Givin' Me the Finger

Look what I made, knit bling! This is a knitting thimble, it's an aid for Fairilse knitters who use the continental style of holding the needle. One or more strands of color sit between the posts. The tensions is made by holding the body of yarn over the pinky finger.



Dan and I took Caroline's silver workshop this past Saturday and Sunday. Caroline Gleman is a jewelry designer (and Dan's wife) who specializes in wedding sets. She and her creative partner Michael Fitzgerald own and operate Studio174 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. What a rockin' class! We learned the basics of working with silver, then used those techniques to make jewelry. I never realized how maliable silver is — it can be pulled into wire, twisted, hammered, and bent. It's almost like working with hard clay. BTW, on Saturday Dan roasted two chickens and made risotto for the group. We sat up on the roof for lunch, it felt like a summer picnic in April. I own a few commercially made thimbles, but they're for people with tiny hands. Although they are about $3 a piece, they tend to break easily. I admit I was seduced by the umlaut. The difference? Mine's better. Booooya Grandma!


(l-r) Inox™ "Norwegian Thimble", Clover™ "Yarn Guide", Inox™ "Strickfingerhut für Jacquard Muster"

In this workshop we learned about materials and techniques. Silver (Ag) is usually alloyed with other metals such as copper and zinc for strength. "Sterling" describes a grade of high quality (92.5% silver by weight). Working with silver is a very physical process that requires patience, a good grip, and your undivided attention.



Silver can become brittle by simply overworking it. To recondition the metal, silver must be "annealed" with heat. It's first coated flux (borax and ammonium chloride) then heated with an acetylene torch until it acquires a dull rosey glow. It's cooled in water, and cured in a warm boric acid bath, then neutralized with a baking soda solution. This heating/cooling process is repeated as often as needed.



The day started with drawing a short slug of silver through gauge plates. I made medium and large wire by pulling the slug through progressively smaller slots until I got the gauge I wanted. Constant annealing is important when the metal becomes too difficult to pull through the plate. Afterwards the wire can be flattened using a mallet between steel blocks or pulled through a press for a more accurate thickness.



Sunday morning, Dan and I roamed Williamsburg looking for coffee, bagels, and whitefish. For lunch, Paul and Gabby made some nice sandwiches with provolone, roasted peppers, and hard salami. They also brought watermelon. It was a bit chilly that day but we took our lunch break on the roof again. Meanwhile back in class... the bridge of my knitting thimble is made from a wide square wire and bent into shape with rounded and square jewelry pliers. Caroline helped me with much of the shaping. The continual loop shape is known as "the dragon". It reminds me of Andy Goldsworthy's earthworks.



The knitting thimble was made in three peices which required silver welding — that is a whole other skill set to acquire. My first weld didn't take becase my metal wasn't hot enough. In my second attempt I used the wrong grade of silver soder so the weld snapped off. The third weld finally took but that was pure luck — the soder liquified and drew into the join. As you can see (above) the heating and cooling process creates a patina that must be cleaned with a file and sandpaper. I did a lot of sanding and filing to refine the shapes. Fine sanding is used before the final polish.



Buff polishing is one way to finish silver after fine sanding. Soft clay is used as a polishing agent. You can control the level of sheen you want to give your silver. That's Dan at the wheel finishing his Thunder Cats medalion. The metal took on a deep luster. For an extremely high polish we used the sonic drum, a machine uses vibration filled with stainless steel beads called "shot" and tap water. The silver is layered with shot and left in the sonic drum overnight. This is best used for fine wire work, chains, and delicate casting.



When we took the silver out to dry it seemed to glow. I couldn't imagine trying to buff these fine pieces at the wheel. We had a lot of talented people that day in the studio, some people returned to rent work space, for some this was their third workshop with Caroline. Jodie mentioned that she wanted to take the gold workshop. While waiting for a welding station to free up, I ate the last poppy seed bagel. I got a chance to look at Caroline and Michael's work in the glass show cases. I now had a greater appreciation of their craftsmanship. I'm defintiely coming back for more... and possibly bialies with lox spread.

Knit PH at Maha's: April 03, '08

I showed up a bit early to re-arrange the half-round table at Maha's. I had the lentil soup and zatar bread — Middle Eastern soul food. I also had a walnut chocoalte chip cookie, yum. With the table sitting at 90°s from the wall we can now comfortably fit ninr people and a bird in our group. New member Nancy pointed out it was a bit "cozy" at Maha's. I didn't set out to find the smallest places to knit, our group has just grown and sprouted legs. As Knit PH assembled at Maha's, I mentioned that I was thinking of expanding our seasonal Knit PH into spring and summer in an abandoned phone booth on Underhill. I did leave a few messages at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Museum on Tuesday, one of them bound to call me back with an answer. I like the smaller groups though, it makes for quality conversation.



I'm not the only monkey in town — so I found out. Esther brought in “Ricky Marc Bones from LA, dude!”, a yarn monkey in progress from the west coast. He's green and blue and stands (or hangs) about 7" tall. Esther is Bensonhurstanite by way of France and Germany. She's a member of the Krafthaus MeetUp group along with Christina, Tomo, and Nancy. There's a lot of cross-pollination through the MeetUp and Ravelry. It's funny meeting people online then meeting them in person. Chris introduced herself and said "You don't look like a monkey" to which I replied "Well, not today". Chris is another person from the publishing world, she works at Scholastic Textbooks (Ancillary Computer Learning). I introduced her to Marci who works in children's books at Random House. Marci was working on her tiny shirts, they are roughly keychain size. Marci was thinking of starting a Windsor Terrace/Kennsington group at Vox Coffee Shop or Connecticut Muffin. I think it's a great idea, WT couuld use a knitting circle.

Erin is new the group. She owns a cool bead shop in Cobble Hill called Brooklyn Bead Box. Her shop has bead kits, chain, clasps, findings, gold, and jewelry making supplies. They also host jewelry-making parties for kids and adults. Sounds like fun. The KraftHaus people were glad to meet her, they make everything from soap to quilts to jewelry. It's good to know there's a local shop, I hate hiking to the city's bead district just to buy large buttons. Erin previously worked in fabric design, as did Christina. They talked shop. So did Scholastic Chris and I — I was the AD at Time for Kids TE, their arch enemy. Both Scholastic and TFK steal employees away from each other on a constant basis. I beleive the euphamism is called "courting".

I finished Caroline's black Hugo, I should have brought my tap light. I kept dropping stitches, then going back to pick them up with a hook. Black is hard to work in low light. I also brought in my titanic spool of wool-silk that I bought from School Products. It was cheaper than buying skeins, but it's not very protable. I was thinking of rolling down the hill. I'm finally getting back to Caroline's gauntlets — I made one. I learned this week that these arm-length fingerless gloves are not called "arm dickies".

VK Lace Shrug Errata: Writing the Wrong

My apologies go out to irritated readers of Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer '08 who wanted to make this Lace Shrug. Sorry for the inconvenience. Just as W said about the Iraq war, "mistakes were made"... on my pattern. Use the instructions for assembley from VK, but go to VK's website for pattern corrections:


http://vogueknitting.com/?q=node/456

I met with Lisa B. from VK to go over some errata on my shrug pattern. We compared her notes to my Excel files. The sleeves and the cuff start off OK, then towards the end of the pattern they spiral downwards into mechanical error. Oddly enough my stitch count was still correct, regardless of how off the pattern was — mystery. I told her I'd go back to my written notes and compare them to my Excel files.



I went through the pattern line for line and made the shrug using Lang "Silk Dream" (5 balls @ 90 mt) starting with the sleeves. From what I could tell, my notes were correct. But as I typed in a correction to R72 in my MS Excel file, the "auto write" filled in the cell with text from a previous line! When I keyed a correction on another line, the same thing happened again. I found the culprit — Bill Gates is ruining my pattern! I found "Enable AutoComplete" in my prefs and turned it off. FINALLY! I can go back to making my own horrible typos with gusto. So I went back to my pattern to make corrections counting each stitch and row as I wrote into my file.



As you can see from my photos, the corrected pattern works. All things check out on the sleeves, the cuffs and the back panel. This pattern was written as a small/medium size using Tili Thomas "Rock Star", which is a medium weight silk yarn. Using Lang's "Silk Dream", it turned out to be a small/petite/eat-something-you-skinny-girl size. This is due to it's 50 merino/50 silk content. I haven't written this pattern for other sizes, but I have plans.

This rust colored shrug is currently hanging in Stitch Therapy's storefront window.

Knit PH at Freddys: March 16, '08

I was going to join The New York Fashion Design Meetup Group, but when I looked at the group bios I realized that they are all real working industry people. And judging from their photos I probably outweigh most of them by at least 20 pounds. Meanwhile at Knit PH at Freddy's...


Does this look like a blighted neighborhood to you?

It was a packed Sunday evening in the back room. Freddy's bar owner Frank Yost pointed at the back room doors and said "They're here." The knitters took over the back room and the German Language Studies Club eventually settled at the bar in the front, possibly planning to overtake the French Language Studies Club at Soda. Meg is near the end of her apple green baby blanket. She has a little Linus Van Pelt anxiety, we measured it a few times to be sure it was square, checked right and wrong sides... and eventually she'll bind off.

"How how much longer does Freddy's have?" Meg Asked.
People often ask that question. It's a tough one to answer. We knit in Forest City Ratner's alleged Nets Arena footprint under the threat of eminant-domain. Can knitting get any darker? According to the Gehry architectural model, Freddy's is where the back escalator will reside. Freddy's has four more years left on it's fifteen-year lease, and the current landlord is in fact real estate mogul FCR. I doubt they'll renew the lease. But recently in an ironic twist, the Atlantic Yard's project has sunken into a much deeper mess, not due to our boys in Albany doing the right by the people, but due to the slumping US economy. Financial news reporter Maria Bartiromo used the "R" word as the Canadian dollar became equivalent to the US dollar. Shockwaves are still hitting Wall Street as Bear-Sterns suddenly collapsed last week. Their stock fell from a lofty $175 per share to a lowly $2 dollars. And real estate prospectors... uh... I hope you believe in prayer.

A Done-Deal? Or a Dumb Deal?
Tough economic times are taking a large bite out of FCR's Atlantic Yards project as state funds are now being cut. It has recently become more evident that FCR never had any real plans to build "afforable" housing units. The skeletal remains show us that the AY plan would use public funds to pay for a private arena. A greedy developer has enacted "blight" and "eminant domain" for his own personal gain. I'm sure a lot of the money went towards paying lobbyists and a legal team to re-write the definition of "blighted" and "affordable." Early on, if you opposed this declatation of blight/eminant domain, housing advocates such as ACORN and BUILD would say you were against "progress" and future "affordable housing." Now that affordable housing is being excluded from the AY's future, why aren't these advocates speaking out? It's like watching someone get mugged and doing nothing about it. Public advocate groups Develop Don't Destroy Brtooklyn and No Land Grab call AY a "Bait and Switch." According to NY Times, the latest price tag for AY is now estimated at $950 million. (2005 estimate: $435 million). In short this project was never financially feesable. AY has been held up for nearly two years by lawsuits brought on by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.

Ratner by-passed the usual city assessment of urban developement by relying on political favors from billionaire-buddies, like former Govs. Elliot Sptizter and George Pataki. But now that Governor Spitzer has resigned under scandal and shame, the political climate is changing. The New York Times only hinted at FCR's dire finance problems. But the Brooklyn Paper shot it down bullet by bullet point: "Ratner kills Miss Brooklyn, most of Atlantic Yards" (March 21, 2008). But where is this business plan? No cohesive plan has ever been produced by FCR.

Anyhow, you can't call a neighborhood blighted when it has knitting circles.



I've been playing with some black silk/cotton that I got from School Products. It's actually wound on a titanic 2 lb. cone. It was much cheaper than the smaller hanks but you just can't take that thing with you. So I was the only guy in group this week. Where are you Randy? I brought my hanks down to wind. We had a bunch of new people — some from Ravelry.com and some from the hood. Tomo met up with her friend Yona and a few folks she enlisted for her project "The Knitted Room." I think she was knitting a wall or a rug — it was large, soft, and ecrue. Her project is due soon (March 31, '08), I can't wait to see it.

Elle is from Norway (not German she pointed out), she learned to knit as a child and is getting back into the craft with her first sock. I helped her get reacquainted with knitting in the round and rudimentary cables. Her grandmother used to make fine sweaters and other garments. This is right group for socks though, Vermillion is making a pair of sasquatch-sized socks for her fiance. How big is this guy? She found Knit PH on Ravelry, as did ShogunSquirrel. She and Marci are the happy hookers in the bunch. New Meetup.com member Bitsy brought her hoodie in progress (from Rebecca or Interweave, not sure), now all she needed was to finish the hood. It's a very handsome Irish cable sweater made with a natural colored wool. The hood picks up from the cable pattern at the neck. She excluded the bobbles from the pattern. Rightfully so — bobbles are creepy.



Lisa and I spent most of the evening winding up our stash for storage. I have a feeling I'm not going to get to a few projects before spring. I find that if I don't ball it up, it can sit in a bag for years. I finally got to some hanks that I bought from a spinner who I met in winter of 2001. It made it's way up in the bin rotation last year (winter 2007). I made my beer sweater — everytime I've worn it into Freddy's someone knocks a beer on me. Before the evening was up 13 knitters split a freshly baked Red Velvet cake made by Ms. Swiss. It was rich, chocolaty, smooth, and moist. Although it was difficult, we left some for the Germans.

Rock Star Wedding

WARNING: VK found errata in my shrug pattern. I'll post corrections shortly. Hang in there people!

I was out buying more cotton/wool for my Baja beach jacket at Stitch Therapy when Maxcine said "Oh, your magazine is in." Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer '08 is finally out on stands! This looks better than I remember — the knit version of Caroline's wedding shrug. Albeit, a stylist and hot-chick model defintely help. I jokingly told Maxcine that I'd sign a few copies for her — "but keep it hush". Some Ravelry.com folks were asking about the pattern, I suppose I should e-mail them. For an intermediate knitter it should take 15 to 18 hours and two packs of cigarettes (not all in one sitting). Silk lace makes for slow knitting — tip: support your work on a table so that the yarn (or you) will not stress. To get a true gauge with Tilli Tomas "Rock Star", be sure to wash and block your swatch. This lace shrug is made by knitting two sleeves that are then sewn together at the back. The back panel is picked up and knit down with a series of decreases. The over sized cuffs were based on an Irish antimacaser pattern that I found. A structural band is picked up from the neckline around back. The hyperbolic rose on the back is optional, but I does finish off the garment. For those who are interested I'm on feature opening spread 76-77.

I also just found out that this was Adina Klein's last issue as ME at VK. It's a shame, I thought she really brought innovation to Soho Publications. This publication is beautiful from cover to cover. As I look through the wedding section and ponder, I seem to know more people getting/going through a divorce. That makes me look like a non-committal superhero! I predict the next hot trends will be the easy-knit "That SOB's Finally Gone" shawl, the top-down "I'm Now Availalble" sport pullover, and the fully-frogged "You're F*****' Outta Here" watchman's cap/mop head attachment.



Meanwhile I have to get back to my book proposals this weekend (swatching, washing, blocking, swatching, writing, blocking again, smoking). I think my knit stuffs clever, but how do I convince a publishing company that I'm the best thing since the frozen yogurt 6-pack? Next week I'm in a shoot for the "Knitting For Dummies" video pilot (Wiley & Sons). I'll be known as "that ethinic guy #3". What should I do about that massive paper cut on my knuckle? Short of jumping naked out of a large cake, I'll do almost anything to push a book proposal. I better get started on those sit-ups, there may be a lot of naked cake-jumping involved.

Knit PH at Perk: March 13, 08

Talk about unraveling, Gov. Eliot Sptizer will most likely resign due to a sex scandel with a 22 year-old prostitute that charged $1K per hour. $5K later, the self-proclaimed political "Bulldozer" fell to the very crimes he set out to fight: organized prostitution and tax evasion. This type of thing usually involves a televangelist. $5K? Did she also paint the bathroom and re-model the garage? On the news, his wife stood by him bearing that thousand-mile Dina McGreevy stare. Soon David Patterson, New York's first blind African American governor, will be sworn in. You can't write this stuff. Meanwhile I've been re-writing and correcting patterns for more proposals. Caitlin popped into Prospect Perk after work, same with Emily. Knit PH at Perk seems to be a good stop on the way home, coffee, knittin', hookin', stitchin', bitchin'... etc.

New to the group is Mike, a graphic designer (top photo) or is his name Steve... and is he a photographer? Well anyhow, Steve or Mike? was working on sock #2. I took this picture of him proudly holding his catch-of-the-day. Socks are all the rage these days giving way to more brands of sock yarn. Everyone seems to be big on Noro, but Classic Elite has stepped up its arsenal in the yarn wars. Archie finished that pie-shaped baby blanket (inset). He did a great job, the colors are very nice. He spent most of the evening pulling out the I-chord edge and binding it off with a sewn edge — that man has determination.

Patty Lyons sat for a spell, she is a North Sloper and the store manager of The Point Cafe, a yarn/coffee shop that has the largest group of men who knit. We talked a lot about men's knit patterns. Currently, there aren't many great books. When Patty purchases books for the store she says that a big complaint about men's wear is that it's always the same old same-old stuff, but this time in brown. True that.



Patty has seen the whole lot pass through her book shelves. We both agree that the men's market will never compete with the women's market in this arena. But should it continue to be guided by old market stats? The most innovative men's patterns I've seen are online (Knitty.com), in periodicals (Knit.1, Interweave) and from yarn companies. What book companies push are really men's novelty books. When I've spoken to acquisition editors, the blanket statement is: That market hasn't done well. Here's a reason: subject matter. Oi vey, does anyone really want a sweater to match their dog? Gevault, why is a bath mat or face towel a featured item in a men's book? Feh. Enough of my semi-yiddishisms. Feh. Who will break through this indestructible fourth woolen wall?

Now Lisa, she's been busy with sweaters. I quit calling her Leslie. Lisa is fearless, I asked about that blue sweater she worked on in class. She said "I ripped it all out and made a new one." Like a Shoalin master she has now conquered the blind short-row. I think she's made three of Jarret Flood's "Cobble Stone" sweaters. She's also been playing with a short row pattern called the "Lizard" from Knitty.com. It works well with variegated yarn (inset). Tomo invited Chris from the KraftHaus group. Tomo is trying to reach a deadline for a project called "The Knitted Room." She's had some trouble with The Incredible Sweater Machine™ that she bought. It works alright, but it takes a steady hand, a good eye, and probably a bottle of single malt scotch. By March 30 she must create these knit items: a table, chairs, walls, and carpet. It's time to consider enlisting group help or third world labor.

Knit PH at Maha's: March 03, '08

The price of a pizza went up due to a US flour shortage. The $2 slice is now $3. According to news, the price hikes are due to farmers growing more corn for ethanol production instead of wheat for food. I blame corn and Bush. We live in stupid times don't we — property values have soared beyond what most people earn and at the same time that makret is collapsing at a dire rate. The job market is weak but Bush proclaims our economy is strong. What does it all mean?

Meanwhile at Maha's, Archie's baby blanket, keeps growing bigger — it must be about three feet in diameter by now. He's going to finish the edge with an attached I-chord. Marci started a small stuffed dog for one of her illustrators, she's a pro at the hook. Marci designs children's books. Tomo started a new pair of Kool Aid dyed socks. But she has a much bigger project due at the end of the March: a room that is entirely knit from the walls to the table. That makes turning a sock heel seem much easier. Hana popped in for a bite and a sock. Am I the only person not into making socks? They are beautiful though. I'd be afraid of ripping a hole in them.



Our usual Wednesday crowd is small but cozy. I tend to like the smaller groups though. I can hold a conversation and work. The larger groups are fun, but they are more about social networking and sharing ideas. Emily brought her Stitch N' Bitch fingerless mitts for show 'n' tell. I brought in swatch work for Dan's red shirt. I notice that I get a differnt gauge on the weekend than I do during the week. The conversation revolved mostly around food. I had an extra helping of roasted cauliflower with my dinner. Emily said that she made it at home the way Maha told her: tossed with olive oil and salt, roasted for 20 minutes, finsihed with a squeeze of lemon. It's hard to belive that something so simple could be so satisfying. Meghan told us about a kale omelette dish that her mother makes — the kale and onions are seared til they're black. I love winter kale, it's has a complicated sweet and savory flavor. If bacon were a vegetable is would be kale. Meghan was just about to finish the collar on her shrug, but ran short on yarn. I always get one more skein just in case. Her re-order is in the mail. I gave her some bind-off tips.

Spring is around the corner and soon Knit PH will take it's usual summer break. We regroup in the fall. I called the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last week about hosting an ocassional knitting circle. They suggested the free Sunday mornings in the Cherry Espanade. Not a bad idea for a few summer reunions.

Swatch Test

Designing anything takes a bit of detective work. I ventured back into the Dan shirt and I looked at other patterns. I actually finished the front panels and the collar but eventually decided I hated it, so I ripped it into ramen and then let it rest for a few months. I initially did this in Tunisian stitch with a cro-hook, but it was about as thick as a carpet runner. I wanted a pattern that resembled woven fabric. I explored slipped stitches. I went online, hit the books and I found these two: Tweed Stitch (aka Woven / Linen stitches) and the Herringbone stitch. These make sense to me for what I'm doing.



The Tweed Stitch
(from The Harmony Guides, Vol. 2)
Multiple of 2+1 (#9N)
R1: (RS) K1, *yf, sl 1 pw, yb, k1; rep from * to end.
R2: P2, *yb, sl 1 pw, yf, p1; rep from * to end.
Repeat these 2 rows.

The Harmony Guides are good but they don't suggest needle sizes or yarn weights. The first swatched using #6N and medium weight mercerized cotton (Butterfly Super-10). It was so tight that I couldn't remove it from the needle. Then I used a #7 which was not much better, then went right up to a #9 — now this finally worked. I made a 7" X 7" swatch. After washing and blocking it loosened up to became more wide than tall, but the gauge was perfectly square: 4" X 4" area = 19sts X 19sts.



It's not reversible but I do like the moss pattern on the back side. The fabric is also firm enough to make real shirt pockets not those weird saggy afterthoughts that look like man boobs. The swatches above and below were made from Mirasol Coltani (60 Pima/40wool) from Peru. It has a slight heather and it's super soft. I bought this at Stitch Therapy. I plan to use this yarn for a striped Baja beach jacket in "Charcoal" and "Sunny".

The Herringbone Stitch
There are a few so-called Herringbones. I like one that I found online on a few blogs. I have a feeling it's from one of these ginormous Barbara G. Walker stitch bibles, but I'm too lazy to dig through all of them. This particular pattern lends itself to increasing, descrease and turning, where as the other versions of Herringbone resemble chipped teeth.

Any number of stitches (#11N)
R1: (RS) K2 tog, but... *transfer the first st to the right needle, leaving the second st on the left needle, knit the second st and the next st together; rep from * to end.
R2: P2 tog, but... *move the first st to the right needle, leaving the second st on the left needle, purl the second st and the next st together; rep from * to end.



After a wash n' block, the color softened to a butter color which isn't bad if you don't have food issues. This Herringbone is a modified stockinette. It's very compact and requires 200% more yardage than a regular Stockinette. It works best when worked on larger needles. Casting on 40 stitches, 92 yards of Coltani yeild a swatch that is 6.5" wide by 14" tall (40 sts X 56 rows) on #11N.



All these swatches held well up after washing and blocking three times to ensure stability and integrity. There is some shrinkage but only about 2%. I have no idea what I'll do with this pattern.

Knit PH at Perk: Feb 13, '08

This February 13th posting is way out of sequence, it's been a wacked-out month.



The rain ceased and a small group quickly assembled. Penelope finally met Eliza — until then they've only known each other online through Ravelry.com. Eliza found Jane's old spinning wheel for sale via Ravelry, then Jane finally bought her new uber-wheel. Ravelry is pretty amazing, I spend a lot of time looking at people's projects from here to Ankara, Turkey. I sat down to my usual hot turkey panini made by Perk owner Murati (who is from Turkey). I tried not to speak with a full mouth.



Socks are still all the rage — Tomo showed off her new skeins of Kool-aid dyed sock yarn. I was impressed at how intense the colors turned out — the blues are almost turquoise, greens are springy, reds are punchy. I now realize that Kool-aid and Jello have been clown-coloring the intestinal tracks of American children for decades. Caitlin started a hat for her husband, omitting the wave pattern. Meg was reaching the end of her apple green baby blanket and Marci was crocheting some arm warmers for an officemate. I don't know much about crochet — I had no idea one can rib and purl with a hook. Marci is very talened with the hook. She's also a very god illustrator. I hope she takes pictures before the arm warmers part ways. I brought in my left-over yarn project (picture TK). I'm crocheting my a long tube. I have no idea what it really is. I have admit it's a bit ugly. Caitlin suggested a snub bulster for my couch. Penelope said if I put some holes in the side I can make a hanging tower for all my plastic grocery bags. Basura meron? It's too heavy for a pilates bag — and I'm not down with the pilates-thang. Marci suggested I stuff it and use it as a draft blocker for the front door. I'll figure it when I run out of yarn. Or will I?

A familiar voice said hello, and a soft hand tapped my shoulder. It was Janet from our original 2004 circle. She was passing by and was glad to see were were still knitting at Perk. She recently moved back to the neighborhood. She said work has been good for her. We caught up for a bit, but she had to go. I told her we'll catch up more later on. Meg took a break form her blanket.

"She's a writer, isn't she."
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"She looks marketable."

And Mz. Janet does. She's written for many Latin publications including Latina and Famila. I imagine she does well. There sure are a lot of publishing folk in Brooklyn. I remember during that summer blackout when Harper's almost missed their press date — the entire editorial staff walked home to safety over the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn.



Anyhow, I brought the silk dyes for Tomo and Eliza for their spinning projects. These are left over from a past project that never came to be. By the end of the evening they both decided that the dyes would be better used in a group activity. Plan A: Gather a small group at Tomo's apartment on a weekend. I wish Freddy's still had their kitchen running. It's perfect for boiling a cooling roving and skeins on a weekend afternoon — plus I could grill some cheese sandwiches while we dye. Alas, the days of pub n' grub are over. By the end of the evening I raffled off the Valentine gift bag that Tomo made. Penelope was the winner! The funny thing was she kept say "I'm gonna win that, just watch!" Her psychic powers willed me to pick her number.

I like Propsect Heights. But we knit under the foot of change. They say a change is good, but I often ask "Who are they?"

Knit PH at Freddy's: Feb. 17, 08

If February is a leap year month with only 29 days, why is it taking so long to be over? I've been up late, swamped with work, courting new clients, closing deadlines, putting out new bids... then on top of that I'm pitching three books — who knows where they will go. The weather fluctuates between below-freezing to almost-spring. Although I like the snow it never stays around long enough to enjoy, then it quickly turns slushy grey with traffic. Knit PH at Freddy's has taken a tutonic twist. We are sharing the back room with the new German Language Studies Club. Professor Deike B. can take the entire room when Knit PH takes a summer break. A Finnish friend, Vierpe K., returned from a tour India's tiger country and brought her laptop presentation. Zo, Willkommen alles zu Stricken Nacht, an evening of conversational German and knitting. Maybe we can combine forces to overpower the French knitting circle.

I got an e-mail from Kate, a school teacher who was having trouble with a large blanket. She said she didn't register on MeetUp, but wanted to drop in for advise and a beer. She was the first person to arrive at Freddy's. Kate was in good company though, she is an educator and so is Mira. Related to that, Tracey is one to the librarians in the group, she curates Jewish heritage material. Kate laid her blanket flat on a table for a post mortem. It was about 5 feet by 5 feet and growing, but the I could see where she had turned a few rows and dropped some stitches. Over the din of Rilke I tried to untangle the the last 8 rows but eventually had do an unspeakable act — I broke out the scissors and cut a foot down into the blanket. Kate was a trouper, most people would faint at the site.

Mira brought her Calorimetry headband in progress, it's a very popular pattern from Knitty.com. Meanhwile I was adding the cap on another newsboy hat, I should have brought my labels too. Randy is working on a pair gloves for a lady friend. He asked me to advise at the increase at the thumb. He did all the right things but the pattern had a naming convention problem: M1 inc. I showed him the difference between methods and gave him the correct name according to pattern description: lift increase. Tomo had a new hank of kool-aid dyed yarn. She scoured every bodega in Brooklyn to get the right colors but found no brown. Maybe in the pudding isle in Sunset Park? Emily was working on another scarf, possbily for another office mate. She's going to join us at the dyeing party at Tomo's place, date TBA.

New to the group are Rachel and Meghan, members of Archie's Park Slope Knitting Circle. Rachel was finishing her shrug but raised a question: "How do I pick up 300 stitches if I have less around the edge?" Emily and I explained that picking up stitches is more a "notation" that implies you make some up. In theory if you have 240 stiches, you must M1 after picking up every 6 stitches to get the total of 300. It's not that messy if you have a calculator. There were three other people that I didn't get to talk to. They sat between our group and the Germans. Were they German speaking knitters? After beer and balls, the evening ended with a rich chocolate mousse cake made by Mz. Wiss for the German side of the room.

The upshot to Stricken Nacht: There will always be good cake.

The Mancho-rian Candidate

Fashion Week New York left its Fall 2008 forecast this February. Someone pointed out that I missed it. I briefly attended the first and less organized incarnation when the publishing company where I worked was across from Bryant Park. The event looked like Wigstock — models running about in full kabuki. A frantic man in black mistakenly walked into our office and asked if anyone knew where Betsy went. He flung his camera over his shoulder, turned and said "Tsk, oh you wouldn't know" and left. I imagine he also inquired about his friend at the General Contractors next door and was stabbed in the chest with his own camera.


left to right: Clint Eastwood, "The Man with No Name"; Missoni, Fall 2007

So, as New York Fashion Week 2008 sauntered away, it foretold of a more youthful Goth world— where play is the new work and plaid is the new stripe. Cardigans are hot. New on the horizon, men's accessories like this men's short button scarf (inset). Gone for good, the Mancho. The photo above demonstrates that the man-pancho only works in the movies — and only if you carry a big gun. And yet I saw a one at the Canal Street stop just today. Or was that a man at all? Hmm. He was just plain creeeepy! I tried not to make eye contact, but it was like trying to ignore a theatrical train weck. I guess they're warm and comfortable, but so is a down quilt — and except for a few homeless people, you don't often see that slinking it's way up the platform. But just as earth shoes and clogs have resurface, I'm sure the mancho will rear it's wooly head once more. When apes rule the planet.

Elle Magazine's creative director, Joe Zee, reported that "grey is the new black" again and neutrals are big for fall 2008. The color grey is also historically linked with signs of economic recession — I learned that at Money Magazine. According to a few fashionista friends, neutral colors reveal much about a man —where as colors compensate. Charcoal is known as the bachelor's color — pensive and cagey. Light grey mean business. Camel and stone are worn by the trustworthy man, and ecrue by the old-fashioned boy. Black completes the somber man, it's the thinking man's color. I always figured that if I wore enough gray the world would catch up to me. I'm still waiting for a receding hairline and being slightly out of shape to work in my favor.

If Pictures Could Talk...

1. I LOVE my bath mat!
2. Skittles are the new black.
3. The Mancho-rian Candidate.
4. Braille Chic at Fashion Week.
5. I'm coo-coo for Fruity Puffs!
6. Squint. You'll see Che Guevara's
face on my left shoulder.
7. Chuck Close, but no cigar.
8. I can land this plane myself.
9. I'm here for the "Godspell" audition.
10. Hobbits rarely leave the shire.

Knit PH at Maha's: Feb. 6, 2008

I had a nose bleed this morning, it looked like a crime scene in my bathroom sink. I imagined being lead away in handcuffs explaining "No it's just a combintation of dry apartment heat, smoking, and Nicorette™ gum! I'm innocent I tell you!"



It was a warm Wednesday evening at Maha's — fall weather in February, high of 68 degrees. Archie is working on a pie-shaped baby blanket for a friend's new daughter. He's been very involved with the Park Slope Knitting Circle since he's taken the group over. Where does that man get the energy? The PSKC group has been participating in hospital charities, like knitting for cancer patients. Meanwhile from our Knit PH group, Emily, Tomo, and I entered Diorama Lodge this past Tuesday. We didn't win but we sure kicked some shoebox-ass.

Leslie, one of my students showed up. I teased her about crossing Flatbush from the Slope. Then she teased me about calling her Leslie since her name is Lisa and she's only been attending my classes now for two years now. Touché Lisa, touché. She brought in her Cobble Stone sweater, a very smart design by Jarret Flood (Interweave Knits, Fall/Winter Issue). She did a great job on the short-row yoke, with a few loose "turns". Eliza said that one of her officemates has been calling her Lisa for years even though she's corrected her on numerous occasions. Eliza has started playing around with the spinning wheel that she bought from Jane. Tomo spins too, she said that Jane probably upgraded to a wheel with more plying capabilities. I find it all fascinating— that's like making your own sand.



Tomo made a gift bag to raffle at Perk next week for Valetine's Day. This is much better than the canned ham I give away on karaoke night. She worked on a beautiful pair of lace socks. Mariel was in mid-sock too using yarn she dyed with Jello in her microwave. I was impressed with how bright the colors were — variegated Lemon Parfait and Tangerine. Tomo and Eliza said they'd like to try dying dyeing with Jello. I have silk dyes to give them from a silk screen project, NOT good for small apartments. The topic of Webb's keeps coming up. I've never been to their ginormous year-end yarn sale. Urban legend tells of people showing up with large construction-grade bags and "helpers". Instead I have a growing collection magentic clasps and skull bead. Emily finished up another short buttoned scarf, it's a great quick gift for demanding officemates. She better be making out well with the office loot.

Eminantly Wrong

This sucks hairy eggs:

Statement on Eminent Domain Decision

For Immediate Release: February 1, 2008

Circuit Court Rules Against Homeowners, Business Owners and Tenants in Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Appeal

Plaintiffs Intend to Ask US Supreme Court to Hear Their Case

Plaintiffs Will Seek All Legal Remedies to Protect Their Homes and Businesses From Seizure by New York State

Sources: DDDB.net and Newsday

Knit PH at Maha's: January 23, '08

I moved Knit PH at Maha's to the fourth Wednesday of January since the original date fell on the day after New Years. I wasn't hung over, but I did have the flu. We added a few new people to our small group. Marci is from Windsor Terrace. Jeff lives in the Bronx, but stopped in to knit before he caught the train home. Travis ferried from Staten Island (this man needs a car). Tomo finished her monkey hat, that is one sweet sweeeet hat. I asked her to send me an image. Emily (which Emily?) asked if she could crash, she didn't have time to RSVP this month. I told her I'd stand if needed. This February Emily, Tomo and I are going to form a team for Diorama Night at Freddy's. I'm working on the pre-game trash talk — we play to win, what can I say.

We've got an interesting group, I've noticed that many people in the group are from a publication related or Libarary Science fields. Meg is an acq. editor, Melissa and Jeff — Library Science, and Marci works in children's books. We had a soft-trade conversation about the industry and where it's going, books, magazines... etc. I told them about some of the most rediculous magazines that I developed — the weirdest one being Money Magazine's children's issue called "Money! For Kids" Doesn't that sound evil?

Meg and I were the lucky one's, Maha gave us cake on our way out. Yummm.

Meanwhile, on the Needle

I made a bunch of silk screened labels. Pearl Paint makes custom screens for $25 and up. The investment was low, but the commitment to silk screening was taxing. I got ink on my shoe and dragged it all over the floor and carpet. Then I got the ink on the curtains. After all is said and done I can only use 80% of them. It also didn't occur to me that sewing round shapes into a hat is very slow work.

So why am I making my own labels? Maxcine asked if I wanted to sell Hugo at her shop, Stitch Therapy. Low return on product? Hours of intensive labor? Hand cramps? Of course I do!! I'm developing the Yarn Monkey as a brand. A friend asked if anyone might think the monkey image might be seen as "racist". How? It looks just like me without the cigarette. In the future I'll just order woven labels from HeirLoomLabels.com. Or maybe I should get on of those sewing helper monkeys. Anyhow, Hugo will be sold at Stitch Therapy starting this February. My friend Eric is also pushing me to jump on the ETSY bandwagon. I'm just one guy — better get more needles.

Court Trouble: Woe$ In The Political Arena

I've run out of words to describe the eminant domain highway robbery of Prospect Heights, but this screen grab above says it all. Betty White ("Lake Placid", Fox 200 Pictures, 1999) as the widow Bickerman responds to her cow being used as bait to lure a 30 foot long crocodile:

"You can't take my cow by eminant domain!
You're all c--k s-----s!
I knew that at first but I didn't want to say it!
You're all c--k s-----s!

Speaking of eminant domain c--k s-----s, it looks as if the mega-developer FCR is running into financial problems with the Nets Arena. Who knew that the sub-prime mortage mess would get tangled into the Nets' arena funding mess. That's like finding out that smog protected us from atmospheric radiation. The New York Post reported that an affidavit from Forest City Ratner's Director of Finance admitted fundraising difficulties. From the recent article "Ratner Admits Arena-Funding Woes" (Rich Calder, NY POST, January 28) Rich Calder reports:

"Ratner is running into trouble securing funding for his controversial $4 billion Atlantic Yards project...The biggest development in Brooklyn's history is in jeopardy because of dragging litigation and a slumping fiscal market."

"The credit markets are in turmoil at this time . . . There is a serious question as to whether, given the current state of the debt market, the underwriters will be able to proceed with the financing for the arena while the appeal is pending,"

The affidavit contends that Ratner is "likely to encounter significant difficulties and cost increases in concluding the bond financing that is essential to the arena's completion should the appeal not be decided quickly.

And Eminent Domain ?

Of course this all happens as Ratner himself is trying to pressure the courts into ruling the eminant domain case in his favor. As judges flee this case in fear of jeapordizing their political futures, FCR and their legal team want people to believe that the pesky protesters (DDDB) are costing Brooklyn a civic boon. But Bruce Ratner decided a long time ago that fighting it out in court was cheaper than submitting Atlantic Yards to a transparent public-approval process... yadda, yadda, yadda. This just makes me sick to my stomach. Broo0klyn, what have we allowed?

Capping It Off

It's freezing cold on Martin Luther King Day with a high temp of 24 degrees. I just dropped off some proofs with a client. It was so cold that my cigarette froze to my mouth. I had to warm up to pry it from my lip. I made seven hats for a fundraiser this past Sunday evening — a good cause with excellent eats, live music, and a raffle. The hats went over very well, people ran to the raffle table to get a chance to win a Hugo, jewelry, cakes, art, vynil, and more. One woman won two hats: varigated blue and walnut. She was asked to "do the right thing" and pick another prize to which she yelled "Go to hell!"



This hat isn't gender specific, but I find that men instinctively wear it differently from the women. Women carfully arrange their hair so that the hat sits evenly, only showing the lobes of their ears (inset left). On the other hand most men wear it off-centered with the visor to the left or right side, or on the back making sure their ears stick out like pot handles (above). JR owns the bodega next to the bagel shop on Bergen Street — he loves his new red hat. An Irish woman won the green hat, she actually called it "bonnie".

Someone asked if I named this cap after Hugo Chavez's infamous red berret. NO. That would be like naming an eagle motif sweater "the Hitler Pullover". I actually named this cap after Hugo Weaving ("The Matrix", "Little Fish"). No real reason other than it looks like a hat that he'd wear.



The newsboy hat has many names and varitions: Gatsby, Cabby cap, (US) Paddy, Scone (Ireland), Windsor, Beagler (England), Cheese-cutter (New Zealand, Australia), Ya-she-mao, Mao cap (duck's tongue in Mandarin). My friend Pat calls it a "Scally cap" (Boston). He said that Scally means "fat alcoholic Irish racist douche-bag from Boston." His wife Ellen corrected him "It was actually named after Scollay Square in Boston, newsies would dispatch from Scollay and set off to hawk news papers on city corners — to their racist Irish douche-bag readers." Pat and Ellen are Boston Irish from Milton, they can say these things.