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STASHMUFFIN'S LOOSETHREADS

Now found at stashmuffinsloosethreads.com

Please be patient with me and me and my capable web monkey David A. Phillips get the site up and running!  It promises to be more capable of handling multiple pages, it links to my Ravelry store (http://www.ravelry.com/designers/laura-ricketts), and will also have a page with the  classes that I am available to teach, including a mini-Sámi mitten class.

Ravelry store up and running

Whew!  It took lots of flipping between webpages on Ravelry, but I finally got the second pattern linked successfully.  It is found at:

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/laura-ricketts

Last night, after getting the Ravelry site to work, I came over here and tried to figure out how to link the code and get point-and-click buttons working to hot link the two.  Sleep won out, so that will have to wait for another day.

Putting Patterns up on Ravelry

Well, with my first published design in a magazine, a book contribution almost published, another book contribution in the works, yesterday I posted a couple patterns on ravelry for the first time.  One, Candy Cane Topper, is free.  The other, Puff Ball Beret, is for sale.  Here are some images of the completed works:

Sweet, no?  These "real life" models are the best, aren't they?

I wanted to write this quick post to say to anyone coming over to this site to buy the Puff Ball Beret, that I seem caught in a circular motion between this blog and Ravelry.  I am trying to get the pattern loaded onto Ravelry's site, but I haven't been able to do that, yet.  Please bear with me.  I will try to iron out all the wrinkles very shortly.  

In the meantime, cast on for the Candy Cane Topper, and by the time you cast off, I'll be ready for you!

As well, I am finalizing information for a beautiful shawl that will be part of a Knit-Along in the near future.

Spotted in a Post Office in the Midwest

Maybe this average Midwesterner (read: overweight, middle-aged, white male) has some Sámi blood in him? Stranger things have happened. Because of the stigma of being Sámi among the dominant cultures in Scandinavia, many immigrants left the labels at the border and never told their children of their heritage.

In any case, this gentleman has gravitated toward the beautiful Sámi colors nonetheless, and I, for one, approve!

Final FINAL Reading of WeWMdFK Book

Today I got the final, FINAL copy to read through of the What ELSE Would Madame DeFarge Knit book (click on the title to view!!) patterns by yours truly, and two essays. When one designs something, and pours so much into it, and has to write an essay to go with the knitted item, one can end up putting so much time into them, that one is, well, done with them.  That certainly felt the case when I started out with these two designs and three patterns.  They were the first ones I had written so closely, and had edited to be published.  But, now that time has passed, it is a pleasure to read them once more.
I am honored to be the writer/pattern designer to start out the book.  And, a little sheepish, which I guess isn't a bad thing in the knitting world.  But, scrolling through the book, this is the first time I have seen one of the items photographed.  I was so chuffed to see that first photo!  So cool!  Well laid out, and an adorable model(s)!  Gosh!  Maybe I need to knit another one right now!

I can't show pictures; I can't talk about the wonderful, gorgeous patterns filling the entire book.  I can, however, urge you to click the link above to the book order and encourage you to be the first on your block to have this book!  Do it!  Do it now!

It's been a quiet week here..

...With Dr. Frankenfoot.   Caution:  gross picture to follow.

I have carted him around to appointments, but very quickly he started carting me so I could knit.  He's already back to work, and happy.  Just really wanting the pin to be removed.

 Isn't it gross?  I have referred to him as my human martini, and sushi shishkabab, or "sush-kabob" for short.  The eeriest thing about it is that his toe is straight.  I need to card him everytime I see his left foot.

It is never easy keeping Chris down.  He wanted to make sure I wasn't, so on his first day back to work, he picked out Daisy Lucille to keep me company.  Here she is, for her grand blog entrance:

Isn't she adorable?  Don't let those puppy eyes fool you:  she can be guilty of misdeamnors as well as the next dog.  She is not as innocent as our earlier-try-at-a-dog.  She has already chewed on the last scarf I knit, and has been found with bits of roving.  We'll have to keep our eyes on this one.

The poor little thing has an almost naked belly.  These past few days have been frigid.  Today there was a two-hour delay for schools, not for snow, but just for the temperature.  With wind chill, I think it was -18F.  On my volunteer day at Emmaus Mission, I saw this, though, which gave me hope:

It was right in front of the building for the homeless shelter.  What an apt image:  an abandoned bird's nest in front of the abandoned Catholic school.  The school has been taken over as a place to house those who need it.  A family moved out since last week when I was there, to their new home, and it won't be many weeks before a sparrow or a mourning dove has nestled into this "house," to start a new round of egg laying.

Michelle came back to show off her baby that I knit the black hat for.  I'm so glad she has been able to keep him.

On other knitting news, I finished a hat last weekend for my niece's birthday.  I knit on it during another cold day, dressed in shorts, a tank top and flip-flops.  I was in Nappanee, which has got to be the hottest pool and swim event in the circuit.



Here is a picture of one swimmer.  He is my little Viking that protects me.  From what has yet to be determined.

All the best, and may you have a good week!

Sámi Mittens

Sigh.  Just posted this Blog update, and all the writing was extinguished.  This means I have to type faster the second time around...

Today, after many attempts, Fed Ex finally got this box to me.

It's from Piecework Magazine, and it is their seventh annual historic knitting traditions magazine.  More importantly, it is my first published article, and it is on Sámi Knitting Tradition.  The Sámi are the European people group native to Northern Scandinavia.  They live across the Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Komi peninsula of Russia.  

This article talks a bit about the history of their knitting tradition, and some features that differentiate it from the knitting of the other peoples around them.  

It's so nice to have these little mittens home again, along with the dolls I sent and the yarn for the pictures.  Props also to Kenneth Hætta for the lovely opening picture.  The magazine sent me two extra copies that I will mail tomorrow to Dikka Storm of Tromsø University, Norway and Aile Aikio of Siida Museum in Inari, Finland.  Both of them were invaluable in their research help.  Thank you so much!

In other news, my hubby had bunion surgery this morning.  I knit and knit on baby legwarmers and did the whole pair.  Here he is doing a little light reading beforehand.

And, after.  Isn't he cute?  He's resting his straight foot on a McGill pillow.  No better way to heal.

The Eternal Husband.  Any of you ever read that one?  I've never heard of it, but I bet it just goes on and on.  

January knitting

Knitting, knitting, knitting...

Got over the 'bout with flu.  Yuck.  Ya'll get vaccinated now, ya hear?  I got vaccinated, and my round with the mucus king was rather mild compared to the myalgias and fever others have had.

Any how, I got to feeling better and not choking on my own phlegm, and have been able to knit again. While going through my ravelry favorites I was reminded of so many beautiful patterns I have wanted to knit.  Then, I started going through my stash again.  The final piece to the puzzle is The Loopy Ewe's quarterly contest.  This quarter the challenge is to knit something with cables out of one skein.

I seized upon a Madelinetosh dk and a beautiful pattern of Ysolda's called Rose Red.  I tried the two together, and, lo and behold, the variegation masked the beauty and cleverness of the pattern.  The yarn needed to be knit, though, so it turned into Rikke hat.

My next personal challenge is baby leg warmers knit in a bulky grey yarn Schluna Cortina. Paisley's mother requested some in grey.  After looking around several pictures, I have been working on a cabled pair.  Pictures next time.  The yarn I am working with, however, I have used before to make this chunky cowl designed by Ciliria Rose called Columbia cowl.  I met her at the Seattle Nordic fest.

Cleaning up in the New Year

Here it is, the 10th of January, and what have I to say for myself?

Besides getting a nasty cold (RSV?), and hunkering down beside a nice, new box of Kleenex on one side and a disgusting pile of gooey tissues on the other, disinfecting my keyboard, door handles, light switches, and, especially, the handle on the refrigerator, and making homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles, I have been combing through my Ravelry "favorites," and adding pictures to my pinterest boards.

For those of you who live under a rock, Ravelry is an excellent knitting and crocheting website that connects crafters, yarns, designers and patterns.  Go check it out at www.ravelry.com.  One excellent feature, as you spend hours trolling other peoples projects, is that you can "like" or favorite any project, yarn, or designer.  Probably much more, too, but I'm a limited human being.  After being on Ravelry for five years, I had 80 pages of favorites.  At 25 favorites a page, I was pushing 2,000 chosen patterns.  Keep in mind, I am a discriminating crafter.  There's a lot of stuff on there.

When I first starting clicking the heart button, I didn't take advantage of the box that popped up which allowed me to make notes on about the favorite-d thing.  Later I added notes, but in the wrong box.  It is only the tags one adds in the last entry that will cross-tabulate with all your other tags and build into a reference list.  That list appears on the left hand side once you are on the favorites.  So, if I label all cowls as "cowls," a reference tabs will keep a tally.  I can click that tally and it will take me to a new page where all those projects will be appear together.

Oftentimes I have added favorites after researching a particular yarn or project.  After 80 pages, it has become hard to find them again.  The last three days I have gone through each entry, evaluated whether to keep it or not, and added tags or notes.  I rediscovered lots of old project-friends, been reinvigorated with old dreams, and remembered yarns I mean to knit.  Not a bad exercise at the beginning of the year!

I have also finished spinning the pinkish roving I spoke of in the last post.  One skein is soaking right now.  The other still has to be plied.

Finally, I am almost done with the double-layered hat my husband requested and designed.  Then, I can tackle one of those resurrected projects!

I'm just spinning my wheel...

It's amazing what you can get done if you do it. I have had some lovely BFL roving next to my wheel for a loooong time.  I bought it from The Trading Post in Pendleton, Indiana, not when I was there weaving, but from a time or two before. One spool was almost full. Well, in this last week, I have completed that spool, and half filled another, just during our evening family reading my husband has resurrected since January first. It may not seem a lot to some people, but to this woman who has been knitting and crocheting most of my free time, I am ecstatic to be nearing completion of any spinning project!

In addition, I am excited to knit with it, after almost knitting up a huge ball of handspun I won at the first Nordic Knitting Conference I attended in October 2010. And, my cousin said she loved the mittens I posted about last week. Hopefully it won't be two years before I knit up the Knit Picks lace ball I won this year! Four of us vowed to each knit off a matching ball of yarn from the 2012 conference.  Hmmm.... who will be the first to complete their knitting? I will be shocked if it is I.

The knitting I have been working on is a self-designed, double layer hat for my husband. He recently lost the Carhart hat that has seen him through several winters. He begrudgingly asked me to knit him a hat, stating that going out to buy a hat would be "like me going out and buying a bookshelf." He is a self taught woodworker who has made an item for every room in the house by now.

My only response was, "you mean a press board, laminate bookshelf? Yeah. It'd be like that."

He then proceeded to pick out the yarn from my stash and draw a fair-isle design for one side, and tell me it should be tight on his big head. All within several minutes. He's been around me way too long.

Ringing Out the Old

My last post related my outbreak of hives.  Unfortunately, that episode lasted much longer than any human should have to put up with.  As previously written, my first hives began during the Hobbit, and they continued to appear over the 24 hours, to the point where I had 5 - 6 inch diameter red, burning welts over my entire body.  We tried lots of Benedryl and various other anti-histimines and steroids both at home and in the clinic (including an epi-pin), but when my wrists and feet were red and swollen, and my throat started to swell closed Monday morning, I went to the hospital and was admitted.  Two days and many, many steroids and anti-histimines later, I came back home again, still itchy and with hives to a lesser degree, and completely wiped out. The verdict was severe allergic reaction to an unknown substance.

Our Christmas present to each other and the family was a ski trip to introduce the kids to the sport, have some family time and be in Michigan together.  Instead, my hubby took the hyper, disease-laden rug rats to the slopes, and I spent lots of alone time in the house, recuperating and resting.  There are lots of nasty viruses in our community, and with all the meds I was on, my immunity has been lowered.  Considering the time of year, this could have been a sad and stressful time for me, but I can honestly say with Joseph in the Old Testament, "What [you] meant for evil, God has meant for good."

I had a very centered time of quiet and thanksgiving, and God brought the right people to me in the right time.  It was a joy to see His provision for me, including an invitation by a friend for people with no family in the area for her first holiday open house. Another friend had me over to her house (with no diseased people in it) for a quiet evening and a Chinese dinner.  She didn't know how long eating Chinese at Christmas has been a part of our family traditions! My in-laws brought me two lunches, and a friend contacted me on Christmas Eve day and arranged for another friend to bring me a meal that night, as I was all alone.

Not for long, though.  The kids and my husband cut their vacation short, drove all day and surprised me at the quietest Christmas Eve service I could find!  The kids had fallen asleep two hours previous, and the boys were completely zonked in the pew, going between shoving each other and trying to use each other for pillows. It was cute.  My daughter was more awake and involved, even helping my husband unpack the truck after we all arrived home.

Christmas was wonderful.  Despite the swollen, stiff joints, I managed to finish my husband's vest, The British School Slipover in the Folk Vests book. I thought the Rowan wool cotton was perfect for him:  soft, and not too warm.

I also finished the first pair of my filet crocheted breakfast nook curtains.  They disgustingly took about a month, MUCH LONGER than I had anticipated.  That, and my illness, took a huge chunk out of any other knitted gifts.  Seriously -- I didn't knit for almost a week with my hives and recovery.  After Christmas, though, I got the mittens knitted for my friend Molly in Ireland and another for my cousin in Annapolis.  I got those mailed the last few days.

So, in conclusion, I am overjoyed to be home, in much better shape and have the family home as well.  A belated holiday wish to all you, my friends!  May God bless you in the coming year!

The Hobbit and Hives

We went as a family to see the Hobbit yesterday. My husband bought the tickets on-line and read there that it was sold out. We accordingly got there early.

The theater was completely empty. We really had our choice of seats! Halfway through the show, I started to itch. Halfway home I was covered with red welts. I had hives! All I had to eat was popcorn. All I had to drink was bottled water. Perhaps I am allergic to some popcorn additive? Or, perhaps I'm allergic to orcs.

The movie was pretty awful. Chris had read me a review about the IMAX/3D version looking "plasticky," but the CGI looked kind of plasticky to me as well on the regular version. Three hours. Three hours of a third of a three hundred page book. The Onion had a really funny review stating that for 53 minutes Bilbo packing for the trip. Yeah. Peter Jackson added tons of orcs and evil plotting and scheming against the group of 14 adventurers. I can't recall a single orc in the book. I remember the trolls and the town if men, but the rest is bunk.

Here is a picture of my own little Hobbits and one troll. Wouldn't you know, he had the choice of every seat in the house, and he had to go steal mine!

December 14

Today was the day the lone gunman killed the elementary kids in Connecticut. Information is still coming out about what happened, but it has left everyone's heart cold and stuttering.

At the time he entered the Newtown school where his mom worked, I was in my daughter's lunchroom watching her and her good friend make a school of their own. What a contrast -- we had fun and sugar and smiles and creativity. The two girls had initially planned an old, ramshackle school with a crooked sign, but they decided to make it old style, but functional. They had a belfry, sign and road to the front door.

The base is old milk cartons. They are covered first in graham crackers with frosting.  LOTS of frosting.



The architects' plans converge.



And... the finished product:





I realize I haven't posted in over a month... Last month I headed down to Pendleton Indiana's The Trading Post owned and operated by Susan Markle.  It was on a cold morning.





 my greeter



Susan put on a great workshop by John Mularky of Malarky Crafts on tablet or card weaving. What a lark! John demonstrated how to warp the small loom threading the cards one on each round. Then, how to weft.

This was my partner in warping.  John set us down in pairs and we spotted for each other.  It took less than 10 minutes for each of us to warp the loom.  Very fun!

These looms are for tablet weaving.  One can also use an inkle loom with a long depth to that top part.  I'm sure there is real vocabulary I should be using here, but, hey!  I did the class, and that has to count for something!

Here is my loom all warped and ready for action:

I made a sample strap during class that day, then, the day after that when I came home, I went to an all day quilt with some friends.  There, I weft the loom and made a belt in a very simple pattern.  Several days later, I ordered a D-ring clasp to sew on it and make it a working belt.

I guess I'll have to do that soon and post it!

Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards all

Third time this fall, I have found a Norwegian hand knit sweater in a resale shop. This one came from The Trendy Fox shop here in Rochester. Even though I am into Sámi stuff, I'm not wholly into reindeer on my sweaters. These ones are cool, though. I like the slightly large fit, and the sweater is made of fairly soft wool and is light and warm.

For a fleeting minute I considered ripping it apart and harvesting it for its wool. Then, I remembered: it must be a steeked cardigan. I checked inside, and sure enough: the front cardigan opening was created by cutting up the front of a knit-in-the-round tube, then the button bands were added and the seam was covered with a knit facing. That means if I frogged this sweater, I'd have as many strands of one-row-long yarn as there are rows in the cardi.

Recent New Jersey acquisition.

Love my sheep Sherpa!

Sweaters

Alright. This have been done for some time. Clasps from Nordic Fiber Arts in NH found at nordicfibersrts.com.

The second sweater is a hand knit Norwegian sweater I found at goodwill two days after I returned from the Nordic Knitting Conference.

Ready for Fall!

A Traveler's Dilemma

So, I went to Seattle and was gone for four days. I took a carry-on and an admittedly large purse. I packed travelled with three options in footwear, two knitting projects, four knitting books, exercise clothes, and gifts. It wasn't a completely pared down existence.

When I flew home, I knew I was going to be in trouble, and a bit of strategy was necessary. First of all, I flew out with quite a few of my double pointed needles, and I really, really wanted to return with all of them. I prepared for the eventuality of security seizing them by placing the metal ones in a padded envelope, weighing it at the Post Office, and traveling with enough stamps to mail them to myself from Seattle. But at the conclusion of the conference, my needles weren't neatly packed in their holder. I had several sets dispersed through my bags, stuck in samples, mittens, and other projects. It might look a little weirder to the scanner operator.

Secondly, I may have bought some yarn. Just a few balls here and there. Daily. Some was even given to me, and I really didn't want to look ungracious, so, I took it. May have found some, too, and you know what they say about "found" yarn. Then, there were the pamphlets and instructional handouts. And calendars. In any case, I was traveling home with more than I left with.

Once I reached the airport, I found a nook and put down my carry-on, purse, and two bags of yarn. My last purchase had been 1 gallon ziplocks. I opened the suitcase and put on my biggest/thickest/densest clothes, and started the clothing Tetris game. Every bit of space was utilized, and balls of yarn were squished into ziplocks. And... it all fit! I was thrilled!  Then, I hoisted the backpack, staggering under the weight, and practiced a face which looked like it was as light as s feather. In retrospect, I'm not really sure what that means.  I guess I tried to look happy and clueless -- perhaps not the best angle to approach security.  I tried not to grunt when I hoisted my purse, and headed to security an hour early. There was no way the carry-on would fit into an overhead compartment, but I wasn't going to be the one to bring that up.

I queued and de-shoed and waited, inching forward through the "we see you nude" cameras,  until I heard those decisive words, "will you step over here, ma'am?"

It was the backpack.  I smiled and assured the lady that I had been to a knitting conference, and she probably will have never seen so much yarn in her life.  She was very polite as she unzipped the backpack and promptly got both zippers gummed up in yarn.  I gently released it, and she began the searching process.  "Did I have tweezers in there?" No.  Really, I had tweezers and dpns in my purse, but I have no idea what she was looking for in the suitcase, unless it was more needles.  Evidently, she didn't know either as several minutes later, I was free to go, but, of course, the fun had just begun.  Now we needed to fit everything back in.

She strained and pulled.  I pushed and zipped, but I was hampered somewhat by uncontrollable laughter.  She offered to sit on the case; I pushed and laughed.  She finally called a brawny guy over and all three of us finished it off.

Hats off to you, LL Bean, for your strong zippers and fabric.  I half expected it to explode with the force of yarn in the plane's cargo hold, and be delivered to me in a plastic bag, but, somehow, it held it together.

This is the final product, minus all my clothes and toiletries.  That is, this is all the extra stuff I got on the trip for the most part.

And Fall is Ablaze

It will take just one really good sneeze by Mother Nature to make it all go away, but in the meantime, I'm loving this crisp, Fall days!

Nordic Knitting Conference

It is Sunday night, October 7, 2012, and I am sitting in the Seattle-Tacoma airport waiting for a flight home. The fourth biennial Nordic Knitting Conference has just ended, and my brain is mush.

It all started Thursday morning, at 4am, when I got up and slipped out to the Indi airport. I checked in and boarded with multiple double pointed needles (thank goodness they made it through!), a project in progress, and fun knitted goods to wear, as well as other goodies.

I flew through Houston and made it on time to Seattle where my friend Karin picked me up, as well as knitting/spinning teacher Carol Rhoades. We boogie to downtown to Carol's hotel, went to the nearby Weaving Works shop, where we ran into some of the other teachers, then went back to the hotel for dinner. What a delight! I got to meet Mary Scott Huff, Evelyn Clark, Pat Brunner, Mary Germain, Sandy DeMaster, and Annemor Sundbø! And, the food wasn't bad, either. For the conference the next day, local teacher Susana Hansson joined the others as well.

The Nordic Museum in Ballard, WA

Classes began Friday morning, early, immediately after the yarn went for sale from two vendors on the main floor and the gift shop with their newly imported yarn from a scrumptious Swedish mill.  Let's just say I was distracted there little while...

After I collected myself, and my new yarn, I boogied over to the Sunset Community Center for my first class, Latvian Mittens á la Irma, taught by Mary Germain and Sandy De Master.  What a delightful class!  These two ladies are knitters and spinners extraordinaire from Wisconsin.  They spoke of their history of knitting, and especially their friendship with an older Latvian mitten knitter in Milwaukee. Their handouts were excellent, and we went on to make a miniature pair of Latvian mittens.

That night, we had a lovely wine and cheese in the main lobby of the museum, and had fun talking with teachers and students and lots of freebies were given away.  

Saturday was Danish Traveling Stitches taught by Carol Rhoades, an excellent teacher, knitter, and spinner.  She is known for her work and editorial work for Spin-Off Magazine, and her multiple translations of books from Swedish and Norwegian to English.  I ended up with a nice wrist warmer, and plans for bigger things.

I also had a lovely surprise of seeing a dear high school friend, Anne, whom I had gotten out of touch with.  She lived in walking distance from the museum!  She came and collected me, and we walked to her house where she regaled me with stories and filled me up with warm potato soup and brownies!  Good stuff!

Saturday night was the banquet where Annemor spoke.  What an incredible story!  I think I will have to comment on it in another post, just so I can get this one published, but she is such a lovely women, so humorous and knowledgable, and just saved thousands of knitted goods in Norway from being shredded, then studied and wrote about what she learned.

Sunday was an all-day Norwegian Design class with Annemor.  Tickled the tired brain.  She really was a hoot as she shared the basics of a Norwegian mitten, insights on the symbols and designs, and a lot of funny stories.  

Lastly, what trip to Seattle is ever complete without a visit to Archie McPhee's?  You know how a picture is worth a thousand words?  I think this one counts.