Fiber Art Invitational

I was invited to exhibit in the Fiber Art Invitational at the Ocean County Artists' Guild. 

When does knitting make the crossover from craft to art?

I decided to do an adaptation of my Circle Swing Coat pattern which I consider a concept pattern and lends itself to more creativity than your typical knitting pattern.  By concept pattern I mean that you follow more of a recipe or formula rather than strict very specific instructions. For instance if I had to break it down to a formula it would be

Inc 8 EOR.

 

 


My plan was to make 3 pieces, each with the same formula but with a different theme.  The first one was the color red.  I chose all different fibers and textures as long as the yarn had some red in it I could use it.

 The finished piece is a vest and the slits in the circle are the armholes.







The next piece was all ribbon yarn, color was not an issue.  As you can see a very different effect.

The third one was made out of natural colored alpaca yarns. 

I took one simple concept and treated it 3 different ways. Of course you can see the colors are very different, but the feel and drape are very different too.

I hope you will come to the show if you are local, I would love to see you at the opening reception.  10 different fiber artists will be featured all with very different interpretations. The exhibit starts on Sunday, April 7 with a reception from 1-4, free admission and light refreshments.  It will run until April 30.  The Ocean County Artists' Guild is located at 22 Chestnut St. (corner of Chestnut and Ocean) in Island Heights, a beautiful historic home. 

Don't you want to see how they all get displayed and fit into the exhibit as a whole?  So do I. 

PS I only had to buy one skein of yarn, these pieces were all worked from my stash. 

Finally

I have finally published a pattern that I was working on last summer and blogged about on August 16 and September 1.  Sometimes a pattern will languish for one reason or another.  I wasn't thrilled about publishing it in the fall when it really seemed more like a spring/summer project.  I came across it again recently trying to follow through on some things that had been put aside. 

Back in September I was trying to decide on what photos to use and a name for the pattern.  I usually start with a working name for a pattern, most often I use the name of the yarn and what I am making. This was called Grass Cardigan, the yarn is Plymouth Yarn Grass.  Sometimes I will go for a name that has very little to do with the design (Brianna, Isabel, Adirondack) but this time I decided to simply name it

Drop Stitch Cardigan. 
A seamless short sleeve cardigan knit from the top
down. The round yoke has eyelets marking the
increases. The attached front bands are knit in
ribbing. Flattering A-line shaping is accented with
a dropped stitch pattern.

 

 

 

You can buy the pattern by clicking here.

I checked on Ravelry today and it is the top 20th pattern that Ravelers are viewing.  Keep checking it out on Ravelry and keep it up there.

 

 

This morning I participated in a local clean up.  Brown's Woods, named for the previous owner of the property, is just about two miles from my house but I hadn't been there since I catered some luncheons for Mrs. Brown sometime in the 80's.  In my former life I had a catering business.  Seeing a recruitment of volunteers to clean up the Woods on facebook, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to explore the property.  I found out that the house is being used as an office for the  Barnegat Bay Partnership, a local environmental organization.  The clean-up was organized by an energetic young girl who works for AmeriCorps, similar to the Peace Corps only in the US.  I will definitely come back with my daughter when she visits with her dog.

 

A lot of erosion by the river after Sandy.

Mushrooms anyone?

Look closely and you can see a plastic chair in the tree, compliments of Sandy.

Nice to know this is so close to home.

 

This sunset looks like a real fireball.

 

 

 



Free Patterns and some other knitting...

I promised you a lot of knitting on my next blog post, so here we go...

 

My Adirondack pattern has been very popular on Ravelry, however knitters are never satisfied and I got several requests to adapt the pattern to sock weight yarn.  I rose to the challenge and added some rows to the original pattern so you can now make the Adirondack out of sock weight yarn.  An update was sent to everyone who purchased the pattern on Ravelry.   

 

Adirondack out of Mary Gavan Yarns Plateau, sock weight yarn.

Original Adirondack out of Madelinetosh Vintage, worsted weight yarn.

This time, I was not satisfied.  I wanted to make a vest for the winter so I decided to adapt my tennis vest pattern to a wool vest.  The instructions are the same, only the yarn is different and of course added photos.  So now the pattern shows both versions.  Again, anyone who purchased the pattern got the updated version.


Original cotton blend version.

The new and improved version.

 

I have joined forces with The Yarn Company in NYC and designed an exclusive pattern for them.  Lorna's Laces has dyed some yarn exclusively for the shop and one of the colorways is Toxic Waste.  This cowl pattern is available as a kit at The Yarn Company.  Usually I don't like pooling, but I think it really works in this cowl.  

Toxic Waste Cowl

I finally finished the hat pattern I have been promising and it is free on Ravelry and Craftsy. I love the colors of this yarn, Gina by Plymouth Yarn, and the long color repeats, but it is a challenge to use successfully. I think the use of purl stitches and the vertical knit stitch rib help to break up the color a little bit and keep it from being just another striped hat. If you prefer, you can wear it inside out, with more knit stitches showing. This hat makes me happy.
 

Reversible Rib, Reversible Hat

 

Before Christmas I designed this simple Bulky Small Shawl as a quick project great for gifts. In a effort to clean up my desk I came across my notes and wrote up the pattern. 

 

 

 

Bulky Small Shawl

With 4 or 5 strands of novelty yarn and US size 50 needles:

Make a slip knot and knit in front and back (Kfb) of the slip knot.

Pattern row: CO 3sts, knit to end of row.  Repeat this row until you have 35sts.

Last row: CO 3sts, bind off very loosely. 

Make tassels: cut 18, 10in lengths of one of the yarns and make tassels with 6 strands in each of the 3 corners.

 

I have finally started a facebook page, so for those of you who have joined some of this is redundant, if you haven't,  Please like me on Facebook.