Moth Heaven

Women to Thank: Anni Albers

Recently, I added this to one of my Pinterest boards.

courtesy of Art Resource

It's a woven wall hanging by Anni Albers made of silk and rayon, held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

If you don't already know her name, I will tell you that Anni Albers was a member of the Bauhaus School, as you might have guessed from her last name. She was indeed married to Josef Albers, who is much more widely exhibited these days.

They shared a number of formal preoccupations, so much so that it interests me where one of them might have left off working out an idea, and the other began.

If you look at her wider body of work, you'll see what I mean. But Anni deserves to be recognized in her own right, and is one of those many women that your Art survey likely skipped over as your professor rushed to wrap up the 20th century in the time remaining in the semester.

As someone interested in textiles and the contemporary community that is grounded in their creation and celebration, I feel that I owe a debt to Anni for her book On Weaving, published in 1965, two years after I was born. Anni's work and her writing were part and product of the midcentury reevaluation of the beauty embedded in what had been historically marginalized as the "domestic arts". This new respect for hand work for which she was instrumental is the fertile ground out of which came interest in publishing books by Elizabeth Zimmerman, Priscilla Gibson Roberts, Barbara Walker, Mary Thomas, and Paula Simmons.

There's a Foundation for promoting Josef and Anni's work in Bethany, Conneticut, and they have a website. There's a very nice gallery there of her work which you can click around in. Take a moment to admire her work, and thank her for what she did for us all.

 

 

Getting Out of The Chair

Hey.

I'm in a knitting rut. As in, all I do these days is knit.

It's beginning to show a little wear and tear on the body. My butt is flat, my hands ache, I'm developing a widow's hump from looking down at my work all the time, and my clothes are not fitting very well. It's been something I haven't really cared about late in the winter since I hardly get out of my sweat pants most days lately, because what clothes are there better to knit in that something with an elastic waistband?

Damn, I'm a mess.

I went for a bike ride yesterday: a pathetic wind sucking ass kicking bike ride. It was the kind of ride I would have never thought would be a challenge, but yesterday, I was humbled by a tiny hill I usually consider a warm up.

Balance. I need to strike some kind of balance. Less chair time, more movement time.

I'm about to celebrate my 50th birthday, in fact. What better way to mark the half century mark than to buy some cute and inspiring bike togs, and hit the road?

It's spring after all. Time to get outside and move. Join me?

 

Make Room on Your Bookshelf for Your New BFF

So you knit. And you read my blog (thank you again for that, I know it's been awhile since I last said that), so you're probably interested in knitting sweaters, whether or not you actually knit sweaters yourself. If you knit sweaters, you probably have a collection that you aren't as happy with than when you set out on that 1200+ yard oddyssey, right?

 

As a sweater knitter, maybe you make good sweaters that look just like the pattern photo. Your gauge and yarn are a perfect match, the seams are tight and professional looking, your buttonholes sing, your color choice -- da bomb. But then comes that moment when you put the thing on, look in the mirror, and are disappointed with what you see. You might think it's you: your swimmer's shoulders, your short legs. What a shame. You're wearing a sweater that doesn't make you feel awesome for having made something with your own hands, you've only succeeded in reminding yourself about what you hate in the mirror.

Enter Amy Herzog, your best defense against having this ever happen again.

For sure, you know Amy. But in the unlikely case that you you don't know Amy, allow me to introduce the two of you. Amy Herzog has been teaching and designing with the laser focused purpose of empowering knitters to make flattering sweaters. She has been workshopping her ideas all over the country for the last two years, refining her data and helping knitters of all shapes and sizes get real about what will work for their unique selves, and now she's distilled it all into a great package anyone who knows the way to their local bookshop can get their hands on.

 

With the double release this month of both her Craftsy class and her book Knit to Flatter, anyone who's ever wanted to take a class with Amy now has accesss to her clothing smarts. The online class and the book function as compliments to each other, and are certain to make their way into every sweater knitter's basic toolbox. The bonus is that the book also includes 18 patterns designed to cover the bases, and to help you knit that first (or next) perfect-for-you sweater.

Her voice will remind you of your BFF, guiding you in your choices, reminding you of what "works". Like any "guide" book, there are sure to be moments when you might doubt such universal advice can apply to you all the time, but Amy herself is quick to point out that your personal preference trumps what she suggests. But you will likely find that she's right most of the time. There is no better advice than to knit what makes you happy, but when you take Amy's advice, what makes you happy will be a sweater that makes you feel as beautiful as you already are.

 

Interested in other blogger's take on Amy's book?  She's making the rounds this week on her Knit to Flatter Blog Tour.

Monday, April 15: Rock and Purl - Ruth Garcia-Alcantud

Tuesday, April 16: Mind of Winter - Julia Trice

Wednesday, April 17: Mary Jane Mucklestone

Thursday, April 18: Moth Heaven - Julia Farwell-Clay (that's me!)

Friday, April 19: Baby Cocktails - Thea Colman

Saturday, April 20: Knitting At Large - Julie Matthews

Sunday, April 21: ADD Knitter

Monday, April 22: Savory Knitting - Amy Christoffers

Tuesday, April 23: Carole Knits

Mitten Season

I know your head is not in the winter game at the moment, you're probably over the whole snow and cold thing. But hey, you gotta knit something, right?

Why not mittens for next winter?

Hiro mittens, of course. I've been meaning to knit some ever since I first made the sweater. They took me almost no time at all, they're like candy knitting, really.

What these are best for is the whole impulse yarn buying you're going to be up to in the next few months, what with all the sheep and fiber festivals that dominate the calendar over the summer. I know you're going to be fondling some pretty yarns in some lovely indie dyer's booth. Maybe you'll be standing in front of the irresistible wall of superwash in the Mad Color booth at New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, for example (May 11 &12th). There you are, looking at the colors together, wanting yarn, but feeling like socks or "a hat" just won't capture the giddy joy of all of Heather's colors when they are dancing together like they do on the wall of happy yarn. You're going to want this pattern handy, if only to justify the three skeins you had to have but don't know what to knit with.

So put this one in your arsenal. It's mitten season.

Closing One Door, Opening Another

Finished the Fox Love jacket. It turned out exactly as I imagined, and the zipper went in like a dream.

I started a new project. This one is going to be an oversized throw it on after the beach sweater inspired by my middle child. She has a preppy boho kind of thing going on, and I love her vibe these days. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Sportmate, which works beautifully (regardless of the name) as DK at five and a half stitches to the inch. You will never guess how this is going to go together from the first piece:

 

 

It's quite logical actually. Trust me, I know what I'm doing.

Crazy Like a Fox

I've been working on a little something for my son, who at 11 may be at that age when he is likely at any moment to cross over the fence that divides the "I totally love this" from the "I'm way too cool for that".

So this is my last chance for something like this:

I'm putting in the zipper today:

 

Yes, those are blocking wires. I'm using Caro's brilliant zipper tutorial. Have you seen it yet? Leave it to a native quilter to teach us knitters how to sew.