Avatar is born

This weekend, Jeff and I were in the Vermont studio (aka my parent's house). Luckily, this usually means lots of knitting time with Mom. Time that was sorely needed for finishing the latest robotknitter invention. Here are some photos of my first attempt at "Avatar" - a knitted version of my online other-self as envisioned by Jason Pym.



Thanks again, Jace! And thanks Jeff for taking her out into the Vermont sunshine and capturing some great photos.

Now I need to work out the directions by knitting another robot - and then figure out how and where to post the .PDF instructions for sale. Stay tuned!

A Whirlwind tour of the Sheep Shearing Festival at Gore Place

Angora bunnies from Evergreen Farm

Yesterday, we went to the annual Sheep Shearing Festival at Gore Place. We could only stay for an hour-and-a-half before departing for our cider bottling adventures, so we had to run through instead of meandering around as usual.

Alpaca couple posing for the camera

You know that first really nice day of warm weather after a cold New England winter? The one where you forget all about hats and sun block? It was that kind of day. What a different atmosphere from the cold and drizzle of last year.

We spent a lot of time with our old favorites - Seacolors, Evergreen Farm, Bartlett Yarns, and with our new favorite, Ellie's Reclaimed Cashmere. I managed to limit myself to just one skein of cashmere - pretty good considering how tempting everything looked and felt.

Reclaimed cashmere. Must touch. Must have.

Will and Ellen of Ellie's Reclaimed Cashmere

If you are in the Boston area, make sure to check out the festival next April. Now back to treating that sun burn...

Chickens need sweaters too

I saw a small item in the new Vogue Knitting magazine on British chickens in need of some TLC. Who knew that there were chickens in the world in need of sweaters! What a great idea to help the little hens out. But I have a better idea. Stop the jerks who are doing this to the chickens in the first place.

One more reason to buy eggs from the chicken man (known to the rest of the world as the Country Hen). Plus the chicken man writes letters and sometimes sends them in the eggs. I think I'm in love.

My sister raises hens, and I think I'll knit her a chicken sweater in case one of them gets sick. (note: Hers are very well cared for chickens bearing no resemblance to the poor creatures in the picture above.) The pattern and more information about the effort to help the chickens can be found here: http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/jumpers.aspx

Pin me

Here is the Proto Robot Brooch as it looks "on". Flogging Molly t-shirt not included.

I do have one for sale on Etsy, if anyone is interested.

Speaking of which, does anyone have a good online source for brooch pin fasteners? I want to make a bunch more of the little guys and I want to spend my time knitting, not driving, parking, getting parking tickets, paying parking tickets.... yes, donnez-moi the internet-don't-have-to-leave-my-house transaction s'il vous plait.

Anyway - know any good sources?

Thanks in advance.

La Knitterre Robotte

Robot Away

New from the robotknitter development labs comes the Proto the Robo Brooch.

PieceWork Magazine is running a contest for needle art brooches. I heard about it from InterweaveNews on Twitter. (Who says Twitter is not a useful tool?)

So, of course I had to come up with a wearable robot. A robo-buddy who can go with you everywhere. Hoo-ha!

Wish me luck!

Meanwhile, need to get back to the labs and start working on the next generation of robo-knittetics.

Peace out.

Robots looking for good homes

Well, here goes nothing... I have been obsessively knitting up proto robots in various shades and hues and have started putting them up for sale on Etsy. I have more to go as soon as my in-house photographer takes some photos - and he is waiting on the sun. Could be a while here in still-wintry New England.....



Know anyone who would want to take one home?

http://robotknitter.etsy.com

Flower for Grandmot

Still struggling to get the mittens for Cindy done before spring. Could it be because of all the little side projects? For Grandmot's birthday I knit her a flower brooch from a variety of pretty yarns in my stash. This is a take on the basic flower from Nicky Epstein's book, Knitted Flowers.

Thoughts of spring, and a flower for your lapel (and a bit more yarn out of the stash). Cast one on now!