The Fair, Part 1: Ugly Lamp

Last Sunday, we went to the Kentucky State Fair. We took lots of pictures (and I will post them on our Facebook page--oh, yeah, did you all know we have a Facebook Page? Be our fan!).

So to milk this sucker for all it's worth, I'm going to break this up into a week's worth of posts. Plus, after seeing Irene's Ugly Lamp, I'm not sure you can handle anything else!

Irene always gets the leftovers. The scraps. The stash. Do you have a garbage bag of Fun Fur that you bought on sale when you first started knitting? Well, Irene's the girl to take it off your hands.

So when she was gifted a bunch of sparkly Fun Fur, Irene decided to make an ugly lamp. Or more specifically, an ugly lamp cozy.

Here it is, at Lynn's Paradise Cafe's Ugly Lamp display at the fair. She didn't win. Maybe this is because time and again, while Irene was knitting at the shop, ladies would come up and exclaim, "Oh, that's so pretty! What are you making?" And Irene would respond, without batting an eye, "An ugly lamp."

Irene is awesome, part 587

Irene knit a pair of sneakers. She even cut up an old pair, reused the soles, and attached them to the knitted shoe by making holes with an awl. Even the laces are I-cords. And the Fleur di Lis emblem is an old playing card.

The design is her own (of course) and the yarn is a hodge podge of scraps (I'm sure there's some Lamb's Pride in there). Every time I have scrap yarn I don't know what to do with, I give it to Irene, because I know the yarn will eventually have an interesting home.

I have a feeling that one day, Irene will be a famous fiber artist, knitting things like this, and then we will all get to say we knew her when!

FO Alert!

Cindy only started knitting this time last year. She was immediately a good knitter--her first garter stitch scarf is immaculate, every stitch pulled snug to guarantee good gauge--but she suffers from a disease that cripples most knitters: perfectionism. Except for socks (and yes, she's already knitting socks like a crazy lady after one calendar year of knitting) every project finished was utterly disappointing. Sweaters don't fit exactly right, patterns are convoluted, things just don't work out. And as much as we all have tried to explain that this is what knitting is like-- the highs are dizzying, the lows gut-wrenching, the yarn soft and irresistible, and the patterns incomprehensible--Cindy can't help but beat herself up. She stared at her fourth sock, limp on the dpn, a second sock in all its dreariness and sighed, "I just can't knit anything that turns out right."

She needed a confidence booster. Big time.

I gave her this book and said, "I know that you can do it."



And she did.

This is Cindy's first color work project and it's perfect.

(If you would like to make your own, the Slip Stitch class starts Wednesday, May 30.)

In other news, Irene has finished her Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton tank top, adapted from the Knitty pattern Asana . (I'm wearing the Clementine Shawlette, from Interweave Knits and made from Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk. If you would like to learn to make this, the class starts Sunday, April 22.)

Irene chose a beautiful shade of blue, labored over the pattern, changed the pattern, doesn't like how it fits, and is going to change it again.

It must run in the family.