Anyone still there??

Hi.

You may have noticed an absence in blog posts for a while. Yeah, about that....I just haven't been up to it. But I'm working up the energy and will to start posting again. Oddly enough, or maybe not so oddly, I have been working on stuff -- not actually finishing anything, mind you -- but working on stuff. Actually took a weekend away (to the Hamptons, no less, la-di-dah) where a friend and I tackled knitting and I worked on my fat-bottomed bag. Yeah, that one.

But the main reason I wanted to post something was to send out a collective thank you to all my friends and readers who have shown me incredible and humbling support and understanding since the death of my dad last month. It's been rough, but the kind notes have meant more to me than I can ever say. I am touched that so many people have reached out to me with understanding and empathy -- people I've never met, some I've only met once or twice, and of course, dear old friends. All I can say is that what goes around, comes around. And I hope that if and when any of you need to be carried for a while, that you experience the wealth of support that I have done in the past weeks -- and that I can be there for you, too.

I'm going to start posting again, hopefully on a more regular basis. Maybe today, even. Stranger things have happened.

Thanks, everyone.

My Dad

On Tuesday, April 8, 2008, my dad passed away at home at the age of 83. He'd been in the hospital for a procedure, but stayed there due to complications that ensued. He demanded that I take him home after only a couple of days, but he was quite ill and, as his caregiver, I felt unable to handle the many health issues he was facing. On Monday, against medical advice, he released himself from the hospital and I reluctantly took him home. On Tuesday morning, I found him in the bathtub, water running, leaning over and unconscious, gasping for breath. Emergency technicians were unable to revive him.

My dad was an incredibly complex and wonderful man. He was kind and generous, always thinking of my brothers and I. He was stubborn and pigheaded, a certified genius and a brilliant engineer. He was gifted artistically and decades ahead of his time, particularly about environmental issues. Even at this last hospital visit, he wanted me to dig through the can of medical waste to fish out the breathing tubes that he was hooked up to so he could use it in one of his experiments. I told him I drew the line at digging through containers marked "biohazard." Even as an avowed Republican, he admitted to me that he thought George Bush is an ass. I loved that!

He was a man who was enchanted with ideas. He has literally tens of thousands of books. A lifelong engineer, he learned all he could about homeopathy and did everything in his power to help others with it. Looking through his vast library, he had books on topics as varied as mining gold from the ocean water, dowsing, time travel, cooking, history, Poland, biology, nature, the cosmos....the list goes on. This was a man whose body let him down well before his mind ever did. Even on our way to the hospital, at 5:30am, hurtling north on the FDR Drive, my dad pointed out the huge, gold sliver of the moon that was hanging low over Brooklyn. It was gorgeous. There are people much younger than he who would never have noticed this beautiful sight, let alone enjoyed as much as he did. While in pre-op, he told me excitedly about the show on PBS he'd seen the night before on the Mars Rover project, and how close it had come to failing.

This was a man so full of life, so interested in all it had to offer, that the shock of his passing is greater than I can express. All I can say is that I owe much of who I am today to him.

I'll never see him smile again. Never hear him laugh. He'll never show me his latest book or wander downstairs to tell me about a show I have to watch. I'll never again say, as was my habit when we were done with our nightly visit, "Dobranoc Pop. I love you."

Dobranoc, Pop. I love you more than I can say.

New York Crochet Events

The Institute for Figuring is presenting two crochet shows in NYC in the oh-so-very-near future. My ravelry friend Inga, of rockpoolcandy fame, has pieces in the two shows, quoted here from the IFF website:

- New York University "Broadway Windows" (NYC, NY)
In conjunction with the New York Institute of the Humanities and the Steinhardt School at NYU, a selection of the IFF's most complex and delicate sub-reefs will be on exhibition in the Broadway Windows space - across the road from historic Grace Church (at the corner of Broadway and 10th Street). The exhibition will include the Bleached Reef, the Branched Anemone Garden, and the Ladies Silurian Reef.

Forthcoming, April 5th - May 18th 2008

Location: Broadway Windows, at the corner of Broadway and 10th St.

http://www.nyu.edu/pages/galleries/home/index.html

- World Financial Center, Winter Garden (Battery Park City, NYC)
As a sister exhibition to the Broadway Windows site, a second exhibition of IFF crochet corals will be staged at the World Financial Center, Winter Garden. On display here will be the IFF's yarn-and-plastic-extravaganza, the Toxic Reef. The Winter Garden show will mark the debut appearance of the Rubbish Vortex crocheted entirely from used plastic shopping bags by IFF Australian contributor Helle Jorgensen, and The Other Crochet Reef by the mysterious Dr Axt. On display will also be a large cloud of plastic jellyfish forms by Irish contributor Inga Hamilton, Cambrian Explosion forms by Aviva Alter, hyperbolic octopii by Helen Bernasconi, and beaded hyperbolic marvels by Rebecca Peapples and Sue Von Ohlsen. The WFC show will also debut the New York Reef, currently under construction, and will see the New York premier of the Chicago Reef. This exhibition is presented by arts>World Financial Center, in conjunction with the New York Institute of the Humanities at NYU.

Forthcoming, April 5th - May 18th 2008 (The New York Reef and Chicago Reef will remain on display through August 31)

Location: World Financial Center Winter Garden (beside staircase)
220 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10281

www.worldfinancialcenter.com

This is a must-see, friends, and any hooker worth her salt should try to make the time and support crochet-as-art and the fantastic artists who work so hard to bring this to life. If any of my local (or not-so-local) crochet pals want to set up time to see these exhibitions en masse, let me know (yeah, I'm talking to you too, Dora, Sam, Christina, Janet, Lisa!).

Big shout out to IFF and to all the crocheters who contributed to these events!

I Heart StitchDiva

Let me begin by saying that this is not an ad for StitchDiva. But I gots ta tell ya, I do loves that site! How does Jennifer Hansen do it? She consistently comes up with really cool, beautiful patterns of stuff I'd wear. Like this vest. Awesome. Easy-peasy. And I'm using el Cheapo Lion Brand Microspun. Wrong yarn, wrong gauge, but guess what? Coming out fine and dandy. Will post the results here and on every damn site I can. If it sucks, I'll let you know, but it will be my fault. Her designs rock my world. Craving the Hourglass Jacket. Can't wait to start it. Wish I was smart enough to design my own.

Vintage Pattern Alert - 1915 Boy's Hat

I frequently get requests from readers asking for the patterns of some of the vintage crochet that gets posted here. Because I have a pathological need to collect these, but not necessarily organize them, it's not always easy to get my hands on the specific pattern. That said, I will try to do better about scanning the patterns at the same time I'm scanning the pictures so they'll be available to whomever wants 'em. Obviously, I won't honor requests for patterns under copyright, so don't ask. But I will do what I can to post those patterns people have asked me for over the months. And since this boy's hat was the easier find, here it is. This is sized for a really little kid, so if you are looking to reinterpret for an adult, it might take a bit of futzing. If you make up any of the patterns I post, could you send me a photo of the finished piece? I'd love to post it.

Confession

Confession is good for the soul, I hear. So in front of all three of you (yeah, the stats have gone up - sweet, right?), I confess to you now that I am a bit of a francophile. Yeah, that's right, I love many, many things French. I love their wine, their cheese, their food, their fashion and architecture, and the fact that no matter how much you eat in France, you always come home weighing less than you started. I also love the French aesthetic, crafty- (and other-)wise. As a nation, they have the whole whimsy thing cornered. Seriously, I think whimsical, I think French. There is a playfulness that you just don't see on this side of the pond. But the French, well, they know whimsy. Which brings me to today's hot, gorgeous, crochet alert. In the current issue of Marie Claire Idees (the favorite of many a savvy crafter, I know), there is this gorgeous handbag, in all its crocheted cabbage glory. I mean, who else in the world would come up with a lamp design like this?

Crochet on the Runway

Don't know if you've been watching, but there's a bit of hookery on the runways for the Paris, London, Milan, and New York Fashion Weeks. The above design is by Fashion East. I love the shape of the capelet. Note the muff in her hands. Frigging cool. I'll let some of the picture do the talking: I know what you're going to say -- "Hooker, that's obviously knit! Whut up?" And I will tell you that the fact that it's a knit piece is not the point. The point is this: look at the proportions on this sweater -- the super jumbo yarn, the hugeness of the whole thing -- it's gorgeous and totally over the top. Sweater by Byblos. Now this is by Antonio Marras. Not for nothing, but this ROCKS MY WORLD! One could argue that the technique used is a bit indeterminate, but I'm pretty darn sure it's crochet. And how bloody cool is this? And by the way, before someone says it, I know I'm not letting the pictures do all the talking. It's my blog, baby!

This John Rochas is incredible:
Okay, that's all from the runways for now. I've actually got a pile of other pics for you, but they are not crochet -- just damn good sources of inspiration. Later!