29 Sunday Jun 2008
Posted in Favorite Things, Other Favorite Sites, Review
Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.
[Mary Schmich]
I confess. While I should be knitting on the foot of the toe-up sock so I can post the heel instructions, I’ve been doing some summer reading. Here are links to sites for three of my favorite authors: Robin Pilcher, Susan Whittig Albert, and Debbie Macomber. I have out of town guests coming later today so I’m afraid it will be later in the week before I get to the heel. Meanwhile, I need to get laundry running.
29 Tuesday Jan 2008
Posted in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Review
If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.
[Mark Twain]
I’m preparing patterns and samples for workshop lessons that I’m planning to present at a knitting retreat in April. I chose Argyle as a theme to tie the variety of techniques together.
Classic Argyle is worked in intarsia—my least favorite technique. Since I rarely knit intarsia, I ordered the book, Intarsia, A Workshop for Hand and Machine Knitting, from Sealed With A Kiss. This book is an excellent source for polishing technique. I’ve been working a sample using acrylic and following the instructions carefully. I figure if I can get it to look nice using yarn as unforgiving as acrylic, I can certainly make woolen yarn look nice. I’ll post photos when I have the project finished.
I have other little projects that imitate Argyle in Fair Isle and textured knitting. Then I received a copy of Armenian Knitting by Meg Swansen and Joyce Williams from Schoolhouse Press. That launched me into another Argyle interpretation using the technique in that inspiring book.
This post will be continued as I get samples finished and photographed…
20 Sunday Jan 2008
Posted in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Review
Whoever said money can’t buy happiness
simply didn’t know where to go shopping.
[Bo Derek]
Fort Wayne had a lovely yarn shop for many years—The Cass Street Depot. It was housed in a charming late-19th century railroad station, and sold all of my favorite yarn. The Depot closed last May so we were suffering from withdrawal until recently. Now we have two (count them—2) yarn stores.
Knitting Off Broadway opened in December at 613 West Brackenridge Street, just off Broadway a couple blocks south of Jefferson Boulevard. The shop has an earthy but upscale feel and plenty of room.
Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shoppe opened yesterday at 3400 North Anthony Boulevard next to the Bead Source south of the IPFW campus. It is bright and cheery with several rooms of yarn.
I am going to have to alternate my yarn shop visits between the two since they are both so nice. I do wish them each the greatest success.
17 Thursday Jan 2008
Posted in Knitting, Other Favorite Sites, Review, Thoughts
The hero draws inspiration from the virtue of his ancestors.
[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]
Mama was, among many other things, a hand weaver. In the early 1950s, Daddy built her a large, 8-harness floor loom out of birch. It was as pretty as a piece of furniture and sat in our dining room. She wove on it until the late 1990s then gave it to my daughter Ellen. When Ellen crated her belongings to move to Wales, the loom went along even though she didn’t know how to use it.
Ellen learned to knit, then she learned to spin and joined a guild near her home in Wales. Her hand-weaving friends helped her put the birch loom together and she has been weaving. Recently, she has been building the structure for a small fiber arts business—business plan, web presence, etc. All the while, she has been spinning, knitting and weaving wares to sell.
Ellen’s mama (me) earns her keep with graphic design and web development. I’ve been helping her long distance with the art and web side of things. We want to launch her web store for the UK on February 4th and have an introductory page online until then. Her site is www.shepherdsmoon.co.uk.
Today we were discussing a variety of exciting developments and I sat here with the phone to my ear and my heart so warmed I could have exploded. It is a mother thing. Then I thought about how happy my parents would be if they knew their granddaughter was earning her living on that 50+ year old loom.
We never know how far our actions and influence will extend into the future.
10 Thursday Jan 2008
Posted in Other Favorite Sites, Review, Thoughts
Architecture is a social act and the material theater of human activity.
[Spiro Kostof]
The best thing about being called for jury duty is the opportunity to sit in the Allen County courthouse and study the art. I can’t imagine that even the buildings in Washington D.C. are any better appointed with architectural detail and beauty. I especially enjoy this photograph of the dome, and wanted to share its richness.
Cameras are no longer allowed in the courthouse for security reasons, but my friend, Robert Pence, took this photograph and a number of others before the ban. At the Indiana/Fort Wayne/Allen Courthouse link on his website, he writes:
The Allen County Courthouse is one of only 35 National Historic Landmarks in Indiana. It was ordered in 1895 and dedicated in 1902 at a cost of more than $800,000. Designed in the Beaux Arts style by Brentwood S. Tolan and constructed by James Stewart, it replaced a badly-deteriorated 1861 brick structure on the same site. Thanks to the effort of the Allen County Courthouse Preservation Trust, it has been lovingly maintained and recently underwent a $9 million restoration of its interior design features, scagliola (faux marble) and Charles Holloway murals. The richness of detail and ornamentation are wonderful, and it’s especially remarkable that it has been restored after having been overpainted.
For many years, Bob has traveled the country to photograph interesting buildings, bridges and machinery. Many other photographs of interest can be found on his website as well. His eye for good composition and interesting detail lift his photographs from being mere pictures into the realm of fine art. Large prints can be purchased from him through his website.
14 Wednesday Nov 2007
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.
[Fran Lebowitz]
The trade edition of Kitchen Table Stories, edited by Jane Ross and published by the Story Circle Network, is now available at Lulu.com. This edition is 160 pages and perfect bound. Some of the inside pages can be previewed at Lulu. When you place your order, the books you order are manufactured especially for you and then shipped. The manufacture can take a couple of days. The book includes recipes along with very short stories.
In addition to being an SCN member, I’m partial to this book for personal reasons. I volunteered to do the cover illustration and contributed one of Mama’s recipes to this book. The proceeds go to SCN which is a non-profit organization for women who enjoy writing.
23 Thursday Aug 2007
Vegetables are a must on a diet.
I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.
[Jim Davis]
The Story Circle Network is taking pre-paid orders for this new cookbook/storybook until September 15, 2007. If you would like a copy, here is a LINK to an on-line order form. The price of the book goes to pay for the printing and to support SCN, a non-profit organization for women who enjoy writing.
The reason I have posted this to my blog is because I illustrated the cover and contributed my mama’s Ketchup recipe to the book as a member of SCN. Each recipe is accompanied by a very short story about the memories that accompany the particular dish.
13 Monday Aug 2007
The first step towards getting somewhere
is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.
[Author Unknown]
You’ve heard of the shoemaker’s child going without shoes, right? I’ve designed and produced many web sites in the past decade but never developed one for my graphic design business—until today. Since I can create both pages and posts on a blog, I decided to customize a WordPress design with my choice of colors, fonts and photograph. Now I will build the rest of the content day by day. Select this LINK to view the new blog.
About the photo—my photographer friend, Jim Miller, gave me kind permission to use this view of the Smoky Mountains. When I lived in North Carolina, I enjoyed a similar view out of my studio window. You may enjoy more of Jim’s photos on The Thoughtful Caregiver and The Contemplative Photographer.
23 Monday Jul 2007
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners,
as were all of our fathers:
our days on the earth are as a shadow,
and there is none abiding.
[1 Chronicles 29:15]
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling and several other long-loved books, wrote The Sojourner not long before her death in 1953. Although this book is not as well known as some of her other books, it is my favorite. I read it years ago and it struck such a cord with me that it stayed in my memory. Ever since I attended the Land Full of Stories writers’ conference presented by the Story Circle Network in San Marcos, Texas, this book has come to the forefront of my mind. It is such a strong example of writing about people relating with—or not relating with—place.
I recently bought my own copy in hardback and am rereading it. I do that with books I love. In my personal library, I have books that belonged to family members years ago—books I’ve read just because they were left to me. So I add my books to the collection. Maybe when I’m long gone, someone will browse the bookshelf and select one of my favorites. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I love this book. I see myself as a sojourner.
21 Thursday Jun 2007
We caregivers are not alone.
We are many and everywhere.
[James E. Miller]
James E. Miller has launched another photoblog, The Thoughtful Caregiver. His first photoblog is The Contemplative Photographer and his web site is Willowgreen Inc. Here is the biographical quote from his new blog:
Jim is a writer, photographer, and speaker who has been both a professional caregiver and a famiy caregiver. He is the author of twenty books and the creator of thirty audiovisuals through his company Willowgreen Inc. He specializes in the areas of illness and dying, loss and grief, caregiving and healing presence, managing transition, spirituality, and older age.
Jim is also a client of mine in my graphic design business. His photography library is so rich that it is a joy for me to design publications with him. We are currently putting the finishing touches on a Spanish translation of his best-selling book, One you love has died. This book presents ideas for how your grief can help you heal. Here is a LINK to an excerpt from that book.
Knitting, writing and other joys 