Kitten Break

Attempting a daring escape to rescue his brother who is imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. By McGun.

Funny Boxer puppy

Very excited! what a cute boxer!

Ugly puppy

Ugly but cute !

:D

M1R and M1L Gusset Increases

FINALLY!!!



Here is a close-up of the thumb gusset for the current mittens. Unfortunately this is the best I can do as my scanner is giving up the ghost. This photo shows the M1 Right increase on the right side and the M1 Left increase on the left side. It should be an almost invisible increase.




HERE's a good post that includes videos on how to do the Make One Left (M1L) and Make One Right (M1R) Increases. I know it is confusing because some knitting instructions call the backwards loop increase (seen HERE - I only use this one for casting on for glove fingers) an M1 and I've even seen the "Knit into the Front and Back of a Stitch" increase called an M1 but the M1Left and M1 Right increases I do on either side of a thumb gusset are different.

Here are the directions from Vogue Knitting.

Make One: Version A (Right Leaning) Insert the left needle from back to front into the horizontal strand between the last stitch worked and the next stitch on the left needle. Knit this strand through the front loop to twist the stitch.

Make One: Version B (Left Leaning) Insert the left needle from front to back into the horizontal strand between the last stitch worked and the first stitch on the left needle. Knit this strand through the back loop to twist it.

To help me remember the difference between the two increases I differentiate the left and right increases by "easy" and "hard". For some reason it is easier to do the Make One Left increase and it is more difficult to work your needle into the twisted loop for the Make One Right increase. I remember which one is which by always doing the "hard" (right-leaning) M1 first on the side of a gusset and the "easy" (left-leaning) one second. Nancie Wiseman's finishing book says you'll know if you did one of these two increases wrong if you make a little hole.

For stranded colorwork mittens or gloves, I always make the increases in the same color yarn - usually whatever the color is used for the outline of the gusset in the pattern chart. For the right leaning M1 on the right side of the gusset, I do the increase on the horizontal strand BEFORE the first stitch of the gusset. For the left leaning M1 on the left side of the gusset I do the increase on the horizontal strand AFTER the last stitch of the gusset. Use stitch markers on your needles to determine exactly where the gusset stitches are located.

Beyond Cuteness

Beyond cuteness kitten picture by psalmist.

Gorgeous Puppy

She is about 7 weeks old

very cute !

Cute Chihuahua Puppy

hello .. smile please :D

Sleepy Puppy

what a cute puppy ! love this puppy !

Funny Boston terrier

And they're singing :D

There are a couple ways I've increased stitches for thumb gussets in mittens or gloves. The most unusual method I ever used it was for Nancy Bush's Vanalinn gloves in A Gathering of Lace. The pattern stated to do a YO just on the palm side of the gusset. To me it really looked like holes in my knitting.

For my most recent Selbu gloves I strayed from my usual method and used a M1 left leaning increase on the right side of the gusset and a M1 right leaning increase on the left side of the gusset. While it is more noticeable, I'm not sure that is an asset in a thumb gusset. M1 increases look best if done every three rows or more.



I'm back to my usual method which is to do a M1 that slants to the right on the right hand side of the gusset and a M1 that slants to the left on the left side of the gusset.



This is the Herrevott No. 4 mitten from the Norwegian Selbustrikk book done in Nature Spun sport weight and size 0 (US) dpns. This results in a snug knitted fabric which I prefer for mittens.

Yawning kitten

Yawning kitten by borghal.

Here are my friend Joelle's horses waiting impatiently for someone to give them some sugar cubes. Yoshi, the leopard Appaloosa, actually came with their house when they bought it.

I've had questions in the comments about finding solid colored sock yarn. Once upon a time in a land far far away you could buy wonderful colors of sock and fingering weight yarns at many locations. Currently I can't think of a single sock yarn that comes in a lot of solid colors and good luck finding any other type of non-washable non-Shetland fingering weight wool yarn. (This is partly the reason I plan my designs in thicker weights of yarn.) Here's what I currently buy:

Worsted weight - I use Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool and Knitpick's Wool of the Andes because they're cheap. I especially stock up on neutral colors (black, white, gray, cream, etc.) in these two lines of yarn. I also need really bright colors so for that I buy the slightly more expensive Cascade 220. If I had an unlimited budget I'd probably just use Cascade 220 exclusively because I love the saturated colors and the softness. Alas, when you like to knit with many colors you end up buying more yarn than other types of knitters so I work to keep costs down.

Sport weight - I'm currently attempting to increase my sport weight stash. I still have quite a bit of Nature Spun in many colors but I need some new sources. I just bought some Knitpick's Telemark (I've read it can bleed) to test and am still searching for other lines in this weight.

Fingering weight/sock yarns - For sock yarns I've been buying Knitpicks Essentials in their limited colors - also the Calzinia Calzeterria from Smiley's (some colors do bleed). I also bought a ton of Kroy on sale in wonderful fluorescent colors at Herrschner's last year when those colors were being discontinued. For non-washable fingering weight wool yarn I can only think of Nature Spun. I just ordered some from Paradise Fibers (it was back-ordered) and I don't know where else to find all the colors.

I'm very worried Nature Spun is also going to be discontinued and I have no clue what I'd use for finer gloves in colorwork other than sock yarn. I have a stash of Shetland yarns in this weight but it is pretty scratchy and I can't personally wear it without itching. Knitpick's Palette seems a bit softer than Shetland and I just bought some to try for a pair of men's gloves.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions for yarn brands that come in a lot of (more than 40) colors. I regularly do a visual check of my stash of yarns to see if there are any basic colors I need in each weight and then try to stock up. Web's big year-end sale is coming up soon so I will probably see what they have to offer and stock up there. They always have Cascade 220 in limited colors on sale and hopefully this year they'll have some sock yarns I like.

Between us (and the body). Shen Wei

A Chinese photographer moves to the U.S. Here, he discovers bodies. Bodies as social places. Bodies as identifiers, as the places of definition. How does the place one belongs to relate to the body one owns (isn't this a beautiful expression? to own a body...)?
Shen Wei's series Almost Naked is a guided tour of identity caught in body. Or of the body as caught up in identity. Whichever way you put it, there is a feeling of self, that is, that the pictures are not of the person's body, but of a person as she reveals/hides herself. There is a certain foreigner's curiosity of how the others deal with who they are, what they are, and what they can present to someone else. This curiosity, and the way the subjects deal with it, is one of the most delightful aspects of Wei's work.
There is sometimes a feeling of a dangerous zone, of a fragile state that almost makes one look away, as if there was something indecent about showing oneself. As if it were an exposition and not a capturing of something. Then again, curiosity is stronger and I dare you not to look at all the pictures with great attention. The attraction of intimacy, combined with a gentle sense of humor, is right on the spot. Shen Wei says:

Once I achieve the trust of the model, I can feel their energy and their desire to be seen and be explored but at the same time still reserve some for themselves. It is in those Almost Naked moments that my subjects are the most exquisite, when things occur, and what generally is not displayed initially in public is exposed. I emotionally and physically strip the sitters when the trust and friendship is built between us. The key to building that trust and friendship is to make them feel at ease with conversation and personalized emotion contact. It can sometimes be psychological, sometimes more sensual, sometimes more or less sincere, depending upon the personality of the sitters and the intimate level of the environment. It is the art of psychology within making art.

None of the people smile.

I found this through the placebokatz blog, which to my great joy (as always when that happens) has put a link to this humble page.

Three Little Kittens

OK stealing it was the easy part. Now what do we do with it? By Rob Lee.

Herrevante, No. 13

Unfortunately this outdoor photo of the gloves turned out somewhat ghostly due to the time of day.


These are the Herrevante No. 13 from the Norwegian Rauma Selbustrikk booklet (available through Arnhild ) knitted using size 2 dpns and some of my vintage Nylamb yarn. I really love Nylamb for gloves.




If you have the booklet, there is a tiny chart error. On Handleadd alt 5, the chart on the bottom of page 13, go to the far right of the chart and count up 10 squares and color in the square. The charts are clear and well marked and you really don't need to know Norwegian to knit these items.

Burmese Blue kitten picture

Burmese Blue kitten picture by BrianScott.

Yinka Shonibare and the artist's freedom

Yinka Shonibare, Scramble for Africa (2003)

Shonibare's most famous works play on the idea of origin and power. The first lecture is clear: headless people are scrambling for Africa. They are dressed in European clothes, but made of African fabric. They are false. But this goes further. The type of cloth they use, called batik, is used throughout Africa (and not only) and considered a local tradition. But, as Shonibare says, that is not the case:

...the fabrics are not authentically African – they were produced by the Dutch in the 19th century and then subsequently by the English for sales to the African market.

That makes the situation even more absurd and scary. What is left of Africa? And what can be left for Africa?

But there is another issue related to Shonibare that has been interesting me more. The freedom of the artist vs. the necessity of his functioning well in the system.
Let's start off with this:

Yinka Shonibare, The Swing (after Fragonard) (2001)

How much does the artist need to know about what he is doing?

And really the idea behind it is to draw a parallel with the relationship between the contemporary first world and third-world countries. I want to show that behind excessive lifestyles there are people who have to provide the labour to make this kind of lifestyle happen.

But generally I think I made a piece of work about this painting because I actually admire the work very much. And I like the contradiction of taking something that’s supposedly ‘ethnic’ and putting that onto classical European painting.

All this seems fairly light, naive, compared to what the critics have to say about Yinka Shonibare's works. Does this mean he is unaware of the worlds he is creating? Is he simply using strong imagery that brings about a huge load of references? Possibly. Does that change anything? Does that make him a worse artist? Should the artist be his own critic? Should he be a philosopher as well?

Obviously, the artist part of being an artist is to make art. And then, see what happens. That's in the ideal world. In the one I know, the artist also sells his product, by being who he is, by having the life he has, by speaking the way he speaks. This doesn't signify the impossibility of defending oneself through work alone, but certainly makes it all the more difficult. And brings another issue.

What if Yinka Shonibare didn't make contemporary ethnic art? What if his work were just contemporary, and dealt with, say McDonald's or sex or any other issue? And let's imagine, for the sake of the argument, that it weren't any worse than what he is doing now. Would we know him? Who would he be? Would it matter that he is black, was born in London, lived in Nigeria and studied at Goldsmiths? There is a very irritating way the art world defines itself through basic associations of life and work. Possibly this has to do with the art having moved into a direction that is so difficult to judge (although artists like Shonibare play remixing the old school in a somewhat old-school way) that more is required in order to give it value (clearly also market value).

What happens to the freedom of the artist? What freedom does the artist have? Will we ever know of Shonibare's landscape sketches? And more broadly: how does an artist deal with the fact that many of his better ideas might not actually be better as seen from a social/market perspective, while some of his simpler, more obvious ideas are caught on and bought on the spot? How many more African-dressed figures does Shonibare need to make? How many can he handle? Isn't this exactly the same branding phenomenon as in other areas of commerce? Can we still call this investigation and digging in? How often do we see an artist still digging many, many exhibitions later, when he really shouldn't? I believe Louise Bourgeois said about Francis Bacon that it is true that he always paints the same painting, but it's a very beautiful painting.

Isn't there something wrong with this picture? Some sort of an obsession that has more to do with the way one is seen than with the way one sees? Of course, Bacon had enough guts to spill them over and over again on the canvas. But let's put it bluntly: most of us, most of artists, are not Francis Bacon. And still, they keep on painting the same painting. Looking for what? Perfection? Style? Truth? Exploring? Or self-branding, self-censoring?

Yinka Shonibare, Toy Painting 26 & Toy Painting 27 (2005)

Technorati: visual art, fine art, painting, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Bengal kitten picture

Bengal kitten picture. By sarah (pixel).

Mama's little helper

Of course I'm helping with your homework. You wanted something beautiful to paint didn't you? By kellypuff.

Tuscan kitties

Left a bit. Ahhhhh! Now that is really hitting the spot. By kevin_oneil.

If you've been saying to yourself, "Why doesn't she ever have any photos of horses on her blog?", you'll be in luck this weekend. We're spending Thanksgiving with our friends who have three photogenic horses (and a psychotic woman-hating rooster). I promise to risk my life and take some photos. The Norwegian gloves are finished and I'll have DH take some photos of my hands modeling the gloves as well.

I'm thankful all I had to do for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast was bake some bread.



Peaches is thankful the photo below was selected for the 2007 Colorado House Rabbit Society calendar. She is Miss August.



She is also thankful that there are some delicious items in our CSA box this week from Farmer Monte.



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Morning workout kitten picture

Now stretch.... And streeeeettttcccccch! That's it - reach for birds in the tree. You're looking great! By Andrea Fregnani.

I recently purchased some knitting booklets from Iva Rose Vintage Reproductions. These patterns are absolutely fascinating - they have hats you can knit for your Air Raid Warden, mittens for bicycling????!!, and even Puritan Socks. Iva Rose doesn't just focus on knitting - you can even find such titles as "Scientific Hat Finishing and Renovating." All Iva Rose pattern books are 50% off until November 30, 2006.

Here's my favorite pattern find so far. Can you spot anything interesting about these gloves? Can those of you who've made Sanquhar gloves spot it?



Yes, these gloves from 1902 have individual triangular gussets between each finger. (You can kind of tell by looking at the lumps of knitted fabric between each finger - Sanquhar gloves also have these gussets in much finer fabric.)

I may make these for DH as I think he'll appreciate the extra movement the finger gussets give his hand. The instructions call for "medium-sized steel needles and Dexter cotton no. 10". The gloves start with 48 stitches so I'll probably do these in a sport or DK weight wool.

Shadowing light. Jindřich Štreit.

This magnificent artist has been recommended to me by my brother. Just look:

And more...





I feel like showing most of the images on the site which represents him, www.talent.cz.
One thing makes me wonder. All of the pictures above were taken in Czechoslovakia before 1989. The question that comes to mind is: what can be the role of the circumstances on a photographer's quality? If a photographer is a document-maker (in a broad sense, and I mean a photographer that goes out of the studio), than doesn't the reality he has access to play a crucial role? How would he deal with a less unreal reality?
Jindřich Štreit tried. Many of the pictures were taken in France, some in Germany (?). And they do look more pale. Some of them are very pretty, some play with the idea of social criticism, but it seems far from the quality of the Czech works:
So is this a question of time? Does the world today have less to offer to the eye of a photographer? Apparently not:

The picture was taken in 1997. But in Siberia. Which still remains somewhat exotic. Exotic. There's the rub. Maybe the politician that bows while saying hello is just as exotic to someone from a different culture as many of those pictures are to us? (And then, of course, what is "us"? Isn't it an impossible word when publishing something on this site?)
So the question is: can the world be really becoming boring, or is it just becoming more alike to a certain standard we are used to, and this standard is just as ex-centric to someone from somewhere else as this someone is to us? And another, more specific point: what is the artists position in this mutating situation? Or rather, what are his possible positions? How does the role of a witness change in these changing times?

Technorati: photography, visual art, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Sofa so good

That's one small step for man - one giant leap for kitten kind. By roxeteer.

My dpns were overflowing my Circular Solution container so I moved some of them to the wider storage sections for needle sizes higher than 8. You can also see my three needle gauges - I have another one but I can't find it. I don't have any needle gauges smaller than size 0 US unfortunately.

Not all needle gauges are trustworthy so I generally measure needles twice in two different needle gauges. I've learned not to assume needles are a specific size when I buy them. I measure them when they arrive and occasionally I've found one needle that is a smaller or a larger size in the package especially in the really small sizes.




I don't usually use wood or bamboo dpns. I have a death grip on the needles and I wouldn't trust them in really small sizes anyway. From bottom to top on the photo:

1. Bernat Aero - by far my favorite dpn and circular needles. Yes the smaller dpns can bend and eventually the grayish coating wears off in places but they are lighter weight and a bit warmer in the hands than other metal dpns. They're only sold through Canadian sources and they're the most inexpensive dpns currently available. They come in sets of four in 6" and 8" lengths at Spin Blessing, Wool-Tyme, and Yarn Forward.

2.Balene - These are very old and I've already broken one unfortunately. I love the tips. Boye currently makes a Balene II version sold in larger sizes by Patternworks but I've never tried them.

3. Some bent Brittany Birches. I gave away all my other wood and bamboo needles to a 13 year old knitter in need of needles.

4. Knitpicks 6" dpns are similar to the Inox steel needles. They are apparently nickel-plated hollow brass. Their web site says they're made to be lighter but they seem heavier than Bernat Aeros. I bought all four sizes and will test them out in my next project.

5. Rhodo-Crystal Nacres are made from plastic coated steel in different colors for each size. They stopped selling them years ago but I'm glad I bought an entire set at Patternworks back then.

6. Pony Pearls are exactly the same as RCN needles except the tip is blunter. Perhaps it isn't so noticeable in the photo but it definitely is when you're trying to do a K2TOG. Patternworks sells Pony Pearls in two lengths - 5 3/4" and 7 3/4".

7. Bryspun have the same lovely tip as my old Balene needles and are made from plastic. I only have this one pair because they're a bit too flexible for my tastes. Patternworks also sells these.

8. Inox Steel - These are the only dpns I can find in sizes smaller than size 0 US (necessary if you're making the Sanquhar gloves). Lacis sells them in an 8" length and they are a bit heavy for my preferences. They're also quite sharp which is great for lace but I make sure I always put them away when not in use for safety reasons. Inox also sells coated gray dpns in the larger sizes.

Imagining we would like abstract painting and would actually accept things that don't say anything, don't even smile or bark, simply have colors

Lori Herbserger, New Paintings Installation (Untitled), 2002 (acrylic on canvas and wall)

Technorati: painting, visual art, fine art, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Pedro needs a home

Hey everybody! My name is Pedro. I am in foster care right now with my siblings. We love this place, but if we find a new home, Foster Momma can take in more kittens, and we think that would be great! Take a look: WWW.FCDF.ORG

Fed up kitten picture

I don't want to pose any more, I just want to play. By savinca.

Bicycle kitten

Kitten by cycle by chainsawriot.