bricoleur knits

It is APRIL, how did THAT happen?! We are firmly entrenched in 2012, and I am excited about the travel filled summer ahead of me. This month I’ll be visiting Atlanta for Stitches West, then San Francisco for the very first time. I don’t have much of an agenda there besides eating and seeing yarny friends.

June of course means TNNA, a sort of summer camp for professional knitters. I look forward to copious ice cream, the best in the world, and the affordable, unique boutiques, especially Substance. 

July is when a lifelong dream comes true and I head to ICELAND for Body, Mind & Lopi. There will be shopping, sight-seeing and all sorts of Icelandic treats, but there will be work as well! Stephen, Ragga and I will all teach. Stephen and I have also been working on a collection that we plan to shoot in Iceland. I’ve been calling it Miðgarðr, or Midgard, and it will feature Skacel yarns! We share a love for neutrals with BOLD colors, and a desire for dramatic scale, something that Icelandic landscapes certainly offer. 

Here is a peek at some of my favorite images from our collaborative mood board. It has been so interesting to work across an ocean, and I can’t wait to see what emerges…

XO CR

This post has been sitting in my draft pile for eons, probably because I’m afraid to write it! Writing about a favorite writer is all kinds of daunting, and not something I do often. Exactly 166 days ago, I saw Jane Espenson speak at the first Geek Girl Convention. This happened right on the heels of the day I discovered that the Hellmouth is in fact Los Angeles. 

It’s been a good long while since the talk so I’m afraid my memories are dim. What I do remember is that she was wickedly, adorably funny. When she dropped an F-bomb within minutes of taking the stage she purred, “hey guys, sorry for the spicy talk!…” 

She went on to tell stories of her early days writing spec scripts for shows like Star Trek and M*A*S*H. Many of her “breaks” came from her putting herself out there. It reminded me of the quote “the harder you work, the luckier you get.” 

Most of us know and love Jane for her work with Joss Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (note Spike + Buffybot, just out of view, below): 

Eventually the conversation turned to slang and voice, two areas where Jane is pretty much unparalleled, in my opinion. Her fascination with language is backed by years of serious linguistic study, and she shapes her characters with specific verbal tics that always sound authentic and new. 

All in all, Jane confirmed that writing for a television show sounds like some of the hardest and most fun creative work around. During the Q&A I raised my hand and asked her what she likes to watch if and when she has the time (she loves reality shows like Amazing Race and Project Runway).

Time management is just one more thing I have learned (or rather, am fighting like mad to learn) from Jane. If you follow her on Twitter @JaneEspenson you will have the option of joining her in a writing sprint (you could also learn how to revive a day-old sandwich—Jane is a woman who takes snacking seriously).

These sprints are bounded times where you resolve to eshew distractions and work on a specific task, uninterrupted. I haven’t joined in on a sprint in a while but I LOVE working on something knowing that Jane is tinkering with a script in tandem. She’s an incredible digital cheerleader, and so gracious with her fawning fans (askmehowIknow…)

I’m such a Jane fan that I had to name a knit after her. Last year I designed the Espenson caftan tee. It wasn’t necessarily inspired by Jane the lady, but by Jane’s ladies. She has a habit of writing for sci-fi and fantasy and this comfortable striped tee looks like something an ass-kicking woman of the future might wear while slaying demons or exploring a new moon. 

Speaking of geeky fashions, I am absolutely LOVING Geek Chic, a nerdy and well-researched fashion column from Boston University junior Shannon Kiang. My personal favorite is Lord of the Rings round-up, but I can’t wait for her to tackle some Espenson material! 

XO CR 

Greetings! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve fallen silent because I’ve been fervently working on a new project. As you might know, I’m the new Creative Director at Skacel Collection. In addition to design, social media and yarn development, one of my major missions there is to spread the word about the fabulous yarns that live alongside the famous addi Turbo needles. 

I’ll be doing that in a brand new studio, the Skacel Fiber Studio to be exact. I will still maintain this site, and will cross-post when it makes sense, but for now all things Skacel will live on that site. It will be a fiber-filled space, so I already know it’ll be a happy one.  

See you at the studio!…

XO CR 

This year, I’m celebrating Chinese New Year. It is the Year of the Dragon, the year I turn 30 (along with Vogue Knitting magazine, I’m in FANTASTIC company) and the year that I truly began my duties as Creative Director at Skacel. My skills were immediately put to the test planning for two of the hottest industry events, the third Vogue Knitting Live in NYC and the biannual TNNA show (the January show is usually in California but has recently moved to Phoenix, Arizona). You can see all of my photographic notes from this whirlwind of a month here, but here are some highlights in the meantime…

Before heading off, I knit myself a Twin Cities headband using one ball of Schulana Cashmere Moda. It is a major party foul to work a booth and NOT wear at least some of your yarns. This fit the bill perfectly: it knit up in no time on my size 4 Addi Clicks and only took one ball of luxurious yarn in the color of the year, Pantone #17-1463 Tangerine Tango. I barely took it off all weekend, not even when crammed into the back of a limo with Alice Starmore and over a dozen other knitting denizens! 

I also had to carefully consider my polish options for the weekend. I settled on a favorite neutral, Butter London’s All Hail the Queen. Appropriate when spending time with knitting royalty like Debbie Bliss, Sarah Hatton, Josh Bennett and Trisha Malcom, no? 

What followed was a weekend full of fashion shows, bento boxes, shopping and chatting with friends and new to me knitters. Every hour seemed to outshine the last and I spent all of them with my vivacious new boss Karin. I knew she was a kindred spirit when we hit my beloved Momofuku Ssam Bar the first night in town. We devoured a plate of pickles, then artisanal ham, then pork belly sliders, then crack pie…we both couldn’t stop snapping photos and saying “MMMM!!…” She even indulged my fan girl squealing when I spotted and subsequently fawned over Amanda Brooks.

Together we ran a cafe themed booth where we introduced the latest in the Click line. Interchangeable needles with long but pointy tips, a lifeline threader built right into the cable…very exciting stuff! 

At Loopy Mango, an incredible blend of haberdashery, antique shop and boutique. I am really, really glad this store is all the way in Soho and not Seattle!! 

The same is true for Brooklyn General, a yarn shop that more than lived up to the heaps of praise I’d heard about it (they stock TONS of our yarns, too, maybe I’m a bit biased…) I especially fell in love with this giant squishy cowl, knit in Imperial Stock Ranch Bulky 2-Ply, a roving style pencil yarn that comes in giant wheels. 

La Casita, another cozy and well-loved Brooklyn yarn shop, won me over with their wine bar and this dissected frog. Pattern is by Emily Stoneking, her amazing post-mortem menagerie is available here.

Clearly, I love New York. More and more with every visit. If I find myself missing it I will watch one of my favorite NYC movies. In no particular order: 

Crossing Delancey, Hannah and Her Sisters, Taxi Driver, Royal Tenenbaums, Bill Cunningham New York, The Baxter, Pieces of April, Tiny Furniture, The Warriors, Muppets Take Manhattan…

3/1/2012: You can find part two of my January travelogue here. 

XO CR

UPDATE: As though on cue, the darling Ragga Eiríksdóttir reminded me that today, DECEMBER 15th, 2011, is the last day to get Early Bird Pricing on the Body, Mind + Lopi retreat that Stephen West and I will be teaching in gorgeous, enigmatic ICELAND. I cannot WAIT for this excursion and I am busily plotting a mini-collection to shoot with Stephen while we’re there. Hope you can join us! 

I am heading into my first winter here in Seattle, and I must say, I really miss snow! It could be the visual thrill of a sparkling expanse of clean white, or the noise dampening effects of a fresh blanket of cold powder. It could be the fun of trudging through suddenly silent woods, or the cozy feeling of being trapped indoors while a storm rages outside.

I recently designed a simple cowl that could be knit in one snowbound evening. It calls for 4 balls of Schulana Cortina Nuvole, a yarn that reminds me of freshly fallen snow—soft, fluffy and light. Download the free Columbia Cowl pattern here.

I’ll be heading back East to celebrate the holidays with family, and I’m crossing my fingers for some snowfall. Until then I’ll content myself with holiday nail varnishes and my Yuletide board on Pinterest…

Even though it is premature, I’m already feeling the January self-improvement impulses kick in. I have many goals, including updating my 5-year diary more regularly, eating more healthfully, carrying a more ladylike purse, learning to watercolor, working diligently on all of my deadline knits (!!!) and learning to manage stress with a bit more grace than I did in 2011. 

Hope your winter is inspiring you as well, snowy or not…

XOCR