If you're planning on being anywhere in or around Portland, Maine, on Saturday, I hope you'll stop by the KnitWit Yarn Shop and Cafe between noon and 2. Lynne Barr, author of Knitting New Scarves, will be there demonstrating some of the unconventional techniques she used to make the scarves in her book. She will have finished scarves to show as well Linked Rib, Twisted, and Drifting Pleats (shown below, left to right, and the in the gallery here) as WIP's so that knitters can try working on them--with her guidance--if they wish.

KnitWit Yarn Shop and Cafe
247A Congress St.
Portland, Maine
Saturday, December 1, noon-2pm

If you are interested in checking out the knitalong for this book, click here or on the button at right. If you are interested in reading Grumperina's wonderful account of working on Drifting Pleats, click here.

I love being surprised by people and even objects. For example, I am always fascinated when someone who initially seems rather traditional or conventional begins to reveal extraordinary ideas, or when an object looks totally different from different perspectives.

Take this felt wall hanging with silk embroidery. When I first saw it I thought it was quite beautiful, reminiscent of other early 20th-century Central Asian wall hangings I have seen.

Then when I saw this backing fabric (a printed cotton cloth from Russia), I was really surprised and fascinated. I never would have imagined the front and the back together.

Now look at this  woman's robe. It's probably from Uzbekistan and dates back to the late 19th - early 20th century. And it's shown here inside out!  In Central Asia when this was made, it was customary to create solid-color silk robes and then line them with Russian cotton prints patchworked together. I love how extraordinary this robe is inside and out, and also the idea that the busiest and in some ways most complex part of it is actually kept rather private.

So often we pay the most attention to what is obvious. Personally, I'm often more intrigued by what isn't.

 (All photos from Russian Textiles: Printed Cloths for the Bazaars of Central Asia. For more on this book, see this earlier post.)

Earlier in the fall STC Craft published Knitspeak by Andrea Berman Price.

Sarah Von Dreele designed the book as well as a magnet to give away at book signings and other promotional events.

 
On Saturday night Hannah and I used the magnet artwork to make a T-shirt. 

(If you want to make a T-shirt like this one, go to the craft- or office-supply store and buy iron-on transfer paper (pick up a T-shirt while you're out if you don't already have one), then download this file, then follow the instructions that came with your transfer paper to iron the artwork onto the T-shirt.)

Then I taught Hannah to knit. (She's definitely a natural.)

On Sunday morning Hannah taught me how to make the Elegant Nut Necklace and the Washer Chain Earrings from her book Hardwear (except I substituted hex nuts for the washers on the earrings). Total work time: Less than an hour to finish both pieces.

When I tell people that I edit craft books for a living, they often assume that I spend my days doing crafts--knitting, quilting, jewlery-making, etc. But, unfortunately, that's not my reality. Although I spend a lot of my time collaborating with really creative, industrious people, I spend far less time making things than I would like. But this weekend is a happy exception. Hannah Rogge,  the author of Hardwear, a book about creating jewelry using materials you buy at hardware stores (like hex-nuts, O-rings, and S-hooks), is coming to my house for a crafty sleepover. She's going to help me make jewlery and I'm going to teach her how to knit. I've posted a gallery of some of the projects from Hardwear here. I'm not sure what we'll be creating yet, but I'm definitely thinking about holiday gifts (like crafters all over the world this weekend, I imagine). If you look at the gallery, I suspect you'll be impressed by the elegance of these pieces, most of which take less than an hour to complete. Ever since Hannah and I met for the first time to discuss her proposal for this book, she and I have been fantasizing about people making these pieces and wearing them not only with their casual everyday clothes but also with fancy attire to formal occasions (like the Academy Awards!). Please let us know if you do.