SpiderWomanKnits

A big 'Thank You'  to everyone who commented on the socks I knit as a gift for my MIL. My in-laws were up visiting from NJ to celebrate Mr. SpiderWomanKnits birthday this past Saturday and things have been busy so I haven't had a chance to get back to anyone or read blogs the past few days. I'm catching up slowly but surely :-) 

Last night, however, I did find time to cast on for my new project brought about by the Summer of Stash Along. I was thinking about the yarn I have in my stash that I have never contemplated before, you know, the yarn that you pick up out of color lust but haven't given much thought to since. Well, I have three huge cones of DK weight Shetland New Wool that I picked up at the 2005 Webs Annual sale for a song and a dance that just sort of sit on the bottom shelf of my stash. I hardly notice them but Jennifer did (somehow) when I posted this photo and asked me what I was going to do with them. Good question, Jenn. Here's my answer (for at least one of the cones, anyway)...

 

I am pretty excited about this WIP since it will be my first attempt at Intarsia and my first Rowan knit. It's funny how you have to learn the language of each designer. I am finding the wording of the Rowan patterns a tad confusing/not intuitive but workable nonetheless. It's just a matter of "getting" the way they are thinking. The pattern is Laurent from Vintage Knits and I plan on using bits of the other cones for the color work. I wear a lot of Old Italian Lady type dresses so I can see myself using this a lot, belt and all. This book just makes me drool. I pretty much want to knit everything in it with a few exceptions. Hopefully, I'll be able to put the other two cones to use with this book since there are quite a few patterns for DK weight wool. 

Oh, as for those socks I knit for my mother-in-law...a picture is worth a thousand words...

 

 

Yup, she only has one sock on because the other one didn't fit! I can't even think about it right now so I am going back to catching up on blogs and knitting Laurent :-|

"Tomten is the small Swedish elf who specializes in good deeds, and your child will resemble him strangely, if you put a Tomten jacket on him or her."    ~Elizabeth Zimmerman

 

You might remember that I started this project for my friends new baby, well, after all is said and done it fits my 3 year old! So, my little guy has something to get him through the fall and I busted 3 skeins of yarn from my stash for the SOS! It was all done without shedding a single tear :-)

Yesterday marked the second annual WWKIP day and our local event turned out to be a cozy little gathering of just 2 knitters, myself and Jess.

I am certain that the weather had something to do with it since it was 50 degrees in the Berkshires yesterday with the wind chill making it feel like 42! Yes that's right I am talking about the "wind chill factor" in JUNE :-|

But it really didn't matter because if there was anyone I would rather be knitting with on WWKIP day it is this lady. Later on my DH and Little Guy showed up to hang out for a bit. Jess has proof of my goofy husband "interpretive knitting" but I'll leave it up to her to decide whether it should be shared with the world. It's pretty frightening ridiculous. 

My whole life I have resisted fitting in to any type of category or group. I never wanted to be labeled. There are so many other things I do besides knit. I take pictures, I write, I politic, I ride horses, I weave, etc etc but I am not a "photographer", I am not a "writer", I am not a "politician", I am not a "horse person", and I am not a "weaver". It wasn't until I started knitting that I really felt I was part of something bigger than myself, that I belonged to a group of people out there who took as much pride and joy as I do in a particular craft. A community. I proudly call myself  a Knitter and accept all the connotations that come along with that. So even though yesterday my "world" consisted of just Jess and myself I really felt the World Wide Knitting Community out there and the overwhelming joy of being a part of that.

I hope everyone had a great WWKIP filled with laughter and friends and here's to all the knitters out there who braved the cold or the heat or the rain to gather with members of our community for the sake of the craft.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen! Children of all ages!

Tomorrow is World Wide Knit in Public Day so get your sticks, get your yarn and head down to your main street or local cafe and stitch in public with pride! 

 
Jess and I as well as other members of Berkshire County Knitters will be here which is Park Square in Downtown Pittsfield. So if you are a Berkshire County/Massachusetts knitter and want to join our little knit out we'll be there from 1 pm - 3 pm! Have a great WWKIP Day everyone!  

Oh...think SUN people SUN...it has been raining cats and dogs for what feels like forever in Massachusetts and we don't want no stinkin wet wool tomorrow... 

It's offical people. I have joined the Summer of Stash Along. Now, before you get mad let me explain.
  There are certainly two camps when it comes to Stashes, there are the die hard SEAAE'ers (Stash Enhancement at any Expense) who panic or even become aggitated at the thought of a self impossed yarn diet and then there are the "others" people like myself who for any number of reasons have decided to take the ultimate challenge and not buy a single skein of yarn until LABOR DAY. I have to say that for me this will be quite easy. In fact, when it comes to "stuff" I like to have as little of it as possible. Possessions bog me down. I feel burdened and surpressed by ownership. Typically, I purge stuff three or four times a year to my poor DH's chagrin who is such a perpetual saver he has moved a BOX of old checks and used batteries at least five or six times. It goes a little something like this.   So, for someone like me the Summer of Stash Along should be easy as pie, right? Reorganize the stash, figure out what projects I would like to make and match with newly reorganized yarn, knit peacefully like a zen master until the stash is reduced feeling a sense of freedom by my lightened load. Right? Yup, that is how it is going to be for me only I can't help but experience this feeling of panic as I contemplate my two allowed exceptions. Yarn is different for me. I enjoy being surrounded by the color and textures. After a long day of parenting and taking care of everyone else's needs I can retreat into my yarn space and feel calm. So what do I allow myself in a moment of weakness when I can not seem to muster up the willpower to resist a purchase and what type of yarn would bring me to that point? The answer is none. If I am going to do this I am going to do this people. No holds bard. I certainly have enough yarn to keep me busy for the next three months that's for sure.

That being said I am a new sock knitter and only have one skein of sock yarn in my stash. I will allow myself to buy sock yarn if I find it at a fiber festival and it supports a local yarn producer but it must meet both of those criteria. However,  I will not start a new project with yarn purchased during the challenge until my challenge projects are done. That's it. That is my excepetion. So stay tuned and watch as I knit up my cubes and lighten my load.

Wish me luck!

This weekend was the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival in Cummington. Lucky for us that is just in our backyard (almost literally). Last summer we bought a cabin in a state forest just one town over from Cummington which has quickly turned into my favorite place to be. I have some sort of connection to this land/area of MA that is deeply rooted in a feeling of peace and serenity. Needless to say I was really looking forward to this fiber fest. I knew it was going to be a beautiful day.

The night before Mr. & Mrs. SpiderWomanKnits and little SpiderWomanKnits feasted on lamb burgers which seems a little barbaric in retrospect but boy were they good.

Keffiyehs are hard to come by in Western Massachussetts but mine arrived today via airmail from the United Kingdom and I was really excited about it. Sometime last week I had a dream about wearing one and I just had to have one. Don't know why, I just did. On occassion I dream outfits and I have to wake up and sketch them...if I only I knew how to sew. Last weeks dream involved being in a desert, I was wearing a keffiyeh and I think Ralph Fiennes was there...oh wait ...maybe I was just watching The English Patient for the millionth time (my favorite movie by the way) Anyway, my DH caught a picture of me knitting in it (I swear I didn't make him take the shot) while we walked the Rail Trail tonight. I can't tell you what I am knitting because it is destined to be gifted to someone who I think reads this blog on occassion but I can tell you that I am knitting with lace weight alpaca and it is a mind numbing knit. By that I mean I can knit it when my mind is numb and not totally screw it up.

Here is a scenic shot of what I was looking at when I wasn't watching my row. The Rail trail is so nice. My little guy and I walk it quite often and since it was an old railroad track/flat and smooth strollers are not a problem. Tonight Mr. SpiderWomanKnits, the little guy and I walked until dusk when the bats started to do their thing and the day creature/night creature shift change took place. It was so peaceful. What a magical time of the day. This is one of my favorite places to knit. I am a wide open space kinda gal.

And here is a gratuitous shot of my new keffiyeh, tassels and all, just because I love it so.

Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend everyone! I will be at the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival. I am so excited about it not just because of the whole knitting thing but because it is being held at the Cummington Fairground which is my favorite fairground of all. So far I know Jess and Katy will be there. We'll be meeting at 1pm by the food concession so if you are planning on going give a blog holla and I look forward to meeting you.

Well here it is folks the Mason Dixon Ballband Dishcloth that caused quite a stir at the Berkshire Superior Courthouse last Wednesday. Frightening? Nope. Dangerous? I think not. Threatening? Maybe, if you have never made anything with your own two hands or have a real aversion to doing the dishes. But let's get real here it wasn't the dishcloth that was at fault. If it's dear friend Takumi hadn't ratted him out by indecently exposing himself to the security guard when we first entered the courthouse there wouldn't have been any trouble.

Luckily, I was dismissed from jury duty and my knitting was released along with me but the dishcloth is going to have to do some "community service" equaling about two loads of dishes a day for the rest of it's life.

So last Tuesday night a lovely little package arrived in the mail with a book for my DH and a book for me. Finally my copy of Mason Dixon Knitting had arrived! I have been a big fan of their texture and color selections for a long time and this book is appealing to me because of its domestically delightful patterns. I immediately cast on for the Ballband Dishcloth but it was late and I was tired so I decided it would be the perfect project to bring along the next day when I was scheduled to report for JURY DUTY. Now I might have mentioned that I flew to Ohio two months ago to visit a dear friend and didn't have any difficulty bringing my knitting on board the plane so I had no reason to believe that bringing knitting to jury duty would cause any stir. Boy was I wrong.

Flashback to last Wednesday, May 17th 7:30 AM. SpiderWomanKnits has Jury Duty.

After driving around for a ludicrously long time searching for a parking spot outside the courthouse that allows you to park for more than 90 minutes I enthusiastically climbed the majestic sandstone stairs to report for my first time ever as a potential juror. I was really excited about this. Eventhough you always hear people complain about jury duty I never wanted to let that effect my experience. I also have some weird attraction to the law/justice that even made me take the test to be a New York State Trooper at one point in my life (which I passed with flying colors). I think in license plate numbers sometimes and remember details as if they will need to be entered into a police report. It's really strange and also a story for another time. Back to the Berkshire Superior Courthouse. Anyway, I was excited not only to perform my civic duty but also to have some time to sit and knit undisturbed. Hey, I don't mind waiting around as long as I have my knitting.

So I go through security and get "wanded", no problem, but as I look to my right the security officer is opening my bag and removing my KNITTING (without any regard for dropped stitches either he just grabbed it and ripped it out!) With a big, fat smile on his face he hands me a ratty piece of paper with a number on it and says, "You can pick this (my knitting) up later IF you get a break but you can not take it in to the Jurors Waiting Area. Make sure you keep that number. It's the only way you'll get your stuff back."

Silence. My heart is sinking and my face is flushing with confussion and outrage. HE TOOK MY NEWLY CAST ON MASON-DIXON DISHCLOTH ON #7 CLOVERS AWAY FROM ME! This might not have caused me to panic had I brought along the book I am reading or a magazine or something but I had nothing, nothing. Just me and my dishcloth. Stunned, I navigate down two flights of stairs in a blurry haze and the panic sets in. I walk up to the bailiff (a woman) and ask her if it is really true that you can not knit while you are waiting, I say that there must be some mistake because the security guard upstairs confiscated my knitting, a dishcloth, could she possibly get it back for me? All I got in return was a stealy eyed stare and a direction back to my seat.

Typically I am a calm person sometimes I even borderline on a doormat because I can take a lot of crap and not be affected but I started to feel postal. I was like an animal. I hit a low point in my life here people like an addict or something. I needed my knitting didn't they understand that ? My hands were aching already, I was starting to shake. I didn't know what I was going to do and all I could hear were the guys behind me talking about how they had to wait for 7 hours the last time they served. Looking around me everyone was wearing something knitted, by machine, but still knitted. How could they turn on me. I felt betrayed. They needed me to knit, I could clothe the world, didn't they understand that?! I took my notebook out of my purse and decided the only way to relieve my tension was to go through my purse and write down ALL the other things that were MUCH more dangerous than a freaking DISHCLOTH the guard didn't take away from me! Here is what I came up with...