February 14, 2006
overheard
Overheard at the local Joann, Saturday, February 11, 2006, 10am.
Location of women: Yarn aisle
Location of me: one aisle over
Lady 1: I sure wish I knew how to knit! This is all so confusing.
Lady 2: Are you just getting started in knitting?
Lady 1: I am. This is just so overwhelming though. All of this yarn and all the needles sizes and things. Just so confusing.
Lady 2: You should go to www.masondixonknitting.com! One of them is named Ann and she's a, um, personal friend of mine. They have a book coming out in March. You can just write them a note and they will be HAPPY to help you with your knitting. You should get in touch with them!
Lady 1: I'll do that!
Aaaaand scene.
I was quiet as a little mouse I was. Not a peep. I was singing It's A Small World in my head though. Really, really, really loud.
To be a good copycat to kay and her log cabin making ways (and since I now know that I can write her anytime and she will be HAPPY to help me with my knitting) and to do more for sarah's denyse schmidt-along than just make 17 oven mitts while at the same time indulging in some much needed self love, I have gone whole hog, over the top, off my rocker into making a king size quilt for our bed. It's not exactly the pattern in the Denyse Schmidt book, but it will be highly Schmidt-esque. Particularly Drunk Love in Log Cabinish.
I started out with only one word in my head - delft. Why delft? How the hell should I know. It was just there. I wouldn't put delft in my top 10 of colors even, but it popped in there as an itch to be scratched. It has moved far beyond delft at this point into lots of yellows and greens and even a reddish earth color. Several colors of blue. All muted but glow-y as you can plainly not see from my terribly lit photo.
I would love to know the psychology of the Log Cabin square. Why is it so enticing to plan and wholly satisfying to make? Those of you who have done it must agree with me, and those of you who haven't should give it a go. It can be spiral or totally square (I'm going with square on this) and done in millions of ways, random, contrasting color values in different places to give it different effects, squares within squares (like mine here). And there all kinds of schools of thought on it - it's all about contrast, it's all about the print, you must have a place for an eye to rest so be sure to mix in solids and about 8 million others. There's definitely a kernel of truth to it somewhere that makes it so powerful an emblem and so interesting to explore.
xo
Posted by Angela at February 14, 2006 03:10 PMI love you Angela. :) You always put a smile on my face. And I especially needed one tonight.
Posted by: chelle at February 14, 2006 07:29 PMYour concentric squares is called 'Housetop' innit? At least in Gee's Bend. I think I've seen it called Barn Raising also? AND you're Courthouse-stepping it. Way to GO. RAWK the Log Cabin.
Are you sure Lady No. 2 was not Ann? xoxo Kay
Posted by: Kay at February 14, 2006 08:35 PMTOTALLY LOL.
"Uh, you really ought to write Ann--she's awfully great and SO talented and MODEST, and just a genius knitter. She could be a model, too!"
My mission in life is to find out who this was. Let me ask you: which Joann were you visiting? This may narrow down things. I only have two personal friends, and one of them lives in New York.
Too funny.
Posted by: Ann at February 14, 2006 08:48 PMOh fine. Just encourage me, why don't you. Between you and Lisa over at A Bird in the Hand (sorry, don't know how to link in a comment), you're just practically FORCING me to try to do a log cabin SOMETHING!
When you have time away from all these lovely things you do, let me know your ideas on the tie quilt. I'm getting ready...
Posted by: kt at February 14, 2006 09:51 PMThat overheard conversation was a hoot! I had sent my hubby a link to your etsy shop for the Gigantic Geisha Pillow and it was so sad...he called me last week and said it was gone (which I knew because I had watched it like a hawk). He didn't understand the nature of Etsy. Hubby was so apologetic. I held out hope that he really had bought the pillow and was really going to surprise me with it. There was no Valentine's Day surprise. Sigh. I loved that pillow. Sniff. Anyhow, you have been on my mind with the pillow and all. Just wanted to tell you again how great it was. Now I may have to humbly do my own version. Love the Delft Square. And the skull sweater? Holy Moley!
KT
Posted by: KT at February 15, 2006 02:51 PMLove the log cabin pattern and super-love your blue square. Sigh, must get quilting again.
Posted by: Emily at February 16, 2006 08:41 PM