Thursday, August 13, 2009

Stuff & Nonsense

Being a compendium of thises, thats and the others.

I had a lovely day down at Granville Island yesterday. My buddy Kirsten and I babysat the Hanji paper exhibit in the Concourse Gallery of Emily Carr University. (That new moniker for the old art school cracks me up. I don’t pretend to know why suddenly they now can run with the big guys!) I mistakenly thought that it might be a quiet time where I could get some knitting done and chat with Kirsten but no, it was busy and we had much to contend with. The latter included a rude woman who handled all the things clearly labelled “Do Not Touch” and wanted to buy several Korean items with “NSF” on them. Her English might not have been fluent but she was just being a PITA. Unfortunately neither of us are very forceful people but we did the best we could until she finally left. We did get lots of really positive comments from the art students, locals and tourists so that was great.

My Papyrine Wrap ended up in a plexiglas case arranged in a lovely ripple:

PapyrineInGallery

Unfortunately that means it won’t be in the fashion show this evening but I don’t mind. It’s the only knitted piece in the gallery show and possibly the whole event so that’s really cool. A photo of the piece also got into the show catalogue so I’m pleased as punch. Only one of Kirsten’t two pieces got into print but I’m guessing her wonderful collapse weave scarf didn’t show up as well as her bag. That’s the latter on the left (she dyed the blue with indigo), Rene Corder-Evan’s shawl in the middle and Jean Betts “Paper Towels” on the right:

PaperPiecesHeh! I loves me a good pun. Here’s Kirsten’s crinkly scarf on the right with Catherine Barr’s piece on the left:

PaperScarvesThere were lots more wonderful pieces but my camera ran out of power and I’d left the spare batteries at home. Doh! The Koreans were very excited about this collaboration and want to do something similar again. Whew! I’m tired just thinking about all the work everyone did for this series of events.

While I was at the gallery I tried to work on the Hot Spring Socks and failed miserably. I screwed something up (again) and decided that this pattern and this yarn Do Not Marry so I’m frogging what I’ve done so far. And starting over again with something simpler:  Dead Simple Lace Socks from Wendy Johnson’s “Socks from the Toe Up”. I picked up this book yesterday at Maiwa and even though I don’t knit socks toe-up (OK, once just to try it), this is a nice book with lots of inspiration and information. At least she includes how to knit a flap heel toe-up because nothing will induce me to do a short-row heel again. They slip down in my shoes! Had that problem yesterday while walking to Granville Island in one of the rare pairs I did with short-row heels before I decided that they aren’t for me. I don’t care if they’re easier to knit and look better in some patterns. Function is paramount.

I also decided to give Nancy Bush’s Estonian Cast-On a try on these socks. If you missed it on Knitting Daily, the video on how to do it is here on YouTube. I didn’t double the tail but I did follow the cast-on with a round of knit and a round of purl before starting my k1/p1 rib. It’s quite decorative. Hopefully I’ll get a photo soon.

While I’m sharing video links, watch while spinner and instructor Sarah Anderson’s beautiful hands work the most elegant chain-ply technique I’ve ever seen: video here.

Gotta get. We’re heading back down to Granville Island again as soon as T-Man gets home. He wants to see the gallery show then it’s out to dinner somewhere on the island and finally the Fibre Naturally fashion show. At least this time I don’t have to hike. We’ll be taking the car. Good thing the MINI Cooper is little. Parking on Granville Island is almost an oxymoron!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your scarf is absolutely wonderful.
It was great to see it after all the blogging you ave done on it.I was there right at 10 so missed you.
Irene

Louisa said...

You must have just missed me, Irene! I wasn't that much later than 10:00 even though my shift didn't begin until 10:30. I wanted to scope the place out first. Thanks kindly for the positive comments! It was exciting to be part of this event.

Velma Bolyard said...

such work--i wish i could have seen it in person. so glad you wrote about it. is the catalog available? i'd love to get a copy. i have a new hanji journal i can't wait to use!

Louisa said...

I'm sorry, Velma, but I don't know if they printed very many copies. I got mine because I was one of the artists in the show. I'm not even sure who to ask because the whole thing was spread around so many participants. I'll try to find out.

Velma Bolyard said...

louisa, thankyou for your trouble (i know it is). if you do find out, send me an email address...