Gidget Casts On

Mended Spiderwebs

Artist Nina Katchadourian eats your lace for breakfast.

The Mended Spiderweb Series came about during a six-week period in June and July in 1998 which Californian artist Nina Katchadourian spent on Pörtö. In the forest and around the house where she was living, she searched for broken spiderwebs which she repaired using red sewing thread.

All of the patches were made by inserting segments one at a time directly into the web. Sometimes the thread was starched, which made it stiffer and easier to work with. The short threads were held in place by the stickiness of the spider web itself; longer threads were reinforced by dipping the tips into white glue (found at The Presurfer.)

So, technically not knitting, but pretty dang badass all the same.

In a completely unrelated aside, I bought a box of what I thought were Clementines last week, and am somewhat miffed to discover in the fine print of the box's label that they're actually tangerines.  I mean, tangerines are fine and all, but I'm used to thinking "Clementines" when I see that distinctive wooden box in front of the bodega.   And tangerines...they ain't them.

Petty?  Perhaps.  But I still feel like I've been had.

Neither Ball Nor Skein

For your consideration, a new approach to sock knitting. Not on 2 circs, not Magic Loop, not two-at-a-time — in fact, the glorious weirdness originates not in the needles but in the yarn.

Peoples, that's not an FO. It's Flat Feet by Conjoined Creations, purchased yesterday at Knitty City. The yarn (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) is knit into rectangles which are then hand-dyed; you knit them up directly from the rectangle.

As described on their website, "Your needles drip color as you, the artist, create socks that are solely (no pun intended) your own."

I'm kicking myself for not getting any pictures of the color selections at the store - there was one in particular that looked tie-dyed, and I can't even begin to imagine what the color distribution for the socks will be like, but there are some samples on the website's gallery that should give you an idea.

Nuts, I tell you. Should make for some interesting knitting, though.

Poetry on the Feast of Brigid

EDIE SEDGWICK (1943-1971)
by Patti Smith

I don’t know how she did it. Fire
She was shaking all over. It took
her hours to put her make-up on.
But she did it. Even the false eye-lashes.
She ordered gin with triple
limes. Then a limosine. Everyone
knew she was the real heroine of
Blonde on Blonde.
oh it isn’t fair
oh it isn’t fair
how her ermine hair
turned men around
she was white on white
so blonde on blonde
and her long long legs
how I used to beg
to dance with her
but I never had
a chance with her
oh it isn’t fair
how her ermine hair
used to swing so nice
used to cut the air
how all the men
used to dance with her
I never got a chance with her
though I really asked her
down deep
where you do
really dream
in the mind
reading love
I’d get
inside
her move
and we’d
turn around
and she’d
turn around
and turn the head
of everyone in town
her shaking shaking
glittering bones
second blonde child
after brian jones
oh it isn’t fair
how I dreamed of her
and she slept
and she slept
forever
and I’ll never dance
with her no never
she broke down
like a baby
like a baby girl
like a lady
with ermine hair
oh it isn’t fair
and I’d like to see
her rise again
her white white bones
with baby brian jones
baby brian jones
like blushing
baby dolls

Flaming Monkeys and Cowboy Kisses

No lie, there's a point for me with every project where I fall out of love with whatever I'm knitting, get bored, and just want it to be over. Never happened here. I love everything about these - the color, the texture, the fit. The yarn was a dream, and every step of the knitting was FUN. Kudos to the genius of Fleece Artist and Cookie!

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Needle: US 2 / 2.75 mm
Yarn: 1 skein Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 from the Upper West's finest, Knitty City
Color: Reddest!

Foodwise, there's been some experimenting. As in, making things that aren't stir-fry. Or soup.

One of my all-time favorite appetizers is the Rodeo Bar's Cowboy Kisses - shrimp and jalapenos wrapped in bacon. Surprisingly easy to make - I used pre-cooked shrimp, with 1/2 jalapeno and 1/2 strip of bacon apiece. I suspect the restaurant version is deep-fried, but broiling works just as well.

Is everything better with bacon? I strongly suspect that this might be true.

Knitting a Symphony

The digital media arts center Harvestworks just announced that one of their 2008 Artists-In-Residence is developing a "knitting needle working symphony."

From their email:

"Laure Drogoul - networked interactive performance

A knitting needle working symphony. Approx 40 knitter-performers knit in unison creating a singular knit object-environment. The knitters needles will be equipped with mini pick-up microphones, and the knitters will be networked to send in these sounds via internet. The sound is then recorded, played and mixed in a live installation: a virtual knitting circle-score as immersive audio-video environment. Laure recently received the Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize."

More info on her work at Craftzine, the source of the above image.

My New Favorite Shirt

Threadless rocks.

Spiraling

Martian's got a brand new hat.

Pattern: Noro Hat by Saartje Knits
Yarn: 1 skein (142 yds) Brooks Farm Tierra Blend (not on their website, perhaps discontinued?), Rhinebeck 2007 (sale bin, woot!), Lambswool 70%/Alpaca 30%
Needles: Knitpicks Options size 9 (nickel), Magic Loop

Obviously the pattern is incredibly well-suited to Noro's stripey-ness but it's cute in a solid color too, especially since there's some subtle variation in the blue.

Mods: Cast on 65 stitches instead of the recommended 95, compensating for the larger gauge and smaller head.

The Jaywalkers, they be finished, too.

Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
Yarn: Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM), 2 skeins
Needle: US 2 / 2.75 mm Addis
Colorway: P319x, dye lot 188

Though I'm midway through a gift scarf and I promised the Martian a pair of socks, I'm taking a break for some me-knitting. I've been hankering for some flaming red Monkeys, and found the perfect yarn at Knitty City, some gorgeous, glowing Fleece Artist Merino Sock Yarn. It's far too dark in here to capture how luscious this stuff is, I'll have to shoot it when there's better light.

One Down

Vaarwel en dank voor al garen!

While I'm all aquiver with anticipation for Rhinebeck, I'm still unexpectedly gobsmacked by an all-too-short visit to the Netherlands. It was my first time and it was freakin' amazing (if about 40 degrees colder than New York.)

One of many, many canals.

One of many, many cups of coffee.

One of many, many bicycles.

I don't even own a bike anymore, but I know plenty of New Yorkers who bike on a regular basis. And lemme tell you, New York ain't got nothin' on the Netherlands when it comes to biking. I was too busy looking around to really capture it, but this photographer will give you some idea of the scope of bike culture in Amsterdam.

And — surprise! — there was yarn.

First stop was de Afstap in Amsterdam, a pleasant enough place but with mostly Rowan on the shelves, so no big surprises, unfortunately. But the proprietress was very nice, and I did pick up some sock yarn for gloves.

And for Martian socks.

At a cute little sewing store I found this awesome zipper-pull:

Then in the town where we were staying there was an even better yarn store, with a great selection of Dutch, German, and Italian yarn.

It was great to browse around and see what they had, but I wasn't moved to buy anything except a big, gorgeous, button (the big one on the right — the others were gifted by H's lovely mum, also a knitter.)

It also reminded me how much I love to travel; it's something that's been woefully lacking in my life for far too long. I want it back, dammit. One of the many changes that this year will bring, I think.

Morning dew on a spiderweb-bedecked bicycle.

And now...on to Rhinebeck!

Ice Cream Feet

When I first saw this yarn, it suddenly occured to me that Neapolitan ice cream was a perfect pallette for socks. Why had I never thought of this before?

It seems so obvious.

Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL)
Skeins: 1
Color: 126
Needles: Addi Turbos size 1, 32" (Magic Loop)

I cast on 64 and then knit knit knit all the way to the end, with a brief detour for a slip-stitch heel flap.

Finished them during the Special Features interviews for Ciao Manhattan!, a thoroughly depressing movie about (and starring) Edie Sedgwick in the last years of her life. Sienna Miller did a fine job channelling Edie in last year's Factory Girl, but it's something to see the real Edie, even if at this stage it was only a wavering, drug-addled shadow of the former Warhol superstar.