I'm Just Saying...

Hi Knitters,

Don't you love Interweave Knits? I love this magazine and when it arrives in my mailbox I drop everything to do my initial quick run-through of the patterns. I get the lay of the land, so to speak. Then when I get a chunk of time I start reading, and I mean reading every word, looking at every advertisement, just soaking it all in. This is a top-notch production, period. I dog-ear pages in everything, even expensive coffee table books. I can't help it for some reason. In this issue of IK I have 7 pages dog-eared with projects and things I want to check out more thoroughly or pictures I am inspired by. Kate Gilbert, you kill me with those beautiful sweaters! You are a shaping genius. Gorgeous!

Then, out of the blue, I open to this! I had to laugh, well because, you know my issue with knitted underwear. This is a beautiful spread, I totally appreciate it, but will I knit a bra? Not on your life. What I looooove about this is the Ann Budd and Pam Allen designs and paragraphs about their knitted lingerie. Starting with Ann Budd, and I quote, "I'm not much of a lingerie type gal. Most days I can't even be bothered to hang earrings in the holes in my earlobes. So I had a little trouble getting my head around the lingerie theme for this staff project...until I realized that I do like to lounge on the couch while I knit or read. And I do love socks..." Okay, I love Ann Budd. I am with you on the earring thing. She made the most adorable, beautiful pair of light blue socks I have ever seen. They look like little clouds in a soft blue sky. Are socks lingerie? I guess I do have a thing for knitted lingerie then. Ann Budd is one of my favorite designers and especially her pattern books for the standards, she is awesome. I am going to knit those lingerie socks for sure.

Pam Allen was just as good in her lingerie paragraph and I quote, "...I can get chilly when I'm sitting up in bed reading. So it seemed that a soft, weightless shrug would serve me well. I won't be slipping it on over anything too brief, but it will still look good over the T-shirt I like to sleep in." Pam, that shrug is beautiful and delicate and airy. I love it, and I love it even more that you are going to wear that over your t-shirt. I can relate to that. I have been a fan of Pam Allen ever since she designed that beautiful coat with the appliqued mittens for her daughter in Knitting in America by Melanie Falick. Did you see that? Fantastic.

I think it is great that IK takes a subject that not everyone can relate to and makes it easily relate to everyone! That is a sign of creative greatness. What a wonderful magazine, even the lingerie.

Remember those buttons I talked about earlier on my light switch? Well, that dear friend of mine is going through a difficult time right now so I kept thinking I should do something with those buttons. Well, here it is. I am creating a mosaic pot out of her mother's antique buttons. I have to grout it still, but first it has to dry. Tomorrow I will grout and take another shot to share. What is so great is that her mother, who was 90 years-old when she passed away, left on threads and pieces of fabric on the buttons. I left all of that stuff on, it makes it so real and alive. You can imagine the clothes those buttons were on, how they fell off, and what they were intended for. This is my love for her all wrapped up around a little terra cotta pot.

best, susie

p.s. I know I laughed at the knitted bikini patterns before and I feel a little guilty about that. I'll come clean about something in my past. When I was 19 I actually had a brown crocheted bikini that I got on a trip to Hawaii (I was a lot skinnier then). I wore that bikini out! I loved that bikini like no other. It did not sag when wet, the brown looked great on my brown skin, and I thought it was just about the best thing ever. My sister had the same bikini in light blue and she felt the same way. I should see if I can find a picture of us in those over at my mom's house. That could be funny. I am such a nerd sometimes!