Hi Knitters,
Hi Knitters,
The yarn is embedded with tiny crocheted flowers, lace bits, ribbons, sequins, colored strands, and who knows what else. I will be knitting a scarf with the three skeins. Not sure exactly how yet. The label recommends US size 10 for 2.5 stitches per inch but I think I will use a US size 13 or 15.
The yarn is called, Knit Collage. It is handspun in Hong Kong. This particular colorway is called, Mermaid Cafe (love that). The yarn is 75% wool and 25% mohair.
I ordered my Knit Collage from Purl Soho. Oh my goodness, it looks like they have almost sold out. There were a lot more colors when I ordered. Hot stuff, I guess. The Purl Bee has a beautiful child's hat pattern for 1 skein of Knit Collage. That pattern is free and it is really sweet. 
Hi Knitters,
Hi Knitters,
TC may be a sculptor? I had no idea she could do this. My husband told me she got it in her head to make a moose. He had no idea why. She then pulled up a photo of a real moose on the computer and would occasionally walk over to reference the photo as she worked. I guess she worked for a long time, very quietly by herself. When she finished her sculpture my husband couldn't believe her moose. He just shakes his head in disbelief.
Since my initial viewing of the moose TC has put a layer of newspaper and Mod Podge over the top to create a hard shell. She wants to paint it this weekend. I can't get a great photo to capture the feeling of the sculpture accurately. It is really cool. Maybe I am crazy but I see something more to that moose than just the foil and tape and newspaper.
Here are a few other pieces of TC's artwork as of late. This brother and sister pair is her art teacher's favorite drawing that TC has made at school. I like it, too. It's so graphic and look at the careful strokes of crayon she used to fill in the grass and sky. I love crayon artwork.
She made this silly ladybug by combining some other pictures she had seen. She pronounces the name like Betty, not sure what the interesting spelling is all about. I like this one a lot. She has super-clean lines. The heels are too good.
This is a woven piece TC created at school. They splatter painted two different pages, cut them into strips and wove the strips together. I really love this one.
She dropped this in my lap yesterday after school. This may be my favorite. She doesn't see at all what I see. I think that pig is amazing and artistic. I asked her about it and she said, "Yeah, I ripped up some paper and made a pig." That's it. I see the curly tail made out of teeny tiny pieces carefully placed, the tip and angle of the ears layered on the perfectly shaped head and round ripped piece at the end of the snout. I love the simple pencil letters spelling Pig at the top.
Hi Knitters,
This sweet baby, Anna, was one of my early visitors. Her sweet mom, J-A or j-a, has commented on my blog many times and I remembered her. She was so fun. Anna of course is wearing the Cupcake Hat from Itty-Bitty Nursery. What a model. Wow, is she pretty.
Look in my hands, I am holding ja's Chubby Bunny and Garden Mouse, both from Itty-Bitty Nursery. They were beautifully done! These are two of my all-time favorite toys. I did a lot of toys in the Itty-Bitty Nursery book. If you are an avid toy knitter you may want to check out this book for the toys alone. I love it when people bring in their Itty-Bitty knits for me to see. Nothing is better than that.
See how the little ones always search for the tiniest doll in the Russian Nesting Doll set? That is a given. Notice the rain coat! It was a drenching downpour outside. But the knitters still came.
This little girl was fun. She really examined the toys. She is holding the Wrap Me Up Puppy, which continues to be a favorite in the book. Sleeping puppies can't be beat, I guess. Her mom was part of a collaborative group knitting of the Cupcake Tea Set also from Itty-Bitty Nursery. Pearl (the owner) had the entire set in the window of the shop. It was fabulous!
Here they are enjoying their creations. I still just love that tea set. I had the privilege of meeting several other tea set knitters, too.
This is Susan and she is from New Jersey. She has emailed me a few times and I remembered her. She brought her set of three Itty-Bitty books for me to sign. She is delightful and fun. It was great to meet her in person.
She shared her Rosebud Wreath Hat with me from Itty-Bitty Hats. Gorgeous!!!! Love it.
Here is a distinguished group from my publisher, Artisan Books. I was honored to have such a showing of support at the event. On the left is Chrissa, my handy publicist, next is Suzanne, one of my editors, and on my right is the lovely Ann Bramson, the publisher. I love these people from Artisan. I can't say enough about them and their work ethic and support. It is a joy to work with Artisan. I feel like they are a part of my family. Thanks for coming and showing support at the Itty-Bitty Toys event in NYC. I appreciate the effort.
This lovely mom and daughter enjoyed the toy table. Look again, the little girl is looking for the tiniest Russian Nesting Doll. I can't make this stuff up! Make a set for your house and see what happens, kids and adults alike.
I mean....
These two ladies breezed in, or soaked in, and the woman on the left had an interesting connection to Madison. She asked me if I knew Kevin Henkes, the famous children's author who lives in Madison. Being that Mr. Henkes is one of my all-time favorite children's authors I knew right away who she was talking about but no, I don't know him personally. He lives pretty close to me though I've heard. She was kidding around but it turns out that she works at Kevin's publisher in New York. She was great to meet and I loved signing her books.
Okay, here is Kristin. She came all of the way from Boston to come to Knitty City. I am holding her Baby Bear from Itty-Bitty Toys. She hung out quite awhile at the shop and I so appreciate her effort. It was an honor to meet you. Thanks for bringing yourself and your bear!!!
Here is my beloved Suzanne. Suzanne is one of the moderators for the Itty-Bitty Knits Forum on Ravelry! Suzanne is awesome as a person and a knitter. I feel like I know her or we met before or we were friends in a different life or something. She is like being with an old friend, comfortable and warm and patient. She sat in a big comfy chair and just soaked in the event from the best seat in the house. I LOVED meeting her. She traveled a couple of hours, too.
I love the ramp that welcomes people into the store. It is the perfect spot to take in the shop. That is one bustling neighborhood knit shop I tell you. There were tons of people in and out of the shop, packed full, not much room to move kind of shop. Plus there is some sort of great knitting energy going on, too. Everyone is friendly, Pearl is so hard working, she never stops. Knitty City is the epitome of a great community knit shop. It is my second event here and I would come back any time!
Here is Susan and her friend checking out the hats book. People were all smiles even though there was a hurricane aftermath happening right outside the door.
My brother is in the center. He came up from D.C. to see his sisters. He stood on the ramp by the door for awhile until I coaxed him to come and sit with us at the table. It was so good to see him. Thanks for coming all that way. We loved it. He survived the knitting event, too.
Here is a mother, daughter, granddaughter group shot. The daughter loves knitting Itty-Bitty things. What a lovely group. Do you see all of those books behind us? There is just about every book you could ever want. Knitty City has an awesome selection of books, patterns, needles, magazines and most of all, yarn!
Okay, Suzanne (sitting) and Suzanne (my editor) hit it off. Both Suzannes hung out at the event from early to late. I love that. They even went out for dinner together after the event (yes, I'm jealous)! Editor Suzanne was so kind to flag down a cab for my sister and me after the event. It was brutal outside and we were thankful for her cab savvy help. We aren't cab people being from Madison so it is a skill I don't possess.
Here is Melissa (?). She is another tea set knitter. She made the sugar cubes and a few cupcakes. She is adorable and sweet.
Here is my friend, Suzanne, again. She is so lovely and kind. What a treat to get to spend time with her. Especially toward the end of the event when it had kind of cleared out. That was the best. Suzanne writes a blog, is a mother to a little boy and she is a social worker.
In her spare time (lol), she whipped me up this beautiful hat. I had complimented her on her hat like this awhile ago so then she makes one for me. Everyone needs a friend like that, right? I love my new hat and will wear it proudly. What a sweet gesture. Thank you, Suzanne.
There was a baby boom in the shop, too. Right after my event some knitters were gathered around to have a knitted baby shower for this Knitty City worker. She was so friendly and helpful.
Adorable twins came to visit the event. They were funny and fun and hung out for hours. Thanks for coming.
Janine blew in at the very end of the event. She had traveled in from New Jersey with her husband and kid(s?) who had dropped her at the door to come to the event. Simply walking from the curb to the door of the shop got her completely soaked to the bone. What a good sport. I signed her set of Itty-Bitty books and we got to visit briefly. It was nice.
Her rain boots were awesome (her jeans were stuck to her legs with rain water). They were actually knitted striped fabric, like you could see the knit stitches. Her boots caused a major stir in the knit shop. Everyone wanted a pair. Here is Janine's email to me about her boots if you want to track them down:| Hello there! I hope you were able to stay dry! What a day. We had a great time at the Children's museum and then came home to a flooded basement - ah well... I checked my boots and they are from a company called On Your Feet and the boots are Raindrop. (makes no sense to me but...) I got mine at DSW last year for about $30. Thanks for chatting with me. It was a pleasure to meet you and see all of your wonderful creations in person! It was a great forum and a "meet and greet" I really didn't think I'd get to talk to you at all. Have a safe trip home. Again, it was so nice to meet you! Janine from NJ (the waterlogged one!) |
This woman knitted the tea pot for the tea set! It was a great day to be in rainy New York and the always wonderful Knitty City. There were lots of other people at the event so I am sorry if I didn't get your photo. We tried our best. What a huge success. I also signed a big stack of a mix of all 3 Itty-Bitty Books so contact Knitty City if you'd like a signed copy!
the other side view! Who doesn't like a cute striped and dotted tote like this? We were thrilled. I will share my yarn purchases at a later date.
Remember these scarves from Knitty City on my last tour to NYC? Pearl sold a ton of these scarves after I posted this photo with Jaime Harder Caldwell after our event in 2007. She currently has more of these gorgeous crocheted scarves in her shop. The newer version is even better because it is wider and there are wonderful colorways available. I love my scarf like this and wear it all of the time. You should get one! Call Pearl at Knitty City to get one for yourself: (212-787-5896). 
Hi Knitters,
Well, to make the story even better, Trent had called in an extra favor from Mitch. While we were walking over to Soho Publishing for lunch Trent told us that he had arranged for Mitch to meet us after the show and to take us BACKSTAGE at Mary Poppins! After the show we got the royal treatment in a way that none of us expected, not even Trent. The best surprise is that Mary Poppins herself, played by Laura Michelle Kelly, came and hung out on the stage with us. She even signed my playbill above. She was right next to us backstage. She is adorable, tiny and very gracious.
It was a night to remember. That's Trent above. He's the best. I think he had a good time orchestrating one of the most fantastic New York nights anyone could imagine. Our reactions to his surprises had to make him feel appreciated. I got teary-eyed several times during the night. My sister was beside herself. It was too much. We were loving every second of it.
It was dark and many of my backstage photos were a little blurry. I am not sure why. I think I was overwhelmed and just wanting to soak everything in. We started backstage with the stage manager Valerie. She told us all about the set and the flying and all of the details of putting on a show like this. Some of the wallpaper on the set is hand-painted. The set was so impressive and clever and detailed. Every inch was thoroughly thought out.
Happy people in front of an incredible set. Look at the detail, books in the book shelves, chandeliers, pictures on the walls.... 
That's Valerie on the left. She was wonderful to listen to with her great, funny stories. Next to Valerie is Mitch, then Trent and then my sister. At first we were in a small group of people listening to Valerie. That group then left and it was just Valerie and Mitch and the three of us. It was beyond! We never expected the exclusive up close tour we were about to receive.
I mean come on! They opened the curtain so we could see what it would be like to be looking out at the crowd. Just look at her face, it's glowing:)
That's Mary Poppins in the green coat. She was completely gorgeous and kind.
Sorry for the blur... the little boy in the blue jacket played Michael Banks. I got his autograph, too.
Laura Michelle (Mary Poppins) had a friend in the group and she hung around for a long time. she stood right next to Trent for a long while. It was awesome.
These were the backstage Mary Poppins umbrellas. Now only the five of us went WAY backstage. We headed down the stairs to the costume and dressing areas for the show. It was fascinating.
Everywhere you turned there were racks of costumes hanging and hats and wigs and accessories. Each piece has a story and Mitch's mind stores every detail of every piece made for the show. Mitch has an incredible memory and I loved listening to his tales of ordering shiny stars from Italy and fabric dyes and ribbons and buttons and fabric. Heaven.
Each of these suits used up 11 yards of fabric. They had to be cut on the bias and those are the stars from Italy. Each suit had a different star pattern that was sewn on by hand. Incredible.
Mitch is telling us about the detail that went into the statue costumes which were really the most innovative and incredible costumes of the entire show. They were all padded on the inside and the hands were dipped in a rubber substance to make them stay in place. The inside of the leotard-like fabric was lined with padding to give the body extra form. I could have listened for hours.
The women's dresses had bustles that were quite ornate. I looked up the word bustle for fun:
I love the detail and the applique flowers. The women looked like they were floating on stage. It was beautiful.
These bustles were really amazing as they were like little shelves cascading down the back of the dress to create the bustle. The shelves were stuffed with pastries. Mitch actually pulled one of the tarts off the dress and showed it to us. It was like a hand-painted foam form, really cool.
This hat was made with ribbon from Japan sewn together around and around to form the ruffling shape. I can't express how fun it was to see and hear about all of this. Mitch is a genius. I don't know how he finds and thinks of all of these things. He had historical things and keeping things like the original show that started in London. It's so much to consider and think about. Mitch is now working for the Metropolitan Opera and doing their costuming. He actually hadn't been back to the Mary Poppins set for a couple of years and he was thrilled to see how well the costumes were holding up. They did look in fantastic condition.
There were a few knits included in the costuming. This was the back of a dress and it is knit lace, there were a few scarves and sleeves and Michael Banks had on a handknit sweater. I asked who did the knitting and Valerie said one of the cast members had knit up the items. 
