When I was living in New York, I only went to a couple of LYSs. I didn’t get cheerful service when I said that I was a crocheter, so after a few tries I stuck to the plentiful scrap boxes we had at Soho publishing. Then I moved to Montana and began to write my first book. Initially I visited the two shops there as a means to research yarns, but what I found on the way was a great community. Barb at the Bozeman Yarn Shop asked me if I wanted to teach crochet, and a few months later asked if I wanted part  time work in the store. I was hesitant at first, but once I started I realized that just being in the store helped generate a lot more interest in my classes and in crochet. It was also totally inspiring for me to see what other people were doing with the yarn we carried. Sometimes I inspired customers, sometimes they inspired me! On a personal level, it also helped me to get out of the house during a very stressful time in my life. Working from  home can be lonely, especially when you are new in town, and living in a basement very far away from my hurting family was making me crazy!!  Having somewhere to go a few days a week was so important for me. To be honest, I think that’s also important for our customers –they come in regularly for yarn, lessons and classes.

So I knew when I moved back to San Antonio that I needed to march right on in to one of the LYSs and beg for a job, which is exactly what I did.  It wasn’t  hard, and I didn’t end up having to beg because Tammy at Yarnivore snapped me right up! One of the things I love about working there is connecting with crocheters. I have no idea what it was like before I got there, but there are a ton of crocheters in the greater San Antonio area. Now that they know I’m there to answer questions, they keep coming in to see what’s new.  I was completely thrilled last weekend when Jeannie (above) walked in wearing the Pretty Petals Tank Top she made  from Crochet Adorned. I hadn’t met her before (she lives in another city), but she bought the  book on an earlier visit and just happened to be wearing the top. Her version was so well made and I was honored to see it in action.  I know leisure time is limited and I often tell my students that I get paid in appreciation, it’s really exciting when someone takes the time to work one of my patterns.

I also get  the opportunity to teach*, which keeps me in touch with what counts as easy or difficult in crochet.  Crocheting is not hard, but reading patterns can be– and teaching crocheters makes me really think about what makes a pattern easy to understand, and what I can do to motivate crocheters to explore the possibilities of creating beautiful fabric. I get to be a show-off –not only of my work, but of other skilled crochet designers (like Robyn Chachula, Doris Chan and Dora Ohrenstein). In my “spare time” (ha, ha) I make samples and teach classes based on their patterns. I love that we have so many crocheted samples in the store that are not just granny squares or double-crochet swatches (not that there’s anything wrong with those)– we have the same advanced samples that are abundant for knitters, to show crocheters what they can aspire to. I know I’ve done well when I hear knitters admiring crocheted pieces in the store. There are many, many needlecrafters who do both but haven’t thought about crochet in a while, and it’s only now working its way into the spotlight.

I think that as a craft, crochet is finally primed for its heyday, and that’s exciting. But without a community to share, it’s hard to get the fire going. So I’m writing this post to encouarage you, wherever you are, to seek out your local yarn shop. You don’t have to want to work there. But, bring samples of your best work. Show the owner what crochet can do. If you feel you are skilled enough and have the time, offer to teach or make samples for the store. I’m not saying that every yarn shop is friendly to crochet, but to be frank, some of them aren’t friendly to knitters either. It’s not you, it’s them, so it’s worth a shot to extend an offer.  And it really doesn’t need to be an us/them (knit/crochet) battle- we all love yarn, and most people do not actually look down on one craft or the other–they just know their craft, and they are having fun with it. So be a crochet ambassador and find your local community. Maybe it’s not in your shop, maybe it’s in a library or a CGOA guild. But the only way we can move crochet forward is by sharing and inspiring each other. It really is up to you!

And hey- if you already have a crochet friendly yarn shop, I’d like to hear about it! Please post in the comments and describe what it is about the shop that inspires you. And actually, I’d even like to hear what makes a good yarn shop in general, for any fiber artist–knitter, crocheter, tatter, spinner. It’s good fodder for an article I’m putting together, so I may even email you to learn more.

*Ps. The photo above is of my Broomstick Lace Workshop. Yes, we’re wearing pipe cleaners on our heads. We know how to have a good time!

He’s sporting the cardigan I made him last Christmas (ravelry page –but note, I pretty much abandoned the pattern and just worked to the finished measurements). It’s getting a bit short on him, but is still plenty big around the middle,so the next time I go up to Austin I’ll bring some extra green yarn (you know I have it!) and add some more rows to the bottom. That is one of the cool things about crochet- you can just add things willy nilly. This cardigan was definitely the hit of the party–everyone kept asking if someone had made it for him. You know that made Aunt LaLa (that’s me) smile.

While I’m here, I wanted to share a few links with you, as my inbox overfloweth.

- Check out Diane’s review of the new E-book, “Crunchy Granola Charm” by Yvette Doss. It’s full of cute natural jewelry (I definitely have some necklaces that could use some reconfiguring) so if you are into that, check it out.  I’m with Diane- I’m curious to see where self publishing goes.

- Janome is having a sewing contest with the theme of Pass it On. The basic premise is to pass on your love of sewing to a new sewist, and you could both win new machines.

- Thanks to everyone who has purchased something from my Etsy or Ravelry Shops. So far, including my sales from the the Craft Hope Etsy Shop, I’ve been able to donate almost $125, hooray!  Through generous donors and sellers, Craft Hope has raised over $27,000 with their shop– and that is awesome!

- Have you seen these awesome hand-screened stickers by Patapri? I admit it, I’ve had a thing for stickers since I was a little girl, and I couldn’t help but order some. Perhaps I was inspired by the huge box of letters my mom gave me from middle, high school, and college. They made me want to write letters again. You know, letters are always better when there are stickers involved!

- If you’re seeking crochet inspiration and haven’t yet stumbled upon the wonderful blog of Dottie Angel, you’re missing out. I love her sense of style and the bits and pieces of crochet hanging around her place.

- And, the preview for the latest issue of Crochet Today is up, and it’s adorable. This is the first time (in a long time!) that I don’t have a project in the issue, I was too swamped to submit, but I love what I see! These birdies are chirping my name!

The day started out with demos on wool washing, dyeing, and carding. I personally will probably never (well, never say never) raise my own sheep or buy an entire fleece, but it’s still interesting to learn about these processes. One of the ladies actually raises the flowers she uses to dye her yarn (from the sheep she also raises), an idea which I think is pretty cool. To demonstrate natural dyes,  Katey (who used to dye for Thirteen Mile Wool) worked up a dye bath full of onion skins with some interesting results.

These samples were put in (respectively), 3rd, 2nd and 1st. The first sample grabbed all of the red colors from the skins, leaving the yellow for the second sample of wool. Both of those samples were mordented (which means they added alum to the wool to get the dye to “stick”). The third sample was unmordented, and perhaps not as technically done since we just threw it in after washing, and it got some leftover natural colors. These ladies suggest that if you do dye with natural dyes that you have lots of fiber on hand because it’s always fun to see how it comes out. Plus, you can always overdye it later.

After that, Gretchen showed us her carding drum. She has a little shed full of tons of different colors of wool, which she mixes together both to spin herself and to sell to spinners. (She also has her own hat company, which you can check out here.)

And then- THEN!- I finally learned how to use a drop spindle. I’ve been using all of my restraint to NOT get into spinning or weaving since I started working at the yarn shop, because I just don’t have room for another hobby and all of the materials that go with it. But a drop spindle is quite an inexpensive investment and now I can look at all of the pretty local fibers we stock. Ahem. I started out with this gorgeous Blue Faced Leicester wool from Snake River Fiber Works. I spun up the whole 4 oz once I got home, and  I can see spinning becoming a very fun thing to do during downtime when I don’t feel like concentrating on a project. This all sounds very dangerous… but I’ll try to contain myself.

All in all today was a fun, informative day, and one that made me feel grateful to live in Montana. I feel quite fortunate to have met all of these lovely ladies and learned some of their tips and tricks.

Here’s one of the photos from my Granny Square tutorial– my goal is to take close-up shots and clearly show my hands so you know what’s actually going on. Imagine me with my self timer, gorilla pod, akwardly dangling camera cord and yarn ends everywhere, doing everything half-bent over till my back starts to yell at me. What, you couldn’t tell from the photo? That’s good! I need a staff, I tell you!

Head on over and check out the site– there are lots of original posts on all things crafty, including beading, sewing, and embroidery. You can register and comment, too, and I’m told there’s more to come! What a nice way to pass the Friday.

The pile of ears has a few influences. One is the pile of shoes from Holocaust victims- he was raised with Holocaust survivors who taught him to pay attention to what was going on and change what he could. The ears vary in size from an inch to over a foot and are made of clay that’s rendered to look like stone. Their stony appearance is meant to represent deaf ears. In his studio among the many post it notes, he has listed  the old proverb “We were given only one mouth to speak, but two ears to listen.” His work is political (this collage speaks to his thoughts on the current administration) but in a sweeping way–even without the current administration, he’ll be pissed off about something.  He noted that he thinks all art is a political statement: artists are exercising their creative minds instead of the also human take-over-the-world urges.

All in all, he’s a really interesting guy and I love that he speaks his mind. That was what was so great about seeing him in the documentary. Parts of it were very hippie-esque but I remember him saying in the doc that he was angry and pissed off about the state of things– and he told me today that they fought hard to keep that in the film. 

 I’ll end with a quote from Notkin, posted in his studio: “I continue to make ceramic sculptures which reflect on the social and political dilemmas of our world. As André Malraux observed, “Art is a revolt against man’s fate”. Need I say more?”

Paul and I spent this morning building a little hat tree for my upcoming craft fair. It came out pretty well for me not really knowing exactly what I wanted or how it would work. I’ll have to snap a picture of it in action this weekend.

I’m still catching up and haven’t even downloaded my photos from the week, so for now enjoy these two from Paul’s flickr. We took Alexa to Yellowstone on Friday despite the icy roads and freezing cold (and we survived!). It’s a totally different park in the winter– only one road is open, leaving you more time to observe, and you see tons of animals and few people, instead of the other way around. Below, I was watching a coyote along the frozen Yellowstone river. He was watching me too.

And here was the lovely sunset view on the way home, through Paradise Valley. The sunsets here are simply gorgeous, and this one was accompanied by the moon, which seems to appear earlier with each passing day.

Last Friday I got to tag along with the grad students on a field trip to Amsterdam, Montana (!) to see Gary Bates’ studio. Gary is a local artist who makes large-scale metal sculptures out of things like bars from old jail cells and boiler parts. A lot of his pieces are kinetic and he says he intends for them to be a pulse on the environment. For example, this spinning piece (for which I don’t remember the name) weighs some ridiculous amount but the way it is balanced means even a small wind will set it spinning. Gary has a telescope in his house aimed towards the piece and he looks out to see what the weather is like based on how fast it is spinning.

His Wind Arc, on the MSU campus, spins only when the wind hits a certain speed (it’s a bent tube, and the spinning to wind speed ratio has to do with how far down he cuts the tube). He said one professor told him that he looks out to see how fast it is spinning to determine if it’s warm enough to ride his bike home, or if his wife needs to come and get him.  He showed us another piece he’s working on that’s activated when it rains a certain amount. Here’s a sculpture on his land, where the mountain silhouette lines up perfectly if you lay on the grass and look at it.

In addition to all of the sculptures, I thought the land was just gorgeous. It’s a huge farm with a little house he built in the middle. I am still so amazed at how beautiful it is out here. I love learning about all of these thing that I’d seemingly never come across otherwise. Living in New York it was so easy to be consumed by everything that everyone is consumed by (the latest this, that and the other), but here I feel like I can breathe, and appreciate each beautiful thing, because I don’t pass a million influences on my way to work every day.

You can see lots more photos and stories of the art and the land (which are so interconnected) on my flickr page.

I started last night, using mostly fabrics from my Denyse Schmidt fat quarter pack. (Let’s see, I’ve now made napkins, a house, a baby quilt top, a halloween banner and a fruitcake using fabrics from that stack. My mom took some to make me a quilt And there is still more!) Anyway, I loved the fabric I used for the side and pecans, to me it looks just like a fruitcake wrapper.

It was really fun to stitch this thing (although, lesson learned, I could use a thimble), and I am especially proud of the pecans.  I’ll have to pepper in some more whimsical projects to spice things up now and then. Wish me luck!

I added pom-poms instead of braids. It turned out a little large, but that’s actually a good thing because I hate too-tight hats.  Next week we are learning to knit in the round, which I’m excited about too. Don’t worry, I still love to crochet, but I thought the idea of crocheting an entire garment would just be too hot to wear (Unless I use tiny yarns. Which are not my favorite). I’m excited about the possibilities of combining them, too.

Things are going really well here in Bozeman. I now have hats and scarflets for sale at a local boutique called Tart (I put them in the shop last Friday and sold one already), met some cool local ladies (including Carrie, who found me via Alicia’s blog–thanks Alicia), and I’ve got some freelance work rolling in. I couldn’t ask for more!

I also had the pleasure of meeting MacArthur Genius Grant Award recipient Anna Schuleit this week via my day job. She does truly amazing work- she spent years funding a project wherein she made a dilapidated mental hospital sing, and recently wired an entire forest to receive phone calls. I just got back from hearing her talk about her work, and she’s an amazing and generous person. She is done with public art for the moment because she (understandably) needs to withdraw from people and paint in order to work with them again. But when asked how she could pull off these seemingly impossible public works, she said something to the effect of “It’s easy to have one clear idea and tell people what to do and make it happen. To paint is more challenging.” So true. I love meeting people like Anna- she has an idea, she makes it happen. What’s sad to me is that some people never realize that they are fully capable of the same things. Even Anna Schuleit has her doubts about whether her projects will succeeed- but she keeps on. To me, that’s what life’s about. Keeping on.

These are some of the leaves popping  up around downtown. They are so pretty!! Most of them are already falling off in droves and rustling around the sidewalks and streets. 

I also wandered across campus, where I passed these sidewalk stencils (at a sorority house, I believe), some juicy looking berries, and the duck ponds. The ducks are a little crazy- they all came traipsing over once I sat down to say hello. And begged for bread, of course.

I came back exhausted, but rejuvenated. I need to remember to go outside (for more than ten minutes) more often! More pics on flickr.