For This, I Purchased

Terrorist-Proof Ziplock Bags,

And Also Sat Next To A Large Man

Who Did Not Smell Good.

...although he probably thought he was one hot potat, what with taking a bath in his cologne and all. But for this? For this I endured bad coffee in Styrofoam cups, hermetically sealed bags of airline peanuts which can't be opened without the Swiss Army knife I'm not allowed to carry on the plane, and sitting next to Mr. Musk Ox for three hours in airline steerage. For this, I tolerated padding around the American Airlines terminal in my socks while my carry-on bag was hand-inspected for a suspicious and treacherous empty water bottle:

Freeform Knitting with Debbie New at Stitches West.

If you knew how completely in awe I am of Debbie New, Lily Chin, and a whole lot of other people, you would understand my stoic tolerance of the conditions of discount air travel in the United States these days in order to attend Stitches. But I bet you do know my level of awe, and, in fact, I bet that you share it, don't you?

I have wanted to meet Debbie New ever since XRX published "Socks, Socks, Socks" in 1999 and I saw the pattern for her design -- the socks on the cover of the book -- and I said, "this is not a knitting pattern. This is a Vulcan star chart."

Know also that Debbie has knitted a boat. A coracle, to be exact, a sort of boat that has enchanted me since childhood, and here is someone who has knitted one.

If you can imagine taking jazz lessons from Ornette Coleman, then you're close to having an idea what taking a knitting class from Debbie New is like.

After Freeform Knitting, there was Cellular Automaton Knitting, which is difficult to describe in a pithy manner but I think it can be most closely explained as a technique which utilizes the basic principles of fractal mathematics to create a color and/or texture pattern based on what is happening in the row below the one you're working on. You start with a row of randomly alternating knit and purl stitches (or randomly alternating Color A and Color B) and in the following row, the number of stitches in knit or purl (or A or B) is determined by what sort of a stitch it appears above. The result is a highly organic-looking pattern which involves no charts at all, just an improvised-yet-deliberate design which literally grows out of the first row. You set up your first pattern row, and you set up a very few of your own rules for pattern repeats, and you stick to them.

If you do, an un-pattern magically emerges:

This is sheer witchery at first blush, but once you have your moment under Debbie's particularly colorful little Bodhi tree, and you wrap your brain around the basic principles involved, you'll find yourself swatching madly with ideas of your own for color and texture.

What I liked best about taking classes from Debbie is that her designs are exactly the kind of thing that I truly love to knit -- structured improvisations which end up looking considerably more difficult to execute than they actually are.

But, I can't spoil this by revealing any further detail. Debbie needs to earn her living just like the rest of us, so if you want to learn more, track her down through her books, articles and classes.

And here we are at Inspiration Central. Here's Lily Chin (which I think is Chinese for "Knitting Goddess") teaching her Bias Knitting class, an eight-hour study in bias structure, designing with bias, and combinations of techniques to make your own bias-knitting designs. Like Debbie New and Elizabeth Zimmermann, Lily Chin is one of those rare people who can teach applied mathematical principles in art and design in such a manner that her students are inspired, rather than intimidated, by the prospect of dusting off that big cardboard box marked "Geometry" which most of us keep stashed away in that dark and cobwebby room in the back of our brains.

See that amazing sweater on the table? Click on the picture and make it larger. Though some of the students looked skeptical at the time this photo was taken, that design (or something similar of one's own) is easily approachable by any student in the class.

After class, on to the Market to meet with old friends and put faces with new names. Here I am (center) with Lisa Louie of Maui (left) and Tommie Tank (right), also known as the Doily Fairy, from whom I received (again!) the amazing gift of one of her hand-knit doilies. I am clutching a large skein (enough for a vest) of LaLana's new "Skunk" colorway, which is drawn from a carefully carded blend of black and white merino wool for a magnificent streaky effect.



I'm afraid that I caused the staff of LaLana to be besieged with requests for the "Skunk" colorway, due to a misunderstanding on my part. At some point while I was asking about the yarn, someone in my immediate vicinity said something about fiber from pet skunks being spun into the yarn, and I got it in my head that the yarn included actual combings from pet skunks. And, because de-scented and neutered skunks make charming pets, I did not think this the least bit odd -- especially having spun yarn from angora bunnies and chinchillas sitting right on my own lap, not to mention dog hair, australian possum, and persian cat hair -- this just seemed to make perfect sense. So when I reported about my visit to Stitches on KnitU, I crowed that I had scored some Skunk yarn including hair from actual skunks, and poor Luisa Gelenter, the rightful Mistress and Commander of LaLana Wools, was beseiged with requests for it. So I had to run back and post on KnitU that I had rather gloriously screwed up.


But either way, I'm still thrilled with the yarn, as the streaky effect is fabulous. And of course every visit to the LaLana booth is a bona fide religious experience in the Church of Fiber.

Lisa was my roommate at Stitches, and she also volunteered to be a garment model. In fact, a great many of several different people's available knitted objects were deployed in the feat of keeping Lisa's Maui-acclimated blood warm in the damp, rainy weather which presided over Stitches West this year. Living in Maui, Lisa has linen, silk and cotton knitted items galore, but that doesn't exactly cut it in the damp, chilly stuff. I'm really amused at this photo showing different people's attire for the prevailing conditions. Lisa, arriving from balmy Maui, is wearing about eleven layers of sweaters and shawls. Me? I left 40 degrees and rain in Baton Rouge, only to find 40 degrees and rain in Santa Clara, so I'm wearing a cotton turtleneck and a sockweight wool shawl. Tommie, who probably had to tunnel out of her igloo and hitch a ride with an ice road trucker in order to get to the airport ... she's cozy in a cotton T-shirt.

Note the delirious expressions. Let this photo be a warning to wayward youth: you can get high on wool fumes. Very, very high. Which causes silliness, and perhaps an excessive amount of wool purchasing.

Oh, yeah. In addition to the people at the Market, there was a reason for them to show up, that being the stuff in the Market. Waterfalls of color:

Pigpens full of yarn. Entire 18-wheeler loads of wool, confined in yarn stalls to keep it from running amok:

... and still more carefully fenced-in yarn, once again by the bagful ...







..and that's only the part of it, and only the first day.
I feel a bit remiss, and I owe you loyal readers an apology. The news from Stitches is a bit stale, and I don't know precisely what has kept me from posting until today. I've been feeling a bit of "writer's drought" lately, but it hasn't been any one particular thing, just a matter of being nibbled to death by ducks. At first, I had to have some maintenance work done on my computer, which delayed both blogging and pattern-writing, so I satisfied myself with wasting time being a middle-aged delinquent hanging around in the dark alleys over at Ravelry, which is a remarkable site but a major time-suck, especially when one is both artistically uninspired and in work-avoidance mode.
In addition, my regular work has been erratic, I've been vexed in the matter of putting a new pattern onto paper, and I've had to tackle the a formidable mountain of self-employment paperwork in order to prepare taxes. And in the same period of time, a close friend died, our eldest cat is quite ill, and we have had to make some necessary household repairs, not the least of which is a great, positive thing: our back porch is now repaired and firmly screened in with heavy-duty screen wire, to keep cats in and raccoons out.
So please bear with me while I hitch myself up and try to catch you all up on more stories from Stitches West and the other goings-on down here in my neck of the woods. More later ...

"Voodoo Shawl" Fundraiser Auction

Remember this? It's the beginning of a shawl that I started early in 2007 as a special fundraiser. It was still on the needles, which were tucked under the basket in this photo, to show off the Blue Moon yarn. Shortly after taking this photo of the half-done shawl, I sent it on to Lisa Louie in Maui, to finish up:

Now it is finished, and ...

as promised, the completed prototype of the "Voodoo Shawl" pattern has been placed up for auction to raise money for the Kagyu Buddhist Monastery in New York. Lisa Louie and I wanted to collaborate on it, so I knitted half, and sent her the shawl-in-progress to finish. This was also an excellent opportunity for Lisa to test-knit the pattern before it is offered for sale.

Upon completion, Lisa's husband, Paul, photographed the shawl on the beach at Kahului, Maui (Lisa is the model) and Lisa posted the Ebay auction last night. The yarn is Blue Moon "Socks That Rock," colorway "Chapman Springs":

Dammit, hell, cuss and swear. For some reason the beach photos first uploaded as wee thumbnails, but I am still having problems with scaling, so until I can get these photos to be big enough to see properly, I will throw in an addtional photo of the same shawl in a Koigu colorway, but this is just a bigger picture of the same pattern in a different yarn -- a stunt-double shawl as a stand-in until I can correct the above pictures -- this is not the shawl up for auction:








Here is the descriptive copy that my collaborator, Lisa Louie, wrote for the KnitU list:

Dear KnitU:


As regular readers of KnitU may know, Dez Crawford and I have been working jointly on knitting a shawl as a special fundraising project to honor family members a friend has lost. At long last, the shawl is done and has been listed for auction on eBay at this link.

We all have people in our lives who are so important to us there aren’t words to describe them. When these people leave our lives, especially when it is too soon or unexpected, the loss is staggering. When you lose two of these people close together, their absence can have an almost catastrophic effect on your life.

It is also wrenching to watch a friend suffer through a loss of this magnitude, and as knitters our first reaction is to knit something special for our friend. Since our friend is a renowned knitwear designer and friends with a huge number of knitters, and already has a plethora of hand knit items, we wanted to find another way to offer comfort and help. Hence the shawl, and the auction.

Most of you are already aware that our friend, Lily Chin, lost her mother and sister last year barely a month apart. It is in her mom’s and sister’s honor, and with Lily’s consent, that we created and are auctioning the shawl. All funds raised go to the Kagyu monastery in honor of Linda and Mabel.

The monastery’s building project was chosen by the Chin and Lee families for those who wish to donate in memory of Linda Chin and Mabel Chin Lee. You can get information on, or donate to, the monastery at www dot kagyu dot com. Removing the spaces and inserting the proper symbols will take you to their website.

As this is a fundraiser, we encourage everyone to view and bid on the auction. We also ask that if you are not the winning bid, or if you are unable to bid on the shawl, that you make a donation to the monastery if possible. See the EBay listing for a link. Small donations are gratefully welcomed.

For the record, the shawl pattern is an original design, under our own copyright. All funds raised will go directly to the charity. Dez and I bought the yarn, did the knitting, and will pay for the shipping to the recipient and the auction costs.

Dez and I also have several collaborations in the planning stages. While we are all missing Aunt Gail, we have another fundraiser for Susan G. Komen in Gail’s name. This new project was the catalyst for the creation of the “Aunt Gail” color way at www dot knitivity dot com which will be used to honor Gail and her legacy. And no, we’re not making socks. More details will be forthcoming.

We both hope you’ll check out the auction and bid if you can.


Aloha,



Lisa



To view the auction, click the following link.

Click here: Knit shawl fundraiser- Lily Chin - eBay (item 260201437813 end time Jan-15-08 19:06:12 PST)

To donate to the monastery, click here.

Our most sincere thanks to everyone who views this shawl, bids, and/or makes a donation to the monastery. The monastery welcomes all offerings, great and small, and they have a convenient Pay-Pal link if you don't bid on the shawl or win the auction. Please consider making a donation in any amount in honor of Lily's mom and sister. Lily has brought the world so much joy with her beautiful patterns; this is a small way that we can each let her know that we are still thinking of her and remembering her loss.

Voodoo Shawl Update:
Maui Style

Lisa Louie guest-blogs today from Maui, and gives us an update on the Voodoo Shawl's progress. Lisa is test-knitting the pattern before it is offered for sale. The protoptype Voodoo Shawl will be auctioned off soon to benefit an American Buddhist monastery, in memory of designer Lily Chin's mother and sister. If you're a new reader; I designed the pattern and knit the first half of the shawl for this fundraiser, then mailed it to Lisa for completion. For more information about the fundraiser (and earlier photos of the shawl in progress) go to my 4-27-07 post in the archves: "Listen, do you want to know a secret?" --Mambocat

Lisa writes:

Tarnation. Damnation. Ripnation. These words don’t seem to have much in common, and in fact, I made the last word up. But, at least to me they seem to have something in common: me and the shawl for Lily’s family. Tarnation because it’s been quite………… vexing in some regards. Damnation, because that’s probably the least offensive of some of the words I’ve used about it recently, and ripnation, because it seems I’ve been visiting the nation of ripping. As in ripping out rows of knitting. Also known as “tinking” or unknitting stitch by stitch.

I am making progress, however, but have been troubled by a couple of areas requiring extra attention. First problem was the dreaded “color stacking” or “color pooling” problem. This occurs when the individual colors of your variegated yarn start collecting themselves into unsightly blobs on your knitting instead of flowing into graceful and attractive bits of color disbursed throughout your work. This is a simple problem to fix. Once you notice it. It took me a few more rows than I care to admit to before I noticed the problem and ripped back. This, as you may have guessed, lead to the second word of the series: damnation. Some language, which I will not sully this blog with, ensued.

After I fixed the problem, I kept going, and found myself making good progress. I also made a serious boo boo and placed a series of YOs (yarn overs) in the wrong places. Oops. Yes, it was obvious. Yes, it needed to come out (sob, sob) and yes, there was both tarnation at myself for screwing up something so simple, and again, more language politely covered by the word damnation. This time it was about 10 rows that had to be removed. Ouch.

At this point, I can safely report that I am over both roadblocks and find myself rapidly approaching the end of the second skein of yarn. Total yarn usage on this shawl will be about 2 ½ skeins worth of knitting, so significant progress is being made. (Yarn: Blue Moon, Socks That Rock.)

I have come to the conclusion that this shawl seems to have its own agenda and time frame. I was hoping to have it done and for sale by Mother’s Day, but that is obviously not the case. It will be done when it is ready, and not before.

Often when I am knitting, I play a music or concert DVD. My soundtrack for this project seems to be Concert for New York, which is a collaborative effort of many, many famous musicians (think Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi and more) to honor and support the firefighters, police and medical personnel of New York after 9/11. I’m not sure if this is a fluke, but it seems to be appropriate for this shawl to be “born” to a soundtrack created after a tragedy of unprecedented horror which affected New York, and the world. The shawl is, after all, created to honor Lily Chin’s mother and sister and their losses and the hole they presumably left in Lily’s, a native New Yorker, life. At some level, the inspiration and message of the concert and the shawl are the same: Hope, healing and comfort after a terrible loss. Honor those who are here no longer. Comfort and support yourself and go forward. Or, maybe the shawl just likes rock and roll.

Either way, it’s on its way to being done, and just so you know, it right now is about 400 stitches wide, and growing at the rate of 4 stitches every two rows. It’s going to be awesome.

--Lisa Louie

Listen...

(doo wah doo)

Do you want to know a secret?

(doo wah doo)

Do you promise not to tell?

(oh ... oh ... oh ... oh)

Closer...

(doo wah doo)

Let me whisper in your ear...

Say the words you want to hear....

This shawl will be completed and up for auction, soon, for a very good cause.

Upon completion, the shawl will be auctioned on Ebay as a fundraiser for the

Kagyu Thubten Choling Monastery

in memory of

the mother and sister

of knitwear designer Lily Chin,

both of whom died

earlier this year.

Pattern: Voodoo Shawl by Dez Crawford (soon to be available)

Knitted by: Dez Crawford and Lisa Louie

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts -- Socks that Rock -- lightweight -- 360 yards -- 4.5 oz. -- "Chapman Springs" colorway

Funds donated in memory of Lily's mother (Linda) and sister (Mabel) will be contributed to the construction fund for a prayer hall and cultural center at the monastery.

Stay tuned to this blog for the announcement of the auction.

Private donations can also be sent to:

Kagyu Thubten Choling Monastery

245 Sheafe Road

Wappingers Falls, NY

12590

Lisa Louie and I have embarked on this project together. We will each knit half of the shawl. I completed my half the other day, and put the shawl and yarn in the mail to Lisa. She will finish, photograph and block the completed shawl, set up the auction on Ebay, and mail the shawl to the winner.

While I was knitting my share of the shawl, I gave a lot of thought to the Buddhist concept of the "Field of Merit." Put simply, this is the idea that all of our actions, however great or small, affect others, and that no being exists in this world without an entire network of other beings who work in ways, large and small, for the benefit of one another.

I meditated on the yarn going through my hands. There were people who raised, nourished and cared for the sheep. Someone sheared the wool, which was then carded and spun into yarn. Dye was produced, and the dyers at Blue Moon Fiber Arts then infused this yarn with their energy, which then came into my hands, and passed across fingers and needles, and which now is in route to Lisa in Hawaii, who will infuse it with her own energy.

Many people have been involved in smaller, but no less important ways: the people who tend the machines at the yarn mill, the people who manufactured the needles, the many people who carried packages so that yarn and wool could travel to and fro, and Tom the mail carrier who put the box in my hands.

And then there is Lily Chin,

who has given us all so much beauty, and her mother and sister, who gave beauty to her, and all of their interactions, which played their part in making Lily the person she is.

And so we want to remember these two women, and we think this is the best way to honor them, and to honor Lily as well for all she has given to us in the world of knitting.

And

there is also the person who will win the bid on this shawl,

perhaps as a present to celebrate a joyful occasion,

perhaps to give as a comfort to a grieving friend,

or maybe simply for the pleasure of having a good shawl, and the satisfaction of donating money

to people who,

in their turn, do good for others.

Stay tuned for updates on the progress of the shawl,

more information about the monastery,

the opening date of the auction,

and for the introduction of Pineapple Gumbo, the collaborated knitting efforts

of Dez Crawford and Lisa Louie.

--Mambocat

p.s. --my apologies for the odd spacing; I will try to correct it on Blogger.