Stop the Kraken: ACTA

Last week Stitch Mana went dark in protest of SOPA/PIPA. Although I am not American these bills clearly had global ramifications. Obviously things went well and the bills were delayed/suspended. But it is not over yet. Get a load of this monster: ACTA: the Anti-Counterfeiting-Trade-Agreement. This time it is clearly a global issue (just look at the countries behind it), and it entirely disregards the way the internet works.

Take a look at these videos and keep yourself informed on how it will affect you before it is game over.

On My Needles

Loving knitting Stephen West’s Spectra. This is my treat knitting as mostly I am working on my own patterns. It is the perfect pattern for Noro yarn too.

Silk Offcut and 70′s Beads Reuse

Silk fabric from Mood, I made a dress from the majority, and had a little left over. I like to use every scrap, so I sewed it into a tube, found some wooden macrame beads left over from the 70′s (yes, I did do macrame in the 70′s!) and 5 minutes later had a cool necklace.

Lost Knitting

I got off the plane but my knitting didn’t

On the trip from New York to Los Angeles my knitting stayed on the plane when I got off. I didn’t pick up on this until I was sitting at the gate waiting to board the next flight to San Francisco and sensed a disturbance in the force. Husband ran off to investigate, but the line was too long. So I continued my journey knittingless and very cross with myself.

The thing about travel knitting is it doesn’t need to be some spectacular project with the best ever yarn; for me it is more about just having something to do while waiting in airports or on that huge long flight to and from New Zealand. It needs to be smallish in size and not too simple, but not too complicated either in case of slow working brain. Unfortunately, I broke the cardinal rule and my project of choice was rather significant.

I had decided to start working on a new design of hand warmers for Stitch Bone Studio and they had worked out just as I had hoped. I had one arm completed and the other well on the way.

So that was what I lost. One whole arm, complete with pattern notes and spare needles.

The good thing was that the approximate pattern was still in my head and not lost to oblivion, and has subsequently been rewritten and a new set completed (Admittedly not once but twice, as I ended up accidentally redoing them with a larger needle).

Also, as an added bonus (or consolation I suppose), it gave me an excuse to visit two yarn shops in San Francisco to get more yarn and needles:

Atelier Yarns provided me with replacement Cascade Yarn in a wonderful purple. They also had a handy ball winder set-up on site which husband took to task with my new yarn.

I sourced some needles from Greenwich Yarn, and while there couldn’t resist these yarns by Freia Handpaint Yarns and Handwerks.

All in all, not a total disaster. Although I can’t shake the feeling that some TSA agent is busily finishing off the first pair from my notes, whilst sporting their completed Bender Arm.

Meeting the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas

While I was in New York recently, the lovely Idiosyncratic Fashionistas (Jean and Valerie) invited me to go with them to the inspiring LOOT jewellery exhibition and sale at the Museum of Art and Design.

Jean and Valerie run a successful and interesting blog about growing older with verve, and then some. They have an iconic style in their own right, so much so that they inspired a book: ‘Life Dressing: The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas’ by Joana Avillez (I’ve got my copy!). They were both really great to meet, and are genuinely nice women and excellent company. I came away from them thrilled to see other people embracing and creating their own style. Their confidence is very inspiring.

The LOOT jewellery exhibition was a huge treat to see. There were some really amazing pieces, and meeting their creators was inspiring. I loved Suzanne Golden’s beaded jewellery and Margherita Marchioni’s wonderful pieces using pencils and plastic bottles. Sara Basch’s use of rubber bands was really cool. As it is, going to an exhibition like this leaves you feeling extremely creative, and I was introduced to a lot of great women also with their own style. Jean and Valerie have done a couple or write ups about LOOT here and here, complete with more pictures. I did plan to take some, honestly.

We rounded off the evening with cocktails upstairs at ROBERT, and I will repeat that it was really lovely to meet and spend a little time with them.