Calamity Kim

Pardon me, I didn't knit that for you...

Fairy Gown and Spinning Fiber Fairy Tales

Up with the sun.

Coffee warm and delicious.

Thinking about the day ahead. Remembering the day behind.

This bag came back from Somerset Studios last week. I had sent it in to be considered for Haute Handbags and it was bumped and then finally sent back- long months of thinking it would be published. It was like seeing an old friend. I will probably put it in the Etsy shop, but not today. Today I have a sewing job to do and then tomorrow I spin to be ready for a workshop that I am taking this coming weekend with Jacey Boggs of Insubordinknit.

Every year my Knit & Bitch Group (from Picasso Moon) goes on a retreat to Anna Maria Island. We rent this huge house and spend several nights and days knitting, cooking, talking, playing mahjong and spinning. Last year was when we learned to spin- some of us, anyway, and as you know, my life hasn't been the same since!

Yesterday I dyed some roving with Jacquard dyes and it was quite a learning experience. I enjoyed it- but what a lot of work! I don't have any photos- it's still drying. Today I need to get busy sewing.But, I wanted to share a few things that I have been working on since I last posted.

This is a Fairy Princess Gown I made from a size 8 Jessica McClintock gown. I cut and burned and painted and stitched and glued and am still not finished! It will get more lace and tulle and silk added to the ragged hem and then I plan to make wings and a crown.

I have had the dress for a long while and spent a lot of time thinking about how the fairy dress would be. Imagining a fairy seamstress sewing a gown for her Princess using bits of things found in the forest and treasured hand tatted lace and sacred glass buttons and beads is pretty easy for me. As I was working on it my husband came through the room and said two things to me- first he said I was going to burn the house down (the dress was actually smoldering and I saw the glow of ashes burning and had to pat it quickly to put it out!!!) and then he said the nicest thing- he asked why I didn't just make fairy gowns for a living? What a compliment! I would love to live in a gypsy wagon and roam from Ren Faire to Ren Faire selling my gowns and wings and crowns. He said he would sell "things on a stick"- food items- like steak, possum, raccoon and squirrel. Local and organic. yum. He is so funny.

Last week I was so busy- I used a photo from Jacey's blog to create a book cover and used my new book binder to make spinning notebooks for the chicks who are taking her workshop. I don't want to spoil the surprise but Deb has some niiiiice swag bags for those chicks and I think everyone is going to have an awesome time!

Making anything x24 is certainly a big job and it took me about 12 hours to make these notebooks but they will be great to use as journals for our weekend. I am bringing some glue and some pens and pencils to try to write in mine while we are there- between bites of Belgian waffles and spinning art yarns! I will take the camera and try to get some pics. It should be a blast and I know it will be over all too soon.

Did I ever show you the beach bunny I made?

Simple and sweet from a Martha Stewart pattern- I used felted sweaters to make him nice and soft. It was one of those projects I dropped everything and had to go make! I am doing mermaids and mermen and boats next week and will have pictures to share from the retreat. I wish there were more hours to each day- I really do! anyway- have a lovely day and I hope to be back soon with some good stuff to share.

Thanks for stopping by!

xo,

Calamity Kim

Yes, I said I was a Yarn Snob...is there an app for that?

I just posted over at my Fiber Fairy Tales Blog ~ go check it out!

Celebrating Friendship and Crafty Cool Circus Girls Who Knit!

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday!
If you read my Blog very often then you might remember that every Wednesday I usually go to Picasso Moon for a little "Knit& Bitch" session. Actually,  I sit and spin and I used to sit and sew and I have even been known to crochet and cry!
Today is a special day for us because we have two members of our little group of friends returning from up North. There will be champagne and cupcakes and much laughter and stories of what everyone has done over the Summer vacation.

Florida is possibly the only state with a snowbird problem.
I don't know if California shares this breed or not but it can be difficult to adjust to having friends who only live near you part of the year.
It's like having a relationship with a circus.
 When they are in town, everything is colorful, exciting and fun, but after they leave there's nothing but the memories and the long wait till they return next season.
It's unbearably lonely at times, and when you finally call and say hello,  you know they are busy with their other friends, family and Northern lives and they seem even farther away. It's nice to know that like the swallows of Capistrano, they will return with the cool season of Autumn.

The only solution for missing your Northern friends would seem to be becoming a snowbird  yourself and then you'd both be gone and busy until you migrated back to good old Florida.
 It is hellishly hot here in the summer and even with the afternoon rains it's difficult to handle the heat. If I could afford it I would certainly go to North Carolina to avoid the discomfort every year. Alas, it is not in the budget and since we are not retired, its really out of the question, so I will just keep busy until all my crafty birds get back and things return to normal.
Speaking of keeping busy- did I tell you about this wonderful site by Sarah Fielke (of Material Obsession) called Sewn? You should sign up to get her delightfully informative newsletter and look forward to next month when she features Janet Bolton- my very favorite folk art quilter.
I hope you all have a wonderful and creative day...if you are stuck at work you can always make a little origami post it to keep that right brain happy till you get home.
love & stitches,
calamity kim

I knit and therefor I am

Once Upon a Time there was a little girl who lived with her parents in a small cottage at the edge of a tiny village by the woods.

She was a good girl who loved to help her Mother wind wool for her knitting and was so proud that she could be useful.
The sound of the knitting needles clacking together was like music to the girl as she went about her day, reading stories or cutting paper dolls or planting flower seeds in the window boxes.
She would always remember that sound as one of happiness, even years later when she was passing through those sullen, teenage years, she would almost smile, as her Mother pulled out her basket of yarn and began another sweater or scarf. Why in the world would anyone want another scarf she thought to herself?
She had at least 20 that she could remember right off the top of her head- all in serviceable shades of the beige or brown, in fact!
 If I were to knit, it would be something different, she said to herself as she waved goodbye to her Mother and hopped on her bike to ride over to the library for a new book.
As she rode, she imagined trees covered with knitted patchwork- in her imaginary world everything could be made from yarn!

('Garden Home' 2007 at Wollongong University  Crochet Installation by Heidi Threlfo photograph by Arcadia Lyons)

Imagine knitted cars and food- Why couldn't everything be knitted or crocheted? Imagine how soft and warm everything would be. Especially if she used yarns spun with angora or cashmere. Just as she was about to round the corner where the library was she noticed a yarn shop that she had never seen before.
 She parked her bike and locked it up as she looked up at the sign above the door. Picasso's Moon Yarn Emporium it said.
 There was a funny looking round face carved into the wood and the more she looked at it the more she realized that it was a moon, with a Picasso type face. Clever, she thought as she opened the door with a jingle of bells and instantly caught the scent of lavender and bergamot and saw yarn hanging from the ceiling in every color she could imagine.
This would be the place to find any yarn she dreamed of to make knitted mushrooms and flowers.

She looked around a moment more before a beautiful woman with short gray hair and kind amber eyes came from behind a row of bookcases to ask if she was looking for something special.
The girl said "yes- I want to learn to knit" and knowing it would be rude to stare but unable to tear her eyes away, she took in everything about this magical woman's appearance.
From the knitted and felted boots on her feet (which could only have been made by someone who had read every Dr Seuss book imaginable) with stripes of bright colors and fuzzy yarns sticking out in a crazy random way, to her apron which was covered in a patchwork of photographs printed on fabric and trimmed with raw edge applique to her scarf of ruffles and finally her bracelets which bangled together with a tinkle,  like fairies laughing in the rosebushes. You've come to the right place the woman said as she led the girl to a wooden display filled with balls of yarn.
The girl grabbed a color and sat down in one of the soft looking chairs and explained how her Mother always made practical things like sweaters and gloves and scarves and she wanted to knit something different.
Something more complex and fun.
Something with imagination! She wanted to be able to knit anything she saw- because she felt this knitting in her soul- perhaps it was encoded in her DNA? Well, we've all felt like that a time or two, now haven't we? I know I have, the woman said as she held out a pitcher filled with needles- "Pick your poison" she said and the girl drew out two knitting sticks that were made from
 layers of different colored wood.
The woman sat beside the girl and said "do what I do" and the fear the girl had felt over being taught to knit began to melt away.
Her needles began to follow the rhythm of the woman's,  just like birds singing in chorus just outside the shop window.
 It was nothing like she had imagined- it was soothing and satisfying to feel the yarn being transformed into something like fabric- only thicker and squishy and warm. The girl began to describe the trees she saw in her mind's eye that were knitted and patterned with color and texture and how soft they would be to climb.
The woman smiled and said
"you can do that-
you can knit anything you can dream of".
The girl smiled in return and said "thank you".

 The shop soon filled with women from all over the village and even far away towns and the melody of the needles knitting and the hum of voices speaking of family and adventures soothed the girl and made her feel quite at home.
 She wondered if her Mother knew about this wonderful place full of color and texture with friendly, laughing women who shared a sisterhood of stitches.
 Soon the girl had learned enough to be able to knit something that looked like something. What do you see?
She asked as she held out the eyeballs and the ladies all clapped and giggled to themselves.
 How marvelous!
How comically obscenely unusual and bazaar!
The gray haired woman just smiled and said, "I knit, therefor I am, and so now are you". The girl left the shop that day with a happy heart and after checking out some more books from the library she knitted everything she could possible cover with cables and checks and textures and tweeds.
She was a knitting fool.
She was impossible to stop and everyone soon grew used to seeing trees in cozies and dogs wearing hats. She even knitted a few hats for the children at the Orphanage because it made them smile.
Mostly though, she made knitted tarts and pies and things that no one ever expected and she would leave them on window sills to be found by tired, bored housewives who had all but scrubbed the creativity from their spotless imaginations. The girl could feel the flowers in her soul begin to blossom and she lived happily knitted ever after.

 don't drop your stitches,
calamity kim

the photographs in this post were borrowed from Flickr and credit is given to each photo when you rest your curser on each one.

Friday Night Knitting Club Author Kate Jacobs at Picasso Moon for Book Signing!

Debra Lambert, the owner of Picasso Moon Knit Shop in Sarasota will be welcoming Kate Jacobs, the author of Friday Night Knitting Club books, at her shop tomorrow at 3pm for a book signing.
Kate will be signing books, but you will need to bring your own copy, as copies will not be available there for her to sign. Debra did call the local bookstores to let them know, so hopefully you can find one of her books to get signed. She has authored 2 in the Friday Night Knitting Club series and another book called Comfort Food, which sounds interesting to me!
Ms Jacobs is scheduled to appear at a luncheon at 12:00pm at  Kobernick House (Circle Books) located at 1951 N. Honore Ave and graciously agreed  to also  sign books at Picasso Moon, located at 1542 Fruitville Road, Sarasota, FL 34236 afterward at 3:00pm
(941) 954-8696.

Here's the website to checkout Kate's Book Signing Schedule and you can even read the first chapter of her first book (to get ya hooked!).
I am working on a little gift for her and started it yesterday-

I cut out wedges from some wool that I have felted measuring 12" long and 2" at the top and 3" at the bottom and sewed them together. That makes a natural fan shape and a nice palate for some needle felted wool embellishment.

The bottom is 3" wide and the side pieces are too- I just took a few pictures to show my friend Cheryl and get some advice- I am such a novice at needle felting- this is only my second or third attempt. I laid the basic design down by hand needle felting with only one needle and then went over it and added more wool roving with my fabulous embellisher machine.
 Of course I have already changed my mind 10 times and am using something different for the lining- even though the fabric with skulls and knitting needle cross bones spoke loudly at first- I don't think her books are murder mysteries...so I am going with something a bit less deadly! I'll take more pictures as I finish it and hopefully at the event tomorrow!