Lulu is apparently having problems with PDF downloads today - I talked with them and they say their engineers should have it fixed within a day. If you ordered something today, please let me know and I'll email you the PDF. I don't have the covers for the booklets though - Lulu adds those during the order process.

Also, you can always go back and download any of the PDF downloads again if you ever have problems with a download. Just go to http://www.lulu.com and log into your account (at the upper right of the page) and you'll see all your previous downloads and you can download any of them again.

Anyway, sorry to everyone who tried to order something today!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!




Yes, that really is a Manny Ramirez (slugger extraordinaire for the Boston Red Sox) pumpkin with I-cord dreads on the left.

Even Peaches is feeling festive as she shows off her jack-o-lantern bunny chew toy.

This scan shows the chain stitch better on the Norwegian star hat but the colors are off.

I think I'm close to being finished with my Christmas knitting. I've been saving up knitted items for two years so I should be able to fill six holiday boxes. I'm currently working on another pair of Knitty's Cigar Gloves in some Aran weight yarn. I also plan to make a Nordic hat, probably from a Dale of Norway ski pattern, and a few tams using Palette.

My Glove Knitting booklet has been reviewed on the Craft Gossip web site. I need to spend some time finding more places to email review copies.

Norwegian Star Hat

I have an FO to show you but I can't wait to take photos after the sun goes down behind the mountains. At that time I'll be too busy watching the World Series. I like both the Red Sox and the Rockies so I figure I can't lose.

Anyway, here is the Norwegian Star Hat from Stranded Color Knitting knit in Nature Spun sport weight. The real colors are closer in the sun-dappled photo. I wasn't happy with the ways the colors were blending so I did some chain stitch embroidery of one of the cuff colors near the top and one of the top colors near the cuff. This really seemed to help blend the colors together better.

A note on the artist, her art and what she is allowed to say about it

(Thank you for the patience, the comments, the e-mails and links. I appreciate it all.)




Should we resist the myth of an art without a context?
Doris Solcedo's Shibboleth at Tate's Turbine Hall has sparked controversy for an unusual reason: one blogger found her work to be much better than what the artist had to say about it:

There is little in the world of art more deflating (...) than hearing an artist tell you what a work represents.

Considering the way Solcedo appears to have been talking about the work, it seems only fair to consider it a turn-off. You get this huge, rich piece, and a comment, a perspective that seems simply poor. One begins to wonder if it's really worth all the fuss. After all, it's a difficult exercise to go back from the work to the idea that

Doris Salcedo would like you to know that a crack in the floor represents borders, the experience of immigrants and the experience of racial hatred. She would also like you to know that racism is bad and that Europeans are bad for being racist.

However, I wouldn't give up on Doris that quickly. For several reasons.
For one, every artist has the right to think of his work what he wishes. And if the work surges from a need to fight racism, then be it. Many a brilliant work of art has been made through a very local inspiration. Why should she censor herself when speaking about it, then? Oftentimes, we can hardly agree with the artist's point of view, and from time to time the artist herself criticizes her standpoint after a certain lapse of time. But this does not necessarily discredit the work. Rather, it shows how the very limitations of an artist can participate in the creation of wonderful works (for some extreme examples, think of Leni Riefenstahl or the Soviet constructivists).
The artist's work is the artist's work. This is not as always as obvious as it might seem, given the various avantgarde adventures into questioning the work as work and/or the artist as the artist, on one hand, and the value the art market seems to give to the meta-work level, on the other. Still, we are free to go back to the work. To the object, the sign, the gesture, the mark. To what we consider of relevance. The work is there to be eaten up, to be devoured no matter what it takes. If we need to abandon the artist to do it, so be it.
I re-read what I have just written, and I don't always agree with it. The principle is fine, but in practice things aren't as simple. How can I forget what I hear, what I read, what I see? Whatever the context, it is present. And the less we get from the work, the more we are bound to bind ourselves to what is around it. Which is why a conceptual work is so difficult to isolate from its references. And why a crack can be so many things.
But here are two other points:
//considering we do listen to the artist, even if we don't want to, let us first go and see the title up. A 'shibboleth' is a custom, phrase or use of language that acts as a test of belonging to a particular social group or class. To someone attentive to the context, this can very well be a guide. You might consider it too narrow already, too restraining and bluntly political, but then again, you might just embrace it as a proposed "appreciation reference". And then, it's a new game, isn't it?
//why does a crack need to be so many things? What is this constant necessity we, artists, feel to not say what something is to us? Of course, it can be more than anything in particular. And we don't want to ruin the experience for the spectator. But then again, it might just come out of a particular urge, question, opinion. What is so unacceptable about admitting that? Does every (good) work of art need to have a hundred possibilities, and does its creator need to embrace them all? Mind you, we are not in the zone of imposed lectures any more, only, maybe, of an honest artist's statement that gets to the point: this is what I had in mind.

Another issue comes to mind. Considering we do accept the artist's "pragmatic" and political point of view, and see it as (I'll dare and use the word) a metaphor of a socially unfair world, what are we left with? What are we supposed to do about it? Will this act change a single thing? What sort of conscience do we develop through these marvelous poetic politics? Or does it chiefly bring us closer to the appreciation of our total incapacity to do anything about what we see? Can this despair be fruitful? And what can this fruit actually be?

Technorati: installation, art installation, visual art, art, contemporary art, vvoi

I'm working on a pattern for a pair of mittens with a Christmas poem on them, a la the Poetry Mittens. One is finished but I may want to do a whole other pair with different colors. I'm waiting until I'm completely finished to show them off.

If anyone is in the Albuquerque area and looking for a terrific pet, there are three upcoming adoptathons where you can meet lots of bunnies and talk to our knowledgeable local rabbit people about these wonderful companions. All the rabbits were rescued from the city shelters and all are spayed/neutered, affectionate and litter-trained. Here is one rabbit I'm told is named Ghost who loves people and loves to be held. (Peaches could take a few lessons from Ghost!)

The dates for the adoptathons are October 20th and November 17th at the Petco on 10700 Lomas and October 27th at the Petco Westside on 3601 Old Airport Road. All adoptathons will take place between 10 am and 1 pm and the adoption fee is $99 to go to the House Rabbit Society.

Checkerboard Mesa Hat

A while ago a friend was over and the Checkerboard Mesa Hats were out on the table. He picked one up and proceeded to wear it the rest of the night. He's this big burly Swedish guy, a very conservative dresser, and the sight of him in the hat was hilarious. He requested one and I said I'd make him one without the curlicues but he insisted on the curlicues.

Anyway, I made him one in blue shades of worsted weight wool from the stash and when I present it to him for Christmas I'll offer to cut off the curlicues if he prefers.





I really have to get a photo of him in the hat.

PPSOP Photo Contest Has Returned!

Where in the world will you find a photography contest that offers $850 each month in cash prizes? Only here at PPSOP! Beginning today, every current and former student of PPSOP can participate in our monthly photo contest and have the chance to win a cash prize of $500.00 for 1st place, $250 for 2nd place or $100 for 3rd place. And the contest theme for the month of October is FASHION/BEAUTY (No Nude). Just log in, choose "Contest" in your class list, upload your ONE image by October 25th, and on October 30th the winners will be announced and displayed for all to see! Good luck to all of you!

Want to stay informed about future contests? Sign up for Email Updates and not only get the latest news, info and happenings at PPSOP, but also stay informed about new courses, and our new monthly photo contest!

Just a quick update as I'm currently in the middle of a tv yoga class that is torturing my legs. Oddly enough today's routine is called Yoga for Happiness. I guess happiness comes when the class is over. The yoga show is part of a new cool tv channel called Veria we get for free this month at Dish Network.The channel has aromatherapy, herbalism, eco-travel, and organic gardening shows but my faves are the two cooking shows. Ann Gentry (of Real Food Daily restaurants and cookbook fame) does a vegan cooking show and there also is a really interesting sugar-free, gluten-free baking show.

Here's the cuff of the Sea Mineral Mittens so you can see the colors better.

I believe there are now enough mittens and gloves here at Santa's Workshop. Next I'm going to start on some hats for my Christmas boxes.

Sea Mineral Mittens

Here are the Sea Mineral Mittens done in Knitpicks' Palette. I used Calypso Heather and Sky for the main hand pattern and then also all the shades of purple, all the greens, including the new heathers, and a few shades of blue.


I'm too impatient to wait for DH to take action photos so here is one mitten on my hand. I made a few changes to the pattern: I added a pattern repeat before the thumb opening, I made the mitten and fingertips a little flatter, and I moved the right hand thumb to the opposite side of the hand to keep the row join on the outside of the hand.

Spillyjane's free pattern for these mittens is HERE.

Jogless Jog for Stripes

I made a woman's pair of the striped alpaca Spruce Mountain Mittens. The colors of Knitpicks' Andean Treasure I used were lagoon, wild rose heather, and lilac heather. The pattern with a men and women's version is HERE.

Anyway, here is something I learned by accident. Normally when I am knitting stripes when I start a row with a new color I pull the yarn to the LEFT of all the other color yarns to prevent the yarns tangling. This is what I did for the men's version on the right. But for the women's mitten on the left I pulled the yarn under and around the other two colors to the RIGHT to start knitting the row. This purposely tangles the yarns but seems to get rid of the jog. I still get the larger stitches at the beginning of the row so next time I will try harder to pull the yarn tighter at the beginning of a row.



Here's what it looks like on the inside - a little bit neater.



Now I have no idea if this works for all stripes or if it was just this particular pattern but I will definitely try it again.

Can a Picture Really Tell a Thousand Words?

We all have pictures in our mind’s eye of who we think people are. These images often define how we see. What is the purpose of a photographic portrait if we already know what we want to see? Can a picture really tell a thousand words, or is that picture already inside your head?

I dove into the world of the men-in-blue and opened my aperture, my eyes, and my heart. In a three part photo essay for The Southampton Press, eye on the viewfinder, inspired, I focused — macro style — on the Community Response Unit (CRU), a flagship division of the Southampton Town Police. I quickly realized that a group portrait would not say enough so for four months I traveled with each member individually and here's what emerged.

By Cheryl Machat Dorskind
Copyright, 2007
All Rights Reserved

I went in to town early today in the hope of getting some photos of the hot air balloons but unfortunately there were none. It is pretty windy today so I guess the Balloon Fiesta events stopped before I arrived. There really isn't much fall color here in NM but I found a little.

This is rabbitbrush in bloom - I've never found out why it has this name.



I'm not sure what this red stuff is.


DH is working on our woodpile. He gets a forest service permit and cuts down standing dead trees. We heat with wood and he says this is mainly Ponderosa pine. Frankly I can't even imagine making a fire as it is still hot here.



Well back to the baseball playoffs. I've watched 8 games in the last 3 days and I'm getting a huge amount of knitting done.

Part of the Decampment series by the now 16-year-old photographer Megan Baker.

What I like most about this picture is the grayness.

Technorati: photography, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Photography

I've been on Ravelry a few months (username nanetteb - come join us in the Glove Knitters group) and I've received a LOT of comments about the brightness of the colors I choose. I'm not only obsessed with bright colors; I also love neutrals and pastels and heathers but it is harder to use them here.

My color choices really reflect my environment. It isn't an accident that most of the grayish heathery yarns are popular in gray climates like the Shetland isles. Judging from my blog reading one of the largest concentration of traditional Fair Isle knitters live in the Seattle area.

As for me, I can't even get a good photo showing a heathery color in natural light. Where I live we get over 310 days a year of sunshine and it isn't just regular sunshine. It is fierce high altitude (over 7000 feet) sunshine that fades and washes out anything in its path. The only colors that are even visible around here are the rich, bright, saturated colors. Bright turquoise garage doors and hot pink front doors are not unusual here in NM. When I do projects in very muted colors I genuinely have trouble even seeing some of the colorwork while standing outside. So that is why you often have to wear sunglasses to read my blog

The light here also makes it difficult to photograph the colors I choose. I try to take advantage of the 10 minute window of opportunity I have each day for outdoor shots right after the sun goes down behind the mountains before it gets dark. If not, I have these four less desirable choices.

Outdoors, full sun - colors all wrong and heathered section right below main hand pattern almost invisible



Outdoors, in shade - the best but darker than the reality



Indoors with natural light and no flash - too dark



Indoors flash - the farthest away from the real colors and the heathers I used become solids



The project shown is SpillyJane's gorgeous Sea Mineral Mittens. Everyone go get this wonderful free pattern knit in Knitpicks' Palette (my yarn choice also) and look at her beautiful water-inspired muted colors in the original. I made a few changes - I read the sea plant chart wrong so that is slightly different and I added a pattern repeat before the thumb opening.

Here's a close-up scan of the Latvian mitten slip stitch pattern. Even if I used only 4 colors for the cathedral windows as the pattern requested I still would have had as many ends to deal with because I would have cut each one at the end of the row. Carrying six colors would have made me insane from all the tangling.

Using multi-colored yarn would have helped in the ends department but the slip stitch pattern would have been the same. Each cathedral window has two colors - the main color and the yellow which surrounds the main color on three sides. It is pretty though because it gives the illusion of three color rows.



After all that wrestling with the yarn and needles, it is quite pleasant to now be working on a simple mitten pattern using soft soft alpaca. It is a women's version of the men's alpaca mittens I did previously. I'm adding a women's size to test the pattern and finally write it up.

This scan doesn't get the colors quite right but it does show the German twisted cast on I like for corrugated ribbing. I inadvertently figured something out on how to deal with the striped pattern jogs at the end of the row which I'll show later this week.

Cathedral Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis

Three color rows. A few really long floats. Braided cuff. Annoying slip stitch pattern. More than a half hour's worth of ends to deal with per mitten. Still I think these Latvian mittens will make a good Christmas gift.

I used size 0 dpns and 12 colors of sock yarn from my stash. The pattern is the Cathedral Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis from the book Homespun Handknit. I was worried I'd run out of black but as it turned out I had enough. If I had know I would have made the cuff background black. I did add some extra duplicate stitch to the cuff in black.

I am going to make some alpaca mittens next. I will use the baseball playoffs to help me finish all my holiday gift knitting.