“beauty is twice beauty


 and what is good is doubly good


when it is a matter of two socks


made of wool in winter.”

             Excerpt from “Ode to My Socks”

            By Pablo Neruda (translated by Robert Bly)

Knitting my first pair of socks was not near as hard as I first anticipated.  Thanks to Staci Perry and her video tutorials.  I happened upon Ms. Perry’s pattern and lessons doing an Internet search for beginner socks.  Her pattern and instructions were very easy to follow.  I am now a big fan of Staci’s and will visit her site for future projects. (www.verypink.com)

Being a visual learner, having a video of each step of the sock making process was fantastic. YouTube is a wonderful tool for the likes of me.  You can find almost any knitting stitch demonstrated for you by some lovely soul who took the time to video the process and put on the Internet.  Technology can be a wonderful thing. It was fun to see the shaping occur as I stitched along and when I completed both socks and tried them on for the first time it was like Pablo Neruda says in his poem

…my feet were honored in this way

by these heavenly socks.

they were so handsome for the first time

my feet seemed to me unacceptable

like two decrepit firemen,

firemen unworthy of the woven fire,

of those glowing socks…

Okay maybe that is overdramatizing the moment, but they sure were cozy and comfortable.  I look forward to knitting many more socks and giving them away as gifts to my friends and maybe one day my hand knitted socks will inspire the poet in one of them to write a poem about my socks.

Happy knitting and crocheting,

Diana

I strongly encourage you to read Pablo Neruda’s entire poem “Ode to My Socks”

Pack up your spray paint cans you pesky graffiti artist because you cannot beat the guerilla knitters that have taken yarn bombing to the streets.

Yarn bombing if you don’t already know (and I didn’t until just recently) is a type of street art that uses knitted or crocheted yarn to decorate the everyday objects that you find in the great outdoors.   Yarn bombers stitch cozies for everything from park benches to lamp post and everything in-between.

I found out about this fantastic form of expression just recently on a near-by neighbor street that is home to some wonderful homespun restaurants. I was going to one of my favorite said restaurants when I noticed all of these bright punches of color winding around the lampposts, bike racks, park benches and even the trashcans.  My curiosity was peaked and upon further investigation I found out about yarn bombing.

Our neighborhood yarn bombing was the result of a local artist (Amber Bailey) who worked with children and adults alike to create these knitted goodies to adorn our street in order to call attention to an upcoming young artist street fair.  HOW FUN IS THAT?  You can bet that if this is an annual event that I will definitely be a part of this endeavor next year.  And this type of street art makes you smile rather then reach for the phone to call the gang crime unit!

You should check out yarn bombing on the Internet.  You will see some amazing examples of this art form.  If you have seen or been involved in yarn bombing, I would love to hear about it and definitely would love to see some pictures.  Share please!

Happy Knitting and Crocheting,

Diana

So I think I have mentioned before that I am a novice knitter.  My Tumbleweed partner, Kitman, is our expert in all things knitting.  When I was growing up my grandmother taught me to crochet so I know that I have some aptitude for crafts with needles.  But that was many, many, years ago, and a few things have replaced that information in my already overworked brain.  And when she was teaching me she only spoke Spanish and I unfortunately barely have the gift of English.  So I am not sure how much of it took in the first place.  So I have begun my journey to proudly and without hesitation call myself a knitter.

I began this journey with buying a beginner’s knitting book at Half Price bookstore.  I worked on several of the projects to get a feel for the terminology, different stitches, and reading patterns. The fruits of my labor being several random pot holders.

It was fun, but I was anxious to make something that I could wear.  I tried socks.  My hands and brain were not ready for 4 needles and shaping. So my friend Cindy and I found this pattern by Lijuan Jing that we decided to do together.  My first knit-along! Cindy assured me that I should not be afraid of more then 2 needles and the fact that it said “intermediate pattern” should not dissuade me from trying.  Well, the scarf that I made did not come easily and no one should look too closely at the stitching–but I am proud of the final result.  If for nothing else, I would not let dropping stitches, losing count, and a host of other frustrations deviate me from finishing the project.  So like a 6 year old child showing mom my hand painted pencil holder, made from a milk carton covered in Popsicle sticks, I proudly share my Swirl Scarf with you.  Next challenge…back to socks.

Happy Knitting,

Diana

This month’s inspiration for our newest colors comes from self- proclaimed “nature nerd” Julia Gregory. Her picture of a Texas Coral Snake caught our eye with its bright yellow next to the dark black and rusty red. Julia works for the Texas Parks and Wildlife as a web content coordinator. She said she found this little fellow on her front porch in Bastrop, Texas. According to Julia, this beauty is a venomous snake, a member of the cobra family, but very shy and non-aggressive. This type of snake is relatively small as snakes go in Texas. After carefully picking up the snake, by using a pair of BBQ thongs, she took it to work to show her other naturalist colleagues. She then released it into the brush pile you see in the photo. Julia gave us very helpful information about distinguishing this coral snake from similar non-venomous milk and king snakes:

Red on black, venom lack (or friend to Jack)

Red on yellow, kills a fellow.

Midnight. Sunshine. Rust

I think that if I had the occasion to cross paths with a snake, I probably would not take enough time to ponder the venomous nature of the creature with a snappy rhyme. I would do that from the privacy and safety of my own critter-free home looking at the hurriedly snapped blurry photo of said snake that I took while screaming like a coward. But that’s just me.

 From the information that Julia sent us she sounds like a real renaissance women. Not only is she a knitter and friend to all things that are creepy and crawly, she is currently learning to make her own wine! If you would like to know more about Julia she provided this link to her About.me page http://about.me/juliagregory. She sounds like a fun person to get to know. Thank you Julia for the inspiration and educating us about one of God’s creatures.

As indicated in previous blogs if you would like to submit a photo to help inspire our next group of yarns, please send us a copy (mailto:tumbleweedyarn@hotmail.com). If your photograph is chosen we will send you a skein of our yarn in appreciation.

Hoping to inspire and ignite your imagination,

Diana and Kitman

Hi, my name is Diana Story and 2013 is going to be an exciting and rewarding New Year. Most exciting for me is my new creative endeavor.  My very talented sister-in-law, Kitman Figueroa, proposed to me a while back that we learn to hand dye yarns.  Kitman is an accomplished knitter and designer and was interested in broadening her knowledge of her craft.  She has been fortunate to work with some very high quality yarns in a glorious array of colors.  I love to hear her talk excitedly about a new skein of yarn. I remember her referring to one skein as the queen of her collection.  I wonder what that skein will turn into one day. Maybe it will remain, as it is, a little piece of art unto itself.

I myself am a jack of many trades. I have always had a love of the arts and have been fortunate enough to work all my adult life in creative occupations.  Most recently I was a high school theatre teacher for 12 years.  Before that, I was a professional costume designer.  Materials, and more importantly color, have been a love in my life for a long time.  Kitman thought our combined talents should give birth to our new business of hand dyeing yarns.  So Tumbleweed Yarn was born. We named our business Tumbleweed Yarn because of where we live.  We are both transplanted Texans.  Kitman is from the exotic country of Malaysia and I am originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not so exotic but very different from Texas. We wanted a name that was reflective of our adoptive new land.  I remember as a child moving from Wisconsin and not knowing much about Texas, I expected a Texas that I had seen in the TV shows—cowboys on horses and tumbleweeds blowing across the dry lands.  A little naïve of me, after all I was moving to the big city of Dallas where there is nary a tumbleweed.

Because of our new business, the last few months have been a wonderful time of learning and growing for us.  A photograph taken by a friend named Ylva Forsten inspired our first three yarn colors. We wanted colors to reflect the natural beauty of where we live.  Even though Kitman and I live in big cities we do not have to travel far to see what Ylva has captured in her photo. We not only want to provide a quality product but we want to help inspire your projects.  Working in the theatre has given me the chance to work with wonderful artists and has shown me how exciting collaborating on a project with other talented people can be.  We want to bring that same collaboration to our business.  In fact, every month or so we would like to feature a photograph that one of you have sent us that will inspire our new line of colors.  The photograph should be reflective of what you consider home. It could be a landscape or a favorite old chair.  It will be so exciting to see your interpretations of home. The person who has their photograph selected will be featured and they will receive a fabulous door prize. So email us your photos and lets work to inspire each other.