The Big Sock... working towards a Guinness Book World Record

At Newton's Fall Machine Knitting seminar last weekend, I had the pleasure to participate in The Big Sock. This is an effort to knit the world's biggest sock, and set a new Guinness Book World record.

The sock is composed of 1500 stitches knitted with ten circular needles. This makes it 23 times larger than a typical sock (which starts with 64 stitches).
The project originated in Hastings England and is now traveling the U.S. This is the first time it is on the west coast, and is moving to Stitches in Hartford next week.

The current world record is a sock that measures 16 feet tall.

Creative use of IPad

A few weeks ago, I went to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. As I was meandering through the art galleries, I heard organ music in the distance. As a lover of music, I was drawn to locate the source and enjoy the sounds not only audibly, but visually as well.

Imagine my surprise (and delight) to see the organist, David Hegarty, playing the organ and using his Ipad as his "music book". Every few minutes, he would tap the screen to turn the page. As an avid Mac girl, yet again, I am amazed at all the creative applications I see with Mac people.

I emailed David and asked him to tell me more. This is what he said:

The iPad is a great repository for printed music. I scan the music and then load it into the ForScore app on the iPad. The scores can be arranged into set-lists for specific performances. And there's no awkward page turning—just a quick tap of the screen turns the page. There's even provision for making performance notes in various colors on the page. I can store hundreds of compositions in the iPad without lugging around bulky notebooks. Revolutionary!

Check out David's site

Here are a few shots of David and the organ:

David...

turning the page...

Playing...

Pumpkins as Inspiration: Glass and Color

Last weekend, I spent time in the San Francisco bay area. One of the activities was visiting a pumpkin patch. But this was not a typical pumpkin patch. Rather, it was what I would call a couture version of a pumpkin patch.




Welcome to the world of glass art pumpkins. Everywhere you looked you saw inspiration and color. It was similar to being in a candy shop, and it certainly was a feast for the eyes.



So… began the search for my pumpkin… Below you can see some of the candidates. Instead of one larger one, I finally settled for a set of three smaller ones, and they have been dubbed, Larry, Curly and Moe. I’ll post of picture of them as we get closer to Hallowe’en. In the meantime, enjoy my shots of couture pumpkins.

Knitters in the City (of San Francisco)

Last weekend I was having lunch at a little creperie in San Francisco. I happened to glance over at another table, and immediately had to smile, as lo and behold was a group of hand knitters, happily knitting away amidst chatter and laughs.

Given the nature of creative and yarn people, I knew the women wouldn’t mind a little intrusion, so I walked over to chat with them and find out more about the communal nature of group.

Meet ‘the Knit Wits’, (a newly dubbed name, by the way). This is a group of women who meet every Sunday at a little creperie restaurant near the yarn store called Atelier which is located on Divisadero in the city. The ladies have been meeting for two years. Their projects varied from scarves to hats to shrugs, and beyond. The knitting was well advanced in technique.

Here you can see a few of the projects members were working on.