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October Musings 2020

From the Ruth Bader Ginsberg Collection, soon available in the Heirloom Treasures Boutique

Happy fall to all! Let’s bring out the pumpkin and gourd decorations, spooky orange napkins, cider and make some apple pie!

September brought some wet and dreary days, but also finally relief from the summer heat and enough cool afternoon breezes to fly a kite. It was quite an occasion for me to fly a kite for the first time. Of course, there is room for improvement in my technique and I hope that October will give us more opportunities to practice kite flying and getting some exercise at the same time. It’s never too late to be a kid.

This fall I am mentoring a prospective member for the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Applicants are paired with a mentor in their category of work and mine, of course, is fiber. A big challenge we see with each application process is the quality of the images of work being submitted. Those images should be taken by a professional photographer, because color balance on the images seems difficult, especially if using a white background for different colors in the body of work. However, many artists attend workshops to learn how to produce fine images of their work, all on the same background. There are tools to create a color balance before or post production and we hope that with some more information and trial and error, the white background images will unify in the same shade of white to satisfy the judges. Time will tell!

Several months ago I started to create a collection of beautiful collars in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. It will be introduced as part of my Heirloom Treasures Boutique later this fall. But to honor her at this time of her death I wanted to showcase the most detailed Irish Lace collar, she would have loved it! I wonder if there will be a trend in lace collars coming up? I will be ready.

I have been working on headbands and ear warmers with cables, twists and braids for the November demo. They seem to be as popular as hats, caps and berets this season and a fun project at this time of the year. They make great practical gifts, specially made from velvet and suede. Kids love them as well and often wear them rather than a cap, because in their favorite color, they can be quite a fashion statement.

Currently I am knitting a fun scarf for myself for a change. Dimensions will be 16” x 72”, large enough for the popular “wrap around the neck loosely” effect. I am holding 7 thin strands of cotton, silk, merino, bamboo and linen together and use my Continental Knitting technique on bamboo needles to knit and purl away. This creates a wonderful color blend. When I teach the Continental Knitting workshop, many students bring circular needles and I have often tried to like them but have not succeeded as of now. Old habits die hard; my grandmother never heard of a circular needle and we always used the metal pairs in different lengths. So, in a few minutes I will be reunited with my bamboo needles, they give me comfort and just the right resistance for the fibers in my project.

Have fun decorating for fall and Halloween, do some baking for your loved ones (extra pecans in the pie please) and get out the flannel sheets. We deserve some extra comfort this year.

Be well and enjoy the colors of fall, outdoors and in your yarn stash!

“I do what I love and I love what I do.”

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