Mary Jane Mucklestone

Hand Knitting Blog & Knitting Patterns

Events

Gay Pride Parade – Reykjavik

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Hooray! Reyjkavik’s Gay Pride Parade attracts thousands of happy participants and viewers.

 The United States is right behind the Faroe Islands.

Pretty pretty!

Oh look – There’s the Mayor of Reykjavik on the “Free Pussy Riot” float. No kidding. It really is. Just in front of him is New Zealand.

Gotta Love Reykjavik!

 

Leelee is Found!

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Leelee – dog of adventure, was found trotting along a busy road more than a mile and a half from home. When a passing motorist saw her, she stopped, alarmed and afraid that the dog would get hit. Opening the door, Leelee hopped right in, always eager to make new friends.

I’d spread the word of Leelee’s disappearance, putting up LOST signs all over the area, in general stores, on telephone poles, in the vets and at the shelter. Everyone I spoke with knew about the two other missing dogs, a blind and deaf spaniel, and an elderly terrier, who are both sadly still missing. It just goes to show the value of those LOST signs.

It had been 2 nights and 3 days.

Leelee is a time-shared dog. She spends most of her time with us out in the woods, and the rest of the time with her alternate father, a lobsterman, answering to her other name Little Baby Jesus. Together they spend lots of time on a private island with no roads and just baby seals to play with. She has a job out there which she takes very seriously, keeping the deer away from the owner’s roses. She has a big crew of carpenter friends who dote on her.

Yesterday the island guys were sharing a sad and mournful lunch, discussing the terrible event of the missing Baby. Then Cade, the youngster, took a look at his phone, and there on Facebook was a picture of Leelee!  His friend Jenna posted it! CALL HER everyone said! She told him the picture hadn’t even been up for 2 minutes! Hooray! An explosion of Happiness!

I thank everyone who kept Leelee/Baby in their thoughts, sharing Facebook posts and Tweeting like mad. I think it was through all our efforts and positive thoughts that our darling dog was found safe and sound.

Hooray for the wonders of Facebook! Hooray for Leelee’s many friends!

Summer in Maine

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I’m spoiled. I get to spend every summer in Maine. The area that I live in is called the Midcoast. I’m in a little village about 6 miles away from the sea. Our nearest town is Belfast, a great little place, full of architectural gems and home of Heavenly Socks Yarns. Other nearby towns are Camden, Rockport, Rockland and Searsport. They filmed the 1957 movie Peyton Place in Camden and there are some glimpses of Belfast and Rockland too. Rockland is home of the Lobster Festival, which this year includes a contest for Maine’s Fastest Knitter, August 2, 2012.  The race begins at 3:00pm sharp, hosted by the fabulous new shop Over the Rainbow Yarns. Rockland has a great art museum, The Farnsworth, with a special Wyeth Center, the whole family represented. Heck I’m even in a huge Alex Katz painting!

I’m lucky enough to walk out my back door and down to a pond about 1/4 mile away, snacking on blueberries along the way.Today was the first day the waterlilys bloomed, adding a nice accent of white to go with the purple water hyacinth. I suggest you all come up for a visit!

If you need to plan in advance, don’t forget Fiber College! Held in  Searsport right on the shores of beautiful Penobscot Bay, with acres of woods and organic gardens. This year the dates are Thursday, September 06 – Sunday, September 09, so right after the summer rush, when we’ve got Maine to ourselves again. This year has so many great classes I’m thrilled that I get to go as an attendee! What to take? Latvian Mittens is a must, anything taught by Katharine Cobey, Kirsten Kapur is coming this year!!!! I am so excited to meet her. Gayle Zucker is Artist in Residence and sharing all her photography wizardry. Rug hooking, spinning, carving, and even slip-cover making taught by the most wonderful clever and cheerful Ellen Mason! See you then!

Iceland in August!!!

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That’s right! Iceland. Land of Ice and Snow. And the Midnight Sun!
With my wonderful friend Gudrun. And my new friend Ragga.
There are still one or two places open so have a look here.

Gudrun will be teaching Shetland Lace.

In this class we will explore the techniques and patterns that pertain to Shetland Lace knitting. We will practice knitting the more complex lace patterns where motifs are worked on both the RS and WS of the work.

We will also cover how to work a knitted on edging, grafting and a provisional cast on. An overview of typical Shetland shawl/stole constructions will be provided as well as some historical background.

A small sampler using Shetland lace-weight yarn willbe started during class.

I’ll be teaching a Fair Isle Workshop:

We’ll enjoy a full day workshop with Mary Jane:
Colorful Fair Isle Knitting – A cheery introduction to using color in two-color stranded knitting! Though it seems complicated, Fair Isle knitting is easier than it looks, even when it comes to choosing colors!

This class will introduce the basics of color theory as well as study color usasge in various stranded knitting traditions, including Icelandic! We will jump right in and begin to design our own personal colorways starting with a simple 4 stitch repeat and moving on to more complex patterns.

Along the way, we’ll explore various ways of holding the yarn to make your knitting comfortable to execute and your knitted projects even and smooth. Reading color and black and white charts will be covered as well as understanding yarn dominance, tips for weaving in ends, and the necessity of proper finishing.

Mary Jane believes exploring color in an informal classroom environment like this is the best situation; you will learn as much from your classmates work you will your own! As a bonus, Mary Jane will bring all 200 swatches from her book 200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter’s Directory for you to see.

Participants will receive class handouts which include charts and a new fingerless glove pattern, developed just for our Icelandic adventure!

Ragga is teaching the traditional Lopapenysa yoked sweater of Iceland and Steeking:

The little Lopapeysa – Ragga’s class where you will learn to knit a tiny version of the Icelandic classic patterned yoke sweater, and by doing that you’ll get all the information you’ll need to complete a Lopapeysa of any size.

Steeking without fear – We’ll continue and steek our little lopi sweaters. No worries… you’ll learn Ragga’s tricks that will boost your confidence and eliminate your fear of steeking for good.

Check your calendar, we’d love to have you along for the fun.

We’ll be spending time in Reykjavik and the beautiful Westfjords.

Green Mountain Spinnery Goodness!

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I dragged my feet posting this, and I apologize. I’m not very happy with any of my images. My photo-mojo is at an all time low. Don’t you just hate that – like why? – brain whizzing faster than the shutter – preferring to see with my eyes instead of through the lens – laptop running slow? All of those things I suppose, and for me, a post is all about the pictures.

The story is, I had a grand time at the Green Mountain Sugar Season Retreat despite my lame photo-documentation! I wish I had shots of the Inn, of the sunny woodsy scenery, rushing rivers, lovely Vermont lanes and better ones of The Spinnery itself!

My students were amazing and I know I say that every time but – my goodness! We were a mixed bunch, stranded knitting beginners hoping to conquer the technique, color enthusiasts looking for a little more guidance, budding designers experimenting with motif design and placement, and experts who simply enjoy classes. Almost everyone finished a hat, and those who didn’t had their own particular reasons reason why…perfection…yep perfection…sigh…Just look at the variety! What colors! But it is hard to go wrong with the gorgeous Green Mountain Spinnery yarns,  Mountain Mohair and Wonderfully Wooly.

 

I had the good fortune to get a personal guided tour of the Spinnery with it’s wool rooms and wonderful vintage equipment, from the knowledgeable and fun to be with Eric (yep, she’s Eric not Erica, something about girl scouts and camping).

 

My favorite part of the tour was when Eric opened the door beneath the sign “THIS IS NOT AN EXIT”. I’ll say not! Just look at that fluff!

 

 

Eric has a job you and I dream of getting and she was clever how she went about it, asked to fill in for someone who was on holiday, she made sure she was indispensable.Twenty years later she’s still working at the mill in beautiful rural Vermont. She’s a designer, too! All the fibers Green Mountain Spinnery uses – alpaca, mohair, wool and even organic cotton – are grown in the United States. As much as they can, they purchase the fiber directly from individual growers.

 

 

You can get a hint of the fun with the  great video tour they have on their website.I think the most fun of all though, is the relaxed atmosphere of the retreat, the beautiful surroundings, the delicious food,  fine companionship, wonderful hostesses Maureen and Eric – that’s it, you should sign up now for next year because this retreat always sells out fast!

 

On the way home, Stone
Arch Bridge, Stoddard New Hampshire.

Naomi in the comments gave us a link to sheep farmer Eugene Wyatt’s blog, it is fleece from his sheep pictured above.