Yet I’m fairly obsessed with documenting each day and each new yarn. Thus, this listing. Okay, somewhat boring, yet think of it as a mantra for knitting. Ommmmm.

Day 12: Hearty and thick wool mystery yarn. I was in a white mood.

Day 13: I love Foxfire yarn, and this gorgeous aqua hand dyed Cormo/silk sport weight is de-lovely. I was in a foxy mood.

Day 14: Same yarn as 13, but a lovely rose color. Through rose-colored glasses, perhaps?

Day 15: Artfibers’ golden tussah silk. Yes, I was in a silky, slithery mood. Yes, it’s gorgeous fiber.

Day 16: Romney Ridge Farm—artisanal yarn from Maine. Wool, mohair, angora. A longing for the Pine Tree State prompted this day.

Day 17: Plymouth yarn’s luscious Baby Alpaca Grande. I felt pretty grand myself that night.

Day 18: Lisa Souza’s remarkable Flying Fish, perhaps my fave all-time yarn.

Day 19: Mirasol yarns merino/alpaca/silk. Just a yummy yarn that makes me feel good. It’s also good for the people of Peru it supports. Beginning a color poem.

Day 20: Marisol 2 in pretty, pretty blue.

Day 21: Marisol 3’s golden amber is gorgeous.

Day 22: Marisol 4’s purple brings this color poem to an end.

Day 23: Artfibers’ Bistro cotton and nylon, in their Spring Yarntasting Sampler. I love this. It makes me smile.

Day 24: Artfibers’ Chameleon nylon and viscose. It’s full of texture. I was feeling pretty textural, too.

Day 25: Artfibers’ Hana, pure, unadulterated silk. Divine.

Day 26: Dream in Color’s Classy (worsted). My Mother Earthy feelings sometimes come to the fore.

Whew! Well, that’s it for now.

Onward!

So here we have a compilation of days six through 11.

Day Six: Fun with Chenille—I love Colinette Yarns. Here’s a giant skein of chenille with yummy colors. I got it on sale several (embarassment!) years ago. I thoroughly loved knitting with it. It’s hand dyed, DK weight, 100% cotton. Slicker needles would have been better, the the bamboo works okay for a few rows. This is happy yarn.

Day Seven: String Theory—Oh, String Theory yarn is my downfall. Their colors are so divine and saturated and complex, that I love to knit with their yarn. Here’s their Merino DK in the color Teal. I knit a hat in this, and it was yumalicious. Loved knitting it for Knit a Year.

Day Eight: Frog Tree yarns alpaca in glorious orange. This is bulky weight. Grace, my basset, especially loves bulky yarn. She’s playing it cool here, but is about to steal my Knit a Year.

Day Nine: Looks like String Theory, but it’s not! I have been dying to try this yarn, and so I knit a few row in this project. Made me smile. It’s The Fibre Company‘s Road to China, Silken Jewels, made up of Baby Alpaca, Cashere, Camel and Silk. Aquamarine.

Day 10: Brown stuff. What we have here is some soft, yet hearty brown Worsted. I have no idea what this yarn consists of. I found it in one of my knitting bags, have no memory of whence it came, and am thoroughly enjoying the speculation about it. It could be Yak from Bijou Basin or bison from Buffalo Gold or merino from ??? Truly, I have no clue. But I like it.

Day 11: Hand dyed Big Loop by Interlacements. Again, a big, fat skein in my stash that I purchased (again) years ago on eBay. Knitting with the same bamboo sixes and – wow – what a pain. The yarn is 90% mohair – lovely and soft, not itchy – but difficult to knit on such “sticky” and rounded needles. It would do better on Addis.

Day Three:

Day Four: Sunday. While I don’t get to blog every day, I make sure to knit on my Knit a Year each day. That’s the fun of it. No matter how tired I am, I knit a few rows on the project. Today? Or should I say Tonight? My rows were a bit of a pain. I was busy all day, working, out to a movie and in late, but I was determined to knit my rows before midnight. I made it, but just. It was awfully close. I love the yarn—ArtFibers’ Sylph, a DK weight yarn made up of silk, mohair and wool.

ArtFibers is a fabulous shop in San Francisco and a rediscovered pleasure. The shop has a raft of special and wonderful yarns – silk, yak, cashmere, merino, cotton, bamboo, more. The prices are great. Did I mention the glorious colors?

Timeout: Watch Michael Jackson’s This Is It. I was awed, yet again, by the breadth and depth of his talent. Even if the documentary contains only rehearsal outtakes, what a show! The man was 50 years old when he died, and he sang and moved like a 20-year-old. His death, a waste. But you’ll thoroughly enjoy the film.

Day Five: Yesterday. I taught, so I arrived home at eight p.m….worked…ate, then went upstairs and experimented with this Isager yarn. It’s 50/50 Alpaca/Wool called Alpaca 2. Lovely and soft, it’s fingering weight, whereas the other yarns I’ve used in the project so far have been pretty much Worsted weight. The colors in the Isager yarns are gorgeous. I have several, which I plan to use over the next few nights. Happy.

When Bill and I first met some 18 years ago, Bill had never heard of garlic potatoes. Neither had I. But on special occasions—very special occasions—Bill would treat me to an Italian restaurant down the street. The little hole-in-the-wall place was a favorite of Bill’s, and so he was fairly grumpy when a chef named David transformed the restaurant a French-style eatery, David’s Bistro.

I always thought it an odd place, as it sat underneath a consignment shop and wore shag carpet on the ceiling. But the food…ah, the food at David’s was grand. We’d go there for New Year’s Eve, and that was where Bill gave me my blue-stone ring, his first promise of more than “just dating.”

One night, Bill ordered garlic potatoes with his…well, I can’t remember his main course, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t stop talking about the potatoes. So enthused was Bill, he determined he’d recreate David’s garlic potatoes.

No, he didn’t ask David for the recipe.

No, he didn’t look the recipe up in a cookbook.

What he did was find his own way.

And, boy, his own way was something.

I never learned Bill’s recipe. Never thought I’d need to.

So today, our first Thanksgiving apart in many, many years, I celebrate Bill’s garlic potatoes. Like the man, they were unique and will never be served again.

Bill and Vicki

Vicki’s husband, Bill Tapply, just lost his two-year battle with leukemia. During those two years, and for many previous years, they shared wonderful times and a great love.

Vicki will be back writing her blog in a week or so.

“I chose to illustrate this image of two girls knitting (in a Rush Arts Education program) because I think it really captures the idea that learning art in schools is about more than crayon drawings — it’s about creativity, something that transcends all class and race boundaries. I think the joy of making something is universal, and it’s an opportunity that every kid should have.”

Isn’t it great that he sees knitting as creative and artistic? I sure do.

Fairey has created this piece for the Art for Life Auction. I can’t quite afford the painting, but perhaps you can. It looks like a great cause.

"Close Knit"

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.

Their amazing sucess story began with Save the Children Canada. (What follows is excerpted from the MINKHA Web site. You can find more info here, too.)

The MINKHA knitting micro-industry is a Save the Children Canada success story. This project is an outstanding example of how a program initially subsidized by Save The Children Canada has grown into a successful business that is owned and run entirely by indigenous Bolivian women.

Some fifteen years ago, a small group of Quechua and Aymara women were organized by Save the Children – Bolivia into a co-operative knitting group. These women hand knit beautiful alpaca sweaters that are sold in North America. All profits are returned to the Bolivian women throught the efforts of Canadian volunteers.

A MINKHA member ouside her home.

These women were desperate to earn a living to support and care for their extended families. It is customary to have an extended family that may include parents, grandparents and other relatives, as well as children. In many cases a woman is the sole income earner for her family.

In addition to the financial rewards of the program, the women also enjoy a very positive social experience. They thrive on the customer feedback they receive for the superior quality of their knitting. The quality of life for these women and their families has improved significantly because of MINKHA. The number of share-holding knitters has tripled: now Artesanias Minkha essentially sustains 45 families. In 2004, the Cochabamba Chamber of Commerce honoured Artesanias Minkha with a plaque celebrating 15 years of business success… this is surely a first for native women.

In the early 1990′s, under the leadership of Calgarian Kathleen Gleeson, a group of Canadian volunteers began marketing the MINKHA sweaters. The Calgary volunteers co-ordinate sweater sales, compile and send the orders, keep accounts and transfer funds to MINKHA through Save the Children Canada. Volunteers distribute the sweaters to customers approximately three months later. The volunteers replace the traditional middleman between the producer and the buyer. They receive a double reward for their efforts; grateful Bolivian women and delighted North American customers.

The women do beautiful, colorful work

Annual sweater sales have increased from 30 to 40 sweaters in the first year to a current average of 250 sweaters each year. Over the years marketing operations have expanded to include Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta, Fernie in British Columbia, and Detroit, Michigan in the U.S.A.

Orgins Of Minkha

Artesanias MINKHA, originates in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Bolivia is a landlocked country in the South America.  United Nations states that 70 percent of the population is desperately poor.

In Quechuan MINKHA means women working together. It is a name well-chosen for the Bolivian knitting co-operative. Hand knitting has historically been an Andean life skill. For centuries the South American people have created unique textiles with their traditional knitting. Their knitting expertise is demonstrated today in the exquisite hand-knit alpaca sweaters of the MINKHA knitting co-operative in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

A knitter

MINKHA has established itself as a successful knitting co-op thanks to the hard work and talent of the Bolivian women. At this time, the income derived from the knitting co-op supports more than 30 Bolivian families and supplements the income for another 15 families.

Members of the knitting co-op elect a board of six directors, a president, vice president, and four other members from within the co-op to operate the business. The part-time office administrator is the only paid employee of MINKHA. Members get paid for each sweater and at the end of the year they receive a dividend based upon the profits.

Most of the sweater is knitted in the knitter’s home where she continues to fulfull her other responsibilities. Finishing, such as buttons, buttonholes, and washing the sweater are completed in the office, where quality control inspection and preparation for delivery are completed.

The members also operate their own credit union providing low-cost loans. As an extra service to members, the women can purchase food such as rice and beans at an affordable price from bulk food orders.

Most importantly, the MINKHA co-operative enables the women to live with dignity and pride. They are rewarded with the satisfaction of supporting their children and other family members.

The Knitters

The women of Minkha are either Aymara or Quechua Indians. They are landless peasants driven from the Bolivian highlands by the closing of the mines and the effects of drought. They were the poorest of the poor in a devastatingly disadvantaged country. With little or no education, these people bring a proud heritage of textile skills handed down from their Inca ancestors. This remarkable group of women are the proud members of MINKHA – a debt-free company owned and operated entirely by the knitting co-op.

Yarn for sweaters

Each member of the knitting co-op earns $30 (Cdn / sweater) Canadian per sweater. In their rural villages, thirty dollars provides enough to feed their family of five for a week.

As owners of their own company, each knitter receives a Christmas bonus per knitted sweater and a share of dividends

The women confer about sweaters

calculated at years end in March. These bonuses and dividends could amount to another $30, thus doubling the amount earned for each sweater.

One day more. It’s really worth a visit if you’re nearby.

Brilliant.