SailingKnitter

MONSTER SOCKS

The quarterly journal of creativity, UPPERCASE Magazine, included this photo and the following blurb from me in Issue #24. Whoo hoooo!

"POTLUCK SOCKS" As a habitual hand-knitted sock designer and knitter, I knit over 50 pairs of warm wool socks each year. Because I knit so many socks, I end up with a plethora of small balls of hand-dyed beauties, solid colours, and self-patterning wool yarns. Other sock knitters know that I also knit for the orphanages in Kazakhstan so they will also donate their own leftover balls to me. What a bonanza for a sock knitter! What do I do with these small balls? Knit Potluck Socks (aka "Monster") socks of

SIMPLE SOCKS

course! I choose colours to contrast with each other or to blend depending on my mood. Then I'll knit a pair of socks (usually matching the two socks, but sometimes totally mixing it up) using stripes, blocks of colour and lots of Fair Isle-type stranded colour work. What fun! In fact, my favourite way to knit socks is using these leftover balls to create unique pairs of socks. Not only are these socks using every bit of the yarn and are thus a frugal endeavour, they also keep a pair of feet warm during the bitter cold winters of Kazakhstan. What could be better?"

If you haven't yet seen an UPPERCASE Magazine and you are interested in the graphic arts, textile design, etc. I highly recommend a subscription. I savor every issue and they earn a spot in my permanent library onboard this boat where space is at a premium.

KNEE HIGH MONSTER SOCKS

It's been a long time since I last posted a blog entry. Why? Well, we were enjoying our trip up to Washington D.C. when I suffered a knitting injury. It seems that the elderly human body isn't made to withstand 12 hours of knitting a day and not doing much else.

Unfortunately, I pushed it to the limit - knitting all day as we motored up the Intracoastal Waterway and into the evenings, day after day with no break. We often spent several days on the boat without setting foot on land or swimming (alligators). When I started to get a little stiff, I simply added another pillow behind my neck and kept going. Bad girl.

Then when we stopped in Swansboro, North Carolina, I carried an over-stuffed backpack of groceries the mile back to the boat even though my shoulder and neck got a "zing" and went numb. I trucked on. Bad girl again. Now I had the repetitive strain injury from knitting compounded with a pinched nerve under my collarbone.

So, the last couple of months have been painful. There have been good days and bad days, doctor

MONSTER SOCKS

visits, drugs, X-rays, and melt-downs and NO KNITTING. Imagine that. But I'm optimistic that I'll get past this - there's just so much knitting, traveling, exploring, basket making, ceramics and other pleasures that need to happen!

Luckily I found that working with clay actually was possible if I didn't work in too many tiny details. I've become a "Studio Member" at the Glynn Visual Arts Center on St. Simons Island which allows me full 24x7 access to the studio. So naturally I spend several days a week playing with mud now. Fun, fun fun!

I've been making more bottoms for weaving/coiling pine needle baskets both for me and my friends, some textured trays, and other do-dads. I tried to throw on the potter's wheel and had some success until my little vase went flying across the room. Oops. I'll try again when my neck is better.

In the meantime....The new KNITTING 2016 Calendar has been released and includes 4 of my designs! This publishing stuff is a long process and by the time a book is released I've totally forgotten about it. So it was a fun surprise to get the big box with my contributor copies (the grand reward is a free copy for each design published). It was also fun to be able to gift my knitting friends here with their own boxes of 100 patterns too!

So, although I've hit a temporary bump, life is still good.