June 16, 2008

I'M OKAY WITH CROCHET

In Nihon Vogue class, our current assignment is to crochet a vest. I'm feeling okay with crochet --

which is a good thing, because this project is feeling more like working on a blanket. What you see in the photo is the back, which is 9 rows short of being crocheted up to the underarms . . . and then I can start the front . . . and let us hope I get it all done by the time class meets again, this coming Saturday.

Our teacher Jean had encouraged us to use a fingering weight or lighter yarn. And I am just a sucker for those fine gauges, so I chose Panda Silk. Originally I was going to put a stitch pattern into it, and make it lacier, like a vest to wear over a camisole. So I swatched a stitch pattern. Panda Silk is a very drapey yarn, and after swatching I thought it was too drapey to do the stitch pattern justice. And I decided I was martyring myself enough, with a fine yarn and a 3.25mm crochet hook without needing to strain my brain by following a stitch pattern, so I am going with plain ol' double crochet

I've been able to squeeze in some crocheting time while watching and waiting through Allegra's rehearsals for her dance recital. The show this year is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Allegra is the center ballerina in this shot, and Charlie is the character in the short pants at left. This is Allegra's ballet solo -- and yes, she is in a small group with five other girls, but the dance school calls it a solo nonetheless and we are happy to go along with that. The ballerinas are Cardinals, who help poor Charlie to find a Wonka bar that's been left behind by the other children. (And of course this Wonka bar contains the golden ticket so that Charlie can meet Willie Wonka.)

Scott and I were at rehearsal taking photos when we heard the director come over the microphone and utter the famous line: "Dance around the candy bar, Allegra." We cracked up. Since she shares my family's sweet tooth, Allegra has never had any problems finding the candy bars here at home, no matter how I try to hide them. That is the candy bar there on the floor just to the left of her feet that she is, indeed, dancing around.

Her modern class plays the Chocolate River. The girls dance, passing these scarves from one to another -- it all happens so quickly and fluidly that at first you think that every girl has her own scarf. But then you realize that there are only four scarves, total, and the kids have perfect timing in this beautiful piece of choreography. (This photo is admittedly blurry, but I include it to give you a flavor of the dance piece. It was really hard to get a good photograph due to the dim lighting and the dancers' quick movements.)

The upper level tap classes are Candy Rappers. That's my girl, at the furthest right in this photo, looking tough and wearing a do rag. The tap number incorporates lots of hip-hop movement. It is a very impressive piece of choreography -- each upper level class has a similar outfit but of a different color, and you very much have the sense that they are challenging each other -- the red gang versus the black gang versus the gold gang. Every year I am just so impressed with how the teachers come up with these parts and the dances to go along with them.

June 02, 2008

BACK IN BUSINESS

After about 48 hours of downtime, the Two Swans site has been restored. It sucks to have been down for that long, and especially on a weekend (when I tend to get more business), but I am relieved to have it back online.

REMEMBER TO BACK UP YOUR FILES

If you're wondering where the Two Swans site is, it is off-line temporarily, due to a fire in the building where the server is.

(No persons were injured in the fire. "My" server is in Houston, so the fire was not near me. All the yarn is safe here in Kent, WA.)

I do hope "my" server was not damaged and comes back up soon.

May 31, 2008

NEW COLORS

Jeane de Coster came up from California to help me out in my booth during the Madrona Fiber Arts retreat -- and she brought with her all of the new colors she's been dyeing in her line of Shetland fingering weight yarns, Elemental Affects. She has also added one new, undyed, natural color (Mioget). She had listened to the Feral Knitters' requests for more colors, both light and dark in value, such as yellows and reds. The new dyed colors include some really wonderful blues that I could just stare at all day:

Azure

Agave

and this warm red with the fun name:

Watermelon

I owe a BIG thank you to Wendi, who photographed all of the new colors of Elemental Affects for me.

You'll recall that some of my friends had lent me some of their hand-knits so that I could display them in my booth; among these was a rectangular shawl that Karen H. had knitted in Kidsilk Haze. Called Madli's Shawl, from an old and out-of-print summer issue of Interweave Knits, it is a pattern I have oftern admired and wanted to make. And what a piece of knitting it was: with a zig-zagging Estonian lace pattern, and nupps, and lace borders on each end.

At one point during the retreat, when the shoppers all seemed to be in classes and I was concentrating on fluffing the yarn on the shelves, Jeane was showing the shawl to a woman who'd come into our booth. Jeane called over to me, "Karen, have you ever met Nancy Bush?"

"No," I said.

"Would you like to?" Jeane asked.

And, lo and behold, the woman admiring the shawl was Nancy Bush herself -- the designer of Madli's Shawl. And Nancy Bush told me that although the Interweave Knits issue is out of print, the shawl pattern will be re-published in her new book of lace patterns that is due out this fall.

On Sunday, the last and traditionally the slowest day of the retreat, Nancy Bush taught her Estonian lace knitting class. I was surprised and pleased that she told her students about the Madli's Shawl on display in my booth, and many of them came by to admire its nupp-y beauty.

March 20, 2008

POST-MADRONA COOL-DOWN

I know the blog has been looking like I've fallen off the face of the earth . . . or, at least, fallen out of cyberspace. It's been a month since the Madrona Fiber Arts retreat, and I am overdue in posting photos. Without further ado, here are a few shots that are designed to show you the booth in all of its glory:

This photo courtesy of Michale. That's me, standing in the booth ready for business, wearing the Autumn Rose sweater.

This photo courtesy of my DH Scott. He took it Sunday afternoon, when things at the retreat were winding down. It looks like we have no customers! But the whole four days of the retreat, we were hopping -- it all went by in a blur. It is true, though, that Sunday afternoon there was less traffic. That's me at left, and Arlene (from Guild and Nihon Vogue class), who graciously volunteered a couple of afternoons of her time to help me out.

Another photo courtesy of DH Scott, to show you the booth from the other angle. Two Swans has a lot of yarn! The booth showcased the Spindrift, front and center, plus J&S 2ply, Kidsilk Haze, Nashua Julia, Satakieli, Simply Shetland's two yarns (Silk & Lambswool and Lambswool & Cashmere) and a random assortment of sock yarns . . . but there was a lot of yarn that I had to choose to not bring to the retreat. Wow, has my little shop grown over these past four-plus years.

I learned so much from the booth that I had at last year's retreat. This year, as you can see, I signed up for a space that was twice the size. This meant more shelving, and at least twice as much yarn. (I have to pass along this remark that I think is so cute: One of my volunteers said to me, 'You have more yarn here than any other shop!' 'Naaah,' I said, 'that's not so.' So I sent her out on a reconnaissance mission. Truly, there were a couple of other shops that had brought in more yarn than I did . . . but only a couple.) But aside from the larger scale of this booth, I planned better for easier access into and out of the booth. This year, there were at least three retreatants who were in wheelchairs, and any of them could easily come in and get to the yarn on the shelves -- something that was just not possible last year.

To close this entry, let me extend my overdue thanks to all of the people who helped me put this together:
To my daughter Jennie, my friends Amy, Dan H., and Steve S. for setting up the booth with me,
To Anne, June, Andrea, Jeane, Karen H., and Sirkku for their knitted sample garments,
To Lori, Arlene, my sister Shirley, and Jeane for volunteering their time to help staff the booth,
To my DH Scott who helped me with the big picture of planning, who spent an evening assembling the new shelving, whose company produced that awesome sign, and who just generally strives in that impossible task of keeping me organized.