Thanksgiving Wish

Many of us are rushing around with the last of the preparation of festivities of this great holiday. 

For me it's not only the cooking, cleaning, it's the frenzy that will happen the day after as we rush to the next holiday.  Each year I wonder, is it the deadline, is it the change of the weather or what is it?  You fill in the blank.

I wish everyone to take a moment, spend some time with your lace, your fiber, your craft.  Not the item you are making for the gift to Aunt Tilly; spend time on your gift to you - your craft. 

Take time to k2p2 another row, find the special yarn, CTCTT a few bobbins, ds with the tatting shuttle, even just browse a book of ideas for some inspirations for projects to come.

However you spend your holiday - may you have Health, Joy and Peace.

Photo courtsey of Mystik Productions @flicker

Stitches East 2010

What an event!  If you don't know of it, it is a long week-end conference sponsored by the The Knitting Universe.  It's about knitting and lots and lots of yarn!  I did feel a bit left out being a crocheter, though the yarn made up for it.

Lori and I had made a date to go to the event quite a time ago.  It's been so difficult to get together, family issues, and other items and before long, time has flew by. 

We met at the Convention center at about 10am and began the feast.  Talk about stimulus overload and all the great yarns you can't imagine. 

The yarn was amazing - hand spun skeins, amazing work from the big mills, lots of different types, alpaca, wools, silks and even some man-made fibers. The colors, hand dyed, oh my goodness, I think I'm still drueling over them.

While walking about, you get to meet many of the designers.  It was interesting to meet several and discuss with them for a moment or two about their journey to becoming a designer. 

I found a few new yarn shops - hmmmm.  I know I made a promise to finish what I have in process.  I did pick up a book on needle lace and some tatting needles and finally a magnifying lense that I can attach to my pillow when I work.

All in all it was a great event and a great day with Lori.  We finished it up with  burger from Max Burgers in West Hartford.    Thanks Lori for a fun day. 

PS Looking forward to Stitches East 2011 - it will be held at the Hartford Convention Center once again.

NELG Meeting

It's October and the New England Lace Group NELG is going on the road this Saturday for their meeting.

We will be meeting at Webs in Northhampton Massachusetts. We will be demonstrating lace making throughout the store from 11 am to 2 pm.

Hope you can stop by and see us.

PS  just in case you want to make a different road trip - the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival is also this weekend at the Duchess Cty Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck NY. 

Great idea for a drive through the New England fall colors and checking out this two day fesitval.  The sheep are the stars here.

Demo at the Big E

It was Connecticut Day at the Big E and according the staff, one of the largest attendance days.  Go CT!

I choose the day as it's in the middle of the week, and I like to see the parade.  There are lots of CT related high school bands, the Governor and her Foot Guard, the State Police, fife and drum and lots of others.  The end of the parade was the Budweiser Clydesdales and the Hallamore Clydesdales each with a eight-horse hitch.   So amazing the size and strength of these gentle giants.

In the morning, traffic was bruttle and took me almost 90 minutes to go 34 miles!  Gate 1 is where the one day volunteers, vendors, and performers get to park.  It is so nice, it is right next to the back gate making it easy to bring in my lace making gear.

The New England Building / Creative Arts is where we get to set up.  Actually we don't really have a space, we set up in the aisle. It would be nice if we had a 'real' space we could set up in (hmm idea for next year).  Linda (fellow lacemaker) met me there and we set up our space so the patrons of the fair could learn about lace.  I met Linda at the fair last year and helped her rekindle her love for lace making.

Before you know it, the building opens with a raising of the flag, accompanied by a group of fife and drum musicians.  It is fun to watch the patrons go by, some are outright curious and come up and declare that I'm tatting (lol) and others are too shy unless you invite them over to see what we are doing. Time goes so quickly, some where around three and a half hours into it, I could feel my voice getting scratchy.  We handed out lots of NELG flyers to interested folks and may come up we a few more members!

I must say - it was a successful day.  Many for folks learned a little more about bobbin lace.

NELG Lace Retreat

The first weekend of May was NELG's Lace Retreat Weekend.  It begins late on Thursday, then all day Friday & Saturday and concludes Sunday after lunch with classes or just for retreating!  We have been at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center for quite a few years.  It's in Wareham MA on a cove of Buzzards Bay just before Cape Cod.

I took part in just retreating once again this year.  It was great - I took some projects (from the Plan) and went up by early Friday evening.  Accomodations were just lovely, weather was wonderful and most of all, it was those lacers that attended that make it just great.  You can't imagine the amount of creativity that was there on the weekend.  Thank you to everyone!

Next year is all ready booked so mark your calendars, it will be the third weekend of May.  I'm looking forward to the change in the dates as I will most likely be rested enough from tax season to take a class!  Unfortunatley I will not be able to study with Jeanette Van Ord.  This year was her last year that she will be coming (from  Netherlands) to teach.  She has been teaching for the last twenty years and so many students have learned so much about lace from her.  We will miss her!

Holly Van Sciver was our vendor and the other teacher.  She gave a great presentation on Saturday night about Lester Lace that came about at the time when the lace industry was failing and hand made lace was becoming history.  It was truly facinating and informative.

Before we knew it, it was Sunday breakfast.  The silent auction concluded and we made over $300 to help out our group.  I came away with some old IOLI magazines and assorted items to help out the lace corner of my studio.  I did purchase additional bobbins and a couple of books on tape lace from Solivinia. 

Looking forward to the plans for next year.  One item I've been thinking about is either getting there a day in advance or staying an extra day after.  If you are looking for a place to take an individual retreat - I recommend the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center as a great place to get away.

My Creative Plans for 2010

About a week or so ago, I began to write my plan for 2010.  My year begins after my busy season to hence it begins the end of April.

One of my items in my plan - get some of those crochet projects completed!  So this past weekend I sent myself to my studio to get a handle on the number of projects I have going.

I began to gather up and set out my unfinished projects. Anyone that enjoys the creative process generally has more than one project on hand. LOL!!! I'll admit to that! I found and agreed to some 21 crochet projects that are in the midst of almost done! I get started because I like the design, or it poses a different stitch I'd like to learn, or it is just different. Often times these projects get put aside as an event will come up and I choose to make an item for that event.
By organizing these projects, I feel somewhat accomplished. I'll be leaving for retreat in a few days and I'm packing some of my projects to work on, several should be completed when I return.

By organizing, I found a few more hooks, found some patterns I'd like to make (new projects!), found some knitting patterns I'd like to translate and we haven't yet spoke about my bobbin lace projects.


I plan to complete all these projects throughout the year.  It's a tall order though I know that with a plan, I'll have a chance to get them done.  Some projects, like Shelby's blanket, I'll be working on each week.  Others like KC's blanket took only a day to finish up. 

During our weekend demonstration of lace making at the Sheep and Wool festival, I took one of my crochet projects and just about completed it. Later on in the weekend, I added the balance of the edging and the tassels. KC wasn't really excited about it (she doesn't like change) though by this morning, she was enjoying her little blanket!

Next to organize - the yarn and thread stash! 

A Day at Winann's

What a lovely day for Connecticut Lace Day. Winann was our hostess for this month's gathering. We had great stories, news about the exhibit at the Wadsworth, discussion about the trip to RISD, and a little news regarding THE JACKET!

The Jacket will be 'unveiled on December 10th - tickets are not yet available. Soon to be announced. This is the Jacket that was begun at Plimoth - a recreation of a 17century jacket . This blog will give you a bit of the end of the story of several years of making this jacket. We at NELG had the opportunity to have a representative from Plimoth speak to us at one of monthly meetings. Some of our members have worked on making the lace and did some of the embroidery. Here's the list to those individuals that help create this jacket

I'm looking forward to seeing the jacket!

Update on Shelby's Blanket

With all my work and speaking schedule, sometimes it is a long day.

I do enjoy, even if it is only for a few minutes, is picking up one of my projects and completing a row or two.

This past week, I did just that - I completed the next 25 squares with round 3, for a total of 79 completed - 75 to go! I hope that this month will give me a few more minutes here and there to complete round 3 and begin round 4.

Time will tell. One thing, while I make them, I get to think about my niece. She is an amazing young lady. In about two months she will be visiting here. Look forward to seeing her and showing her the progress at that time. I'll get a couple of pictures of her and me!

Passing down your Craft / Art supplies - Estate Planning

At a lace day some time ago, we were discussing what happens with your lace stuff when you are now on earth any longer?

Interesting thought? What does happen to your hobby, supplies, collections, etc.? Is there a favorite child or relative that is going to get them? Actually does the favorite child or relative actually understand what this passion you enjoy is all about?

About a week ago I was attending an award ceremony for a friend and another person I hadn't seen in awhile said - "oh we came across the bag of stuff - like yarn, needles and stuff and that reminded me of you". While not overly complimentary, we all laughed and the point was made. Mind you, the "stuff" belonged to her mother. Do you get my point?

I've lots of bobbins, pillows, and books related to lace. Then the crochet collection of books, hooks, etc. The OTT lights, and tables and chairs that I use for this. It does make an interesting question in planning your Estate.

Having recent experience with cleaning out a friend's home, at the end, whatever was left after the sale was thrown out. Since I like textiles, I purchased some great crochet pieces from the sale. Had I not, it would have been tossed out to the land fill.

So what are you to do? Get out a piece of paper, or if you are more techy a camera or video and write and or take pictures or both, of it all. Tell the individual you selected to be your executor/trustee about the collections. Would it be best that they are given to a musuem, craft guild, or to a specific person? If you are amending your will, you may very well make mention of these type of items so it is not lost.

Keeping or passing the passion of your hobby, craft, collection to someone who will appreicate it is priceless.

Gossamer Silk, From Spiders Spun

This is just amazing. Silk made from spider webs - mind you 11 feet long! This article from the NYT today shows a picture and give the account of how this silk cloth got here.

The American Museum of Natural History is the proud sponsor of this amazing Exhibit - click it and see the video about this amazing feat of man and beast.

This pic is from New Guinea. Thank you Tumaren for this picture.