Ballerina Dreams

As we've discussed previously, I spent most of my life in dance studios growing up.  Even now, as my time away from dance lengthens, I am still overwhelmingly fond of all things dance and ballet (and do still toy with the idea of taking an adult ballet class in my free time, whenever that may be).  Imagine my delight last fall when I discovered the plethora of ballet and dance documentaries available streaming on Netflix! These were constant companions for about three months, and I studied the dancers' technique and lines as I knitted away on sample knits.  It was inevitable that the joining of those two art forms was imminent.  I started studying the warm up gear more intently over time, and the idea for the Galina Pullover was born.

 

(all photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge for Quince)

Knit from the bottom up in Quince's lovely Finch in the colorway Delft , this sweater employs an unusual construction similar to that of ballet warm ups. 

 

The body is knit in the round, and then split for the deep neckline.  The sleeves are then joined back in the round and knit straight up, almost like a pair of upside-down tights.  The pattern calls for 1-2" of positive ease, but I've also worn the sample with 4" of negative ease and been happy with the fit, so it's up to you!

 

I know the neckline seems daring, but I'd also love to see this on top of a printed camisole, or even a button-up shirt.  The possibilities are endless!

Galina can be found with Quince here and on Ravelry here.   And if you're interested in some hardcore dance documentary watching of your own, here's the list of movies I watched over and over and over! The links will take you to Netflix for your own queueing.  :)

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance; a profile on the history of the Joffrey Ballet

Last Dance; a document of the collaboration between Pilobolus Dance Theatre and Maurice Sendak.  This has some NSFW bits, but an amazing profile on the creation of a dance piece

Ballerina; profiles of five dancers in different stages of their career with the Kirov Ballet in Moscow

The Dancer; a profile of a young Swedish dancer as she finishes her training and goes out into the professional world

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Dance Academy.  This show is complete fiction and complete fluff, but I couldn't stop watching it (and made other people do so as well).  Set in a ballet school in Sydney, Australia, it's a teen soap opera that follows a group of friends through their first couple years of training.  I haven't watched the second season yet, but I'm expecting to hunker down sometime this winter and watch ALL of it at once and then not be able to talk about anything else for a month.

What's in a name?

Back in the summer of 2003, I was getting ready to go to college.  As you might remember from that time period, AOL Instant Messenger was all the rage, and I would spend hours typing away on my new computer (affectionately named Rosie the Robot) to friends, discussing what the coming years would bring for us.  I had picked AIM up a few years before under the spunky, quirky moniker of "GoddessSqueaky" (yes, go ahead and laugh), but the big change about to occur in my life called for something grander.  Something more adult.  Something . . . collegiate.

 As anyone who spent as many hours chatting in those little boxes as I did knows, your AIM name is a powerful symbol, and not to be taken lightly.  Many ideas were discussed and discarded.  My love for Allen Ginsberg suggested "angelheadedhipster" (might I remind you, before hipsters were a big thing), but that was already taken.  My love for T.S. Eliot suggested "tilhumanvoiceswakeus", but that was too long.  I toyed with song lyrics, Shakespeare quotes, random in-jokes, characters from literature, but none suited. 

Finally, given the hippie and bohemian nature of my chosen college, just a few months away, I settled on "joyousbohemian".  It fit, I was happy, it stayed.  And stayed.  And stayed.  When I signed up for Ravelry in 2007, it was the obvious choice.  Twitter this past year? Same thing.  But, as time has gone on and I understand myself more and more, and as my career in the knitting and fiber industry has developed, something began to niggle.  Why couldn't I just be me?

My name has always been something that people remark on.  It is different, and I'm not going to say that it wasn't hard when I was younger.  I recall a particularly dark period when I was five when all I wanted was to be named "Amy".  But now? Now it's me.  Now I feel like I fit my name, and my name fits me.  So, from here on in, you'll find me elsewhere on the internets as BristolIvy.  My little "Hi! My Ravelry name is. . ." button will proudly proclaim it (so come say hi at fiber festivals!), any forum comments will use it, and any silly comments on Twitter will give you even further insight into my goofball side.  It's a wrench to say goodbye to "joyousbohemian" and the history that it entails, but I'm ready to make a whole lot of new history with my name front and center.

Summer's Ending

This past Sunday, I took a trip up to the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village and its surrounding antique stores as a fieldtrip for my upcoming 27th birthday (Tuesday!).  The Shaker village is simultaneously the most peaceful and most energizing place I've ever been, and I wanted to visit to recharge and celebrate the last little bit of summer.

This trip was exactly what I needed, and a wonderful start to my birthday week.  I wanted to extend some of this celebration to you, so from tonight until Monday, September 3rd, all the patterns I have available on Ravelry are on sale! Just use the code "27for27" at checkout for 27% off, and thanks for helping me celebrate!

The Power of Twitter, and a Pair of Mitts

So a couple months ago, this happened on Twitter (that's Amy and me).



Then this happened.



And then all of this happened.



So it seemed kind of surreal a couple weekends ago when I trooped up the stairs at a local pub and met up with some of the coolest designers in the knitting world today.  Once I got over the fact that I'd been admiring these people's careers since I'd started getting into the online knitting world, it was such an amazing experience to swap ideas, listen to different perspectives on publishing and the industry, and just realize that these were awesome people that were way too much fun and perfect for having a beer with.  (And would you believe it, I didn't take any pictures?)

So the week after that amazing event happened, I had another wonderful moment--a pattern of mine came out as part of the Woolen Rabbit's yarn club!



The club's theme this year was the Roaring '20s, an era that I love.  One of my favorite parts of that decade are the films that came out then.  My family are HUGE into old movies, and I spent more than a few afternoons as a teenager in the arthouse movie theatre in town, watching the classics come to life.  One of my hands-down favorites is Fritz Lang's Metropolis, a masterpiece of a dystopian future society and Art Deco scenery.  It was not a hard choice for me to use this movie as an inspiration for the club!



The Metropolis Mitts are currently available exclusively to the Woolen Rabbit club members, but will be opened up to the general public in February 2013.  If you're interested in being notified when they are generally available, please let me know! I'm so pleased with how they came out; special thanks again to my girl Casey, who modeled them and was totally up for wandering around the State Theatre building here in Portland, looking for the perfect Art Deco accents.  We were both standing on rickety chairs in an old elevator vestibule at one point, which is sadly typical for a photoshoot with me.  All in all, though, it was such a pleasure to work with Kim at the Woolen Rabbit; I've been a huge fan of her work for a very long time, and I may have done a little fangirl squeal when she said I could design for the club.   Thanks, Kim!

So what's next for me? Well, I'll be wearing a certain birthday crown in a couple days, and I'm thinking it might be time for a present for you, too!

Medomak and the New England Fiber Arts Retreat

I got back from teaching at the New England Fiber Arts Retreat on Saturday afternoon, and I'm pretty sure I left most of my heart up there.  Here's a view of the week in pictures:

 

the view of the walk up to the cabin I shared with three of my best friends

 

the four--count 'em, four--Stephen West Mystery shawls in progress at camp

 

working on the community weaving project

 

a panel from Dana's rigid heddle-woven blanket

 

another kind of spinning--we met lots of rather amazing spiders this week

 

visiting Cloud Hollow alpaca farm

 

Rachel's natural dyeing class--indigo as it begins to oxidize

 

midway through . . .

 

fully oxidized!

 

a visit to Katharine Cobey's studio

 

a view from the loft.  I never wanted to leave.

 see why?

 

fogged-in cove, gorgeous studio, knitting goddess, standard poodles--yeah, I'm happy

 

Rachel's yarn for the week, both handspun and naturally dyed

 

the varied and wonderful results of the needle felted sheep class

 

some of the amazing felted bowls we made on the last day

 

 

 

These felted bowls, one of the best classes I've ever taught, summed up the week for me.   We all had the same materials and the same time, but the finished pieces were all wildly different, and all absolutely gorgeous.  Everyone's experience at camp was completely different, but I'm pretty sure that none of us would trade it for anything.  Next year we'll be meeting up from July 28th to August 3rd.  There is nothing that will stop me from being there, and I'm already counting the days.  Hope to see you there!

July Happenings

July got away from me this year.  What with the Tour de Fleece, a spate of housesitting, getting back into running, starting a fashion illustration class, finishing up a couple designs and having a few others published, a trip up the coast for a wine and yarn weekend, and, oh yes, normal, day to day life, I feel like July picked me up like a whirlwind and dropped me off at the cusp of August, breathless and a teeny bit dizzy.  So here's a quick rundown before August treats me the same way!

This year's TdF started with a bang and ended. . . kind of with a fizzle.  For the first time in five years, I was a DNF--there were too many other things going on and working spinning into my schedule was stressing me out.  And since this is supposed to be fun, I made the grown-up choice (note: not my normal mode; I am far more likely to stick to something if it kills me, just because I said I would) and let it go for this year.  Instead, I got some sleep, worked on some deadline knitting projects, and petted the yarn that I had spun.  In addition to the first week's spinning, I managed to ply the eight ounces of 1 ply BFL, 1 ply Falkland fingering/sport weight from Pine Star Studios:

I also got started on that yummy CVM/Romeldale fleece I got back from Morro Fleeceworks.  Here's how it's spinning up:

 

I have plans a-foot for a 3-ply Aran weight to make a cable-y shawl collar cardigan, should I ever get the rest of it spun!

During TdF, and just when I needed it most this past month, my friend Elise came through with the best proposal ever: a weekend in a cabin on the ocean, with spinning wheels, knitting, friends, and wine.  Elise runs Nerd Wars over on Ravelry, so she has about as much, if not more, on her plate as I do! Some of the CVM/Romeldale spinning happened then, but my weekend mostly looked like this (you'll have to imagine the glass of wine that was out of the frame):

 

It was such a great weekend--loads of fun, lots of new friends, and a chance to take a step back from the rest of the crazy.  When I came back, I was ready and raring to go, which is good, because I had two designs come out in the next two weeks!

The Kit Camisole came out with Quince & Co. first.  This was a big leap of faith for me--it was the first time I'd done a garment with this much positive ease to it, and I was nervous as to how it would come out or what the reception would be.  It's been so great seeing people's reactions to it!

 

Kit is worked in Quince's Sparrow, which, as we've discussed, is one of my favorite yarns.  :) It takes texture SO well, and was a delight to work with once again.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry here!

The second pattern that came out this month was the Tideline Cowl, which will be published as part of Cecily Glowik MacDonald's first self-published book, Landing: Winged Knits Vol. 1.  Cecily is possibly the sweetest, nicest, most hard-working person I know, and it was a complete honor to get to be part of this latest endeavor.  

 

(both pattern photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge; she's amazing!)

Tideline is knit in Quince & Co.'s Puffin, another one of my favorite yarns! I LOVE the stitch definition and texture in this; I had originally thought about knitting it in Finch, but fell in complete love with the idea of knitting it with a larger yarn for even more of a statement.  You can find this on Ravelry here, where you can pre-order the book both in e-book and hard copy, and quick! Cecily's doing a giveaway about the book on her blog here!

So now that July's almost under my belt, what will August bring? Only one of my favorite weeks of the year! I'm leaving tomorrow for a week up at Medomak and the New England Fiber Arts Retreat.  I'll be teaching classes on designing a top-down shawl, picots, pleats, and welts, and wet-felting a bowl or vase.  I will also be swimming every day, spending as many hours as I can on the porch, and hanging out with some of my best friends.  I.  Can't.  Wait. 

Tour de Fleece Week 1

So, I've got this relationship with the Tour de Fleece.  This is my sixth year playing along (that's crazypants right there), and it's probably one of my favorite times of year.  This year is no exception! Here's what I've been working on so far:

This is 8 oz of 2-ply sportweight, spun worsted.  1 ply is Sour Fig in Shetland by Hello Yarn, and the other is Rambutan in BFL by Into the Whirled.  I still need to check yardage, but I love this yarn unabashedly.

Also on the wheel was 4 oz each of BFL and Falkland from Pine Star Studios:

 

The fast and furious plying on these started last night, and I'll hopefully have it finished up today.  I should have probably around 800 yards, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.  But I'm excited to move on to the next project! 

One thing I forgot to mention in the whirlwind of last week (thank you all for your kind words, by the way!) is that I got two fleeces back in the mail from Morro Fleeceworks.  I had sent them off during The Great Beetle Scare, which helped me be realistic about the actual likelihood of me washing those fleeces in my closet.  So off they went, and two of them came back to me last Tuesday.  Want a peek?

This is a CVM/Romeldale lamb fleece I picked up at Rhinebeck in--wait for it--2008.  It was an absolutely stunning fleece and I wasn't doing it justice by keeping it in the closet.  I can't wait to give it a spin! What are you working on for TdF?