Yummy Yarn

...And more Liberty

2010-03-10T17:51:04Z

{ Flickr } Image captured from Liberty of London website

I'm quite excited about Liberty of London's new collection for Target and today on their website they announced the online release of the full collection! For you lucky Liberty print lovers in the US, this blog post has more pictures (the watering can above is just one of them). The products go on sale this Friday!

Save me a teapot! I mean it!

Liberty also collaborated with French concept store Merci on a collection called Liberty et Merci; this blog post shows some snaps of the opening as well as an interview with Merci's creative director, Marie-France Cohen. Miss Cohen describes the collection:

"Liberty is a dream name and is so close to English style. I like the eccentricty of the English and how you are never afraid to be different. What's fun about this collaboration is that we have not used Liberty in an old-fashioned way but in a quite trendy, cool, French way. English eccentricity- French taste!"

Just fyi, this is the medal Miss Cohen was referring to.

Winter. Spring. Liberty. Books.

2010-03-08T02:08:10Z

{ Flickr }

Yesterday winter returned with a vengeance to the south. I had a nice British roast dinner (Americans would call it lunch) with friends and the snowfall never ceased. Unfortunately I left during the worst time, and things were rather tense and silent in the car as I drove slooowly down the hill and wound my way back home on those curvy little roads. Ye gods. I am so over this white stuff. What you don't see in the picture is the village behind the snowfall. Really, it was rather beautiful, all that snow. Powder. Soft, light, white, pretty. But I easily got past that: how can those snowclumps pack so much wetness and cold in them, and sneak in through all 5 layers of clothing, and still make me shriek as they melt down my back???

Hello, Spring? The world wants you. Now.

{ Flickr } Image © Liberty of London for Target

I was doing some research for work when I discovered that Liberty of London are going to be featured at Target! Liberty, of the gorgeous flower prints, will be featuring 5 of their prints (Dunclare Pink, Sixty (below), Martha Grace, Peacock, and Carla) on items ranging from piggy banks to bicycles. (I personally would like a skateboard with a floral print but I'll settle for the teapot!)

{ Flickr } Image © Liberty of London for Target

Finally, here's a video all book lovers will love. Have a happy Monday!

The Olympics: Vancouver 2010 coverage and the future of sport climbing

2010-03-03T09:31:12Z

Have you had enough of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics yet? Two weeks' worth of fantastic athleticism and I'm only just getting over it.

One of the reasons is that the IOC has given full recognition to sport climbing's internationally recognized body, the IFSC. This is the first step toward eligibility for inclusion at the 2020 Summer Games; sports for each Olympics is selected 7 years beforehand, so the 2016 sports are already locked in place. (Note that this does not include traditional and alpine climbing.) What happens next will take place behind the scenes, according to this article, possibly changing rules for bouldering (low-level ropeless climbing), sport climbing (climbing with a rope), and speed climbing (racing), and adding an anti-doping policy. What is key to making sport climbing a successful spectator sport (because it can be boring, watching someone project a route), as IFSC president Marco Solaris said in this article, was

"... 1) Media visibility; 2) Each competition must become a great event; 3) Federal commitment, on all levels, to make sport climbing grow in their own countries."

What does this mean for sport climbing? Well, more visibility for the sport, and probably more commercialism, as if there wasn't already enough of it. Recognition of the sport could mean that national parks associations will reconsider access issues and rules for cliffs in certain areas (such as the closure Williamson Rock in the Angeles Crest mountains just outside Los Angeles). It could also mean imposing mandatory safety measures, since rock climbing can be dangerous (whoa, Dean Potter solo highlining at Taft Point in Yosemite).

I've already stated my ambivalence toward sport climbing as an Olympic sport, but perhaps the idea will grow on me. Since the 60s the sport has evolved from a highly-specialized, almost-secretive, dirtbag pursuit to a more polished, accessible, structured body with ordinary people doing incredible things, one can only guess what can happen in the next 10 years. Change is good.

In closing, here's a selection of some of the best imagery of the 2010 Games, taken from The Big Picture.

©AP Photo/Matthias Schrader #

Sweetheart and Sweetstar

2010-02-24T01:24:10Z

Kate Gilbert, creative director of Twist Collective and designer extraordinaire, recently released Sweetheart and Sweetstar as her contribution to the Haiti relief effort.

According to this, Sweetheart was born out of a sketch made by Kate's daughter, and loving maman that she is, Kate obliged.

And, predictably, those with boys grumbled. Thus Sweetstar was born:

If pink and more pink just isn't your little girl's thing, try other color combinations. Maybe it's just me: these first two make me think of sunflowers and irises:

And these. I know of one niece who can at times be nature-lover or punk princess:

I'm sure you can think of other stupendous color combinations, with variegated yarn even, or stripes! And I'm sure they'll look just as good in yarns with textures such as tweed, velour, bouclé. The only limit is your imagination.

The best part is that 100% of all proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity's efforts in Haiti, exclusively. Isn't that fantastic? So you can keep *your* little sweeties warm at the same time that you're helping out other people's loved ones.

There are, of course, other knit-related efforts out there:

Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee keeps a running tally of the amount donated by knitters to Medecins sans Frontieres / Doctors without Borders here.
Ravelry has created a special Help for Haiti tag for pattern searching. Check to see deadlines on donations, as some patterns may be available for contribution for a limited time.

Unexpected Beauty

2010-02-18T01:18:10Z

{ Flickr }

Rust on ironwork, 2010.

A visit to the old town on the hill just this weekend resulted in a few decent pictures, this being one of them. I lucked out: it was a bit of a cloudy day, which is perfect for pictures. It was bitterly cold, though, the kind of day when most people—most locals—stayed inside. When the hardiest people were the tourists and out-of-towners determined to make the most of an otherwise gruesome day. I found this bit of rustiness on an ordinary metal gate facing the fountain facing the Hotel du Beffroi. The owners never bothered sanding it away and, quite frankly, I like it the way it is. A few quick snaps and then off I went, down the worn and icy cobblestones and over the bridge to Place Montfort, for a mid-morning noisette.

Gigondas, or a day in the French countryside.

2010-02-10T01:10:10Z

{ Flickr }

I spent Sunday in the company of friends, at a lovely little village near us called Gigondas. It's a charming place with lots of pretty vignettes like the one above. There is a particular street decorated with all sorts of odds and ends, the work of one resident whose apparent motto is "more is more, yes, lots more". There is a garden of contemporary art that's quite interesting, and pretty cool in that they can be touched, and explored, and moved around. There is a former hospice that serves as a little tourist office and offers wine tastings. (Most people think first and foremost of Châteauneuf-du-Pape when it comes to Côte du Rhône wines, but Gigondas is high up on the list, too.)

We ended the day at a friend's place to enjoy a warm fire, wine, flapjacks, and a tarte aux pommes. And a promise to get together again. Enjoy the pictures!

:::

For the first time in a long time, while taking pictures, I thought about my blog. This one. It's been through redesigns and updates, and reflected my varying levels of interest in assorted crafts. And, quite frankly, I thought of shutting it down at one point, but perhaps out of pure laziness, flakiness, or nostalgia, I didn't. Sploggers be damned. It's about redefining its purpose. I no longer knit as madly as I used to, a consequence of my living in Europe and my stash living in the US. I obviously don't spin, or quilt, or sew, for the same reasons. (I really don't want to accumulate stuff while I'm here.) I still climb, just not now while it's bitter cold. And I'm doing more freelance design, which I've sorely missed, and which I recently got back into. So while I figure things out, I'll continue posting on anything and everying, and add pictures on Flickr. Stick around.

2009 Book List

2009-12-31T11:31:09Z

I didn't reach 52 books, but I didn't expect to. With the shuttling back and forth from the old world to the new and back again, and preoccupations with issues (the usual), and the availability of quality, English, reading material, it was hard to keep on track. I did manage to read a few good books while in SoCal (#s 8–16 and 29–50), but the rest of them were from our English friends (and therefore you'll see British authors). The differences in spelling and labels made me think of growing up with the Queen's English in Nigeria, and then facing American English in junior high. Ah, culture.

This year marks the 5th year that I've been doing the "52 Books in 52 Weeks" meme (see lists on my About page). Memes are strange things, part popularity contest, part true competition, part snobbery. Reading parallels rock climbing: there is a personal challenge, a variety of selections, a goal, and a tangible reward (of sorts) at the end. No wonder it endures. When it started out (I'll laregly credit Large Hearted Boy for this) and spread through the knitting blogs, I wasn't the least bit surprised because the knitbloggers of 2005 were a smaller community with a handful of marquee names, and very open to all kinds of viral marketing, polls, and memes. Now, with book lists so commonplace on blogs (and I've made lists to read once I return to the US), it was surprising to read that this meme is once again making the rounds, this time through design blogs such as this and this. What's old has become new again.

Here's to 2010 and many more books in your bookshelves!

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, Christopher Brookmyre. Funny in a twisted way. Reading the thick accents was a bit difficult.

Slumdog Millionaire, Vikas Swarup. Good book.

In A Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson. Touches on the Aborigines, which bears addressing even more.

The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett

The Perfect Spy, John le Carré

Revelations, Jerry Moffatt. The climbing legend's story in his own words. Could have been edited a lot better.

Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell

Righteous Pork Chop: Finding a Life and Good Food beyond Factory Farms, Nicolette Hahn Niman

High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed, Michael Kodas

Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America, Morgan Spurlock. An older book, but still relevant.

Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card

The Brass Verdict, Michael Connelly. Good writer. This book brings together Bosch and Haller in a very unexpected way!

The Overlook, Michael Connelly

The Last Coyote, Michael Connelly

Sandworms of Dune, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. These two books are what the authors claim would have been Frank Herbert's 7th in the Dune Series. They're good, but I disliked the ending because it has an unrealistic, fairy tale quality. I think I would have liked it if it had been written *better*, it just seemed so rushed. I do, however, like the very last line...

Hunters of Dune, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

Jacquot and the Waterman, Martin O'Brien

The Full Cupboard of Life, Alexander McCall Smith. Good book, great series!

The The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith.

Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith.

The Kalahari Typing School for Men, Alexander McCall Smith.

Deeper, Jeff Long. The sequel to The Descent; less creepy. The first is a must-read. But not before bed!

Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernières. I liked this very much. I don't intend on watching the movie; sometimes books are better left alone for the individual to imagine the characters.

The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman, Louis de Bernières. This wasn't very good. De Bernières' writing style was rather tedious here.

The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories

The Transformation and Other Stories, Franz Kafka

Mr. Nice, Howard Marks

Slam, Nick Hornby

The House at Riverton, Kate Morton

Genghis, Conn Iggulden

Moriarty, John Gardner

The Whole Truth, David Baldacci

The Appeal, John Grisham

Book of the Dead, Patricia Cornwell

Predator, Patricia Cornwell

Secret Prey, John Sandford

Phantom Prey, John Sandford

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, Ruth Reichl

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School, Kathleen Flinn

Come to the Table, A Passion for Eating and French Living, Louise Luiggi

I'll Never Be French (No Matter What I Do): Living in a Small Village in Brittany, Mark Greenside

The Billionaire's Vingegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine, Benjamin Wallace

Echo Park, Michael Connelly

Lost Light, Michael Connelly

The Overlook, Michael Connelly

Still Summer, Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Inner Circle, Mari Jungstedt

Chasing Harry Winston, Lauren Weisberger

Alexander & Alestria, Shan Sa

Personal Velocity, Rebecca Miller. Short stories of women.

Would love to read Susanna Clarke's The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Today is devoted to elephants.

2009-12-09T11:09:09Z

Not every post has to be about knitting, after all.

Photo by Cesare Naldi.

The Big Picture recently covered National Geographic's International Photography Contest and the first photo in the gallery touched me: The image of Rajan, a swimming elephant, supporting his mahout Nazroo is beautiful because it speaks of trust and the bond (sometimes over a lifetime) between handler and animal.

For some reason when I think of elephants, I think of them swimming. It's incredible that such massive hulks of mammal can actually move across water (when, um, I can't), and to see them in action is priceless. I've collected a few videos for you:

This is Rajan, the elephant in the picture above. Rajan lives in the Andaman Islands, in the Indian Ocean. Lots of water! What to do, eh?

This second video has a particularly nice story behind it. The owner (who is not the filmmaker) saved the video because she liked it so much and posted it for all eternity (or until the BBC claim copyright violation). There are apparently quite a few swimming elephant lovers out there.

This third features a memorable scene in The Fall (2008; IMDB). Tarsem (Singh) directed this, with Krishna Levy doing the music; in this interview, Tarsem mentions that male elephants will swim in the ocean to get to a female. He's also known for directing REM's Losing My Religion music video, another favorite of mine for its look and feel.

It should be noted that Tarsem has a thing for elephants going back to 1994. Read on.

Elephants are good for comic relief, too. No water, but elephants and trampolines are another improbabe combination. Also, it's rendered, but let's suspend reality.

And of course, the magic combination is elephants + swimming + comedy, which resulted in one of the most memorable commercials I've ever seen. This 1994 commercial by Fallon McElligott (now Fallon Worldwide) and directed and produced by guess-who (Tarsem, of course) put them on the map. (They also created the Sony Bravia play-doh bunny commercial.) According to this, the scratchy phonograph music was made especially for the commerical and is unavailable for purchase, and that it was filmed at Koh Phi Phi Ley at Maya Beach in Thailand.

And if you haven't had enough, check out this list of fictional elephants.

Form

2009-11-29T15:16:16Z

Nothing says Winter like that trifecta of grey skies, cold rain, and body-staggering mistrals! (And a new masthead. Pretty, pretty.) Welcome back, Old Man...

Snail shells, bleached white in the sun, are everywhere at our home crag. They are all over the dirt trails, the patches of wild thyme, or the various bits of exposed rock. I've found them in handholds, even. They come in all sizes and shades of white. I feel sorry for the lowly snails sometimes, but they leave behind such a wondrous legacy of geometry, evolution, and pure... wonder. The most notable thing about their shells is the form: a spiral, always curving clockwise, always growing. I do believe it's Nature's most beautiful line.

It's no surprise that the spiral, and artists who use it, are the inspiration for this set of hats I've designed (and am still working on). I sketched, charted, revised and tore up notes, knit up and frogged samples, and employed tests knitters on Ravelry to do some work, and this, dear knitters is the result. May I present Smithson and den Arend, now available on my Patterns page:

Smithson is a reversible spiral hat that can be knit from the top down or the bottom up. The best part about it is it can be made in a variety of yarn weights (although I'd advise against laceweight), so it's a truly flexible pattern. It should also be noted that this is the simplest hat of the three, and the one that my guy friends favor most.

den Arend features a single spiraling cable section that continues into the brim. You can make it a snug hat, or as is the fashion nowadays, a long and slouchy one. It's the color that makes it masculine or feminine, I think. In pink it is absolutely girlie. My niece would approve.

Goldsworthy, the last of the three, is a work in progress. I cannot tell you how many iterations I created of it, and how many spiral progressions I figured out, but the one thing I can say is that it is not finished, and will possibly be done by January. I want to make something that is worthy of the artist it is named after, and like his work, it can be a fleeting thing. Please be patient.

Enjoy the spiral.

Yalla

2009-11-22T10:22:09Z

The copyscraping episode left me not wanting to have anything with knitting for a while. After contacting lots of entities and not getting anywhere, I signed off.

It felt good.

I flew back Home.

I worked.

I watched Top Chef.

I picked olives. This year I picked only those bigger than my thumb. I packed them in salt and once a day I shake the jar. The mildness is *just* there.

I climbed rocks. I read climbing blogs. I watched climbing videos. I'm getting stronger but I'm not yet strong enough. (Hah! Like every climber I know.)

I read design blogs. I missed Graphic Design: typography, composition, color, imagery, artistry. Not usability. Not functionality. Just. Design.

I started drawing again. I warm up by trying to draw straight, parallel lines and round circles, like the monks, and perfectly spaced squiggles. I draw in pen. Because I want to.

I think I'd like to start blogging again. Whenever I feel like it. Out at the cliffs, I hear people yell out, "Allez", encouraging a climber to move past a crux section or to keep moving. Yalla expresses the same sentiment, flowing off the tongue like silk. Do you like it? I do.

Yalla. Allez. Let's go.

Copy scraping, or splogging, is illegal.

2009-09-19T23:02:03Z

Copy scraping, or splogging, is illegal.

At least in the United States. But it doesn't matter whether you're doing this in Germany, or Turkey, or some tiny island in the middle of the Pacific. The fact is that if you're using someone else's original content and original imagery for your own purposes, whether monetary or pure spite or whatever, it exposes you for who you really are:

A fraud. A thief.

Unoriginal, uninspiring, uninteresting.

If you're reading this on a blog or feed whose name and owner is not Yummy Yarn by Mary Joy Gumayagay, then the words and images have been scraped from Mary Joy's original knitting blog.

You can't come up with your own content, so you have to use someone else's. I pity you, if this is the way you make money, with Google AdSense ads interspersed with my content. And, I might add, other bloggers'.

You must be one pathetic human being.

I guess you think you're getting the last laugh, don't you? Don't worry, call me lots of names, it just shows how uncivilized and crude you really are. You seek validation through others. You are insecure, you find joy in cheating, you find security in hiding. You are nothing, and you will always be nothing.

Softly wanes the cheerful light

2009-08-31T23:09:09Z

Sunset in the Mediterranean, overlooking the hamlet of Çrni Kal, Slovenia, in the fall of 2007. A week of climbing at 2 different crags with a bit of exploring in nearby Trieste, Italy. Spasso!

Goodbye, Summer! Southern California, thank you.

Reunion.

Revision.

Revival.

And, as always, a new masthead.

Toward the end of August I got to thinking about that vital part of me I left behind in the Old World. The rock climber. The museum-goer, the market-browser, the eater-of-berries-along-the-forest-path. The lover of light and shadow. The artist who so deftly creates a landscape in a few careful strokes of watercolor.

Reconnect.

Time to go home.

(Boy, did the light seriously wane at our most recent get-together! What was supposed to have been a Sew-In became a gabfest.... ladies, I think I know you all A LOT BETTER NOW.*ahem* Happy Birthday dear Jillian, I'm glad you liked the fabric and the crocheted scarf!)

Elementary school

2009-08-28T06:28:09Z

I feel that, in terms of quilting education, I've graduated from preschool.

I've stepped away from squares. Hello, pretty triangles!

I've matched corners as best as I can.

And made sure they were square.

I improved my blind stitching.

And, inspired, even added detail work. (Next time I'll split the floss into two.)

The back was plain, but all the better...

To show off my quilting.

Accomplishment feels very, very good indeed.

Pattern: I was inspired by this post on Creative Little Daisy and this post on Don't Call Me Becky. The latter turned her corner squares in, so that the center is solid color. I like both versions. Just 2 days ago Blair of Wise Craft posted her finished Values Quilt, which uses the same pattern but is based on color and/or pattern value. Metrosupial Designs posted a tutorial on picking values, and there are some good notes there on piecing this particular quilt design as well.

Fabric: Moda Nostalgia charm pack (30 squares), random Amy Butler, and Alexander Henry; solids by Kona.

Notes: I used a total of 40 5" squares, so this ended up being a bigger quilt than CLD's and DCMB's. I actually had a wider border but not enough batting so I trimmed the border down, but I don't think the quilt suffers for it. I chose to quilt 3/8" from the ditch in a fairly geometric pattern because I'm still squeamish about free-motion quilting. (I tried it on a doll quilt for my niece that turned out well, but the operative word there is "doll". As in small.)

I haven't sewn a stitch in over 2 years, so it's a miracle all my corners match! I can't stress enough the importance of trimming your squares after sewing the diagonals—it's fiddly and takes forever, but well worth the time. Trust me on this. CLD linked to a video about basting which covered such things as sewn-in (which I much prefer over pin) basting and how to assemble the pieces for basting. Good info.

I think this or some variation of it (a zig-zag quilt is just a different arrangement of the same square) will be my go-to pattern for a quick but fun quilt. It took 3 days total to cut and piece the top, half a day for the back, and 2 days to quilt. I also love that it can use any combination of colors and patterns, and I end up with a nice-sized quilted gift. It's a good pattern to try if you're looking beyond squares.

Blogworthy:
:: AshiDashi's cool Notebook and Pencil socks.
:: Lego's latest ad campaign by Blattner Brunner.
:: Via Kottke, mythical creatures mapped by venn diagram. I love organizing stuff!

Twisted Ribbons

2009-08-23T04:59:38Z

Inspiration.

It takes an interesting pattern and a beautiful yarn for me to pick up the needles. And, a nudge from Julia: a swap among friends. And, a pal to knit for. (Sorry, this is the year of the lazy.)

So I went a-searching for a not-too-lacey, not-too-cabley pattern. Nothing too foofy; she's not a foofy kind of girl. Certainly nothing too plain either. Here we go: Texture? Check. Technique? Check. Yarn? Check. Color? Drape? Yardage? Check, check, check. Love? Oh yes. Kismet? Definitely.

Oh, this was one knit I wanted to blog about in-progress. Can you see why?

Pattern: Twisted Ribbons Cowl by Kristi Holaas (Ravelry)
Yarn: 1.75 skeins Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in #55 Rusty Red
Needles: US 6
Notes: Because I used a smaller needle and thinner yarn, I added more repeats to achieve a cowl measurement of 22" circumference and 10" height. I also added a 2-stitch cable to the left and right sides where the ribbons ended, and made the garter edging 3 stitches wide. The pattern itself is very simple and very engaging; despite the fact that it's a 28-row repeat, it's a very visual pattern and you can intuit what comes next without referring to the chart. [Take my experience with a grain of salt, however.]

It looks great on its wrong side, I think.

A sideways knit, I looked forward to finishing so I could unravel the cast-on edge and graft them together! For that, I stopped at the 27th row of the last repeat, which meant that the yarn was now on the left side, ready for the wrong side row which would be the grafting row. I put both sets of cast-on stitches on smaller needles. Then I matched stitch to stitch, needle flying in and out of loops, until *finally*, close to an hour later, I had created a tube. You can see the seam, somewhat, on the 2nd picture, but you'd have to look closely. Maybe Lori's love of finishing rubbed off on me, because I was absolutely fanatic with making sure every fricking stitch matched each other, even the yarnovers and the cables.

What's next, ladies?

The Weekend

2009-08-18T21:16:17Z

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A reunion: Me, Julia, Shannon, Lori, Amiee, Felix, Kat, and Jillian. And Mary-Heather online. More pictures here, here, here, and here! And here!

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An introduction: To the cutest Bean of all.

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A secret pal cowl exchange: Jillian gifted me with a fabulous combination! My first Noro, delicious cables and a beautiful combination of neutrals.

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A launch: Twist Collective unveiled its first anniversary (Fall 2009) issue. Good quality patterns and a dynamic group of ladies. Congratulations Kate, Julia, Irene, and Mary!