LoopyKnits

I found these eye-popping BIG KNITS during some of my web rambling in 2007. Enjoy!

• Giant knitted poufs to use as seats, ottomans. Found via.
• Knitting a giant American flag using two cranes. Also see the same Paul-Bunyan-sized project from three years earlier, using a pair of 20-foot knitting needles. Definitely not a time when you’d want to drop a stitch. Amazing! The same artist has also done a giant fiberglass teddybear. Found via.
• Have needles? Knit a house — or at least a cover for one. Seriously, I’ve heard of knitting some unusual cozies before, but … wow! Found via.
• Sure, some people build a treehouse, but what about knitting one like knitting celebrity Cat Bordhi did? I don’t know enough about the safety to be able to recommend this, but what an interesting idea. Found via.
• A really groovy cozy for a VW Bug. No, really.
• Belated Christmas coolness #1: One of the biggest knitted Christmas trees (photos here and here); I can’t find a story, but I think it was a 2005 fund-raiser for the North Devon Hospice in Devon, England; found via.
• Belated Christmas coolness #2: Giant knitted gingerbread house, created as another hospice fundraiser

Technorati Tags: giant knits, big knits, fiber art

Fantasy author Holly Lisle not only generously shares writers’ tips that I’ve enjoyed surfing through for years, she also is an imaginative, skilled knitter. And she has created a madly interesting set of make-your-own-magic sock patterns for some of her fictional characters, the Anzi.

The idea is that the Anzi knit colorful patterns into the fabric, visually expressing what they desire to receive. Her website explains: 

“The Abundance Socks give thanks for something needed. They acknowledge the Anzi belief that as soon as you put your will into the system, the system answers simultaneously, though you may not see the results immediately. So when the Anzi pray, they don’t pray for something. They give thanks for it, because whether they have what they need yet or not, they accept that Spirit has already answered.”

This just delights me; you have got to check this out. (I can’t possibly be the only other sci-fi/fantasy geeky knitter out there, can I?) At Holly’s site, the index on this topic contains links that explain the theory, the pattern, color theory, meaning of the symbols, and more.

Technorati Tags: magic socks, Anzi socks, quantum knitting, quantum entanglement, Holly Lisle, abundance socks, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

Way too much going on lately! Lots of 50- to 65-hour work weeks due to this being a busy season in my office. So very little time lately for knitting.

I am, however, going to:

• Have a cardiac stress test tomorrow morning (oh joy — if there’s anything I love more than trotting on a treadmill, it’s trotting with electrodes attached while I mentally stress to the max
• Volunteer for an afternoon with Habitat for Humanity on Thursday
• Be the Girl Scout mom going on our troop’s all-night Zoo Snooze on Friday
• Have (yuck) sinus surgery next week

Other news:Had a *great* time on April 25 with other knitters, listening to Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee read from her book (”At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much”), and then we listened and knit while she fielded questions from a crowd of about 30. Here’s a photo of Stephanie (center, front row, white shirt, luscious green shawl) with me (gigantic red dress, happy smile) and other members of the Memphis Knitting Guild.

If only I had not been such a shiftless ass — in the intervening weeks since the picture was made, I have gradually lost my grip on all the little anecdotes of the evening and just remember a fun time. But our local newspaper did a feature story on this event and (I can’t believe this) took a closeup photo of my hands working with the Nautilus Cap’s green yarn and four DPNs. At least they waited until after I had tinked and reknitted it correctly (AGAIN).

And, of course, I also attended our older daughter’s spring choral event, a dinner theater performance of Broadway hits. My camera failed to work on the close-up shot, darn it, so I’m showing you my blurry distant shot of her onstage. Notice how your eye is mysteriously and unerringly drawn to her beauty and style. I’ll bet you can pick her out of the crowd even if I don’t say what row she is on.

Now that I’m caught up again with my blog (sort of), I’ll start posting again regularly.

Technorati Tags: busy at work, cardiac stress test, Habitat for Humanity, Memphis Zoo, Zoo Snooze, Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit’s End, Memphis Knitting Guild, MKG, Nautilus Hat, Nautilus Cap, Ginny, choral concert, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm