You may have noticed my marvelous LaidBack Knitter “icon.”
It feels utterly like me. I adore it. How did it come about? I was fortunate to stumble upon a fabulously talented young artist named Igor Zakowski. You can read more about Igor on my “About” page. (Be sure to scroll down.) And your can purchase Igor’s illustrations here. 
I’m sorry, but aren’t I supposed to blog about my stuff? My ideas, theories, thoughts, wanderings, and pasttimes? Yes, of course I am.
Gracie running. This has nothing to do with my post.
Except I came across this blog that…well….it’s far more deserving of a post than anything I can think of right now. Continue reading
Linda brushes a muskox to glean the amazing qiviut, a fiber beyond compare.
Writer, publisher Linda Cortright is an uncommon human. Her commitment to her magazine, Wild Fibers, is vast. Equally vast is her commitment to the wild “fibers” that walk on four legs all across our spinning globe. In pursuit of her passion, Linda’s traveled from Kyrgyzstan to Tanzania to New Zealand and just about every place in between. Her writings have encompassed the sacred sheep of Chiapas, Mexico; Vermont’s Green Mountain Spinnery; and a 2,000-year-old Lakota legend. To say that her Wild Fibers‘ subject matter has breadth is an understatement.
I recently spent some time with Linda at her hilltop aerie in the semi-wilds of Maine. Her magic lies in the tales she tells, the exuberance she exhibits, and the smiles she wears talking about wild creatures in their natural habitats. Her chairs are comfortable, so is Continue reading
The amazing, musical Knittophone
This is a Kittophone. Developed by Azusa Murakami, it’s a “new type of musical instrument” that utalizes knitting – yes, knitting – to convey the joy of making music. Sounds strange and amazing, doesn’t it? Well, you’re right. It is. But it’s also quite fascinating and beautiful. Continue reading
MINKHA members discuss a sweater in process
In Bolivia, the Quechua and Aymara Indian women don’t lounge in hot tubs. They don’t turn their TVs to Desperate Housewives or Lost. They don’t get pedicures. What they do is struggle…for food, for warmth, for clothing, for life’s daily needs. Yet one group of these women has considerably improved their way of life. How? Knitting.
The MINKA cooperative is a micro industry composed of indigenous Bolivian Quechua and Aymara Indian woman. They are landless peasants whose amazing Incan heritage of textile artistry and skills is raising them up from the poorest of the poor. Continue reading
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Saturday morning the skies threatened to open up. I donned rain gear, boots, a hat. I packed two cameras and notebooks and some dollars for food. For yarn, I slipped my checkbook into my bag. Nothing would deter me from the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival. My friend Chris and I left for the fair at 9 a.m., just as splats of wet pounded from the skies. Sigh. Yet by the time we reached the fairgrounds an hour away, the sun had pushed the clouds aside. We cheered. Continue reading
I’ve been waiting for this festival all year. Tomorrow and Sunday, sheep will baaaa and llamas will spit and dogs will herd and bunnie…well, they’ll just look quite adorable. The festival, like many around the country, has tons of stuff for spinners and dyers and yarnies like me. Books, food, pretty much everything fiber related is gettable.
One day more. It’s really worth a visit if you’re nearby.
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Barbara Parry’s Teach Yourself Visually Hand-Dyeing is out. Barbara, of Foxfire Fiber & Designs, should be proud of her first book. Congrats!
I’ve seen Barbara’s hand-dyeing up close and personal. As I write this, I’m knitting with her hand-dyed sock yarn. It’s delicious. Believe me, she really knows her stuff.
Hand dyers and spinners will appreciate Barbara’s style, expertise and step-by-step visuals. This one’s a keeper.
Wish you’d gone to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival?
Here’s a whole bunch of photos taken at the mother of all fiber festivals. Enjoy!
A treasured handknit sweater
I sometimes wonder what it takes to change the world. In particular, how do people around the world know that we, here in the U.S., are just like them? Between a good friend of mine, an Argentinean, there are no barriers. Her life, her sensibility is much the same as mine.
But what about the women whose country doesn’t allow them to vote? Or the ones who are shrouded from head to toe? Or those who endure female castration? How to tell them that life can be different? That others care? That under the burkha, we are the same?
That’s just what Afghans for Afghan does. Bodies are warmed, but so are minds and souls and hearts. Continue reading
