Aberration, Anniversary, Independence

This is the one year anniversary of this blog. The embarrassing photo at left is Penguin, a "retired" feral cat who adopted us a couple years ago. Today I gave him cause to re-think that decision. I saw the blogpost about International Cat Hats, some time ago and just loved it. Normally, I don't humiliate the cats or make demands on them. They are independent contractors. This was the exception. I knit the crown overnight and got photos today. The photo part was hard. My husband is not a photographer and certainly not for cats. This was the best I could get. There was another photo shoot, with my cat, Raven, that was an unmitigated, blurry disaster. If my husband had shot video, it would have been fun. As it is, neither cat is speaking to me.

Barcode Section Knit- Update Bellflur

Confession....I have been "socializing" on Facebook and not knitting. Anyway, I'm back to the knit at least for a while. Bellflur is hitting the road for their summer season AND they will finally be releasing new songs. I want to get this project finished before the EP and Album are released.

This project started out as a simple barcode experiment. Along the way, I realized that I could use this narrow scarf/stole to hold my iPod. The barcode portion was knit in tubular double knitting. The remainder of the scarf will be knit in plain black until it is long enough, or I run out of yarn. I am finishing it on double point needles because knitting on black yarn in dim light made for some .......unravelling. Now I can just knit on circular auto pilot.

The last step will probably be to embroider the title "Bellflur" on the black portion.

If you look carefully at the iPod, you can see the cover of the first Bellflur CD.

A New Thread

I do other things besides knitting. All my life, I have been fascinated by bobbin lace. Several years ago, I finally found the proper materials and began to learn. This was really only possible through the Internet. Lacemaking requires focus and patience. For me, it is a form of meditation.

I am really glad to pull my pillows out of storage. The photos show a detail shot of my "cookie" pillow, which is about 18" in diameter. The pattern, called a pricking, is pinned onto the pillow and the lace is worked directly over the pattern. In my mind, bobbin lace incorporates techniques of weaving, braiding, and perhaps knotting. Pins are used to stabilize the threads at edges and crossings. Finished lace is stretched, stiffened and released from the pins.

This particular project is an exercise in Bruges lace. "Tapes" are woven to define the shape of the lace. The center area is filled with a "ground" pattern. It is a fairly easy, quick and fun type of lace. Since I haven't done this in a couple of years, this will be a good refresher piece to finish.

The photo on the right shows my pattern book and examples of my patterns or prickings.
I hope it will be easy for me to pick this up again.

I stopped making lace several years ago, when i went back to work full time. Somehow, working 8-12 hours a day for 5-6 day weeks is not conducive to focusing on anything other than sleep at home.

Life is Now

Everything changes, but why all at once? I am overloaded. The pillars of my life, spouse, kids, finances, friends, identity, language, psyche are all shifting. I have some choice in the matter. I am also obligated to cope with external change.
Hitting the wall. Knit happens.

A Neckwarmer means your scarf ran out of yarn

I just could not leave this alone. Last fall I knit a scarf for C-los, who surprised me and chose red yarn. I totally fell in love with the yarn and stole a skein for myself. (Carlos, your scarf is one foot short as a result.) I started knitting my own project with the "stolen" yarn and NOTHING has come out right in five different attempts. I finally settled on a pattern, the Lamar Scarf, only to run out of yarn- hence it's a "neckwarmer". I will never wear this as a neckwarmer. Last night, after work I went back to the store to get more yarn. There was no hope of getting the same dyelot. I'm only hoping that the color jog will blend at the back of the neck or get buried in the cable crosses.

I'm also feeling guilty about not finishing the barcode project. Maybe I'll finish it in time for the new Bellflur album.

FindtheWords

This is the creation of a longtime friend. We reconnected and he told me about the video. I love his work. I totally get this.

I must point out that this video has both original images and music. It is the work of John Chadwick. John wrote the lyrics and the music and created the images. He performs with his brother Roger.

I first met John around middle school age, probably playing outdoors. We were in daily classes together during middle and high school. Even then, he had an interest in film making. Both John and Roger were a part of my daily life. I did not know how important that was.

He's always been part of me.

Never Enough

My avatar is on the left. That's Raven, my yarn-addicted, bacon-addicted feline. As soon as I laid out the hats for a photo, she had to intercede. Surprisingly, she stayed still for several shots, so she's in the blog post.
The hats are made from stash that I brought up from North Carolina and knit during a recent cold snap. One was made at my husband's request, who promptly went to Target and bought a $2.99 hat while I was knitting. ^$%$@!@ to him! Tom, you are higher on my knitlist than Ian now. Hat knitting is new and interesting because it uses up single skeins of yarn and I don't get bored, I can also indulge various ideas such as : chicken vikings, mohawks, Daleks, Space Invaders, R2D2, .......

It has occurred to me that I could start knitting a few things for good causes. The knitting I've done for other people has been kinda fun. Also, after years of volunteer work, I want to make a change. I need to find volunteer efforts that fit my current capabilities. I've spent years doing exhausting, often thankless work, to suit the convenience of other people. Charitable knitting might be a welcome change.

I've been looking at my stash and looking for good causes. I've contacted someone who wants to distribute items, such as hats, gloves, sweaters to the homeless in Baltimore. (no response yet) Johns Hopkins Pediatric Intensive Care Unit has a program that accepts items according to a rotating schedule. They have six seasonal projects, slippers, Halloween caps, amigurumi (toys), etc. That might be a lot of fun and allow for creativity, too. For now, I'm going to knit occasional items and fill up a box with donations. Never enough time, energy, money to serve others.