a little red hen

HEADLESS MANNEQUIN Flees NYC Apartment

She had her time here since we met outside Baltimore--huge vintage store in Ellicott City--um, 20 years ago.  Never dignified with her own name, she appeared at a couple of my shows, but had less respect as time went on and she was a neck to hang stuff--compost and other neckpieces.  Nothing really glamorous like the old days.

"Can I borrow her?  I'm doing a graduation dress for my niece,"  my neighbor Annette explained.  An opportunity to downsize gave the answer, "Take her!  Keep her!"

Sally Stitch, Push Button Dress Form, could morph through a range of sizes.   The idea of her actually being used thrills me; she has moved on, just across the street, into a better place, one of industry and value.  She joins another taking-up-space memory, one with no function at all.

Woven stainless steel wire cloth.  Purchased around the same time as Sally Stitch when I was entranced by everything woven and not cloth. Copper wirecloth, blue plastic from Mexico, green, black windown screen (made Condom Amulet from this)--all had their moment.  But the stainless steel was this artist's conceit.  A curved piece, 2 by 4 feet, should have been included in my house sale in Baltimore.  But no, all 20 pounds came to Harlem. 

Thanks to a visiting crochet artist, Laurie Anne Sims, it too has now fled to another life. Laurie came and stayed overnight--she was helping Nan Kennedy who'd brought her Sea Colors Yarn to Knitty City a few weeks ago.  Because Laurie too is drawn to stuff like wirecloth, I asked if she'd take the piece home to Brunswick, Maine.  "Oh, sure!"  She got it-- with the tag attached.  Fortunately there was room in their very full-of-yarn van.  And now it's lighter here.

Lisa Daehlin Sings Saturday, NYC...

Join us May 17 if you're in the City.(Enlarge invitation for details.)

Singing brought Lisa here from Minneapolis a few years ago.  Along the way she discovered her "inner-knitter," now creates designs for publications like this "Lace Dolly Purse" in the Bag Style book, Interweave Press.

Knitting brought us together at the original UWS (upper west side) Knitting Circle when she amazed us with her riffs on lacy scarves.  In 2007, a supporter of the Knit a Condom Amulet Project, she created three unusual patterns that are among the most-viewed on the site.  To answer those who have asked how to use the Breast Pouch and Bra, a friend modeled for the photo at the left. It's on Lisa's own new website, DeLisa.us.

Two years ago, she developed knitting and crochet classes for the Continuing Ed roster at Cooper Union--famous for architecture and engineering programs.  And there's her day job! 

Someday there's going to be an opera about knitting and singing and the days and nights of a creative woman in this city.  Word is that there's someone ready to do the libretto, another who'd write the music to encompass her many paths-- 

Crochet class flyer

Teaching at Harlem Knitting Circle...

With Eunny Jang, Interweave Knits Editor, at Knitty City... demos use of Breast Pouch for business cards, an action view.

By the way, if you're here for the weekend, Sunday, May 18, is AIDS WALK New York, more information at www.aidswalk.net or call (212) 807 9255.

 

With Yarn from Her Sheep: Nan Kennedy Comes to Knitty City

"Baby You Look Beautiful in Wool" by Paddy Mills is the background music for this post.  I just learned about the song, on my way to talk about the imminent arrival in New York City of Nanney Kennedy, Maine shepherd, yarn producer, designer. 

The last time I saw Nan was at Rhinebeck, the New York Sheep and Wool Festival.  She was surrounded as always by her beautiful yarn--what you'll see when you click on the song link.  My photo here is my own small collection of her Seacolor yarns from the past three years.  For some reason I keep looking at them, changing ideas.  This fall I think it will become a vest--designed in Nanney's kind of style--dark purple will be one side of a front, green the other and the blue green at the left, the back.  Maybe pink for trim and pockets.

For beautiful pictures of her yarn and her farm, Meadowcroft, her farm there is a brand new book, SHEAR SPIRIT. It marks a departure in yarn books with its focus on farms and the people who live the rural life--raise sheep-- from Maine to Oregon. The photos are by Gale Zucker, text, Joan Tapper.  Yes, it does have patterns.

It is not quite the same as being with Nanney who comes to my local and favorite yarn store, Knitty City next Monday, May 5, direct from showing her wares at America's biggest yarn event,  Maryland Sheep and Wool.  There, wandering around while Ron was taking a spinning class, is where I first encountered Nanney.   She was unlike many of the vendors.  Her yarns were arranged more artfullyand her signature "sea and sun-washed yarns" drew me in.   And there was her extra-large personality and sense of humor.   She thought the Condom Amulets would benefit from photos of women wearing them in unexpected settings.  The result:  Nanney modeling Lisa Daehlin's Knit Wire Bracelet surrounded by her beautiful fibers.

She is also the person connected to Ron's hat-knitting.  In 2006, Nan introduced us to Medomak Camp in Washington, Maine where Ron fell under the design spell of Bill Huntington who teaches there again this year.  While at the Knit Retreat, we visited Nan's farm and sheep--did some natural dyeing with her.

If you're in the City next week, please join Nan and her yarn at Knitty City, 208 West 79th Street, from 5 to 7 p.m. Gale Zucker's coming too to tell about how she selected those 20 fiber farms in the book.   Ron and I will be there, Lisa Daehlin, and Kay Gardiner of Mason-Dixon Knitting--among others.  More to come...

She Perseverates: Elderblogger and Knitter

I really, really wanted to do this.  Get this black survey badge onto the lefthand column. 

Oh, I spent a lot of time at it.  Had tried this sort of thing  with my award for blogging and the important red one.  Even with step-by-step instructions from Ronni Bennett, who developed the survey, I could not make it happen.  And I think important data will emerge from it.  The results, a window into who we are and how we relate to this technology, will appear at her site, Time Goes By.    

Creative, be creative, my nudging voice said.  My solutions as a late-bloomer in blogland, are two choices for viewers of a little red hen.  Readers of elderblogs as well as elderbloggers themselves are urged to click on this link ELDERBLOG SURVEY: May One deadline. If you put it off till closer to the deadline--though I'd appreciate if you did it now--scroll to the "Websites" section in the left hand column and click on the same words to get to the survey.   Please tell Ronni that I sent you.

Perseveration [continuation of something... usually to an exceptional degree or beyond a desired point] I know well.  Following knitting patterns also offers me endless opportunities. 

Because the instructions for this adorable sweater were not, the chicken is off to the side rather than in the middle.  I began a creative solution by knitting small yellow eggs that I planned to sew under the hen's rump-- right where Roxie holds the bagel.

"Never mind," my son said, "We'll take it as is."  So, Marianne, at Busha Full of Grace (younger Elderblogger who I hope will do the survey) here's what I finished before the left hand break.  I'm onto another garment, slowed down by repetitve stress in right hand. 

And yet,  I perseverate--with blogging and knitting--to the distress of the hand therapist who is not a devotee of either one.    

Manhattan in slower lane

Pictoblog by one-handed LRH.  Ron plays racquetball one time too many.  My "glove" wardrobe grows.  Roxie visits.  Ortho surgery:  him, not me.   Yes, "good" wrist needs help.  Full moon last week; spring, this.

 

   

Harlem Knit Circle Rocks--Lacewise

Saturday, March 17, a sunny morning brought out an overflow crowd  to the first session of "High Tea in Lace," free class at the popular HARLEM KNITTING CIRCLE.

Lisa Daehlin, left, knitter/opera singer, famous for lacy designs in Vogue and Interweave magazines (check out the knit wire bracelets on her left arm), and HKC regular, had High Tea notion.

Njoya, right, dynamo who began HKC a few years ago, thought it would work--but was amazed by the crowd--59 women, one man. Like Lisa, she is full of ideas for stretching fibers' boundaries.  The  week before, Njoya arranged HKC participation in an environmental crochet extraganza to raise awareness about endangered coral reefs... article HERE in New York Times.

Click on images below for overview beginning with a knitter who has shared expertise with me in the past and is pleased with her lace skills, Adeline from Big Apple Knit Guild, token male...

 

Mysteries of symbols used on charted knit patterns, guy answering crocheter's question, books to browse...

Unusual Njoya moment-- she takes time to sit and knit.  Many are intrigued by the way Lisa stashes yarn while teaching--a signature style that led to design of her Breast Pouch Condom Amulet.  Her new website is http://www.delisa.us/.

Did I mention that New York's new Governor, David Paterson, is from Harlem?  Get acquainted...come to uptown Manhattan and knit or crochet with Njoya's friendly group (Saturdays weekly around the corner from me at the George Bruce branch of the New York Public Library, West 125th).  Session II of "High Tea in Lace" is March 29.  Please bring a little food to share...and plan a visit to the Harlem Studio Museum a few blocks east on 125th Street.

My symbol for post written one-handed.  Fell down a short flight stairs just before High Tea.  Took photos, then visited the local ER.  Left hand awaits  verdict of orthopedic surgeon on March 19....same day is 5th anniversary of invasion of Iraq.  Met a woman at High Tea who said she will knit at protest by Grandmothers Against the War.

Roxie Discovers Hats and Mirrors

"Would it fit Roxie?"     My daughter-in-law's question. I was talking about the small collection of my own baby clothes--one dress, two overalls, a slip, a hat--that I'd recently washed.   Should I photograph them, transform them into an artful statement?

Her question was unexpected, more personal.  Roxie was now too grown for the blue lawn dress.  After 70 years, it's too worn for my vibrant granddaugher.  I would try my baby hat.

In January, she'd allow the hat to entertain her on her grandfather's head, on a doll.  It was a few weeks past her first birthday. Roxie's primary focus was steps between closely placed pieces of furniture.

By this month, she has moved ahead to walking, even running.

As a lark, I put on  this  little black hat as Ron held her.  She did not take it off!  Where would this lead?  A game perhaps.  I offered her Grandma's hat.

Here was an idea that literally had legs; she hurried to the full length mirror in the next room to observe herself.  Roxie had moved to the next level of consciousness:  fashion by hat,  a delightful game for the three of us.

Latest sweater made for her, hen of course.  Charming pattern from Amy Bahrt's book, "Creature Comforts", could have been easier to follow.  Classic Elite's "Bazic" wool, very nice to work with on #7 needles.  Yes, highly impractical to make a white sweater for a one-year-old.  I get carried away (link to lyrics from 1944 musical, "On the Town").

                                                                ***

Hat tip to Eduardo Porter who writing in today's New York Times about the huge sums that will be needed to arrest global warming :

"People often sacrifice the future to the present.  We may love our children and grandchildren.  But since they can't vote, we stiff them in the public sphere...The best case for bold action now is that it provides insurance against the chance of an unfathomably grim future...Averting that...is worth quite a lot of investment today."

Read it all in, "Are the Grandkids Worth the Money?"

Hats Off to Women's History Month

March, once again, is Women's History Month.  The link goes to the "official" place.  Mine is personal and the personal is always political.  Ron Bloom, spinning spouse, and I stayed up a bit too late Tuesday night to watch Hillary Clinton make another unexpected return from what many thought might be defeat.  He knits a hat from his spun yarn, or spins.

What kicks off latelife creativity in men?  Observing women is my modest theory.  He thinks, "She seems to do this so easily.  Is there something here for me, something more in tune with things from an earlier life, when I tinkered with machines?"  The wheel.  He began to spin.

Enjoyed that till woman suggests he needs an end product:  using the wool he has spun.  Here was the creative struggle:  learning to knit.  After he'd tried, stopped, something clicked.  Made a scarf and hat for his grandson.  We went to a Maine knitting retreat and he fell under the spell of Bill Huntington of Hope Spinnery.  And Bill's "Button Hat" which he's adapted to his own yarn, topped with vintage buttons from my own obsessive collecting in Baltimore.  Lately he mixes in an ounce or two of yarn from my stash.  The beat goes on.

Always documenting, I try to take photos as he gives them away.  This is our neighbor, Lee; the two of them are co-chairs of our apartment building.

Marian, clay artist who runs the pottery studio here, lives in another of the six buildings at Morningside Gardens.

Mike McMahon, General Manager, of the Gardens who is in awe of Ron's knitting--as one should be!

Pearl Chin of Knitty City,** like Marian, was asked to choose between two of his most recent permutations on the original.

When we traveled to Portland, Oregon last December, Ron carried HATS for friends there--Lee, Olivia, Carl, hat-maker with closed eyes, and Moira.

With this group, we had conversation that added to my  thoughts about a woman running for President.  But that's another post.  Hats off to my spouse of 42 years, a guy comfortable knitting in public.  Here's to the spirit of Mary Wollstonecraft who believed in living one's theories..

[Check out "This Opportunity Has Been Brought to You by Feminism" by Marie Wilson at the Huffington Post.]

**Sunday, March 22, "Knit a Hat with Ron," new class at Knitty City.

The Crone Spoke...to Me!

Yes, she did.  On February 29, she placed a little red hen on her list of blogs awarded the big E for excellence.  She does some serious writing over there at The Crone Speaks about national and local politics in Tennessee, so this was a particular honor.  Thanks, Crone.

Part of my responsibility as an awardee is to select ten other Excellent blogs, who then select 10 others.  Most are on my blogroll.

Birmingham Blues  CBreaux Speaks    First 50 Words

Gooseflesh    Blogging in Paris      Xtreme English  Our Bodies Our Blog

Busha Full of Grace   Sistah Craft

This kind of made up for not winning a spot among the top five in Mason-Dixon Knitting's Teeny Project Runway Contest.  The idea was to fix up a knitted animal with a knit outfit.  I was up against some heavy competition.

"A Little Red Hen Goes Out on the Town" was my offering--simple necklace-style Condom Amulet.  No match for my own favorite entry, "Babs the Sock Monkey," entirely knit by a serious competitor--monkey, dress, hat, accessories, and shoes!  Go look; it's an experience not to be missed.

Kay in NYC and Ann in Nashville are  Mason-Dixon.  They  have the best time and some very clever followers.  Their contest led me to adorn and photograph little red with all the amulets still around the apartment. Most are on the mannequins and walls at Knitty City.

It's not every day that I take time out to simply play.  Something to think about.  Do you?

 

You Got a Problem with CONDOMS?

Rejection.  Not good with it.    

Rejected... as a winner in PDX.

Rejected as an "original" knitter in a One-Skein Knit Contest.

The envelope came in the mail today from Portland, Oregon's Yarn Garden.  Not that I expected to win first prize--or second.  Maybe a "Thanks for the thought" consolation greeting.

But nothing?  And they enclosed everything in my return envelope--

OSU (Oregon State University) amulet, carefully knit in school's colors,

New York City's 2007 condom (good through 2011),

Female condom (you don't see these every day),

How-to instructions (see above), and

#15 of my handmade, bright yellow zine (hey, pass it along to a local woman--with the condoms).

No note.  Not even a printed form, "We had so many entries..."

How about a message of sisterhood in the struggle for Safe Sex.  Nada.  You think they're telling me something: SAFE SEX not appropriate for knit competition?

Guess I'll have to tell my grandson that Grandma is too edgy for the yarn store in his neighborhood-- and I pull my hood up when we walk by.  Tell my knitting buddies at www.KnitaCondomAmulet.com.  And Pearl Chin at KnittKnitty City.

And I'll have to go public in the Knit/Crochet a Condom Amulet group on RAVELRY, the 6,000 member online group.  (By the time you read this probably up to 7,000.) 

[Enlarge the amulet image to read the pattern.  I'll be posting on Ravelry soon.  If your're a member, find me there as aLittleRedHen.]