Knitting in the News; the Wall Street Journal had an article in today’s paper on how deadly serious knitters can get. I thought it was a hoot and it even sounded like wicked fun It was all about a game of Assassin with hand knit socks - a sock knitting race/competition, if you will. I sooooo loved this! Read all about it at Sock It to Me.

And the Coping with Winter thing has started. We had 4 or 5 inches of snow yesterday in the SE corner of Michigan. Other parts got it worse. Personally, I can live without ever seeing another snow flake the whole rest of my life. I guess I wouldn’t mind so much if the brutal cold did not go with it. Can’t someone invent warm snow? Oh, wait! Mother Nature has already done that, it’s called rain

But, on the bright side (there is always a bright side, sometimes its just good at hiding), cold weather means you can wear all that wonderful knitting and weaving and quilting you’ve been doing. From about Halloween through April, my hands are cold. It interferes with all of my hand-ish chores. My solution is (of course) knitted hand warmers. Most of mine are very practical and almost all of them are made of odd bits of left over yarns. I did do one pair from a lovely cashmere and silk blend that I dyed just for the purpose. The problem arose when my dye job - an adventure, as always - produce two balls of very different colors. I had been teaching a class in adventurous dyeing (the only style I know) and grabbed two balls of this lovely expensive yarn off the shelf and didn’t even skien it up, much less scour it. I just took a syringe and squirted green and blue dye into the center and around the outside of each ball, set the dye and rinsed. I skeined it and was surprised at the results (so, what is new about that)? Both skeins had both colors but one was very blue and one was very green. This was about three 0r four years ago and I had been meaning to write a short article for my web site on knitting with hand dyed yarns. This presented the perfect opportunity. To make a long story short, the finished hand warmers matched perfectly! Here is the tutorial I wrote so long ago on knitting with hand dyed yarns when all the skeins don’t exactly match.

But, back to using up all those odd bits. My favorite pair of hand warmers, and the ones that get me the most attention are my Ruffled Rags. Pictured above and below, they were a combination of two patterns, the basic fit is a pattern I bought; Arthritis/Carpal Tunnel Hand Warmers, by Joan Sheridan Hoover at Heritage Spinning and Weaving and a free pattern; Mrs. Beeton’s Wrist Warmers, by Brenda Dayne from Knitty.com. I did some adjusting of gauge and number of stitches cast-on and in the thumb. The Heritage pattern was written for sock weight yarn and I used worsted weight. Bit of a difference there. Then I used sport weight on my ruffles and changed them a bit too. But they were the inspiration and the launch pads for my favorite warmers OK, small confession here; the ruffles are a bit big and often get in the way. But its a small price to pay for knitting couture

OK, I’ve procrastinated the things I should be doing to get ready for Christmas long enough. I think I’ll try to avoid the distractions that keep jumping in front of me and focus (a novel concept). Have a terrific Holiday to everyone and see you after Christmas!!

Deb H

Beethoven Meets the Moody Blues by Deborah Harowitz © 2007

Since we are on the subject of history… and I cannot show you what I’m currently working on (it’s all gifts), I will show you the quilt I finished last summer that is now traveling in an exhibit.

The exhibit is the Michigan Quilt Artists Invitational annual show. Each year a new theme is chosen and Michigan quilt artists are invited to create an art quilt based on the theme. The resulting quilts are curated into an exhibit that spends two years traveling different venues, from art galleries to public libraries to hospital lobbies, all over the state of Michigan. The 2007 exhibit with the theme of The Art of Music, opened in the Gallery of the Greater Flint Arts Council on October 5, 2007. It is currently at the Ann Arbor Public Library and will travel until fall of 2009. Click here to see it’s travel schedule. I was delighted to receive an invitation to participate, 2007 being my first year. I entered a quilt that was inspired by one of my favorite pieces of classical music (I love classical for when I ‘m designing, it helps me think), The Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. I started with a vague image in my head of moonlight on water. I hand dyed, in indigo blues, a silk noil. I silk screened sections of the sheet music on it and Beethoven’s name. I then stamped music notes on as well. The overall look was subtle and I was pleased. Using hand dyed fabrics of cotton sateen and silk, and a commercial block print I assembled a vague landscape. To add contrast and emphasize the theme I added a keyboard, wandering into the stars. The overall tone of the piece is very mellow. That, and it’s color scheme; predominately blues, gave the quilt it’s full name: Beethoven Meets the Moody Blues. I apologize for the quality of the photo. It was before I got my new camera and the old one just didn’t do justice to fibers or colors. Since the quilt is off on it’s own adventure, I can’t re-shoot it. The finished quilt is 20″ x 24″ and is machine stitched, machine quilted, hand beaded, hand embroidered, and finished with a “pillow case” backing with no additional binding. As usual, I finished it late the night before it went into the mail. I just had enough time to snap a daylight photo and off it went. If felt a little like sending the kid off to college, just not as expensive ;o)

A little history about me; my father was a Sea Captain. I spent more time on a ship during his life then on dry land, at times I get very homesick for the smell of salt air. He was also a Merchant Marine during WWII; running oil tankers from Alaska to Seattle for the war effort. He ran the Mail Boat along the Aleutian Chain in the 50’s, but mostly, he was a King Crab fisherman. That was in the days when the crab was processed right on the same ship that caught it and it was truly fresh! The last ship I remember him having was 164′ converted mine sweep called the Alaska Trader. I waffle on about all this because it’s actually fiber related! How you ask, with bated breath?

I’ve finally found a Charity I can relate to. I can’t believe in all my years that I have never heard of this but I do live a sheltered life and don’t get out much ;o) I’m too busy at home playing with fiber and I like it that way.

The Charity I found is The Christmas at Sea Program. It’s a group that collects and distributes hand knitted scarves, hats, socks, vests, etc… to seamen from around the world who enter a sea port or river port. They are based in NYC so I’m not sure how many ports are covered by them but the number of items they distribute is staggering! I’d like to find out if there is something similar to this for the West Coast Seaman. The organization is affiliated with a church but aside from that and the knitted garments they also provide other small necessities as well as legal aid, training, and other practical help. I’m more interested in saving ears, toes, and fingers than souls but I know first hand how hard a seaman’s life can be and think this is a wonderful excuse to knit! I’ve placed a link to their Blog down my sidebar somewhere if you’d like more info. Oh! They will also provide the yarn if you cannot afford to donate more than your time and they have free patterns on their site. It’s a bit late to get items to them for this year (the deadline is 12/19) but I’m planning a few for next Christmas

The scarf you see pictured here is one I designed for my DH. For those of you who frequented my web site when SZ was a fiber art supplier, you will recognize this as the scarf and pattern I knit for my honey for Christmas 2004 and posted for my customers shortly after. It’s a variation of a basket weave stitch with a seed stitch border and looks the same on both sides. It also, does not curl. I have posted the pattern so you can use it to knit a man’s scarf for sailors or your own deserving man. Go to My Man’s Scarf Pattern.

Happy Holiday knitting!