Long time coming

Today I finally put the finishing touched on my Pagode sweater. Feels like I've been working on it forever, feels like we are old friends, and now it is new to wear. I am thrilled with the outcome. Yet there is an emptiness in the completion. There is now a hole in my day, what will I fill it with? hmmmm.... I'll have to check my stash. But I really need to get outside into the garden. It's beautiful today.

Recession Rag

Last weekend I asked my husband to clear out his dresser. Much to my surprise he really did clean out his old stuff right then!!! I was faced with a pile of old t-shirts and there was my dilemma. Now I had to actually get them out of the house... or not. hmmmm. I have a very hard time throwing anything away. And I noted that my rag bag was pretty full.

The artist in me noted the nice selection of muted gray colors and thought they might work as a rug for the newly tiled gray floor in the bathroom. I sprang into action, pulled out a sharp pair of scissors and started cutting a spiral of "yarn" out of four of the shirts, winged it with the increases on the corners and VOILA... a week later I have re-purposed 4 t-shirts into a great and funky new rug for the bathroom. ;-)

Ok... so I still have a pile of shirts, mostly mouse-gray. I'm thinking I'll work up another and throw it in some dye.... to be continued.

Mall of America knitting mania

Basking in the glow of a wonderful weekend assisting the Craft Yarn Council's Knit Out at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. Made new friends, saw lots of inspiration. A video shows a fraction of the fun. There was a very funny dog show that I helped out with, a fabulous group of therapy dogs that just loved to show off on the catwalk! Jampacked schedule and lots of freebies from the participating companies. More photos showing the stage, the kids fashion show, 2 of the dogs in the dog show, an overview of the booths, the give-away goodie bags, the Lion Brand Mascot, Warm Up America! afghans, demos and more.

Mary C and Mary R... thanks for having me, I had a ball!!! (pun intended). And Evie... I love you. Hope the shoes arrived and of course, the salami!!! ;-)

Many thanks to my roomie Barbara who is an inspiring crochet artist and founding member of the New York Crochet Guild and a major coordinator and colleage for the New York Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project. We met at a NYU Institute for the Humanities workshop and collaborated on the installation at the SHOW Gallery on Staten Island.