Happy Holidays....Never forget these words....

I thank Jan Phillips for keeping artists inspired by reminding them that creating is as important as breathing. My prayer for 2009 is that everyone honors the creative ideas that are sent to them by manifesting them. Happy holidays!

Seeing Possibility After a Break Up

Ever see that Swiffer ad on TV where the Domestic House Goddess has "broken up" with her mop and broom? (I can hear the soundtrack of "Baby Come Back" that they use, going round and round in my head as I write this.) The mop and broom try to lure our Goddess back with flowers, all kinds of gift deliveries, hot tub invitations, etc. I think this ad hits home for a bunch of us!!!!
I can picture sequels to this ad. Sequels showing this Goddess at the police precinct getting a restraining order. Maybe even a scene in court, where the Goddess reveals all the abuse the broom and mop put her through...or even a scene in the shrink's office where the shrink finally says their client is cured from attracting abusive mops and brooms into her life.

The reason I bring up this ad is because I recently "broke up" with my couch. Every time I sat in it, besides it being horrible for anyone's posture, it brought back past boyfriend memories on that couch. I just couldn't stand to be around that ambience, so I moved it to my studio. It now has a new use....I take off the cushions and block my finished knit projects on it. And what a perfect blocking tool it is!!!

As far as the sweater in these photos....last Summer, I was so hungry to take a certain Drop-Stitch knit class I read about, but I had a schedule conflict. Instead, I saw a pattern for a drop stitch sweater in Cast On Magazine and gave it a try. One day I will make it to that Drop Stitch class if they ever give it again. Until then, I'll keep learning from patterns I find.

Have you ever used an item, appliance, or piece of furniture for a totally new use and loved the results? Please inspire us with your story!

Hidden Hotel Nightmare

A friend had sent me this video clip quite a while ago. It was quite disturbing. I remember going to a conference once and returning very sick and not knowing why. Many in the conference got sick as well. Could this be the reason?
Now, whenever I stay in a hotel I pack a small bottle of dish soap. But, still....there's ammonia in the window cleaner some cleaning staff uses on those hotel glasses! So, lately I bring my own mug to drink anything from in a hotel room.
When I went on my knitventures this Summer, I actually did wash out a dark coffee cup in a hotel room that was next to the coffee maker when I got in my room. All this dark coffee came out in the rinse water! Dark mugs hide stains. It was a pricey hotel I stayed in too!!!!
Maybe you have seen this clip before, as it's been going around the cybersphere. If not, I hope you remember to bring your own mug or dish soap when you stay in a hotel.
Do you have any hotel nightmare stories to share?

Talent and Inspiration Everywhere!

It was a wonderful education-filled Summer. I attended the Knit and Crochet Show in New Hampshire and Stitches Midwest in Chicago. Not only are there high quality teachers and classes there...but the attendees sport their creations. That's just as much reason to go to these shows as the lessons and market reasons are.
Starting with the photo with the gorgeous knit skirt....this fellow student was kind enough to let me take a snapshot of the beautiful layered skirt she made. I am embarrassed I don't know her name, but the skirt she knit definitely blew us all away!
Then there was this most attractive crochet dress worn by Jennifer Hansen (Stitch Diva Studios) About Us (thank you, Amy Shelton, for that info!) She taught a class on how to make this dress at the K&C show. The dress so magnitized us to it every time she entered a room. So incredibly done!
And then there is the crocheted purple wonder outfit made and modeled by co-owner of Crochetville, Amy Shelton, who offers a whole crochet world online Crochetville Forum.
If anyone can identify the name of the model of that wonderous knit skirt let me know, so I can edit this post and not be so ashamed of my middle aged memory.

The Knit and Crochet Show and Crochet Dude

It's "The Crochet Dude!!!" The Crochet Dude I took his blogging class at the Knit and Crochet Show in New Hampshire this Summer. What an excellent teacher! And such an inspiration to introverts like me. I love to read his blog and watch him evolve his life as if it were a crochet project. He's endlessly experimenting and trying on new aspects of the design of his life.  He puts himself in a challenging situation that stretches him beyond any kind of comfort zone...and then he comes out on the other side a seasoned pro! When you see what he does with his life, it makes you want to follow the instructions of his design and make a design of your own. We need more role models like this.

The Mouse is "In the House"

So...being a woman of my word, I refused to post again until that mouse was done. I used some Lamb's Pride Nature Spun #1 yarn to make him and did a few personal modifications, like an i-cord tail and an embroidered expression of pure bliss. I hope you can see the huge smile on Mouse's face. I like Eckhart Tollecat's mouse to keep an expression of joy even while he's being clawed and chewed to pieces because as a coach I like to encourage my clients to keep enjoying life through all its challenges and bumps in the road.

This mouse does not take two months to knit even though my blog consistency would make it look that way. It really only took a few hours to make. I was just away attending some incredible workshops I want to share with you in the next post

How to win his house mate over...

Look at Eckhart Tollecat loving his new Pi bed! It took until today for him to get in it and try it out. He was really bad right before he decided to try out his new bed. I do believe he finally tried it out because I've been begging him to for weeks and he was trying to win me back for being bad. It worked. Next I'm going to knit him a catnip mouse pattern that is free on Lion Brand Yarn's free pattern site. So back to the needles. I'm just a mouse away from seeing you soon.

Spotting UFOs

I'd like to say I haven't been keeping up with my blog because I've been abducted by aliens. But, to use the proper wordage...I've been taken away by UFOs.
It being Spring time, many of the human species find a hunger to clean up our living spaces and reorganize as a welcoming in of the Spring season.
What jumped out most to me in my home were the HUGE number of UFOs (unfinished objects) I have all over the house. Why? Because for some reason, the next step of each project had a problem, so I'd go on to another project until I came up with a solution. You know what I'm talking about...problems like...running out of the right yarn, or you're designing a piece and can't really figure out the next step at this time, or if you're working with instructions, maybe you misplaced them. The toughest part of facing our UFOs can be that we forgot where we left off and have to figure that out...which isn't always a smooth transition.
So, here is one of the many UFOs that I completed recently.
It is a cat bed. The instructions are found for free on this wonderful knit site Kitty Pi .
And here is such an entertaining page where you can list your kitty bed with your kitty modeling it and tell your story once it's finished! Kitty Bed Gallery
Now, I'm not sure if Eckhart Tollecat will even use his bed once it's dried. But if he does, I would love to post it on the gallery page. And if he doesn't....it will stay the extravagant bar stool cover it is at this time. That's the fun of creating....there's always a new way to see things and use them.
I hope the Spring season is inspiring you to bravely face those UFOs, keeping your projects your friends and not leaving them estranged aliens.

Either You're Een or You're Out....Is Knitting a Dying Art?

My cool friend, Jackie went on a trip to Chicago. The Hershey Store had these designs from Project Runway on display. How nice to see them in their stillness to study the detail! I don't know about you, but I'm addicted to watching Project Runway. It's so inspiring to see what talented designers create under such a high stress deadline. It's also fascinating to see how stress brings out peoples' character.

I wonder if Jillian's dress could be displayed without roaches coming to eat the Twizzlers. That was an amazing feat to put and keep that design together. I was at the edge of my seat wondering if it will hold together.

My point here is to ask the title question. I hear and read that "knitting is out." I hear that Project Runway has made sewing the hot skill people are hungry to focus on. PR is responsible for increasing the enrollment in fashion schools as well. Does that mean that knitting has died on the vine? I can't imagine it has. Don't fashion shows have knits as well? And the major biggy that I love about hand knitting is that it's portable. You can't take a Bernina on the subway and do a few seams until you get to your destination. (Though I hear there are teeny hand machines people use.) I've heard celeb knitters in interviews mention knitting is not what it was even five years ago. I don't want to believe this. What do you think? I am still teaching people to knit and maybe knitting and sewing will do a Reese's peanutbutter and chocolate merge and create a new craze in the future. Being a Tolle fan, I can't worry about the future. So, I'm going to accept the "isness" of fashion and expect that knitting is going to hold its own. Is there an "isness" to fashion? I'm going to have to ask Eckhart Tolle.

Mistakes Are Our Friends

First of all, I'd like to thank my awesome art business coach, Michelle http://michmysticdesigns.blogspot.com/ , for kickstarting me on finally making this blog.

This is a photo of me back in 1965. I had just learned to knit that year. Remember Earl Sheib the auto painting guru? Well, his wife, Mady, opened a knit shop in my home town and my Mom and I learned to knit there. I was ten. This is the first sweater I ever knit.

I remember the instructions said to rib in K1P1 for an inch and a half and change to St st. I didn't know what that meant, so I just kept on ribbing until I reached the arm hole. I brought the sweater in to show Mady how I was doing. I remember her putting her head in her hands. Then after a long pause, she said, "That's okay, you can make it a poorboy sweater." Poorboy sweaters were just starting to be a hot item back then. They looked cool with hip hugger mini-skirts and fishnet stockings. That was my first taste of learning to take advantage of my mistakes. Some of the best art comes out of going with the flow of the unexpected (or mistakes.) Jazz singers and musicians do it all the time. Performers do it all the time. Artists do it all the time. I highly recommend making friends with mistakes. Because sometimes they aren't miss takes at all. They are new road takes that put you on an exciting new journey called "finding your style." Does anyone have any mistake success stories they'd like to share? Please share them with your Knitfunctional Family.....