WOMEN FOR WOMEN ON 60 MINUTES

A while back I posted about an auction offered by the International Freeform Crochet Guild based on the guild's 2007 challenge. Proceeds went to the Women for Women program which will be featured tonight on CBS's 60 Minutes in a segment called "War against Women".
Here is the press release email received by the guild and posted on IFCG's Yahoo Group:

Dear Friend,

CNN's Anderson Cooper will be highlighting the plight of the women inthe DR Congo on the venerable CBS news magazine, 60 Minutes. The showwill air at 7:00 pm on Sunday, January 13. Check your local listingsfor exact air times and please forward this to your friends to spreadthe word.As you know, every day in the Congo women are being traumatized;their suffering used as weapons of war. Anderson Cooper and 60Minutes visited our operations in the DR Congo and met the women weserve. The 60 Minutes piece, "War Against Women", will enlightenthousands more to the unspeakable violence these brave women faceevery day as well as the hope for the future that the Women for WomenInternational program brings.We invite you to watch the show or set your recorder. Check ourwebsite, www.womenforwomen.org/congo, for more information andcontinued updates on the show, to make a donation, or to learn moreabout the women of the DR Congo.We are grateful for your support and for the opportunity to share thestories of the women around the world with even more people.

On behalf of the women we serve,

Zainab Salbi
Women for Women International CEO and Founder

P.S. This is the perfect chance to spread the word about Women forWomen International! Invite friends and family to watch 60 Minuteswith you. Please forward this email to friends and family or takethis opportunity to write about us in your blog.>>>

LA PINATA: TAST 15-17

April 10 I was just short of apoplexy. I thought for a thankfully brief
while I might have to choose whether to download TAST 15 materials or catch my flight to CA. I had already packed an activity bag with supplies I'd need. I even prepped an 8 x 7 inch piece of Aida cloth I'd dyed by tacking down a gnarl of dye batch waste thread into a center oblique S-curve. I placed some of my dyed gauze and rug canvas roughly on the other diagonal and stitched that down, too. I was ready for whatever stitch Sharon B might send our way. It turned out to be the Oyster Stitch.

Good that I had time and beautiful space for stitching, as I had to do a lot of practice betwixt doodlecloth and project fabric. Even then I didn't quite get the knack so my oysters look mutant -- plump with texture, I'd like to think, however incorrect they may be. In a setting like the above, who minds frogging? I had a balcony with table and chairs. In addition to poolside, there were two lovely garden patios where I could choose to work in sun or shade. Gurgling fountains refreshed and soothed to the point not quite right oyster stitching could become palatable. And although magaritas are helpful, they can only aid digestion so far. I got tired of oysters and just started filling in with other stitches until I could access TAST 16 , which I did compliments of the hotel lobby computer.

Ahh, the Palestrina! More knots for texture. I've mentioned before that I often work spontaneously. This is not to say I stitch away with random abandon; I am mindful of basic design principles, and although the composition may be abstract and asymmetrical, it still requires attention to overall balance. I consider this with the placement of color, type of stitch and direction. The only thing definite about my sampler at this point is a colorway and specific stitches I want to use. If I'm lucky the piece will eventually suggest a form; in this case it wanted to become a bird so I began to create general shape -- just enough to give a hint of birdlike form. As a kid my favorite puzzles were the find the hidden object kind; freeform affords me an opportunity to share such a challenge with viewers. For myself as viewer, I prefer to look beyond the visually obvious and seek the intent, technique and methodology of the artist. I firmly believe appreciation of anything involves contemplating "the good, the bad and the ugly".
Did you experience the return of Quetzaquatl or the uncloaking of a Klingon warship? Can you sense a bird from the Painted Desert, a butterfly, or just a jumble of colored threads? In the cloth my bird is rather shaggy and made me think more of a pinata decorated with colorful crepe paper. At the very least you'll surely agree with me that it represents something festive from south of the border.

I'm getting another inkling from the sampler. Hmm, it wants to live on as a large handbag -- or tote. Obviously it's familiar with my stash collection of southwestern and Hispanic fabrics. I may have to re-do my running stitch border from TAST 17 . Add a little bling, maybe.

WHEN THINGS GET UGLY, ROC ON!

You don't have to be nice. It's perfectly all right to express your distaste. I did for days. I thought I had a good design plan. I had a nice assortment of novelty yarns that, believe it or not, co-ordinate quite well together. And the ground fabric is not that dirty, fulled camel I've been working of late; it's nice wool suiting I found in my yardage stash. The piece just wasn't speaking to me. Ugly was getting uglier by the stitch.



What a disappointment. The visual properties of the individual yarns are completely lost, and there's an obvious disparity in scale. I think I blew it from the beginning with the big, fat chenille. It was one of three yarns I used to create a spiral. Geez, you can't even see the other two yarns -- and no, they not that feathery stuff. The more I tried to add to detract from the chenille centered blob, the worse it became until I reached the point I decided I'd had a good practice (I couched with feather, cretan, herringbone, knotted and up & down buttonhole, etc) and would simply skip the TAST 12 show and tell.



I felt bad about that decision; it didn't seem right to publish okay stuff and omit the less successful ventures. So I changed my mind and took a new look -- you may know how I am about turning things around to gain a new perspective. I went to work again trying to "make it work". I didn't. But despite a total design failure, I had a delightful time couching away and inventing absurd interpretations in my head. And on the positive side, I suppose I did achieve lumpy, bumpy density of texture.

BETWEEN A ROC AND A HARD PLACE

Princess Leia has trouble with Tribbles during a close encounter with a roc chick/pet roc/third or fourth roc from the sun in an anomalous breach of that time-space continuum thingy in a dimension far, far away...

"She's lost it this time!" I can hear the chorus, "Beam her up, Scotty!"

SUNCHASER

Sunchaser shoo's the Sun away from lands that need rain to places that can bask in its warmth and glory.

Sunchaser is a figment of my imagination, and this is how he evolved. I looking through a pile of cloth I had dyed. I selected this piece of buckram which had softened nicely after its dye bath. The slightly blotchy aqua was a result of my second experiment which was to mix some of the leftover dye baths from my primary dye attempt. I began by placing a blob of thread with trailings that I'd cut off the side of some muslin from the bright yellow batch. The gnarl was just the right shape and size for a focal point sun, so I stitched it down with barred chain, the spikes worked to create rays. At this point I fluffed the trailing threads and let them fall. The yellow trailing looked pleasing enough so I tacked it down. Here's the magic. It was as I worked the barred chain around the mini tangle, Sunchaser made his appearance!

I had no clue what to do with my obvious central theme, so I just began stitching the barred chains around the motif. I started with floss and tried to let it increase in brightness as I switched to #8 perle. After some pondering, my Sunchaser legend took root, so I realized I needed a dark and a light side and something more than the sun to suggest sky. Also in my recently dyed pile was some yarn, a synthetic that took several overnights to take on any color at all. I decided to try it for clouds. I began tacking it down with barred chain but I didn't like the look and figured I would cover it with something else, tiny seed beads maybe. I left it. I concealed the stitches, though, on the dark side with buttonhole stitch to begin the rain. I tucked in some cheesecloth from the same dye batch as the buckram. Though probably not visible, both fabrics have an occasional splash of yellow. On the dark side I ruched a piece of Frosty Rays (net tubing with metallic thread in the center) and used matching ribbon for French knots. I scattered a few in yellow on the other side.

From this point on I basically just used barred and alternating chains to fill space. For me this is not a tidy stitch. I believe it has a will of its own, and I was perfectly happy to just give in and let it have its way. I think it must take a stitcher of experience and determination to take charge.

CROSS REFERENCE and TAST-Y FISH

I'd better explain. With last week's cross stitch posting Sharon suggested we check out Jean Draper's online workshop "Pattern Making with Cross Stitch". The sampler at right is what I concocted. It is done entirely in cross stitch and variation.

In a former life, the background was a wool skirt that I machine felted (fulled). I really like camel color, but this one was drab and desperately needed color. My
predominant thread is Carons Watercolours "Fiesta", which by itself, didn't give me the brightness I wanted, so I added accents in red with a silk/wool yarn for needlework.

I started with some loose burlap patches. I cut and fringed and trimmed until I was satisfied with the shapes and stitched them down. The threads removed to make fringe fell like pick up sticks. I figured that's how they wanted to be so I stitched them in place. I also made a bundle of threads. The light burlap was too prominant. I added two pieces of homespun. It was about that time I was working with daylight and realized my green was actually teal (I really need to remember to use my Ott Light). I added a patch of flimsy turquoise and teal homespun and scrunched and distressed it. Next came fillers in the form of couched yarns (that squiggly one in the center is really a dark teal, and it's kinked because I unraveled a scrumble I didn't like), beads and more stitching. I decided I was done but needed closure .

I usually work without a hoop, but this time I did, and the project stayed in the hoop two or three days leaving the telltale rings. I could have pressed them out, but I hate to waste perfectly good guidelines, and I thought the design needed something to define that it was complete. And so entered my mind the encircling cross stitches. Meantime I remembered that I'd thrown a bunch of toothpicks into my dye pots (I've got great blue and purple and green and fuschia and yellow gold toothpicks; they don't come so colorful commercially, and now I have bragging rights to hand dyed embellishments that strangely resemble canape picks). Anyway, I criss-crossed to create a base, then criss-crossed with seed and wooden beads. I made the motifs before stitching the border. Were I to do it again, I'd lay down the border stitches first, then my circle would be unbroken.

My felt was irregular in shape. With a little stretch of the imagination it could almost be a hide.
I think I'll make it happen. I'd also like to distress the edges a bit. Maybe I'll play with the 24 needle felting tool I got yesterday, but it looks so wicked...






I think I started this in the PLS class where the idea was to cover with dense stitching. I just kept adding to it. Lots of Cretan, Fly & Feather Stitches and French knots. The first fish revealed itself in negative space, so I decided to bring him out a little more, but still hiding in his habitat.

SUPER FLY -- stitch for TAST 8

This piece of linen began as something else, so I have one row on this sampler that is not fly stitch. It is the curving line of greenish backstitch woven with two colors of purl loops. Everything else is composed of fly stitch and variations, which I added in rows, not planning ahead. In other words, it was a dull exercise; even the colors were bland, and my hearts were upside down. Maybe I was just feeling off because we had just learned that our beloved teacher Sharon Boggan was ill and would require surgery.

I think silliness took hold with the beaded flies which reminded me of bird tracks. At this point I started having fun. I decided to turn this TAST sampler into a get well card. I stitched "Speedy Recovery" using only fly and the occasional straight stitch. I stitched it freehand, and it looked it. But I could go back later and do it right. Meantime I decided to try stick figures after playing around with a motif that used a combination of plaited and reverse fly stitch. I liked the look of these petroglyph styled characters (that may, however, be an alien in the center) and decided they should be raising their arms in joy, exhuberant with get well wishes -- they should be dancing! A hunting dance! They're going to track some giant, now extinct, flightless bird, and I'm going to leave my grafitti in naive form. Somewhere along the way I flipped the sampler, so my hearts are right side up. Originally they were there just because they could be. Now, of course, they represent our love reaching out to Sharon . I'm declaring the motif on the left side to be a mandala of healing. It is so ancient, part of it is buried. Corner flora symbolize medicinal plants. It's a shame my example of closed fly stitch is obscured by fronds.

I think I'll let the linen fringe beyond the deliberately rough border stitching. I may let the bird take a step or two out of bounds on the right. I'm happy. I'm optimistic about Sharon's recovery. I 'm even pleased with the colors now. I hope I've left the viewer with a hint of the

primitive expression I'm so fond of.

TAST - FEATHER STITCH

Feather stitch, oh feather stitch. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways -- or try to.

A feather stitch by any other name would still tickle -- not to mention give me endless delight. I do love this stitch. It can meander all over the place, it can be light and delicate or substantive. It looks beautiful on its own but also begs for embellishment in myriad ways. Did I play? Oh yes. Here's what I tried going from left to right:

Column 1 - 3 rows of feather stitch

I started smaller at the top and let the stitches elongate as I worked down. Then I turned fabric 180 (upside down) and worked the same way in reverse, larger to smaller. Had I worked the stitches in precise counts there probably would have been a pattern, but I liked the irregular look and thought it might have abstract or freeform potential. I turned the fabric 90 degrees to the right, then worked from left to right, connecting to ends from the second pass. I kept the "C" stitches in line to create a boundary from the next column group. What I really, really liked was the negative spaces that formed from the distorted stitches. It struck me as something organic, the look of something growing unexpectedly and with abandon.

Those incredibly shaped spaces begged for filling. I was going to leave them blank to better show off the experiment, but compromised and did a few so I could try different effects. My inclination was to go for a crazy patchwork and using different colors and textures to differentiate the segments. These are my fillers from top to bottom: 1) woven silk ribbon; 2) cross stitch in #8 pearl; 3) satin stitch in #5 pearl; 4) twisted bugle beads with Delicas; 5)beadpoint with #8 seed beads; 6) horizontal straight stitches in #5 pearl; 6) beadpoint with #8 seeds in a raku-like matte finish to counter the irridescence of the other bead section. I randomly placed a few Delicas and seeds on the tips of the conventional feather stitches.

By the way, I tried some other things with this area, but wanted more variety. I used straight stitches vertically, horizontally and diagonally, first with a single strand of floss in a light color, then darker. It didn't do much. Next I worked the straight stitches in a bright, #8 pearl as seen in the finished (6) above. I liked this a lot; I saw patchwork without the outlines of the spaces obscured. I worked the basic stitches in Caron Watercolours (1 strand), so I thought it might be better to use several shades for the straight lines. That worked well, too. Still I'm pleased with the variations in texture I started, and I like the way the conventional stitches gradually give way to the freeform.

Column 2 - single row of feathered up and down buttonhole

I suppose feathered feather stitch would be redundant. I added extra feathers . I like this effect for pine needle clusters or bamboo leaves. I worked them in 2 strands of silk floss. I like them best left as was, but I had to add a lighter accent because that area looked too dark. I wove a single strand of rayon floss and added French knots.

Column 3 - single row of beaded feather stitch

Since we're practicing stitches, I thought I might practice the bead embroidery too. I worked half up, half down. Embeadery by Margaret Ball was my resource. She gave several methods for the feather stitch. The one I chose turned out to be fairly easy and fast and kept the stitches flat for the most part. A method I'll save for when I want to build up more dimension has the bead strings crossing.

Column 4 -feathered up and down buttonhole

I went for a dainty look with 2 strands of silk floss and some small beads.

Column 5 - mirrored featherstitching with fillers

Left row is done with rayon ribbon shadowed with 2 strands of silk floss. The right side has a base of wool/silk yarn, overstitched with this incredibly smooth and slinky thread I found in New Zealand. It's just called Glitter Cord.

Can you handle another surprise? I took one look at the spaces between the two rows and saw hearts!!! Look closely, there are two large hearts and one small heart in the middle. It was a freak accident, but one I'll want to remember. The smaller one resulted from my habitual disregard for counting on these samplers. Note, I went from a series of 3 stitches to 2 in the middle.

I attempted to place Rhodes hearts in the centers, but all those feather points got in the way. My mettalic cord hearts are a bit misshapen, but they fill the space as do those little straight stitch crosses.

Column 6 - 2 rows single feather stitch

I like to use pearl for this stitch. I think I used #8 or #10. The body of the thread allows for a slight curve at the end when the "feather" is angled. When paired as opposites a diagonal space is formed. With this combination there are many, many possibilities for embellishment. I opted to keep it simple in this treatment , as the columns to either side are so strong.

Column 7 - 2 rows feather stitch joined

Same principle as Column 1, except I went from longer to shorter and kept the consistently spaced (I counted!). What a difference. These are also stitched with Caron Watercolours. I used rayon floss (2 strands) for the French knots and #8 seed beads in the center. If I'd had the right beads I might have gone for color gradation to work with the subtle change in stitch link.

Recent News

I've returned from another trip west. On the flight out I had fun chatting with the woman in front of me who also had knitting in hand. I did finish the front for my sweater while I was out there, but not having the back with me, I couldn't complete the project. I since have and will post a picture shortly.

I see TAST has begun with a flourish. There's even a ring and a Flickr group. I'm looking forward to getting settled in with the challenge. I have doodled all stitches to date, but what I hope to start doing is creating a mini sampler each week. And of course I want to refine and complete the ones I did in conjunction with Sharon's online Joggles class, Developing a Personal Library of Stitches.

When I first checked my email I found a thread about Stash Guilt in full discussion mode on one of my e-lists. Right after that I received a link to the latest edition of http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/FEATcollection.html
and one of the best and therapeutically funniest articles I have ever read relevant to stash. I applaud author Kate Antonova , and encourage everyone to read it, for even though she speaks of a yarn collection it could be a stash by any other name. I see it as a miracle regimen for SGS (Stash Guilt Syndrome). This article is so liberating I think I'll stitch an homage to The Stashbuilders' Creed, shamefully adapted by me from the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition:

#10 -Greed is eternal!
#242 -More (stash) is good; all is better.
#97 -Enough (stash) is never enough.
#6 -Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity (for stash acquisition)!!

Another Knitty article well worth sharing is Cheating at Color Theory by Julie Theaker. It promises a foolproof method for determining color value.

FREEFORM CALENDAR

I'd like to call attention to the 2007 Freeform Crochet & Knitting Calendar now available. It was compiled by Claudia Dunitz who patiently guided the digital photography challenged to show off their best scrumbles. I haven't seen the calendar yet, but I'm told it is beautifully and professionally rendered. Profits go to a worthy cause. And yes, (blush) I am one of the contributors.

Latest Projects

I've been waiting til I get caught up before posting, but since that's never going to happen, I figured I might as well use time writing as anything else. You can see two sets of my vacation pictures on my Fiberdabbler Flicker site. Click on the sets Westward Ho! and Westward Ho2!

I worked on my Hardanger GCC project. I find I need completely uninterrupted time for this pursuit, particularly when it comes to the wrapping and weaving of bars and subsequent motifs
(we must accomplish 18 different ones!) Here's what I have so far -- actually no more than when I left for home, I'm ashamed to say. Lucky me, our co-ordinator has requested an extension for us so I now have until January.

What's in my head? I signed on for a freeform challenge, also due in January. I signed up for
another online class with Sharon B, starting next week.

I completed the Bijous Blouse sweater from Oat Couture over the summer. It was the perfect project for travel. The end result was not great, rather A-line to the extreme and overall a bit too big, but I was going for the inside out sweatshirt look and just something to wear around.

I'm working on a new sweater and itching to start another.
My current sweater project appeared on the cover of May 2006 Creative Knitting. I wanted the same yarn and the same tweedy denim color. Although the color was rumored to be discontinued, I eventually got some after 3 months of waiting. I like the way it's working up.
I added some length, and I hope not too much or it will end up like my Diamond Patch sweater that started tunic length and has already grown to mini-dress. Actually I think it could be quite
a stunning garment if it ever gets to ankle length.

Bonnie Prokopowicz from the International Freeform list showed us a scarf she made up using links of FF medaillons.
I couldn't resist playing with the idea with some yarns I bought while in CA .


I did not neglect CQ this summer. Although I had said I'd never again take a CQ project when travelling, I changed my mind when I realized I could fit most of what I needed into a small tote box. I'm not ready for show and tell yet, but I will mention that the block is constructed from
recycled Goodwill clothing, mostly wool, which I fulled, but also the odd bit of wide wale courderoy and velveteen. Colors are limited to reds, grays, black & silver. It's supposed to have a Pacific Northwest "feel" to it.

Winter Greys

This piece was done for a seasonal challenge. It includes crochet, knitting, surface embroidery and beading. The beads at the bottom read from L > R: gray days; winter; old snow; black ice; sleet; brr. I was thinking the reality of our winters in terms of gray, taupes and tans. My challenge was to find beauty in the bleak.You can see more of the challenge atcommunity.webshots.com/album/515327524tJpVPE
Winter Greys, originally uploaded by Fiberdabbler.