Fiber camp

[magid]

A friend emailed me at the beginning of the week asking if she could sty this weekend because the Common Cod fiber guild was putting on fiber camp at MIT. She arrived Friday, I gave her a hat I'd made her (she's going to knit me some fingerless gloves in exchange), and she was pleased enough with it that she wore it to MIT that night. Apparently, it was a big hit, as were her descriptions of some of my other hats, and she again suggested that I write down the patterns for my hats (which I've already told her are all improv pieces (I'm not even sure how to write up patterns worked in a spiral, rather than circles)). And on Saturday, she again suggested I go for Sunday.

So I went, bringing many hats, hyperbolic pieces, and crocheted jewelry. It's a free-form sort of event, with anyone able to sign up to teach or show their things, and I signed up for a show-and-tell session. Four people came, and it was interesting how excited people got about the little things I'd made out of DMC8 (cotton thread, often used for kippot), even though some of the hats were definitely liked.

I ended up hanging out with high fiber people, starting and finishing a flame hat (ok, I finished that later tonight, but still, a one-day hat, pretty much from concept to finished), and helping out in the beginning crochet session. Also, my house guest bought me a skein of yarn from one of the vendors as a hostess present (I chose something that may or may not work well in crochet, given its properties), which was unexpected but very nice. On the whole, it was a congenial time, but I didn't learn anything new, and for me it wasn't worth the price of admission (comparable to Arisia, but with far less going on during a shorter day). I'm not likely to join the guild, either, because all their meetings are Friday nights ($5 a pop if not a member, and I'm not interested in watching other people create when I won't on Shabbat).

Comments

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

For writing down spiral patterns, I would suggest writing it out in the same way you would use for circle patterns -- i.e., row by row, but with a note at the beginning specifying that it's a spiral and there's no need to join before moving up to the next row.

Speaking of such things, though I am embarrassingly late on sending you the crochet project I promised, I am (finally) ready to deliver. You have 2 to choose from -- one is dark blue with lighter accents and the other is varying shades of light brown. Let me know which you'd prefer and I will send. (You can send your address to me privately at ichur72 @ yahoo.com. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

See, I never write down patterns, so it's all new to me. But thanks; I was poking around via Google this morning, and didn't have a lot of luck finding what I wanted, exactly, using the word "spiral" (I should probably look just on Ravelry instead).

And thank you! Email sent from my WearableTopologies email...

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Writing patterns can be a headache. I've done it before, but it is complicated, esp. since my best designs are based on fortunate improvisation and then the replication of same. And then quite a bit depends on the fiber used and other factors ... With some of my pieces, I've just resigned myself to letting them be one-offs.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I totally get that: pretty much all of my stuff is like that, but I've had a bunch of people ask for patterns, so I thought it might be worth a try...

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of going to find someone to teach me how to spin with a drop spindle, but didn't have time after all. And I tried teaching myself how to crochet, but like you warned me, DMC8 and tiny crochet hooks aren't the best way to learn. So then I tried fingering weight yarn and a D hook, but still couldn't get the sc8 after you join the starting circle. So I think I need you! We need to get together for crafting time soon.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I met someone who taught the drop spindle class, and he's very local. It's possible he could be convinced to teach someone individually....

And a crochet class sometime would be great! Let me know when's convenient for you. (If you have to be at the lab but have time in between (er, somethings; iterations of some sort?), that could work too.