I’m on the Knitpicks podcast!

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One of the first podcasts I listened to was Kelley Petkun from Knitpicks describing what knitting she would do on a deserted island. I still have that podcast on my iPod. She introduced me to the idea of a Pi shawl as great island knitting and I cast my first one during a hiking trip in the Grand Canyon when I couldn’t possibly take another step. . Since then, I’ve listened to episodes about the creative process, knitting, designers, yarn lines, football, spinning and life in general and I am hooked. I began listening during my hour long commute into Manhattan to work.

I remember trying to describe why I listened to knitting podcasts to my stepson. He couldn’t imagine what would possibly capture my (or his) attention for 30 minutes. But it’s so much more than knitting. And now it brings me back to the Knitpicks podcast because on their 200th celebratory episode, Kelley revisits deserted island knitting and refers to MY BLOG as an example. Because I knit on deserted islands! And love it. And hope to continue doing it because, after the first time, it keeps getting better and easier. Food planning and packing gets simplified.

Some of my best projects were envisioned and completed in remote settings. Like Tim’s Christmas penguin! knit while on Deal Island Tasmania with some beautiful organic merino roving gifted to me by a new friend in Tasmania, which I spun and knit during my three months there. Or the four pairs of socks I have knit for myself on Seguin Island. Or the warm vest I modified and knit on Deal Island. This podcast makes me appreciate and remember what a wonderful life I live.

Today, in the mountains, I worked on three projects: a pair of socks for my daughter’s friend

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A double weave wall hanging with pockets to hold at least some of my weaving tools

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And I continue to work on the overshot sampler

To think, I was working and commuting when I began listening and now I have given most of it up am living the life I never dreamed of!

Warped mind

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I learn backwards. Sdrawkcab! I progress from hard to easy. I did it with spinning; I used a wheel first then downsized to a spindle and now I am doing it with weaving.

I wanted to try overshot, which is a simple but complex form of weaving. I have a book called “Learn to Weave” and it is covered in Chapter 15 (out of 16 chapters).

I have a wonderful book of patterns published in the 1940’s. As an aside, I learned from it why I love linen so much. The author states you can tell linen from cotton because linen gives up stains easily with mild soap and sun, cotton doesn’t and holds the stains. Something to do with the nature of the fiber. And here I thought I was a phenomenal laundress! At least it justifies my linen addiction.

Back to weaving. Instead of using a tried and true draft (pattern) I found one I liked on the Internet and imported it into my iPhone weaving app: iWeaveit.

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Looked good, so off to the loom I went.

I warped the loom and eagerly began weaving and it looked terrible. I went back to the book and learned the pattern didn’t obey a rule of overshot and the software didn’t know any better. Whoever uploaded the pattern probably created it in theory without trying it out.

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But through this fiasco, I learned big lessons and now understand overshot weaving more than if everything went by the “book”.

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Wipe that smirk

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I’m long on towels. I took these off my loom today and have to cut them apart and stitch hems. I think I count five towels, with a very long one in the middle.

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I’ll need at least one to clean up after this Cheshire Cat.

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The only thing I like about Halloween are the jack- o -lanterns. I haven’t worn a costume since the 1980’s when I was assaulted in Brooklyn. All I heard was, “Let’s get the elf”…I was the elf! Never again. So instead I carve pumpkins, sometimes several, sometimes one.

Sandy swung west

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And missed us. Many others were not so lucky. I was glued to the weather channel and CNN as water swept over some of my old haunts and harbors. 8.5 million people without power for several weeks due to damaged wires and transformers, which exploded. Cars floated in lower Manhattan and houses were destroyed by floods or fires.

We were spared but the County had taken emergency preparedness measures: schools, offices were closed and a talk I was scheduled to give today was postponed. And it turned out to be a beautiful day with a mild breeze.

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I finished a pair of felted clogs for myself, which I may embellish with embroidery.

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Then I headed to the wood pile and chopped wood until I couldn’t stand up straight. Maybe a week’s worth.

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Batten down the hatches

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Tim has been filling cracks in the log cabin. There’s a large storm forecast over the next several days with high winds, possible gusts to 70 mph.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency states:

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This will be a test of the cabin! We installed the last window (we still have to cut out a hole for a front window) and the door and sealed it up.

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Well not exactly sealed but close.

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NYC is taking steps for a disaster due to high seas breaching sea walls and predicted wide spread power outages – 10 million people! Fire Island has been evacuated as well as parts of Long Island, Manhattan, Connecticut and New Jersey because the ocean is predicted to funnel into New York Harbor and Long Island Sound. My thoughts are with family and friends in the storm’s path.

Deer whistles

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My new deer whistles must be working.

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The license plate was crumpled before I installed them. They are the two black things mounted on the bumper. One is “open” and the other is closed but I can’t hear anything. Perhaps the deer can because none have jumped out at me on the road since I installed them.

The one big problem is they make me drive faster. I am (perhaps falsely) confident I won’t see any deer and that by driving faster, the wind will flow through the whistles at a higher velocity and make them louder.

Oh yes. And apparently moose can’t hear them!

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Impromptu helipads

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I manage to live and work very close to helipads. They aren’t used often but when they are it’s an event.

On Seguin Island, the bricks marking the helipad, which is still used, were unearthed a couple of years ago. We keep the are cleared and mowed.

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The pad is very close to the lighthouse and after a warning buzz, no phone calls here, it sets down on the pad.

It’s a different story at work, where I have participated in helicopter landings twice. By “participate” I mean move my car from the parking lot, which also serves as the helipad.

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An announcement comes over the intercom that a helicopter is landing and immediately, the workforce and visitors grab their keys and head out the doors to move their cars. At least here we get a phone call so its not really a scramble.

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I just have to remember where I parked my car at the end of the day.

My knitwear is on CNN!

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The real focus is Seguin Island Lighthouse and Life as a Remote Island Lighthouse Caretaker. There was a video filmed on that hectic day when the work party came to work on windows and help close up. You can see the video here.

However during the video I managed to wear threefour of my handknit items. It was very cold and damp on the day of the taping, so I wore a handspun headband made with yarn spun by a friend of mine who took care of my wheel when I was living in Australia for five months.

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The project information is here.

There’s a very brief glimpse of my fingerless gloves when we haul the dinghy up the beach.

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Their project info is here. They are very special because the fiber was gifted to me by a new friend in Tasmania and I spun (on a turkish drop spindle) and knit them during my 3 months on Deal Island, Tasmania in 2010/2011.

At the end (and the beginning but it’s hidden under another layer) is my first sweater, an Aran pullover made, too small, for Tim, so it is mine.

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Pattern info is here.

What you can’t see are my hand knit socks. I think I actually wore two pair because my feet got wet in the morning. At least one pair were these, knit on Seguin Island in 2008.

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So there’s a hidden story to life on remote islands as well.