tumbling down

The Craft on the Loose exhibit is over now, but before it ended, I shot photos. Here is a photo of the river...with bright knitted things right out in front. The plaza was full of people and I caught this spot at an empty moment. You might remember that red pylon? It looks like this in the winter time.

I found my rug, hiding in plain sight. I was surprised by how well it hid on this concrete pylon.

This summer, I realized that when I need to get a lot done, I find an intense focus. I organize the heck out of things, I keep my head down, and I just keep plowing through. I knew that I'd had it in the past, but I'd sort of lost sight of it. I think it was hiding inside of me--in plain sight.

The Professor and I happen to choose old houses in neighborhoods that can be "on the edge." This was the case for us in 3 different neighborhoods. Our families encouraged us to look for something a little less transitional when we moved to Winnipeg. We did...I'm sure you've seen the photos of the tall elms in our neighborhood on the blog?

Well, the way we could afford this neighborhood was by buying a house on a busy corner. It also happened to be right across from this house. It was a nice house that had seen better times. In 2008, a year before we even bought our house across the street, we knew it would be torn down--some day--so that someone could build new "green" condominiums. We thought that seemed reasonable, given that this formerly lovely home once housed squatters, its foundation fell in, and it had a few other difficulties. (Our house was on the market in 2008 and we happened to see it when trying to decide to move to Winnipeg. In 2009, it was on the market again and we bought it.)

This year, we saw that the builders were thinking about tearing the house down. We waited to see what would happen. Yesterday, I was grading papers at home. Meanwhile, directly across the street, right out my office window, this was happening.


The wind blew towards our house, so I had to shut the windows. There was some dust. I kept grading. When next I looked up, it looked something like this.

Oh. Right. No house. Huh, I thought. When did that happen?

I had no idea that it took only a day to tear down a 100 year old house. I also had no idea that it was so quiet. ("Quiet??," you're thinking? "She must be nuts.")

Well, when I did look up and think about it, I realized that the noise that bothered me all afternoon was a jackhammering sound. It was road construction in the opposite direction. The demolition happened --rather quietly--right in front of me, with a minimum of fuss.

Funny thing how that happened. I found a whole new vista right in front of me, when I least expected it. I think maybe that intense focus allows creative people a chance to look up at the ordinary...and maybe see something entirely new.

At least, I hope that's what is going to happen to me in a week or two, when the teaching ends and I get to go back to creating again.

Geri said kind things about my radio interview and asks if I am going to Rhinebeck this year. As you probably know, Winnipeg is pretty far away from Rhinebeck, New York, and I don't think I'll be getting there this year...it's a long distance and a big expense. Sorry about that! The good part is that I love where I live, so I don't mind staying home...:)

Rhinebeck and back

The weather this year at Rhinebeck was cold and rainy. While I'm glad it wasn't snow, (which lingered in the weather reports...) it was still kind of raw outside. Here's a brief summary of my adventures.

I left Virginia with my mom on Saturday and I drove us up to visit some of my relatives. We had a fun early supper with yummy food and lots of in-laws in Westchester County. (my brother-in-law and his wife, her parents, my husband's aunt and uncle...it was a crowd!) Then in the dark, we made our way the last hour to a hotel near Poughkeepsie. While it was adequate, I can't soundly recommend the place we stayed, so it shall remain nameless...

Bright and early on Sunday, we made our way to Rhinebeck. While the leaves were bright, they weren't quite as stunning as I've seen in other years. My mom suggested that the fall leaves might look nicer if it weren't raining quite so hard. (a good point.)

I went straight over to the authors' book signing area and had a wonderful two hours there. It was so nice to hear that people were enjoying both of my books! I took photos before anyone arrived, so it isn't exactly representative of what it looked like. (Plus, I'm not in the photos!)

I did have to keep my signing pen in my pocket so that it would stay warm enough to work when folks wanted their books signed. As well, I wore a hat, scarf, coat, and even mittens for portions of the book signing..it was indoors, but the temperature was brisk! I also got a chance to visit with some other writers for a moment or two, which was fun.

Towards the end of my book signing time, my father-in-law came by to say hello. We had a family lunch together while listening to some young fiddlers perform. They were super!

After that, I had just an hour or two to wander around. I got to see my friend Annmarie at the Year of the Fleece exhibit. She was showing off the scarf that her elementary school students knit! She is a teacher, and her students learned to knit and made a scarf for this! She was so proud!

I also visited some of the animals, including the Leicester Longwool sheep. They were the featured breed at the festival this year, and I have admired the breed for years. Long ago, Colonial Williamsburg had one of the first flocks I knew of, and they kindly would sell me a pound or two to spin up. This is such a lustrous and beautifully strong wool..I still love it. Also, the sheep themselves are just peaceful souls...the area where they nestled in their bedding was a quiet respite in the midst of the fair's rainy hustle and bustle!

Towards 2:30 pm, it was time to head back, as it was a 6 hour drive to my parents' house in Virginia. My mother shared her shopping adventures with me as I drove back through the rainy afternoon and evening. It was a whirlwind trip.

Today, I'm pretty tired! I will be catching two planes back to Winnipeg tonight, and I'm looking forward to going home. I miss my dogs, my professor, and my own bed! That said, I hear our heat isn't working in Winnipeg, so I imagine things may be a bit nippy there until that is fixed...

If I missed you at Rhinebeck, I'm sorry! All in all, I think I was only there for 5 hours. Whew, what a weekend...

knitting for home

I really like knitting (and designing) things for my house. After all, you can only wear so many handknits at once, but your house? Well, your house can "wear" a lot more knitting at once!

For Knit Green, I explored a few concepts that the professor and I have worked on in our home. A while ago, we decided to transition to using only cloth napkins. This wasn't a hard transition as the dirty napkins rarely amount to anything near even a small load of laundry, and we saved money on buying paper napkins. It also saves energy--no trees being made into napkins, no trees cut down and trucked out to be processed, no napkins trucked into the grocery store for us, etc. Yes, everywhere else still uses paper napkins...but we can only make a difference a little at a time!

Of course, (since I'm a knitter), I started coming up with knitted napkin ideas. First came these napkins, and they're for sale on my website as a download. For Knit Green, I broke out of the neutral colors and went for brighter colors! (Note: brighter colors also hide more dirt and stains!) Here are Waves and Stars: Knitted Napkins....another couple of patterns in the book. This is one of those situations where the book says there are 20 patterns, but technically there are two patterns here, not just one at a time, so you're getting more patterns for your money!

If you choose machine washable and dryable yarns (cotton or cotton blends work well), these napkins are work horses. Use and enjoy them, throw them in the wash, and put them right back out on the table. They're fast to knit, too!


Another fast project are these knitted curtains. They are designed to use either a regular curtain rod (cafe curtains) or to use a decorative curtain rod with little knitted button tab loops. The sample curtain is made from a friend's handspun, but any sportweight yarn will do, and the project is fairly flexible. It's ideal for a little simple knitted interior decoration!

I'm hoping to find time to make more curtains like this for my new (old) house. We've got long windows, perfect for this kind of window treatment.

In other news, I'm off to Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and New York this weekend. I'll be seeing family, hopefully teaching and signing books, and going to Rhinebeck, aka New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, to sign books. I'll try to keep posting about the projects in Knit Green in the meanwhile! If you're going to be at the festival, come by and see me on Sunday, October 18th, from 10-12 as I sign books! Can't wait to see you!

So, do you like knitting for your home? What projects do you like best? Ever considered knitted napkins or curtains?

Newsletter update

We interrupt this programming...

I recently sent out an email newsletter to people who've signed up on my website and wanted to update my blog readers as well! I promise that there will be one more Crete post, likely sometime next week. In the meanwhile, I'm off to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I likely won't be checking in until Monday or so. Wishing you a sweet and happy 5770!

And now...the newsletter:

There’s big news from Joanne Seiff!

My new book, Knit Green:20 Projects & Ideas for Sustainability, will be available at the beginning of October! I am so excited to see this published! Knit Green is about sustainability in ways that knitters will enjoy and I’ve designed over 20 knitting designs that support these eco-friendly ideas. Also note: If you’re not a knitter but you wear clothing, you’ll find lots of useful information about sustainability and textiles in this book.

A variety of exciting events are coming up… Please join me and I’ll sign your books, too!

September 26 & 27
Join me at the Wolseley Wardrobe Fall Retreat at Delta Marsh in Manitoba! I’ll be giving a talk about Fiber Gathering and a class about knitting sustainably. Check out the Wolseley Wardrobe website: http://www.wolseleywardrobe.com/ for details.

October 12
Spend Columbus Day (or Canadian Thanksgiving) with me at Nature’s Yarns in Fairfax Virginia. I’ll be teaching Taking Spinning Back to the Basics and a class based on my new book called Knit Green. Please contact the store http://www.naturesyarnsinc.com/contact.html for more information and to sign up!

October 18
Going to Rhinebeck? That is, the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival? http://www.sheepandwool.com/ Me too! Please join me at Building B for the Authors Book Signing from 10AM-12PM. I’ll sign your book and hope for a chance for a chat. I can’t wait to see you there!

Finally, there’s the news about me. I now live in Winnipeg! That’s in the province of Manitoba, in Canada…and I’m thrilled to be here out on the prairie. My email and website contacts are still the same, but now, I’m writing and designing in a fabulous new place. If you happen to be visiting Winnipeg, drop me a line—I’d love to see you!

Thanks so much for supporting fiber arts, the festival community, and me. I appreciate it and hope you enjoy both of my books!
Joanne Seiff
http://www.joanneseiff.com/