I'm Back!

WOW! Technology is great when it works but a nightmare when it doesn't.  I am so fortunate to have Catrina, my Technology Magician.  I am one of the many victims of the iOS 8 update.  My iPad can no longer talk to Weebly and neither can my iPhone.  I have had to learn to write "Knitting:  A Love Story" in a much more complex way.  My Weebly Ap on iPad was oh so easy.  At least I am not the only one who is having trouble.  Catrina says Facebook is full of iOS 8/Weebly issues.  Now, enough of that!  Let's get back to 50 Things Knitters Didn't Have 50 Years Ago.

I love fiber, skeins and balls of yarn.  I am ecstatic when I see a LYS  filled with beautiful colors of yarn.  But I am old enough to remember when our choices were limited.  Knitting was great then but it's oh so better now.  TILLI TOMAS yarn is my next "50 Things Knitters Didn't Have 50 Years Ago."  TILLI TOMAS was a mainstay in my Survivor Shawls.  Can you see the beautiful sequins and beads in the yarn?  They give anything you knit a great sparkle (and you know how much I love sparkle!).  The yarn is yummy, the colors beautiful and there is sparkle.  What more could a knitter want!      

Remember when I mentioned the first time I saw Prism's Wild Stuff at the Quarter Stitch in New Orleans?  Well, the Wild Stuff was knit into an ENTRELAC vest.  It was hanging from the ceiling in beautiful muted shades of greens, purples and brass.  It looked woven.  What was it! How did they do it!  Well, it was the magical ENTRELAC.  I still wonder "Who was the first person who took the time to figure this out?"  Warning:  ENTRELAC is challenging to get a gage.  You only really know how big your project is going to be as the woven fabric appears.  I have knit many ENTRELAC projects, but I've given them all away.

This is my start of something called a Baseball Jacket in ENTRELAC.  I like the ENTRELAC look better when each row of squares is a different color (right leaning squares one color and left leaning another) so I never finished this.  This is one of my many TBFL (To Be Finished Later) projects.  This one I stopped because I didn't love it and discovered something to knit I did love.  

This is the picture that started an infatuation.  I was in the fabulous Yarn Barn in Lawrence, Kansas leafing through a Interweave Knits and saw this.  It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before.  I read the article and learned about VALENTINA DEVINE.   Look at this!  With all I've told you about what I love, are you surprised that I became obsessed.  This really was the first time I ever saw knitting that wasn't one row on top of another.  

My knitting buddy Linda and I got to take a class from VALENTINA DEVINE at Crafty Lady.  It was a wonderful day!  VALENTINA is fabulous!  Her life story is amazing, her sense of of design and color unequaled and Kaffe Fassett is her friend.  As you can see, this is another TBFL but I love it and have decided to finish it.   She brought a table full of her designs for us to look at and touch (no drooling, please!)  It was like being in a bakery and saying, "I want to try that and that and that and that."  She is such a nice person.  If you can get a copy of the spring 1998 Interweave Knits, do it.  The article and philosophy are worth reading. The article is called "The Kaleidoscopic World of Valentine Devine."  What a perfect title! The most fun part (or the most challenging depending on how you view it) is choosing the multitude of yarns you need for a project.  I decided I wanted copper yarns for this project.  Once again my stash grew but I loved every skein I bought.   The article and the woman completely changed how I look at knitting.

Well, the three things we've looked at in this post are TILLI TOMAS, ENTRELAC and VALENTINA DEVINE.  More to come