool roving into a beautiful piece of cloth.  Welt felting requires a location conducive to the use of warm water, olive oil soap, bubble wrap and an abundance of manual labor.  My backyard presents the perfect venue for such an undertaking.  Between cloud cover, sprinkles and a light breeze, I proceeded to full some gorgeous turquoise blue and teal blue roving into a square.  “Well…almost a square.”  After the layers of roving began to full, pieces of yarn were added freeform.  Rolling the sandwhich of roving and yarn between the layers of bubble wrap, the wool roving and yarn became one unique piece of fabric.  After the fulling was complete, I rinsed the square in cool water.  The piece of wool felt was left to dry for a couple of days.  I began to cut and build layers creating a topographical element of peaks and valleys accented with beads and wool thread.  What began as a two-dimensional piece of fabric metamorphosed into a three-dimensional sculpture.

Kool-Aid Dye

Armed with packets of peach mango, grape and tropical punch Kool-Aid, Knitorious poised with a turkey baster, dyed one skein of Lamb’s Pride Worsted (Color M-10 Cream) with the childhood beverage.  Each packet was mixed individually in cups with 1/2 c. of water and 1/4 c. of vinegar.  The hanks of yarn were soaked in a mixture of about 5 gallons of water and 1 c. of vinegar for thirty minutes prior to dyeing.  The yarn was arranged in a pyrex dish for the application of dye.  After the dye was applied, the yarn was heated on high for two minutes using a microwave.  After the yarn cooled for two minutes, the yarn was placed in tepid water and hung to dry.  The wool/mohair combination of Lamb’s Pride Worsted produced a halo effect which enhanced the resulting color.

Felted Ruched Bag

Presto! With a little soap, hot water and agitation, the ruched bag (see ruched bag post published on January 24, 2012) was transformed into a Felted Ruched Bag.  knitorious was pleasantly surprised at the instantaneous performance of Lion Brand’s http://www.LionBrand.com Fishermen’s Wool.  The fulling process was achieved after only one cycle of agitation.  knitorious awards Lion Brand’s Fishermen’s Wool “four stitch markers” for performance.