Code Pink: cozying up for peace

“And so sometimes I think that if you just put the mothers in charge for a while, that things would get resolved” – Barack Obama

Recently I contributed six pink and green knitted squares to the thousands collected for the White House fence cozy that Code Pink used in its 2009 Mothers’ Day vigil for peace.  This was Code Pink’s second 24-hour vigil in front of the White House in honor of all mothers and women living under occupation and war zones,  for whom the price of war is the safety and lives of  loved ones, their homes, and their future. With roses lifted and giant cozy unfurled, hundreds called for the return of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, so that no more mothers will grieve the loss of children in these wars.

Additional still images of Code Pink’s White Cozy project, the process of assembling the giant cozy in D.C., and the vigil, are available here).  But theRealNews televised report, “Roses and Guns for Mother’s Day”, helped me to feel a part of the action in spite of the distance -

Code Pink’s work includes support for peace in Gaza as well.  They are also sponsoring a fund-raising compaign for the children of Gaza -

• $10 will enable us to buy a backpack full of schools supplies for a child.
• $50 will enable 5 children to have the tools they need for the school year.
• $100 will help build an International Friendship Playground at one of the schools destroyed during the invasion.

Perhaps you could put down your knitting needles or crochet hook long enough to make a contribution

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Catching Up 4: october’s harvest

October (nearly) always means Sukkot, and the harvest we associate with the holiday certainly included needlework this year, in spite of the demands of campaign work.  I added a knitted and felted etrog to my growing collection of handmade harvest bounty.  A knitted lulav is alos underway.  (Lulav and etrog patterns available here shortly).

I managed to finish some new political knitting – a pair of Encouraging Hope hats which kept me and others warm during the long and cold final nights at voter registration tables on the street.  And to help get out the Jewish vote, I charted the candidate’s name in Hebrew to share as Oy-Bama! knits (blogged here).

(additional photos and charts here).  It was especial  fun to have these projects included in the Obama Craft Project.

A final push during the wee hours of the night one week enabled me to finish the Israel-Palestine flag for the 198 Countries Peace Project.  The continued conflict in Israel-Palestine is a constant source of pain for me, and the mortuary image by Ada Jacobowitz is an apt visual metaphor for the imminent crisis of the conflict.  My flags unite the flags of Israel and Palestine with a twining trunk of an olive tree, reflecting their shared history, texts and terrain, and are intended to communicate some measure of hope for a just and productive resolution of their conflicting claims (more here).

Other flags were needed for this peace project.  But with time so constrained by the campaign, I volunteered to paint a few:  the flags of Flags of Slovenia, Turks and Caicos Islands and Kyrgyzstan.

I made my first foray into the world of fiber “swaps” in October:  the Ravelry Day of the Dead Swap was a fun challenge to take on, and produced both projects to be exchanged and also numerous designs for future projects.  This project was especially fun to work on, since it entailed new research into the symbols and rituals of the Mexican holiday.  My DotD swap partner was a new knitter, Jacob (Knit-to-Bond) and his family (wife and young daughters); planning the project for the entire family opened the project up to some special fun – the package included:

• a knitted Catrina Calavera Tea Cozy (for a 6 cup pot; pattern loosely drawn from the One Skein Wonders pattern), topped with a hat full of crocheted roses and marigolds (the latter are prized on the Day of the Dead for their scent, which is believed to attract the spirits), felted skulls embellished with buttons and pearl cotton threads
• a pair of cloth skeletons I painted for Jacob’s daughters
• a box of skull and crossbones (Pirate) band-aids
• a trio of hand-made honeyed Jabonita Day of the Dead hand soaps from dugshop (on Etsy)
• an embroidered Calavera patch from Lizmiera Embroidery (on Etsy)
• a box of Ibarra Mexican spiced hot chocolaté bars, from The Cantina, Reading Terminal, Philadelphia
• 100g “marigold-infused” sock yarn, Opal’s Hundertwasser Modern Art collection
• a melamine goblin plate, ready to serve visiting spirits

On the other side of the swap, I was partnered with Carol (mollub on Ravelry, sunkist1 on Flickr) in Canada, who sent me a box chock full of treats:

• a skull lace dishcloth
• a Dia de los Muertos CD (Mexican music and other music)
• chocolate skull treats
• 2 skeins purple cotton KnitPicks Crayon yarn
• a set of calaveras paper weights wildflower pellets
• a Monarch butterfly magnet
• a pattern for an amigurumi Mexican doll

Carol’s package was a real treat, and I’ve spent many hours with the music she thoughtfully selected for me.  The skull cloth is a pattern I’ve been working with on a curtain for a son, and we’ll save it from the sink so that it can be turned into a pillow cover.

(Barack-o-Lanterns channeled the seasonal spirit at Yes We Carve!)

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Catching Up 3: autumn frenzy

September is always a busy, busy time … the beginning of the school year (a son returned to university), the Jewish holy days, family birthdays and the resumption of the choral season.  And then there was the presidential campaign as well this time around.

When not working at the local Obama campaign office, I managed to squeeze out enough spare time to finish a number of special projects.  In honor of the Jewish New Year, I finished a knitted shofar and pomegranate, symbols of the holiday.  In advance of Sukkot (in October), I added some new knitted and felted etrogs for our family sukkah, to make the space even more hospitable to the interfaith and peace groups we expected to visit. (more here).

The Sarah Palin “pigs in lipstick” broohaha prompted a bit of needlework fun – to raise a few smiles at the campaign office and on the street (and as a contribution to the Knitters for Obama fundraiser on Ravelry), I executed some crocheted kitsch:  Pigs on Parade – a toilet paper cover, lipstick case, mobile phone case, condom amulet, keychain and badge.  For a few weeks it seemed I couldn’t make them fast enough! (more images here, and more information here and here).  With the holidays imminent, I also made a few Obamulke’s – one for the Minyan Project, another for the Ravelry fundraiser (inspired by the efforts of Jews for Obama to encourage the use of political kippot).  Seeing this kippah featured on Judaicablog was especially gratifying.

My youngest sweet niece-let had her 5th birthday this month, and she asked for a set of playfood for her kitchen (“Some ice cream and desserts, and hamburgers and hot dogs. Any maybe some sandwiches. And hot chocolate. And ….”).  What did I manage for ZB’s big day?

• Breakfast:fried egg, toast point, turkey bacon slices and a croissant
• Lunch:  cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread (cheese, tomato, lettuce)
• Dinner: cheeseburger (bun, burger, onion, tomato & lettuce, cheese slice) and curly french fries
• Desserts: 2 ice cream cones, 3 oreo cookies, and 3 chocolate cookies

[For the ice cream cones I used the Scooped, by Em-En, at I Like Lemons patterns.  The rest of the food items were improvised, though influenced thoroughly by many wonderful examples of others' work (such as here, here, and here, here, here and here). more images here.]

There must have been a few moments of spare time, since I signed onto my first “swap” on Ravelry, the Day of the Dead Swap.  This Mexican holiday is something of a family favorite, in spite of its Christian and pagan meaning, and I began to research furiously in order to come up with something special. With so much information stewing, I found it hard to avoid making calavera skulls wherever I went and with whatever material I had at hand – that meant masks made from hot glue (left) or felted wool (right), or craft project leftovers at my niece’s birthday party (center).

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Catching Up 2: dog days of August

And then there was August ….  dancing with family in West Virginia, choral singing with the Orchestra in Saratoga Springs, working a way into volunteering for the general election, knitting, and more knitting, for the Ravelympics.

My annual upcycling contribution to the CDSS Family Week auction this year was a crocheted tote bag made with kitchen cotton and prepared juice pouches.  As in years past, I worked on this at camp, and was glad to see how enthusiatically friend and children responded to this recycling effort; three little ones left camp with some semblance of crochet skills to explore with over the year.

Much energy went into creating the first of a set of flags for the 198 Countries Peace Project.  I signed on to the project early, claiming the flags of Israel and Palestine for (for obvious reasons), as well as the flag of Cambodia (in honor of my friend Onn, a survivor of the genocide). I finished the Cambodian flag in early August, exploring ways to translate into knitting the special structural details of the 11th-c. Wat Kohear Nokor temple represented on the flag.  I managed to finish designing the Israel-Palestine flag in August, but set the knitting aside for after the Jewish holidays.

With the excitement of competition, I cleared up the “studio,” sorting out piles of unfinished projects to enter in the WIP Wrestling event.  I managed to complete quite a few projects, among which were:

• five hats for the HatDash (on the ChinaCare team, which executed hundreds of hats for Chinese orphans).
• my Passover “unborn egg” (based on Mochimochiland’s Reversible Egg pattern).
• the embroidered coins on a felted tote bag inspired by Tink Knits Penny Bag and the [198 Countries Peace project; I composed and international coin mosaic with all the coins retrieved from my sons’ rooms (received from their grandfather after his travels).  Having made the “rather large” Noni carpet bag already, I thought I’d have a go at the medium.  It’s a very nice size, though a bit narrow – like a laptop case.  I don’t know if I can bear to give this one away, though I really don’t need it.  Maybe it will be my new laptop case.
• a felted bowler, to add to the growing collection of Jewish headgear in my Minyan Project.
• a reversible cabled Steam Scarf, lusciously thick and cozy.
• a niece’s neglected birthday present (fluffy tutu, too heavy to be worn, so turned into a pillow).
• a densely-knit cap (DIY Peasant’s Cap), made from ultra-soft bulky merino from handpaintedyarn.com.

In August I joined a group aiming to help resettle Iraqi refugees (mostly families of translators who had helped the American military and had to flee for their lives).  To add something handmade to the used household items we collected for their new homes, I designed and knitted a number of dishcloths based on the traditional Hamsa (Khamsa) Hand (the Hand of Miriam for Jews, and Hand of Marjam or Fatima for Muslims).  I modifed the traditional hand, converting the outer fingers to peace doves.  With the eye in the center of the palm, the design is suitable for Jews; without it, I make it for Muslms, for whom (I’ve been advised) the eye is pagan and offensive; to my knowledge, Jewish folk tradition has always made affirmative use of the eye symbolism.

This seems like quite a bit was accomplished, and yet I recall being disappointed with what I wasn’t able to finish as well (I had to withdraw quite a few projects from the WIPs Wrestling match).   But by the end of August, the heat of the season and the presidential campaigns were serious competition with the knitting baskets.

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Knitting Partners in Bolivia: kiva & “27 de mayo”

Do you know about micro-lending? Do you know that there are knitters (and other needle workers) in the “developing world” in need of support? Here’s an interesting way to further the cause of women, knitting and international affairs … all in one ‘fell swoop’!

Kiva International is an international micro-lending organization with an established successful record doing what it does: making very small (micro-) loans to all manner of people in the “developing world”. At the moment there’s a women’s cooperative in Peru called 27 de Mayo. (sponsored by Pro Mujer, which itself works on behalf of impoverished women’s welfare and economic development in South and Central America), currently looking for funds to purchase materials for their knitting business … Can you spare $25 (or more) as a loan within the next 10 days?

Here’s how Kiva’s micro-loans word: you make the loan and can get the $ back within a year (or reloan it) after the recipient has repaid it (usually within a year). I’ve given Kiva loans as gifts (it’s easy as pie) and made a number of different loans. The money’s always been repaid in a timely manner in the past, so I’ve just made a new loan to this project.

The women of 27 de Mayo are on a deadline, so please check it out here.
Muchas grácias amigos!!

7/22/08 Update:
Eureka! The worthy women of 27 de Mayo have received the full amount they requested from Kiva, a week ahead of their deadline! In only two days, donors have generously loaned/contributed $2500! If any of you contributed to this group via this blog post, thanks very much! This is an amazing, (nearly) invisible community.

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Hot Knitting

AMy friend Ellen, TikkunTree-leaf knitting machine, regularly attends a “hot yoga” class after work … she joins twenty other lunatics in a sauna-hot studio in our city to spend an hour trying to contort her body into a series of pretzel-like positions. She loves it. She claims the endeavor is clearing her body of the dust she inhaled re-plastering her ceiling. She’s nuts.

We’ve been trying to survive a mid-Atlantic heat wave – in the heart of the city – without air conditioning (which has been defunct since last summer). We’ve been running fans wherever we parked in the house, consuming cold cereal and salads and cold roast chicken, and iced lemon water by the bucket …. With all the blinds drawn, we’ve been hanging out in our skivvies (I knew my son-the-graduate had a sock monkey thing, but never knew he had a pair of sock monkey boxers … until last week), trying to move as little as possible. On a couple of weekend afternoons the extreme heat prompted us to visit the movie theaters, something we haven’t done (as a family) since the boys were much smaller (I have a low threshhold for the high volume sound and/or violence typical of most mainstream cinema these days).

In spite of it all, I managed to knit and crochet, many small and light things, while sitting in front of one of the Vornado fans. I also managed to plan many projects. And to think about other projects to plan or execute. All the while trying to keep the house and meals as cool as possible.

I’ve made slow but steady progress on my sister’s Stormwater shawl (photos to come), an easy project to carry to cooler venues on account of the gossamer-light rayon yarn. I feel cooler just handling the stuff. In spite of my best efforts, I haven’t been able to make much progress on my 198 Coins tote (a medium-sized Noni carpetbag) … though I managed to locate and organize the foreign coins I’ll be embroidering onto it, the heat makes this one project too hot to handle for long (though even if I do complete the embellishment, I can’t imagine when I’ll get to the lining; this one will join the rather large striped carpetbag I fulled last month).

The Color Orange project continues to inspire me, and I spent a few hours in front of the living room fan crocheting metallic threads into earrings, and started on the miniature skulls that will eventually adorn a curtain for my son’s new apartment (he says he really will be moving in, sometime soon, maybe even next week, so he says). In addition,

And then there’s the handful of felted kippot I’ve managed to complete. I’ve had in mind to make a few of these for my brother and a niece for some time now, and the heat wave seemed a perfect time to turn out a few of these simple projects (not to mention the advantage of a bit more waterplay in the sink, fulling them by hand). CozyColeman‘s (stranded or needle-felted) fulled kippah pattern works perfectly every time; I’m already dreaming of a few hours in the cool-er basement, trying out a few embellishment techniques on a few of these.

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Playing Safely: the condom amulet project

How often is it that you cross paths – even electronically -with someone who shares mulitiple interests? I don’t remember when, but somehow I crossed paths with Naomi, the Little Red Hen. I think it was a few years ago, when I was looking for another infusion of redworms for our composting box (we’ve been feeding worms for over a decade); Naomi’s Knit One Red Worm project collected knitted redworms (!!) to promote vermi-composting. After reading her “Creativity in the Third Age” essay, I knew I’d caught sight of a fellow traveler. My hunch was confirmed after discovering our shared commitment to “knitting in public” as a route to promoting “public knitting” (for public purposes) – Naomi’s documented plenty of public knitting in action, and I’m a “walking knitter“, clicking away as I wend my way through town and task, sharing and teaching whenever possible. Eventually, Naomi found me through my own knittivist project, the TikkunTree.

Naomi’s latest effort is the Condom Amulet project, which promotes HIV and safe sex education for women over 50. Naomi and others (including 60 members of the related Ravelry group) have been knitting artful, playful, and practical pouches for precious cargo – the condom – important protection for older women who find themselves dating in a dramatically different sexual world, the age of HIV.

I’m delighted to be able to contribute to the Condom Amulet project … here’s my Seashell Amulet Bag, inspired by the pearl oyster shell. This is a rather dressy amulet bag, a bit of jewelry in fact, that might encourage more of us to carry our own protection with us. Please do make one for yourself and for a friend! (just don’t use my pattern commercially).

******

Seashell Amulet Bag
Copyright Tikkunarts 2008 (this pattern is available for personal use only)

Finished size: approximately 3 1/2″ wide x 3 3/4″ tall (not including the 10″ handle)

Materials

• Yarn: Silver metallic cord – I purchase mine from KnitPlace on ebay: Silver Metallic Sport Wt Yarn 5 Oz cone 600 Yds ($9.85 + S&H)
• Needles: Size 1 dpns (2.5 mm)
• 1 removable stitch marker
• tapestry needle
• one condom (though the bag will accomodate 2-3)

Directions

Row 1. cast-on 13 sts on one dpn, kfb on all sts (26 sts).

Divide and redistribute the sts so that they are on 4 dpns, as follows: slip the odd sts to a needle in front, the even sts to a needle in back, and then split the sts onto 2 additional needles. When you have done this you should have the following: needle 1 (7 sts), needle 2 (6 sts), needle 3 (7 sts), needle 4 (6 sts). Mark first stitch.

Row 2. * [k1, p1] 6x, kfb *, repeat between ** (28 sts)

Row 3. * k1, p1*, repeat between ** to end of round

Rows 4-6. repeat row 3

Row 7. * [ssk] 3 times, k1, [k2tog] 3 times, p1 *, repeat between ** (16 sts)

Rows 8-9. * k7, p1 *, repeat between **

Row 10. * k2, [kfb] 2 times, k3, p1 *, repeat between ** (20 sts)

Row 11. * k1, kfb, [k1, p1] 2 times, kfb, k2, p1 *, repeat between ** (24 sts)

Row 12. * k2, p1, [k1, p1] 3 times, k2, p1 *, repeat between **

Row 13. * kfb, [k1, p1] 4 times, kfb, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (28 sts)

Row 14. * k1, p1*, repeat between ** to end of round

Row 15. * [k1, p1] 2 times, [kfb, p1] 2 times, [k1, p1] 3 times*, repeat between ** (32 sts)

Row 16. work all sts as they come (knit all knit sts, purl all purl sts)

Row 17. * k1, p1, kfb, p1, k1, p2, k1, p2, kfb, p1, [k1, p1] 2 times*, repeat between ** (36 sts)

Row 18. Repeat row 16

Row 19. * kfb, p1, [k1,p2] 4 times, kfb, p1, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (40 sts)

Rows 20-21. Repeat row 16

Row 22. * [k1, p2] 2 times, [kfb, p2] 2 times, [k1, p2] 2 times, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (44 sts)

Rows 23-25. Repeat row 16

Row 26. * k1, p2, kfb, [k1, p3] 2 times, kfb, p2, k1, p2, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (48 sts)

Rows 27-32. Repeat row 16

Rows 33-36. Purl

To finish: BO purl-wise to the center of the back of the bag. Work an I-cord loop on 2 sts for about 2″ (or longer if you plan to use a large button closure), then continue binding off to last st. Work an I-cord handle on the last 3 sts. A 10″ length of I-cord should be sufficient for a purse or belt loop. Make the I-cord longer if you want to wear this as a neckpiece. Cut the cord, leaving an 8″ tail. Tie off the remaining sts, and sew securely to the pouch and weave in all ends. Sew on button.

Insert condom into pouch, attach to your purse, belt or body, and socialize safely!

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Orange: Beijing 2008

Be the change that you want to see in the world. Mohandas Gandhi

There’s been a lot of orange on my needles this past week since I crossed paths with Ravelry’s Color Orange group. Not that there hasn’t been plenty of other projects to work on or finish. But the Color Orange campaign’s goals really grabbed my attention and inspired me. According to the website:

We are launching the project The Color Orange to highlight the violations of the human rights in China on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Beijing August 2008.

The idea is both sophisticated and simple: We want to introduce The Color Orange as a symbol of the protest against the human rights violations in China. The strict censorship can ban the use of obvious symbols of human rights, but the use of The Color Orange cannot be banned.

So we will encourage sports people and spectators to make vast and creative use of the color for clothing and all sorts of accessories. It can be anything, like an orange hat, camera bag, tie, pen, paper, dress, suit, bag etc. Even pealing an orange will be considered a poignant statement.

So what could I contribute? These knittivist projects are usually terrific opportunities for creative thinking and knitting, and the chance to create visible expressions of solidarity with human rights victims and activists especially motivating.

Returning to the knitnotwar 1,o0o peace crane seemed a natural starting point. I rustled up a couple of birds with some satisfyingly orange Araucania Nature Wool, which felted quickly and beautifully. I’m not sure how they’ll be used in Beijing, especially the one I “stiffened” into a rigid sculpture after a soak in my “ceramicizing” recipe (a mixture of white glue, water and acrylic medium).

I looked for other symbols relevant to the issues and venue. Knitted chains have been on my to-try list for a few years (inspired by Knitty’s Marley’s Ghost and Loop d Loop’s version), and felted orange chains followed quickly. I’ve given them a name for the sake of the project: Un-chaining Tibet. Whoever gets to wear these will enact in a small way the discomfort of life without basic human rights – these are pretty scratchy.

Not wanting to subject another Olympics spectator to the discomfort of the chain necklace, I’ve made a felted medallion of Olympic rings which will get a black waxed cotton lariat. These took the knitted chain technique a few steps further, a pleasant challenge for me, and more importantly, a valuable symbolic exercise for the inter-connections among all peoples, grounded in common human rights.

None of these items took long to make – a few hours at most – so there’s no excuse for any of us with a concern for human rights not to contribute. There are plenty of ideas, and more information, on the Color Orange website, and its Flickr group is working to promote distribution of the handmade orange items.

In the meantime, I’ll be working out some knitted sculpting techniques, so that I can contribute a couple of orange figures from the website, who are literally appealing for support for the campaign.

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That Cable Feeling

Unable to shake this new passion for cables, I’ve indulged myself completely, and learned that cables can also engage my ongoing interest in peace in the mid-east. How can a knitted cable possibly function ethically or politically? I’ve managed to work cables into some TikkunTree project leaves – here, the use of two colors and intertwined stitches express well the necessity of co-existence between Israel’s Jews and Palestinians.

For patterns (and a bit more discussion of the “politics” of these knitted leaves), try here.

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There’s always something to knit …

Sometimes I feel like the mythological Sisyphus (remember Camus’ essay from high school English?), rolling my own stone up the mountain as I try to sort out and make progress on the mountain of UFOs. I often say I just need periodic stimulation of something new, to break the monotony of stockinette (as in the Cobblestone Pullover for Son#2), but I suppose I have to admit to suffering from Knitting ADD …

I think that in the past week I’ve worked on at least 12 different projects (!!!), and finished only 2.

1. Completed: Another charity knit hat, teen or adult size this time, made with the never-ending patties of laceweight merino from Handpaintedyarn.com. Even with regular knitting sessions on the recumbent bike this one took too long. But I always managed a smile as I tried to work on it as I walked for errands about town – the hollow plastic cable on the cheap (Chinese) circular needles I used was usually too stiff to work with in the winter air.

2. Completed: a “kippah nipple” for The Nipple Project. This was something of a lark. I’m not sure how I stumbled across this “knittivist” project (if you can characterize as knittivist this tongue-in-cheek challenge of taboos associated with the female nipple), but I immediately took out the never-ending cones of silver metallic cord to whip up a nipple based on my usual kippah/yarmulke pattern.

3. Serious progress was made on my son’s Cobblestone Pullover. With so many projects in progress, I needed a few more stitch markers – which meant a quick trip to the bead shop and an hour with the pliers. I’m very, very pleased with the knitting genies I made, one of which guards the center-back stitch so important to Jared Flood’s pattern. I can smell the end of this project, but never seem to manage the time to sit with it in my lap – it’s just too large and the rows too long to work on in the typical short bursts of time I have.

4. The second of my Chevalier Mittens is nearly done! These are so much fun to work on – it’s hard to put them down, in spite of the fact that the cables demand such care (I’ve frogged more than a few of them a few times already).

5. My stash of sock yarn is overflowing, and a good friend wanted to learn to make socks. So I finally started a new pair of socks: Knitzi’s Nutkins, with one of Kaffe Fassett’s colorways for Regia. The pattern is easily memorized (perfect for mobile knitting), the yarn a pleasure to work with – pools pleasantly. I’ve decided to shorten the leg by two repeats. Ellen-the-tikkuntree-leaf-machine is learning with toe-ups (photos soon, once I’ve seen how she made out after our first lesson).

6. Ever on the lookout for slippers for our front hall hospitality basket, I started another pair of guest slippers. This time, revising the homely (but useful!) Pocketbook Slippers and Norling Kay’s Slippers – from simple rib to sophisticated (and warmer, firmer) twined knitting. Why repeat what one already knows when a new technique can be learned or applied?

7. I cast on the ubiquitous Shedir hat, thinking it would be a straightforward project for a friend with cancer. What was I thinking? The Cashmerino is a pleasure to work with, but the pervasive twisted stitches and cables demand far more attention than I expected to have to give. I’ll see how far I get this next week on the recumbent bike, which has a reading slot for the chart.

8. Another car project (there’s always the light over the passenger seat’s primping mirror for late night travel!) – a reversible cabled scarf. I think I started this for Son#1, who probably doesn’t need it – but his brother’s Cobblestone makes me feel guilty, and obliged to give him something approximating equal (knitting) time.

9. Designing and drafting always tempts me away from my needles. It was necessary to take a hard look at the Valentine Cables Hat – after repeatedly frogging and reknitting the from-the-top cable knotwork, I decided to rip the entire thing and read a few more books on cables. Sigh. I’ve been working on a circular version of the MillionVoices colorwork chart, and converting (finally) sketches of op-art designs to charts (both stranded and cabled). They’ll find there way to posts soon enough (or not, I suppose, if I can’t get the repeat to work over 6 or 8 wedges).

10. The synagogue’s knitting group met for its first evening gathering (a “Knit & Knosh“), and I quickly made a pair of Quick Baby Socks to demonstrate, and also  another Sweet Baby Cap  (the skein  had more than enough for two of these in the smallest, 6 mos. size).  The cap was a favorite  at the meeting,  so I expect to be coaching more than a few of these at the next meeting.

11. The TikkunTree Project is moving slowly. Each week I manage to have a conversation or two about its peace-ful intentions and needlework needs. I finished another Safed leaf, and am working on a couple of new designs, one cabled and the other stranded (examples and patterns coming soon).

12. Finally, my “kippah project” is still in the works. I’ve started a few to work out technical challenges (my brioche cables aren’t yet fit for prime time, but will be soon). I have a bobbled Bukharan kippah on the needles, but it also needs some tweaking. Some back-ordered (from last year), MCY wool & silk fingering/DK weight yarns finally arrived; their colorways are inspiring. Along with my collection of DK weight wool & sari silk colors, I’m looking forward to trying out a few ideas with them, …. when I have a few minutes down time.

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