2009 International Freeform Fiber Artists Show

It's up, it's live! Myra Wood again did an amazing job pulling everyone together and organizing the web pages. A great big public thank you, Myra!

Take a look:
http://www.freeformcrochet.com/2009/Pages/main.html

Artists are listed alphabetically by first name in the index link top right.
As a "Z", I'm way down at the bottom, next to last.

I'm taking my time looking at each one, and there are some amazing pieces. I'm just thrilled to be in such good company!

I'm not gonna post my pieces here - ya gotta go look at the show!!
And I think there will be a book eventually - all profits going to Women to Women International.

Namaste,
Zann

Bullion Rounds - More than you ever....

...wanted to know.

Back in January when I was preparing to teach freeform crochet at a daylong retreat, I decided I wanted to devote some workshop time to the bullion stitch. Many freeform crocheters use it extensively, some not at all, but it's a stitch that adds texture and sometimes movement to a piece and is certainly worth learning. At this time, I tend to use it sparingly and less in rounds than in clusters of it here and there. But I reserve the right to change that tendency at any time!

It's a difficult stitch to learn and requires practice to achieve co-ordination between all the elements involved: wrapping yarn numerous times around the hook, keeping the proper tension, and manuevering the wraps so that one can pull a loop through all the wraps smoothly. I vividly remember sitting in my LYS wondering if I would ever be able to do this stitch, and pretty much deciding I would be a bullion stitch-less freeformer.

Eventually (I think after reading Prudence Mapstone's explanation in one of her books and doing something just a little differently) I had a total Whoo-Hoo! moment. One minute I was completely inept with this stitch and the next I was able churn them out, to "swoop" the stitch. Swooping bullions means one is able to draw the picked up loop through all the wraps in one fell swoop. I can now make a bullion with pretty much any yarn and any hook, though my favorite yarn to do them is a relatively smooth singles or non-splitty plied yarn and my favorite hook to do them with is my favorite working hook - Clover SoftTouch.

This post is mostly for those who already have a working knowledge of the bullion stitch (also called roll stitch.) If you don't and would like to learn, there are tutorials online with good photographs and there are videos. Here is one by Margaret Hubert to get you started:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciaJwMW3Wys


As started making some bullion rounds for the workshop, so that I could have some examples, I discovered something that fascinated me. There are two distinct ways to make bullion rounds (and two combinations of each that actually make four ways.)

I started noticing that when I made bullions using the directions from Prudence Mapstone and Renate Kirkpatrick, my rounds were smaller, more raised - like little Bundt cakes. When I used directions from other designers and from directions in vintage books, my bullion rounds were larger and flatter. I decided to refer to the latter as Traditional (on the left below) and the former as Modern (on the right.)

the backs:
These rounds were made with the same yarn, same hook, same number of wraps, same number of bullions but you can see that there are significant differences. In addition to differences in diameter and height, the bar from the final locking stitch lies differently - in the Traditional, it tends to nestle between the bullions and in the Modern it lies against the back center of the bullion.

The point is not that one is the "right" way to do the bullion stitch or that one is superior. The point is that we can consciously choose one way or the other to achieve a different effect.

Here are my written instructions for each type, using only 5 wraps (you can, of course, use many more)
:

#1 - Traditional
Right side facing
There is one loop on hook
Wrap yarn around hook 5 times
Insert hook in fabric, draw a loop through
Yarn over hook, draw through wraps and the original loop, leaving 1 loop on hook.
Yarn over hook, draw through remaining 1 loop.

#2 - Modern
Right side facing.
There is one loop on hook.
Wrap yarn around hook 5 times.
Insert hook in fabric, draw a loop through
Draw this loop through all wraps, leaving 2 loops on hook
Yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.

As you can see, the difference lies in the last two steps, in either doing a yarn over or not, and in how many loops you have on the hook before your final locking stitch.

If that wasn't more than you ever wanted to know about bullion rounds, this should do it for you:

The third and fourth variations come about from combining those differences...i.e.:
#3
Right side facing.
There is one loop on hook.
Wrap yarn around hook 5 times.
Insert hook in fabric, draw a loop through
Yarn over hook, draw this loop through all wraps, leaving 2 loops on hook
Yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.

#4
Right side facing
There is one loop on hook
Wrap yarn around hook 5 times
Insert hook in fabric, draw a loop through
Draw through wraps and the original loop, leaving 1 loop on hook.
Yarn over hook, draw through remaining 1 loop.

Fronts of the four variations of bullion rounds:

Top: Traditional, Modern

Bottom: Combo #3, Combo #4

Backs of the four variations of bullion rounds:

Top: Traditional, Modern

Bottom: Combo #3, Combo #4

Sides of the four variations of bullion rounds:
Left to right: Traditional, Modern, Combo #3, Combo #4


and I think that's all I have to say on this subject!

RiverWools Winter Freeform Retreat Day

Finally, I'm getting around to posting a few pictures and words about the day. This took place on Saturday, Feb. 7. I took a few pictures beforehand, but was too nervous and busy with leading the workshop that I didn't take any during the event.

We had three tables set up for the sixteen adventurous participants, with goodie bags, a folder full of handouts and a special button I made for the day.

This is where I stood to teach. I brought in scrumbles, works-in-progress and some completed items to display.
I presented a Scrumbling 101 lesson, a lesson in the bullion stitch, and to end the day, we switched over to knitting random lace. The participants were primarily knitters and I think they were quite ready to pick up two needles by that time!
Here's Martha, owner of RiverWools, who I thank for believing I really could lead the workshop and giving me this wonderful opportunity. It was a lot of preparation work, but now I have the work done so I can teach future classes in these areas. I'm excited about that, it's a step or two out of my comfort zone and I think it's good for a person to take some of those steps every so often!

I learned a lot from doing this workshop, both during the preparation time and from the day itself. I think everyone had fun and learned some new techniques, or felt inspired. I know that I would do a few things differently and I wish that I had been able to spend more one-on-one time with people, but all-in-all I feel pretty good about how the day went.

In addition to the crochet and knitting, we had Stephanie throughout the day. Stephanie is a massage therapist who set up a chair massage area and brought each person back for a mini-massage. She also focused on the particular physical stresses that handwork can have on our bodies and gave tips on mitigating them. Our favorite:
"Knit for only 20 minutes at a time. Haha." (Yes, she said the Haha.)

"Freeform is a State of Mind" button.
I also made bullion rounds for everyone, so each person could have a sample of each of the two types. What, you didn't know there are two types? I didn't either. Until I started to try to figure out how best to teach the bullion stitch. Then, well, I became a wee bit detail-oriented and obsessive and decided that there are actually four variants. And that will be the subject of another post. Really.

Random Photo No. 2 (From the Mixed Up Files of Ms. Zann C. Carter)

I am not entirely sure, but am pretty sure that this is a photograph of my maternal great grandmother, Ella Harper Harbeson Peaslee, who died in 1905. The question is what is that fuzzy, furry thing on the bench beside her???

The interesting thing is that I was able to make this image from a negative I found in the Family Papers. There are many, many negatives and no prints of them.

I thought I'd have to buy a special scanner, but I didn't. I put the negative on a small light box, which cost me around $15, and photographed it with my digital camera. Here's one of my mother (the little one on the right) and her two sisters, Hootie (Suzanne) and Nell, circa 1925:


In Photoshop, there's this nifty image adjustment called "Invert" et voila!
It is a wonderfully magical process - it's like the negative is a secret that only hints at faces and details, and one magic word - Invert! - reveals them.

I'm looking forward to getting back to work on the Family Papers.
Namaste,
Zann

My Broken Heart (Mended)

My Broken Heart (Mended), 2009

Wool roving, wool yarn, hand-dyed, crocheted, needlefelted, 5"

My Broken Heart (Mended), verso

This is one of the pieces I worked on this week. As I worked, it seemed to me that one side was for Patrick and one side for my mother. It was very healing to create this, to be holding the idea that I was making a visual representation of my hurt heart, and my healing journey.

A year ago today, Valentine's Day, my mother died.
I awoke this morning in the dark and felt wide-awake, thinking of Mom. I looked at the clock. It said 6:45. That was about the time she died. At 6:55, I was called by the nurse who said she had just died, and that she had been with my mother, had heard her last heartbeat.

The note below has been by my phone for at least two years now. I put it there to remind me how I wanted to act and be when my mother called. Dementia often made phone conversations and visits turn into horrible interactions that left me feeling small, frustrated and ashamed. This note helped me to prevent that many times. I haven't been able to bear to remove it, but I think that today might be an appropriate day to let it go...

Love. Love. Love.

Zann

Freeform Cuff No. 1

Pictures will do the talking today.
I'll just say: Noro Kureyon, 3.5mm hook, 2 vintage plastic buttons.

A Fairy Pot for Raven

I've decided that blogging is like having a baby in that if you want to do it only when all conditions are just so, stars and projects and finances in perfect alignment, the Right Time....it will never happen. You just go ahead and do it.

It's been a month since my last entry, far too long. I've been knitting madly, finishing things (!), felting, thinking long thoughts, breathing. There are photographs to take, explanations to write, and I never feel I have enough time to do it, to create a blog entry that will please my vision of a blog entry.

Is it better to blog and blog less-than-perfect than never to blog at all? Today I'm saying yes to that. I'm jumping over all the projects and thoughts of the last month to show this....hmmm, wouldn't you know I am trying to create an entry after this long time and now psyching myself up to do it and Blogger won't let me upload any pictures!

Aha -- I'll see if I can find a way around by uploading to my own web space and dancing through the mysterious (to me, at least) labyrinth of this page's html. Here goes....

woo-hooo - I did it! Above is a little needle-felted lidded pot, about 3" high and 3" at its widest point. I was making it for my own self and amusement, but about halfway through, it began to make itself clear that it was to belong to my granddaughter Raven, a little gift to give at the family party for her 12th birthday.



Inside, I tucked a chunk of amethyst crystals. Wish I'd also taken a picture of the inside of the pot - there is a swirly spiral of red-violet in the center.



The party was last night and she seemed quite taken with the fairy pot. My other gift to her is our very own private, custom-designed workshop at the local bead shop, Beading Paradise. We are going to plan a project that will require skills we'd like to have (both of us want to learn to do wirework) and Binnie will get the materials and create a workshop just for us. Cool, huh?

Happy, happy birthday, Raven - you are one special person and I cherish the time we get to spend together!!

----------------------------

I shall end with a picture of the September scrumble I sent to my exchange partner in the Women's Artistic Soul yahoo group:

I hesitate to make a public commitment, but I really, really intend to blog more regularly, if imperfectly and anachronistically. I.....gulp....promise!!!

Socks In Progress

A very quick update, a copy of my recent post to the Womens Artistic Soul yahoo group:


I am still knitting socks and not doing much else creatively. I am sure
that there is a reason for that, the sock knitting must be fulfilling needs I
have right now. Perhaps it's need for small, manageable accomplishments, for the
rhythmic working of the needles without having to think very much for great
lengths of time. I am always doing at least two different socks at once, so
that I might be working on the more thought-requiring parts (heel flap, heel
turning, gusset, toe) on one sock, but meditative stockinette on the other. And
of course I also like the change of colorway from one to the other.


The sock knitting also seems to be giving me a better sense of sock structure
and technique. I have knitted quite a few socks, but whole heel/gusset
construction has never made sense to me -- I always have had to work it with a
pattern in front of me and the appearance of the heel/gusset has always seemed to
me like magic. Now that's not unpleasant at all, to have a magical,
wondrous sense after knitting something. But what I find unpleasant is my own fog
about this, about not having any understanding/visualization of the technique.

So I am happy to report that my current sock obsession is cutting through the
fog a bit.

These are very happy socks-- in Opal patterned yarn to which I have matched a
solid color for the heel and toe. Just cause I like socks with heels and
toes like that!

__________________________________

This is a picture of my August scrumble for that same group's monthly Freeform Exchange:

This is about the size of my palm, done in hand-dyed sock yarns from Claudia's Handpaint and Shibui and 2.5 to 3 mm hooks. Fun - really! And of course, inspired me to continue with more doodling in those finer yarns. Don't think I could plan to do a whole big project that way, but at some point perhaps there will be such an accretion of these scrumble doodles that a big piece will sort of naturally come together.

Always trying to trick my tendencies for instant gratification and short attention span....

Namaste,
Zann

Some Work in Progress

Way too long since my last update and busy, busy days ahead. Here's a few pictures of things I've been working on:
Ingredients for a hanging/sculptural project I am envisioning.

Handspun being washed to set twist. Looked so grossly like a big bin of worms I just had to take the picture....

Short row wedge shawl - Kureyon, felted/fulled. Am still working out this pattern for another project.

Some Freeform Work

June Scrumble for the exchange I'm in. There's a pocket on this one (mostly handspun yarns) with a wee scrumble baby peeking out.
And here's a picture with the baby scrumble. (Sorry for the poor colors...)

July scrumble......

...and the hat I began working on after being inspired by that scrumble.

This scrumble exchange has been very useful for me. Working on a single palm-sized scrumble, with no bigger project looming in my mind frees me in so many ways. I explore color and texture, try new stitch combinations. Of course, that can be done on one's own and I certainly have enough in the Bits and Pieces Box to demonstrate. But because the scrumble IS the finished object and has purpose, there is also a sense of gratification and accomplishment.

Being inspired to do a project based on the colors and stitches is a bonus. That hat above is nearing completion, which is a very good thing, since this month's scrumble has also given me project ideas that I'm itching to start.

Namaste,
Zann

Freeform hat - Galaxy Roads

This is a very quick post to say 'i'm still here!'

This hat is called Galaxy Roads and it took me forever to finish - mainly because I stopped working on it entirely for months. And also because it's freeform mostly in sport and sock weight yarns. The "roads" are Noro Kureyon, the other yarns are Trekking XXL sock yarn and Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport in various colors

I will be posting again soon - with more pictures of the work I've done recently, most of which is going into Riverwools today for display and maybe sale...

Have a great day!
'Zann

Round Trip Jacket #2, Lace UFO, Freeform Challenge

As promised, here are pictures of the second Round Trip Jacket I made, colors came out a bit light. This is Noro Iro #40.

This one took me about 6 days. I used #11 needles and it took about 5.75 skeins of Iro. It would definitely take quite a bit longer if you make it in a finer yarn than Iro.
The pattern is from the Fall 2003 Knitter's magazine (#72).

It has also been reprinted in the book Jackets for Work and Play from the Best of Knitter's series of books:


Here are, in no particular order, for those of you who are embarking on this round trip, some of the things you might want to know about my experience with the pattern.

1. There are two sets of directions - one for using a medium weight yarn like Silk Garden or Kureyon, and one using a bulky yarn. The one for the bulky yarn is pictured in a solid color and has garter-ridged sleeves. I didn't like those sleeves and chose to omit the garter ridges and do the sleeves in plain stockinette.

I did not try to match sides, cuffs, etc., but allowed the colors to fall where they would, depending on serendipity to achieve a pleasing, if unmatched, effect. I just don't care. I LIKE it that one of my cuffs is gray and one is greeny-black. To try to match Noro colors you have to use more of the (expensive) yarn and it slows down the knitting and turns it into a unpleasant chore requiring some calculating. And Noro does not help with any of that - every skein is different in some way.

2. Directions call for "invisible cast-on"(provisional) throughout. It is essential to use that for the very first cast-on of the back panel, because you will be needing those live stitches to attach the band as you work it.
In the other places where you will be casting-on, at the beginning of the band and at the beginning of the cuffs, the eventual use for those live stitches will be to join the band and cuffs with 3-needle bind-off. I didn't like that join (maybe it was the Iro, maybe it was my ineptness) so I just cast-on and cast off as I usually do and sewed the pieces at those joins.

3. When you are attaching the band and cuffs (as you work them) to the live stitches on the back piece and the sleeves, the directions call for joining with an SSK. This will leave a bumpy ridge. It actually looks okay with the Iro, since it's kind of a bumpy, lightly spun singles. Most people in the Knit-Along chose to do the join with a K2tog, which leaves the bump on the inside of the jacket. I did this with the above jacket and did like it better.
Cautionary note: When doing the cuffs, they are joined with a SSSK or a K3tog! Lots of people started those cuffs thinking it would be the same as joining the band to the back piece.

4. Those sleeves -- if you look carefully at the pattern pictures and some other pictures at Knitter's - you will see that they are really more a 3/4 sleeve. With only one exception, everyone in the KAL chose to make the sleeves longer. I added 10 rows to mine.

5. This jacket is really a sort of jacket-shrug hybrid, hence those short sleeves. I think some people were a little disappointed with it, wanting it to be more of a jackety-jacket. They wanted it to close better,or they thought it too short or that the gorgeous rounded band should be re-designed for a squared-off front band effect.

For me, this is absolutely my kind of clothing and I love that rounded band -- I made a large size in a bulky yarn, so it turned out longer than the others' jackets. I don't really like a front closure, so that was not an issue for me. I have to say, though, in wearing, this does have a tendency to slip at the shoulders, so I've thinking about creating some kind of shawl pin that's more like a frog, that I will place closer to the neck, rather than in the middle where most people pin it together.

6. Finally, though this is a pretty casual item of clothing, and dramatically whimsical (people will stare, the curious will ask all kinds of questions about it ) when made in Noro yarns, there was one knitter in our group who made one that would definitely be considered dressy. She used a Blue Heron cotton ribbon yarn. It was drapey and lovely. Right now she's making a short-sleeved blouse of the same yarn to wear under the jacket. It will definitely be an elegant twin-set.

If you do make this jacket, I hope you enjoy the making and wearing as much as I did and do!!

A UFO

In addition to the zillion things I'm committed to doing right now, I'm trying to spend a little time clearing up the UFO situation. This is a lace scarf/stole I started two years ago at least. I'm using some Twinkletoes hand-dyed sock yarn from Over the Rainbow and size 8 needles. It's really close to being finished, in fact I think I'm just going to bind it off!

The pattern is from the book A Creative Guide to Knitted Lace by Jan Eaton. Looks like it's OP now and only available from used book shops. I don't know if it will wind up being one of those scarce, pricey OP knitting books -it's a rather basic guide-but there aren't too very many out there and some of the prices are already twice the original $12.95. The "look-inside (tm)" feature is available on that link to Amazon, so you can check out the index and table of contents to see if it's something you might want to buy.

2007 FreeForm Challenge

I'm happy to report that I did finish all the pieces for the 2007 International Freeform Challenge and have sent the pictures off to Myra for the online exhibition. Soon I will send off the pieces themselves and they will get to be on display with the whole group's offerings at the freeform booth at (I think) the two Crochet Guild of America conferences this year.

Of course, I can't post the pictures here because we want the online exhibit to be a wonderful surprise, but here is the yarn I chose to work with for the last element I did, Air.

This was a fun project -- I learned quite a bit while doing it. The deadline has been extended several times and right now, it's been extended by an additional two weeks. So, if you like to scrumble and want to contribute, you still have time. You do not have to do all the elements and the 3-D ornament. You can participate with just one piece!

Upcoming Workshops

Well, I've enjoyed making this post today. I have to get back to work on the triloom weaving as I am again invited to do a workshop. This time, John and I will work together on the whole workshop as one day-long event. Last time, we separated the two. But I was SO glad he stayed for mine and intuitively knew just where he could jump in to help.

This time I can return the favor by helping where needed as he does the nuts-and-bolts of getting people started with the trilooms. It will also be good to integrate the two, so that people might be able to finish one of the small projects I've designed by starting the weaving for it in the morning session.

I am also part of a committee at a wonderful new integrative health center here, The Maple Center. I will write more of this later, but the committee is creating a daylong workshop about using the arts as healing tools for grief and loss.

I have thought long and hard about what I want to do as a service in memory of Patrick. While it might seem logical to work on issues of addiction and drug abuse, the fact is that I cannot bear to have that in my life. Going through what we went through as Patrick struggled with addiction was devastating and traumatic. Right now, just writing this and thinking about it, tears are welling in my eyes...

So, it came to me that my service in my son's name shall be to those suffering loss, particularly the loss of a child, but loss is loss. I want to share how I have chosen to answer the destruction and loss in my life with creation and love. I want to share how art has moved me through some of the worst, most despondent moments I've ever experienced.

This opportunity to work with a number of professionals at the Maple Center comes about because of the other tragedy in our congregation - the death of Lydia Laska, who was just 22 when she died this past December. Donations made in her name will be used to fund this workshop. I will be working on one of the sessions with Lydia's mother, Cathie, who is an art teacher, painter and weaver.
Peace, love,
Zann

Freeform Challenge - Just a Hint

I am hard at work on:

*materials for the Triloom Workshop which I am calling "Triloom Weaving: Creating with Small Triangles"

*socks on two circular needles

*scrumbles and ornament for the Freeform Challenge

The Freeform Challenge is open to all the members of the yahoo group for freeform crocheters. If you have an interest in ff crochet, that group is an excellent resource and regular participants include some of the most well-known freeform artists from around the world -- who are consistently friendly and generous with ideas and advice -- and amazing not-so-well-known artists who are also friendly and generous.

The Challenge is twofold: to create flat scrumbles for each of the four elements of water, earth, fire and air and to create an ornament. The scrumbles will be pinned together in wall hangings and the ornaments will hang from a Tree of Life/Tree of Peace. A golden thread is to be used in each scrumble and ornament to carry the theme of unity and connection. Surface embellishment in the form of beads, embroidery, felting is all allowed. The hope is for international participation.

There will be an online exhibition and the actual pieces will be sent in to be displayed at the two CGOA conferences scheduled for this year at each side of the country.

For a nice pictorial that shows the evolution of a scrumble, please check out Prudence Mapstone's page - click on "What is Freeform?" at her site KnotJustKnitting.

Also, take a look at the exhibit for last year's Challenge, called 60 Odd. (I can't look at it too long or a kind of intimidation sets in!)

Alas, I cannot display my pieces yet. The idea is to wait until the online exhibit is put together and that won't be for a couple of months. But I have been working diligently and have finished Earth and Water and have almost completed my ornament.

What I can do without spoiling things is to post the following hints in the form of materials pictures. And of course, bear in mind that with freeform, the selection of yarns I start out with might wind up being a quite different selection in the final piece!

I took this picture as a kind of still life of things I was using in today's work on my ornament:
First selection of yarns for Earth:
First selection of yarns for water:
Such fun....