It seems I was a little more uptight than she preferred when I first cast-on, so after knitting about 8 inches I frogged her (sounds naughty!) and started over again. Second time around I found my loosey-goosey groove casting on over two needles, and she's been a happy gal ever since.
I even took her with me to the Northwest Folklife Festival on Memorial Day. No pictures to corroborate the occasion, but I introduced her (i.e. knit publicly while I listened) to Jim Page (topical and politically astute folksinger and raconteur who changed Seattle's street-performance laws in 1974 and is largely responsible for our robust busking culture) and Artis the Spoonman (if you're not a Seattlite, you know him as the subject of that Soundgarden song). Here's a sampling of what I saw at Folklife — the video's not mine, but it was shot by someone who might as well have been sitting in my spot! And for those interested, here's another recent video of them at the venue where I first encountered them 9 years ago, the sidewalk outside the Original Starbucks at Pike Place Market, where they still busk. You may not always agree with the politics, but you have to admire the spirit, tenacity, and talent!
Also at Folklife, I introduced the Bad Woman Wrap to Ockham's Razor, a young group of truly remarkable musicians playing hard-driving, foot-stompin', beer-drinkin', get-up-on-your-feet-dancing, punk-rockin' contemporary and classic Irish folk music. Simply amazing. (And yes, I included punk-rockin' as one of the descriptors for their Irish music. You should hear them Celt-out The Ramone's "I Wanna Be Sedated"!) Their fiddle player, Katie Corcoran, is astounding. Sorry I don't see any recent, good-quality videos to link to, but their website has a multimedia section where you can check out a studio version of their work—doesn't quite compare to catching them live at Kells but gives you a sense of what they do.
The Bad Woman Wrap likes the musicians, as evidenced by the fact that I completed nearly 30 percent of the project at Folklife. The Ultra Alpaca practically dances off my fingers. I had to switch from nickel-plated to bamboo needles to get more grip.
In other news, I'm preparing to teach a sock class at A New Yarn this summer. I want to teach basic magic loop, toe-up, two-at-once, with heel flap and gusset. Haven't found a good, ready-made generic pattern that gives me absolutely everything I want, so I'm putting together my own. It's what I do when I knit them for myself, I just never bothered to write up formal instructions. I'll post the pattern here eventually!
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3 comments:
Mmmm,looks like a pattern you should share with your sister! I really like the color. I can't wait to see how you write up your sock pattern.
Inquiring minds want to know, why is it called the Bad Woman Wrap? Any relation to the straight jacket?
Sounds like it was a great festival! Especially since you could knit during it.
For Oksana and all other Inquiring Minds:
The Bad Woman Wrap came with the name. It's a store pattern from Bad Woman Yarn in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. The name was just too cool to change! I didn't ask the store owner, Lee, about the pattern name... but perhaps we can speculate that with holes over half the wrap, it reveals as much as it covers!
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