From One Extreme to Another

Way back in June 2012 I wrote about an extreme knitter by the name of Althea Crome. She uses very tiny needles and thread to re-create master pieces on very small sweaters. Check out what I said then about her work here.

Tools for using only 150 strands of yarn

Tugging yarn to ready it for knitting is a workout here

Today I want to write about another extreme knitter who has taken things in a completely different direction, using multiple strands to knit a mattress among other items. Rachel John from the UK is a textile artist and according to her own website:

During 5 years of research and development (2000—2005) Rachel re-invented textiles by changing the way yarn is used. She discovered that by mixing anything from 5 to 1000 strands of yarn together and, with her redesigned tools for the very thick yarn and extra wide pieces, you can easily and rapidly create stunning textiles for use at home, as gifts, as apparel. For instance hand knit a king size throw in just 2 days or an inch thick carpet rug in 6 hours.

Back in 2006 she set the world's record for the number of strands of yarn used at the same time in knitting by putting 1,000 strands together. From what I can tell from the video about it, the process looks pretty arduous to set up and then actually manipulate. (The investment of 6.5 minutes to see the process is worth it IMHO.) Here's photos of some of her finished work.

This isn't the type of knitting project I will be taking on soon, but the colour combinations used by this talented textile artist are indeed beautiful. I enjoy knitting with tools that are more portable, like #7 needles and 1 or 2 ply lace weight yarn. That's a project you can take on the bus.

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Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and

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It's back to quirkiness and time to step away again from the cuteness for a while. But as you see I'm someone who slips from one to the other without much effort so anticipate this back and forth to be my new normal. A dramatization of me in the midst of my startitist frenzy Yarn barf . I'm willing to bet you hadn't thought of putting those two words together, had you? It just so happens yarn barf can be a reoccurring pain for those of us who use yarns that come in a skein instead of a hank. (No pun intended regarding the current Noro virus, well maybe a little pun.) Skeins of yarn wound by the manufacturer These are hanks which need to be wound into balls If you look closely at the picture on the right you'll see the start on the millet yellow skein at the centre right of the photo. Its start can easily be seen coming from the centre of the skein onto the violet skein to the left. Easy to find, right! Sure but what about the remaining 4

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