Over Abundance

Entries from March 2008

I Had The Time

March 19, 2008 · 1 Comment

I just did the math, and if I knitted 40 hours a week, at a pretty consistent pace, and without having to rip back, I could do something like 60 sweaters a year. Can you imagine? 60 sweaters. That’s like 40 more than I will ever need in my whole lifetime - barring huge fashion shifts, the loss of any of my more favored limbs, or huge changes in body shape. (HA! I’ve seen pictures of my older relatives, I know right where I’m heading.)

Instead of doing that, I’m starting a new project. Today was the 2nd day off that I’ve had in 3 months, and I took advantage of that fact to do copious quantities of laundry and tidy up a bit. Not that you can tell. I end up making more messes by getting up and walking away from the cleaning mid-rearrangement. It makes it easy to go back later, at least. I was admiring my wonderfully hideous scrapghan that I am making.

I love it. I love how random it is. I love how grossly beautiful it is. It goes so far into ugly that it goes out the other side into something beyond beautiful.

It inspired me to start something similar that will be done much faster.

I just finishing reading knitalong and have decided that this desire to do something scrappy and crafty can be combined with the need to spawn a knitalong of my own.

So I invite you, my fellow crafters, to pick up your string and implement of choice to Cover Something. I present my victim of choice.

And my materials of Covering.

As you can see, my apartment is something of a hotbed for hooking lately. I blame the Yarn Harlot. That neck reinforcement was totally the gateway to my current lifestyle. Thank goodness I have my Big Red Cardigan to knit on in public, lest people realize my shay-dee ways.

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The Unsinkable Browns

March 15, 2008 · 4 Comments

When you plan on having a fiber festival the same weekend as a book launch party/book signing, you think “Gee, maybe we should have extra staff.” and “This is gonna be keen!” also “Golly I’m glad we got so many books!”

You never think:

  • We have too many people on staff.
  • We got too many books.
  • This stinks.

Today was full of mayhem and excitement. I have not seen 7:30 AM from the waking up direction in a very long time, and it is just as icky as I remember it. Setting up vendors was pretty thrilling since I got to see all the beautiful stuff that they brought.

Oh, and hey, if any of you are ever worried about what happens to people when yarn shops go out of business (Heaven forfend, saints preserve us, and all that jazz) let me tell you about a man I met today. His name is Russell. He was one of our vendors. He is 85. Yeah, you read that right, EIGHT-EEE-FIVE. He’s been in “the yarn business” as he says for over half a century. (57 years, for those keeping score at home.) Do you know what that means? He’s been at this since he was 28. Let’s review.

When Russel Was 28:
  • It was 1951
  • Color Television was introduced.
  • Milk cost 92 cents.
  • Wintston Churchill became Prime Minister of England.
  • The International Table Tennis Federation banned Egypt (for refusing to play Israel)
  • Swanson introduced beef, chicken, and turkey pot pies.
  • The first section of the New Jersey Turnpike opened.

GUYS - THE JERSEY TURNPIKE WAS BRAND-SPANKIN’ NEW!

That yarn in the plastic ziplocs? I’m not sure if it’s discontinued, but I do know this: Donovan remembers weaving with it in college. Now, I don’t mean to reveal Madame’s age but Donovan went to college sometime in the 70’s. This yarn? Still. Freaking. Beautiful. Not soft by any stretch of the imagination, but hot damn would it show stitch work. Donovan swears it’s the best yarn for weaving tapestries, and with it’s crisp texture I totally believe her. The colours were rich and vibrant without being garish. I almost bought a bag of the stuff, no lie, even though it would’ve been like wearing a scrubbo brush.

I cannot tell a lie. My favourite vendor as far as my own tastes were concerned was Belwether Wool Company. Linda and Lois are two great women who have decided that the world needs more wool, and I agree! They have cormo, cormo blends, pygora, wensleydale, yarns, rovings, locks, fleeces, and fiber out the hoohaa AND the yingyang. I mean, good God they’ve got a freakin’ bus full of the stuff! And it’s good stuff.

They were kind enough to offer matchmaking services to me in order to find me a wheel within my budget. I am unsure if this is aggressive customer cultivation, or just plain friendliness, but as long as I get a pretty pretty wheel to spin their pretty pretty stuff, I’m not sure I care about the difference! The picture of the bus above is all their stuff packed under the canopy after a particularly heavy downpour which preceeded a 10 minute sun break before it began to hail with a vengenance usually exhibited by slighted housewives or vicious attack dogs. Dude, Mother Nature was having a fit.

Anyway, the whole thing was really fun even the part where we had to haul the entire festival - except the bus - inside the shop because of the hail. That was kind of nice too, having the vendors inside. It remindend me of bazaars my mother used to take me to. The book launch was such a hit, I’m really glad we had it catered though. If it had been up to our poor little cafe and its crew to feed 80 people, there would have been Words. You know when somebody comes up to you with that dead-in-the-eye stare and you just know they’ve got Something To Say To You? Yeah. We woulda had those Words.

Congratulations to Larissa and Martin. Their book is called knitalong and is available at fine yarn and book stores. May I just point out that my neighbour/co-worker/good friend Hannah has a pattern on page 119? Yeah, I know that girl. I’ve totally touched fame twice with this book. The authors and a designer. It’s almost like being famous, in a way. I’d like to thank the little people . . . . Sorry. Wrong speech.

 

Larissa and Martin Brown, Proud Authors & My Friends

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