Thanks
I have received the nicest emails lately, both public comments here and private notes. Thank every one of you for visiting my weblog! Thank you for letting me know you are there, and that I am saying things that resonate for you as well. I am gratified to know that this is working so well, so soon.

Polymer Knitting
I was surfing today looking for instructions on how to knit I-cord (for someone who asked on the Knitlist) and found this: Knitted Polymer Clay! I spent about a decade obsessed with polymer (picture is a Pitcher Sculpture I did in 1996). I remember now that one of my best teachers was teaching others how to extrude polymer and brair or plait it. I might even remember that someone was knitting it, but I was not knitting then.

Here it is: The Random Acts of Craftiness Knitted Polymer Clay page! Amazing.

It looks as though the polymer would be difficult to control as yarn. Not only that, I have extruded polymer once or twice, and it is a painful thing to do with the tools typically used. I think I’ll let her do this herself. But she’s got a full-sized purse there, which appears to have been knit from two strands of a special type of elastic polymer. I salute her for the effort she went through, and it does seem to function properly. She says the watchband is wearing very well. Check it out!

My Knitting Projects
On the subject of my own knitting, I had planned to knit my legwarmers in reverse stockinette stitch (what is usually considered the “wrong side” of knitting, with the purl bumps showing). I like how this stitch blends colors with multicolored yarns.

However, I got going on this project and realized that with this colorway (jewel tones, a little darker than my normal colors) it was just mudding up the colors too much. The stockinette side had bits of brighter colors (turquoise and a berry) where there was enough yarn there to really shine, to show the light.

I ripped back both legwarmers, one 20 rows and one 12 rows. I wrapped the first stitch on what was to be the next round, and turned the legwarmers inside out, going back the other direction. I had to do it this way because I had knit in a crease so that I could fold down the cuff on the legwarmer. Since the cuff fold was not reversible, I reversed the leg instead. I’m going to like these a lot.

Since I am doing a folded cuff, I haven’t made a lot of progress yet but I’m at the “brainless knitting” part so they should go quickly this week. I think I am not going to decrease these until the bottom cuff, I think they will be warmer if they are baggier. I’m still praying I have enough yarn, though. If I need to decrease to make them longer, I’ll have to rip out again!

Oh, and last night after coming home from the musical night, I snuggled into my comforter on the couch and finished the toe of my first “Fuzzy Feet” slipper. I haven’t started the second yet. I know that when I start, I won’t want to stop until that pair is on my feet! I am afraid to start, I think.

Yesterday Evening
Last night our music gig at Altus was very fun. Unfortunately, Lansing got about 3-4 inches of snow from about 11am to 6pm, and so a lot of people stayed home. I can’t blame them.

The good thing was that the folks who did come, were a great audience for the Abbott Brothers’ style. We had a great time! It was actually nice for Altu, she got to sit down and listen to us for a short while. This is a luxury she does not get often… running a restaurant is a job which affords little down time.

I did line up five fine acts for the Saturdays in March. If this wonderful performance experiment works out, the Abbott Brothers will return and play again, hopefully during better weather!

By the time our gig was done, we ate a fabulous Ethiopian vegetarian meal, family-style, and then went over to Barbara and Larry’s house to play more tunes. I never did get to the Yarn for Ewe Knitters’ Night Out. I wonder how many braved the weather to go. It promised to be fun, but I just was overbooked.

Dance Event for the Dancer Called Morocco
I missed out on a dance event in the Detroit area as well. The workshop/performance honored Morocco, a dancer who has done a lifetime of historical research on the artforms of Middle-Eastern and North African dance. She and her troupe, The Casbah Dance Experience, have had difficult financial times in the wake of 9/11 and the event was to raise funds to help her studio in NYC. I’m sorry I had to miss that. She is a fine woman and I would have liked to be there.

It’s sometimes a drag to be human and only be in one place at one time, you know? I’m still making peace with that reality.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 23rd, 2003 at 8:10 pmand is filed under Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.