Love Sampler by Rebecca Ringquist, from Dropcloth
I've been embroidering lots of wrinkles, using perle cotton and linen. One piece, which I'm calling 30 Days, I'm working on every day, for 30 days, alternating black and white each day:
I like how the wrinkles, being random and abstract, take me out of myself and my own desires and plans. I follow them and see what happens. It is a free and easy way of making art, quite a change for me. I anticipate that 30 Days will hang unstretched, probably with raw, unfinished edges.
This next piece is finished. I don't have a title for it yet:
Yesterday I stretched it over a canvas:
I've been reading the poems of Pam Rehm lately, since I came across one of her books while Christmas shopping at Amherst Books. Stitching metaphors appear in them here and there, so maybe I was meant to discover her work just now:
"I can imagine the body embroidered to the soul" (from "Another Dimension" in The Larger Nature)
"I love to hold onto something / Sew it to myself" (from "Indebted" in Small Works)
On the knitting front, I'm inching along on the silvery grey socks. Given how overextended I am, I decided to simplify them after the upper leg, so that it won't be months before I can wear them.
Pattern: Kelmscott by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Fiberphile 2-ply Squooshy Sock in Mithril
Needles: US 0/2.00mm
I liked that Mithril color so much, I chose it for my next pattern (an open-front cardigan knit in Fiberphile's DK weight). Here's a sneak peek—fingers crossed it will be available in April:
I'm also working on a second Shallows, as well as knitting up a spring sweater, a top-down pullover by Pam Allen:
Pattern: Petra, by Pam Allen
Yarn: Quince and Co. Lark in Bark
Needle: US5
After getting past the stitch pattern on the yoke, I knit it onto two needles so I could try it on. Looks fine—I expect the neck will widen into more of a boatneck once the sleeves and body are knit. Now it's full speed ahead in stockinette, round and round, making this a perfect travel project—just right for heading down to sunny Florida.
Busy, busy, busy. I'm looking forward to a little break. (See you soon, Mom!)
