Spring Squam 2015: Day 3 and Travel Home. Art Fair and Re-entry

I was dressed for the Art Fair (in my Stephen West "Mesa" which got a lot of comments...it was the right crowd for this sort of thing) and was ready to go with cash in my pocket!

Last time, I had scoped out all the vendors on the Squam website beforehand, but I couldn't find the information when I looked this time. It wasn't quite as important as there weren't the crushing crowds I remember from last time.

The camp always does a good job of dressing up the dining hall.

These ice block candle lights are a specialty and are fantastic every time. (For video and pictures of the ice harvest, click here.)

I circled the outside of the room visiting with every vendor--talking, asking questions, admiring the wares. The first time around I bought this wool from DeepWater Dyeworks.

The man was wearing a kilt; I am helpless to resist. (In addition to selling yarn, he represents utilikilt.) The orange is sock yarn--80% superwash wool, 10% nylon and 10% cashmere. It's lofty and squishy. The purple is a scrumptious lace weight--70% alpaca, 20% silk and10% cashmere. I don't have any plans for it, but it is unbelievably soft and whatever it becomes will be wonderful. :)

I then made a circle of the inside block of vendors. I think I circled the whole place two more times and picked up these lovelies:

A sweet little charm from Jessica Mixer.

She had so many sweet charms. If you browse her etsy shop, I bet you'll be tempted!

These don't match the charm, but I have a hard time resisting leaves.

The earrings are from Melissa Partridge at Color Me Happy.

And I picked up this printed cloth from Elisabeth Kelly Design.

I think it was sold as a napkin but it's larger than a usual napkin. I bought just one and my first thought (as always) is to use it in a quilt. But on second thought maybe I'll stitch on it.

My most self-indulgent purchase was this leather purse from LeatherWoolLinen.

She described the bag as "comfortable" and she was so right. It sits so softly on my shoulder and yet won't slide off because of the texture of the raw leather. Once I tried it on, I was sold. It was frightfully expensive, but remember...I had cash in my pocket and I knew how to use it.

Some of her leather items were marked by the cow's brand but this one was not. You can just make out her name stamp on the upper right corner. After using this bag for the past week I think I will be giving away all of my other purses. Or maybe I'll try to sell some on Yerdle. If anyone knows how that works, please let me know!

I visited Colleen's booth (from the altered book class) and got to chat with her and her daughter for a bit. She gave me this sign which came from a conversation she had with a cab driver.

I plan to hang it on my door at work. ;)

There were many, many lovely objects. While it's still up, you can see a list of the vendors here.

By the time I left, it was 9:30, hardly anyone was there and they were starting to pack it up. I enjoyed a walk back to the cabin and was tired enough, replete enough, that I didn't look for any living rooms to invite myself into. I cozied into bed, did a little reading and enjoyed a good night's sleep.

The next day was time to go home. :( But at least this time I wasn't leaving at 6 am and had time to enjoy breakfast and left at a more reasonable 8:30. By this time my necklace was "this big":

So close to done!

So close, I finished it while waiting for my flight. (With a two hour delay, I had plenty of time!)

I tacked down the circles with little stitches using the yarn. I arranged them to make two infinity symbols on the sides. The pattern recommended using thread, but I didn't have any and the stitches are hardly noticeable in the garter stitch.

I also didn't have a clasp but it was long enough that I just sewed the ends together and put it on over my head. I think it hangs a little low but we'll see how it is with a proper shirt to wear it with. I did see a version on Ravelry that was only three circles instead of five and I think that would be better. Maybe I'll undo this one to the third circle and then reknit it instead of knitting a whole new one.

After that I had no more knitting so I took out my Zentangle card and finished it up.

I added dots to the top right quadrant, filled in some missing lines and solid parts, and did some shading with the pencil.

After that I was out of activities and "had to" read. No sad story here.

On the way home I stopped at my sister's again. It was my niece's birthday and I had some notepads to give her from the Art Fair. I picked them up from a classmate who had a booth, Genevieve's Granddaughter. [It looks like her website is still under construction.] My niece is a crafty one and recently has self-published a book, The Life of a Bunny. I thought she may need more writing supplies. :)

I made re-entry into regular life a little easier this year by taking Monday off of work. I spent the day stitching and reviewing pictures. You've seen that I have made good progress on the embroidery project. I even tried to recapture the feeling of stitching on the dock by sitting on my porch, but it is very humid here and I am sorely lacking a lake.

I have done nothing to the altered book except gather up bits of paper and things that might go into it. In part, I'm waiting for an email that's supposed to come from Colleen of the supplies that we used. There's no way I would remember them all and some were very handy.

I'm still working on unpacking and putting things away. I brought a lot of supplies with me and you've seen how much I bought at the fair. But perhaps I'm stalling to try and keep with me the feeling of being there. The communal feeling of support. The shared value placed on making. The belief that nothing needs to be cheap, easy or fast for efficiency's sake. And that you can only start from where you are, being who you are.

Spring Squam 2015: Day 3. Extras and a Walk

Day 3 (Saturday) dawned bright and sunny and warm. It was such a gift after the cooler days that had proceeded it. Everyone was excited to be finishing up their last class and attending the Art Fair on Saturday night. The atmosphere was excited, although tinged with the knowledge that it was our last day.

I dressed in my now-temperature-appropriate capris and my two-tosh Scarpetta. And not to trust first impressions of the weather, I wore my orange tulip socks again!

The morning was spent in class which I wrote about here. The afternoon schedule was free with a couple more "Extras" offered. The first one was billed as making your own perfume (no thanks) and turned out to be more about making home skin products. I skipped it and went for the walk I had been intending to take at last Squam!

Or, not really the intended walk because I headed out to find the path that goes up West Rattlesnake Mountain (1,243 ft), but I couldn't find the entrance to the path from the road. So I took a much more clearly marked path that mostly followed the road and didn't involve any steep climbs.

I enjoyed getting out, getting moving and, I'll say it again, the glorious weather. (Too cool for me to sit in the shade, but perfect for walking or sitting in the sun.)

I bent down and saw little things like this slip of a plant pushing its way up through the matted leaves:

And this tiny frog:

And I looked up and saw the sun play on needles

and leaves.

These leaves had apparently fallen on the road and then been either pushed into the dirt, or covered by a thin layer of dirt.

I was fascinated with how it looked like a stain or an impression of leaves. But there were still real leaves under there.

After the walk, I returned to my dock, switched my wool shirt for a tshirt and soaked my feet in the cold lake water.

I also enjoyed a lie-down on the dock in the sun. The cool breeze couldn't find me there and I was so happy to be laying there.

The second "Extra" of the afternoon was on Boro stitching taught by Samantha Hoyt Lindgren.

Boro stitching is similar to Sashiko, but Samantha explained that whereas Sashiko was used by the rich to decorate and embellish fabric, Boro was used by the working class to mend everyday clothing. It is normally done on denim or other heavy duty fabrics, but like any technique you can use it for what you want.

I had a pair of pants with me that were ripping along the top inside pocket seams. I also had some extra denim. First thing was to decide if you want the patch fabric to be on the inside or outside. Since I was dealing with pockets and flaps, I pinned the patch on the inside.

The jeans were made from a stretch denim but the patch fabric was not, so I placed the patch on the bias so it would have a little stretch to match the main fabric.

I then stitched through the layers with a sturdy quilting thread. There is special Japanese thread or floss made just for this stitching. Or you can use pearl cotton if you can't find the Japanese stuff. In this case, I liked that the quilting thread matched the jeans. I didn't want to draw a lot of attention to my butt.

You can do any pattern: horizontal lines, vertical lines, concentric circles or squares, diagonals or you can echo the shape of the rip you're mending. Or another variation was random small stitches that look like little grains of rice!

You can see that I chose to work horizontally. I had to open the pockets and stitch from inside them so I wouldn't sew the pockets shut.

Samantha thought my stitches were a little larger than they should be (I confess I was rushing to get them done!) so she suggested adding the vertical stitching as reinforcement.

You can also see that the knots are on the outside! You don't have to, but that is what is traditional. It is a real "honesty" in mending...you're not trying to blend or make it disappear but at the same time you're still making it beautiful. I'm sure you can imagine some garments look better after the mending than they did originally!

Once I had finished the stitching, I cut away the patch from the inside close to the stitching. I didn't do anything to finish the edges. Denim is too thick to be folding the edges over and I really don't think it will ravel. I suppose if I were really concerned about it, I could have just done a whip stitch around the edges, but I didn't.

I was so excited to be able to wear these pants again, I wasted no time in putting them on as I changed for the Art Fair. Here I am showing off the mend (not my butt, in case that is not clear!)

I also added my "Mesa" sweater as I expected the evening to be cooler.

And to keep you up-to-date with the knitting progress, I was still working away at the necklace.

I had some time during the beginning of the embroidery class when Joetta was talking to us and on Friday evening when I invited myself and my roommate over to the neighbouring cabin. (I was not about to spend a lonely night in my cabin while the rest slept the evening away!) We had a nice time knitting, chatting and sometimes being quiet. (You're not surprised most knitters are introverts, right?)

By this point I had the pattern "down" so I could make progress fairly quickly. It would be nice to finish it within the time frame of this trip and it was looking like it might be possible...

Preparing for Squam

A week from today I will be at Squam, probably eating breakfast (something I never do at home) and wondering how my first class is going to go.

I am in such a tizzy right now I haven't been able to pull myself together to pack or even think about what I need. For a while I pretended it was because I didn't know what the weather would be like, but I think my brain just isn't working right. But I could make other preparations.

For one thing, there was the Squam garden a few people are planning. It's a yarn bombing they will be doing at the Rockywold-Deephaven Camp site. They invited people to send flowers and other "gardeny" type things to them and they would be pulling it all together.

I finally put to use a pattern I bought back when the tsunami hit Japan. (Every disaster now, people will donate profits from their patterns when you buy.) It's for some crocheted cherry blossoms. The pattern had them very artfully displaced on a bare branch and they looked beautiful. Mine are a little more prosaic, but in part because I wanted them to be bigger to fit the larger woody context.

In three sessions, I was able to make 12 of them:

The original pattern called for a different colour for the first round (the centre), but I just couldn't get myself up for all those extra ends to weave in.

I think they're pretty cute in one colour anyway.

I used bits of extra sock yarn and some raveled sweater yarn I had around. I varied the size by using the yarn single, double or tripled (with navaho plying) and changing the hook size to suit.

The flowers are extra clever because you make a little loop on the back of them so they are easy to mount on twig branches, hair bands, elastics, anything really. My niece was visiting while I was working on them and she was doing some crochet, so I passed the pattern on to her. I am looking forward to seeing what she will do with it!

And then I thought I was done my crafty preparations for Squam. I had my lace coat done. I mailed my flowers off to be incorporated into the project. But then...

I had a little necklace I wore sometimes made from little letter beads strung on a leather thong. Usually it spelled out my name. For a while it was "Bonus Mom." I pulled it out yesterday and wore it, and it occurred to me that it would be a handy thing to wear at Squam. It would be like a name tag, but crafty and (dare I hope) a little cool. But it needed one addition:

I added a second strand and spelled out my Ravelry name. You see this all the time on crafty blogs and in the crafting world--you give your Ravelry name like you might normally give out your email. Except it's not just a way for people to contact you, it's the way they know you on the site. Your posts, your projects are all identified with that name. So I thought it would be perfect for Squam.

A bonus of adding the strand is that I redid the clasp and fixed two things: the lobster claw was on the wrong side so I used to have to do it with my left hand, and the necklace was just a touch too short and constricted my neck.

Add a smile:

and I figure I am all ready to be meet some strangers and make some new friends. :)

One More Remembrance Necklace

I've added one more to the set of remembrance necklaces I made with beads from my dad's hematite necklace. (Details of the others and the story behind the beads here.)

You see, Dad had a niece named after him: Henriette. And although all his nieces were special to him, he indulged himself to spoil her a little more than the others. (He figured that was his job as her namesake!) It didn't hurt that her birthday (today) was only 6 days after his own. He always made sure to visit or at least send a gift if he couldn't see her.

I don't remember if one of my sisters suggested it, or if I thought of it on my own but I thought giving her a necklace along the lines of the ones I made for my sisters would be very nice. She's having a "big" birthday this year too, turning 20.

I'm not quite as familiar with what colours Henriette wears so I went with some pretty neutral beads. Strung some nice chunky ones up front using black tube beads to form the pendant hanger. And then lots of soft tumbled rocks for the back half:
I finished it off with a nice easy toggle clasp.

I hope she likes it!

Completing the Look: Part 2

I've got another necklace to share with you. While making what should have been a quick stop at Hobby Lobby, I saw that beads were half off. Well, at that price I have to look...

I bought a variety of glass beads in reds, greys and black to make a long necklace to match my Deep V Argyle Vest. I wanted something substantial enough to hold its own against the argyle pattern and long enough to balance the deep Vneck.

The simple strand can be worn long or doubled for a shorter style. It's pretty thick and chunky when worn doubled, but I think it'll work for some outfits.






The glass beads look too good to be true. Very luscious. The observant among you will notice that I used more of my dad's hematite beads, putting them on either side of the big grey squares.

I used the same wire cable as the last necklace to string the beads. In this case, I decided the necklace was long enough that I didn't need a clasp.
I just looped the cable ends around each other and caught each end in a crimp bead. (Keeping it simple!)

And a necklace wouldn't really be complete without earrings, would it?
I took a couple of long beads and the same wire cable, ran the cable ends through the bead and caught the ends with a crimp bead again. String it onto some fisherman hooks, and they're all set.

And how does it all work with the vest?
Not too bad, right?

Completing the Look: Part 1

Once you finish a project you're going to wear, you need to think of what you can accessorize it with. I had nothing that I thought looked good with my Pioneer Tshirt so I jumped at the chance to stop by my favourite not-quite-local bead shop.

I wanted something fun and casual. (There's no need to try dress up a Tshirt!) And I was going to keep it simple.

I've been stuck in my beading lately, trying to do too much (without the skills to do it), and finally realized that people have been stringing beads in a simple line for eons; and if it was good enough for all of them, it was good enough for me!

What I found at the store were some pink-and-white and mint-green-and-white beads that I really liked. I alternated the colours, and used some larger oval green beads in the center, moving up through three sizes and shapes to smaller green ones at the ends. The pink beads are the same throughout.

My very favourite beads are the medium sized green ones. They have a twist that is just irresistible.

I used a different material to string the beads. Tired of the crimp beads fraying the string (even Kevlar string), I used a small wire cable. ("Stainless steel nylon coated miniature wire cable; 3 strand, .015 diameter" if you're curious.)

It has enough flexibility that it hangs appropriately, but enough strength that I'm not worried about it coming apart.

It also simplified putting on the clasp. The thicker cable is more secure in the crimp bead so I just threaded it through the clasp and then back through the crimp bead. Crimp, cut it short and done.

And how does it look with the Pioneer?

Pretty good, I think. The bead colours are brighter than the pinks and greens in the shirt, but it works. I like the length, and the necklace hangs nicely.

I wanted to add a bit of history about the bead shop I like. I had been there a couple times before I noticed a little frame hanging on the back of a door.

In it was detailed the history of the builder and long time resident of the house. I don't remember all the specifics, but this was a woman who had gone to college in the 1910's against the wishes of her family. She worked for a time but then moved back to her hometown to take care of aging relatives.

She decided to build her house and did exactly that. She did every bit of work on the house except the electrical work.

Does that put the items on your "to do" list in perspective or what?!