Playball!

I'm probably not the only person on planet Earth that loves Baseball season.

In past years I have cheered for my old home town team.  I will admit that I still love them, although I also cheer for the new home town team these days.

If you're into baseball, you may wonder if it's possible for one person to like these two teams.  I'm might be the only example of this sort of a sports fan.

Major league sports aside, this year is a very special season.  Our son has decided to play ball this year, and is having a great time at it.  He even received the 'Game Ball,' last weekend, a great honor going to the player of the game.

I have been knitting a little sweater called the Little Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos during the games.  It's sized for our 4 yr old who's opinion on the matter is:

"Mommy, I don't really want a sweater."

Sigh.  I will finish it anyhow, and at least make him model it for a photo.  It may then be shipped off to a niece so that it will be actually worn.  

How I managed to produce a kid who doesn't like hand knit sweaters...I will never know.  Good thing he's so cute.

Meeting Natalie Chanin at A Verb For Keeping Warm and...brain teaser answer!

The brain teaser post was so long ago that I'm sure you all know you got the right answer.  It was of course the ark from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie.  The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California had an exhibit of items that were brought in not only from the movie itself, but that were also real 'found' objects from actual real live archaeological digs.  

It was really cool.  We had watched the movie before going to the exhibit so the kids were excited to see all the stuff from the movie in person.  I'm not sure if kids or parents enjoyed it more. 

I recently had the amazing pleasure of visiting A Verb for Keeping Warm's stitch-in session with author Natalie Chanin.

My friend and I headed up from San Jose to Oakland in rush hour traffic, but it was after all very worth it.

Natalie spoke of her current endeavors as well as thoughts for the future of her company.  I didn't get the feeling that she is super keen to write another book, but I did beg her to anyhow since the first three books are so amazing. 

She gave us choices of all the colors of organic cotton jersey that her company uses for their clothes so we could combine them in different ways and have a small fat project to experiment with color.  

The clothes that some of of the students were wearing were made from some of the books.  They were just spectacular. 

Natalie is super down to earth and just about the nicest person I think I've ever met.  She was so sweet to spend time with us and to teach us a bit about her hand stitching processes.  I am off to try and make a garment now.  Not sure if I'll start with a tank top or a skirt, but either way the wheels in my head are turning.  

A little photo of me and Natalie.  I'm on the left, she's on the right.

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Brain Teaser

Just a quick brain teaser for you to wrap up your weekend.  Excuse the fact that it isn't exactly related to quilting.

Anybody out there recognize this object?  

Clue: I ran into it recently in Southern California.

If you live there, you can visit it too but only through April 21st.  My boys (even the adult one) got a huge kick out of this exhibit.

Alabama Chanin - some serious fun

When I originally broke out the airbrush and painted some fabric for an Alabama Chanin style test project, I also created a darker color piece.

I'm not sure that I love the dark red paint on white fabric that I used previously, and question my wisdom in using light silver paint on dark gray fabric.  When I look at the work that Alabama Chanin does that appeals to me most, it is actually the lower contrast look that I gravitate towards.

Next time I'm going to try the silver paint on white fabric, and some black paint on the dark grey fabric to try and achieve that elegant low contrast look.  Her long bloomer skirt is an example of this style.  Anna's Garden Swing Skirt is another beautiful example.

For now, it's all just learning and refining the basic skills of using the template and an airbrush, which is new to me.

It isn't that hard to pick up, but like everything...it will get better with some practice.

I'll be putting some black fabric under this gray that you see above and starting in on the reverse applique next.  

It's all quite addictive really.  The reverse applique is super portable and a perfect project for baseball season!

Playing with Twined Knitting and Secret Ops Quilting

At Stitches West this year I took a class on Twined Knitting from author Laura Farson.

It was very different than the usual knitting method, but pretty cool, and very Scandinavian.

Maybe the brim of a hat or the cuff of a glove will have something like this going on in the future.

There is an interesting Ravelry group on twined knitting where you can learn more, if you're interested. 

I really like this hat pattern called Undergrowth.
 
Are you planning for Mother's Day yet?  If your mom knits, maybe a wood DPN holder by  Knitzi would put a smile on her face.  Wow, there is even a carved version in walnut.

Spare time is at a premium for me these days, but what little of it I do have is devoted to a new top secret quilting project. 

It's a surprise for the person to receive it, so I'll leave it at that for now to be on the safe side.