Today is Tuesday, April 2. It is the beginning of a busy week, after two busier ones.
Yesterday, the kids went back to school after a two week Spring Break. April 1 is a bit of a tradition in this house, though. For the past four or five years, I have served a joke dinner as my contribution toward April Fools. This year, it was meatloaf and peas and carrots. It all sounds rather hearty, until you learn that the meatloaf was made of crushed cocoa rice crispies, and the peas and carrots were Jelly Belly candies.
candy meatloaf
You don't have to clean your plate to get dessert!
Never were the kids so happily obliging to eat meatloaf.
We had two kids as guests for dinner, and, unlike normal meals, there was very little complaining, except for me and one son: he didn't eat and I felt a little sick afterwards. This is the price I pay for fun!
Two weeks ago, the five of us drove up to Minnesota for weekend at the beginning of break. I got to visit the American Swedish Institute and their current exhibition on the Sámi, called Eight Seasons in Sámpi, the land of the Sámi People. If you are close, please check it out! It is excellent: the same exhibit Seattle's Nordic Museum had last year, most of it on loan from Ájtte, the Sámi museum in the Northern part of Sweden. The ASI had a new component, however: they put out a call for local people to bring in other Sámi artifacts which could be put on display. As a result, they got a lovely collection of textiles and handcrafts that showcase the handiwork of a wide area of Sámpi.
crocheted hat
woven belts and laces
Through it I also got to meet a new friend, Eleanor. She has collected Swedish and Sámi textiles over quite a number of visits to Sweden. Most of the Sámi display cases contributed by local people come from her collection. She brought many more for me to see. We toured the Sámi displays, ate lunch together, and generally had a great time meeting one another for the first, but hopefully not last, time!
Today I thought I'd blog about my other two projects in Defarge, deux. "TWO projects?" you say. But, I thought you had only three knit designs in it?
My, you are smart! Here's the deal: one of the items is loosely based on an earlier American author (who in turn based it on an even older time in Massachusetts history). The other project is based on yesterday's project, and is offered free (for a limited time only!), if you sign up on the email list. Here's the email list ( <--click there). After a 24-hour email blitz, the project will only be available for cost on Ravelry or through this site. A Knit-Along based on this knit design is currently being planned, and will probably be mid-April. A Knit-Along is a virtual knit circle, the members of which knit the same project together.
Here are the obligatory, beautiful up-close shots:
third project in W(e)WMDfK?
designed and knit by Stashmuffin
third project in W(e)WMDfK?
designed and knit by Stashmuffin
third project in W(e)WMDfK?
designed and knit by Stashmuffin
email project from W(e)WMDfK? Available after book release on my site
designed and knit by Stashmuffin
email project from W(e)WMDfK? Available after book release on my site
designed and knit by Stashmuffin
email project from W(e)WMDfK? Available after book release on my site
Here, at last, is my sneak peek of the What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit? book. Madame Defarge is a character in Charles Dickens' book Tale of Two Cities who sits beneath the guillotine in France, knitting, knitting, knitting the names of those whom the guillotine killed. Is she a type of the Fates, playing with, and then cutting the yarn of life? Perhaps. For me, she is an great example of using the art of knitting to tell another tale.
The Madame Defarge book series, published by Cooperative Press, is a collection of knitting designs inspired by classical literature (beginning with this book). I have three designs in the book to be released April 2013. More information about the book can be found here. Two are similar and are inspired by a certain author who lived in Concord, Massachusetts. Here are a couple of inspiring shots. How about this:
A snippet of a picture from my first design in
What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?
And this?
close-up of first design in
What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?
And, just a little bit of this...?
close-up of first design in
What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?
Since they're related, I will conclude with a few pictures of the second design in the book. Namely, this:
close-up of second design in
What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?
And, last but not least, this!
close-up of second design in
What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?
Isn't it pretty, even in super close-up form? I can say of this, that they are serviceable , warm, and, in garter stitch, pretty easy.
Can't wait until I can post a picture of the entire project! If you sign up on the email list, you will receive yet another pattern by me in the pre-release emails.
