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This is 30th year that I having been making personal Shanah Tovah (happy New Year) cards. The theme has most often been apples and honey worked into woven samples. This time, I've chosen the element common to both apples and honey--the apple blossom. When I taught weaving in Beer Sheva some years back, I enjoyed the bus rides, one day every week, departing Jerusalem early in the morning and returning home in the late afternoon. Noting particularly the vistas of orchards--from the period of trees' bare branches to the first maroon blur of branch tip new growth, visible only from a distance, not discernable close up, to the budding out and opening of the blossom crown, which always brought to mind the image of graceful young girls dancing, though they never moved off their firm rooted stance. For me, there was a definite sense of the trees dancing as they reached up towards the sky overhead. Then they leafed out and later their boughs bent into graceful arches under the weight of ripened fruit. The lovely image of the blossom-laden trees stays with me and, though I've tried to sketch and paint them, I was never satisfied with my results.
In planning this year's Shanah Tovah card, I went back to early memories of my mother and her sisters, sitting together, chatting and knitting sweaters, and decided to try to knit a tree. I went through my trove of knitting and weaving yarns, selecting a series of browns in a fine weight of worsted-spun wool, sampling on successively thinner knitting needles until I achieved the texture I'd been seeking, using stockinette stitch, which also has the characteristic of curling up at the edges, giving a bas-relief element I wanted. In the end, I chose only the darkest brown rather than working a variety of shades into each trunk. It was a process of simplifying throughout--no individual blossoms, neither leaves nor crocheted apples as I'd first thought. This was my first-ever attempt to design a piece of knitting. Yet, when I got down to it, the initial miniature tree turned out to be exactly what I'd envisioned.
I then became busy as the proverbial bee, knitting at home, on buses, and while waiting for classes to begin, until I completed my orchard of 54 (3 x 18) trees. For the masses of blossoms, I wanted to use some cream-colored mohair yarn left over from when I wove wool and mohair shawls in 1972 and '73. I was certain that hairpin crochet lace would be the best technique, although I'd never actually tried to do it and I do not own the U-shaped frame upon which it is worked.
I tried making one from various weights of wire that we had around our apartment, but none of them was rigid enough. Yosef suggested using our two-tined cooking fork and it proved the perfect tool. I then sat down on our sofa with written instructions and two photos from a crochet encyclopedia and slowly taught myself the technique. So simple, once I understood it, but quite complex to figure out. If I had been able to observe someone making hairpin lace, I would have learned more rapidly. Afterwards, I spent the major portion of several days rotating the upright fork, crocheting the lace loops of wrapped mohair together between its prongs. They suited my image as well as the knitted trunks with branches had done.
Now, as I transplant my trees, one to each card, they are carrying my thoughts, love and good wishes for this New Year.
Two years ago, Haya designed a card-woven band for her New Year's cards. Although she intended to weave bands for all the cards, this proved too time-consuming and she used a photograph instead. This band inspired by and developed from a double-woven tablet weave belt in the Israel Museum.
 Jenny and Ryszard  Jenny with Cheryl "Fiberart" of the Knitlist |
I used to be a computer programmer, but in recent years, I've been unable to work outside the home for health reasons. Having a computer has been a lifeline, particularly since I was connected to the Internet seven years ago. I've made a lot of friends from around the world, even managed to meet some of them, and they are very important to me.
I started to knit as a child and have been knitting on and off ever since. I can't remember whether I was taught by my mother, my aunt or at school. I was at University during the era of those crochet mini-dresses that some of you may remember, and my friends and I made our own, but I've done very little crochet since then. When I had to leave my job, I had time on my hands, so I resumed knitting and also started bobbin lace. They were both very convenient hobbies because they could be done sitting down, and even in bed when necessary.
At the time, I didn't know any local knitters or lacemakers, and it was only through the Internet that I met a local lacemaker who turned out to be a spinner and weaver, too. I'd already started spindle-spinning under the influence of the Knitlist, but it was almost two years before I found my nearest spinning/weaving/dyeing guild, and joined it. There is a local knitting guild, but by the time I discovered it, I was already heavily involved in the spinning guild (I was the Guild Treasurer for three years), and knew many creative knitters there, so I haven't joined the knitting guild yet. As well as knitting and spinning, I weave and do kumihimo (Japanese braiding) and, after three years as editor of the Braid Society journal (http://www.braidsociety.org), I am now their Membership Secretary.
I used to knit mainly from commercial patterns and then I gradually learned to combine elements from different sources. Once I discovered Elizabeth Zimmermann's books and patterns, I felt liberated. Now I usually develop my own designs. Having the confidence to do that has been really useful to me as a spinner, as I can spin a suitable yarn, find the best gauge for it, and then devise a pattern, instead of searching for a pattern that uses that gauge or trying to spin for a specific gauge.
When I do use patterns, they are usually the general shape-to-fit designs, like Zimmermann's patterns or Medrith Glover's Circumnavigated Cardigan, to which I add stitch patterns from sources like Barbara Walker's Treasuries. Other favourite sources of ideas are Debbie Bliss for children's clothes and, of course, Kaffe Fassett for his use of colour.
My knitting tends to focus on texture rather than colour. I also love knitting lace, but I prefer knitting Shetland lace in fine wool to knitting cotton lace. My aim is one day to knit a Shetland ring shawl using my own handspun wool. This was one of the reasons I started spinning, but so far I haven't found time to spin that much fine yarn.
My use of colour tends to be rather conservative, but I'm making an effort to use colour more adventurously. In Fair Isle knitting, I've discovered that working with one colour in each hand is so much easier. In spinning, I am experimenting with ideas from Deb Menz's book, "Color in Spinning."
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Last week [July, 2001] a nationwide exhibition opened. It includes works from twelve different cultural centers in Israel, by eight Jewish and four Arab artists. The exhibition takes place in the Old City of Jaffa, where the houses have been turned into galleries. The day was a nice one, which is rather rare for this time of the year. Usually it is hot and humid.
The opening was at 7.30 pm and I set out early, since I used public transportation and didn't know how long it would take me to get there. I know this area of Jaffa quite well, since it is where I took my first lessons in lacemaking. Jaffa is usually a very lively place, full of packed restaurants, lovely art galleries, and coffee shops. Unfortunately, because of our unpleasant political situation, the place was deserted.
I got there half an hour early, found a chair, and decided to cool off, even before checking how my lace was displayed. But as people were arriving I checked out the place. My lace was very nicely dispayed on a small table. There was only my name and the name of the craft. No details as to which type of lace was made. This was okay with me, because people don't know one technique from another. The gallery is a small one, but there was plenty to see--nice embroideries, drawings, small sculptures, and other crafts.
As I returned to my seat, a gentleman sat down beside me and we started talking. He didn't introduce himself, but he seemed to know something about art. I complained that there was no picture of my lace in the catalogue, and was told that because of the glass the photographer had problems taking pictures. Now here comes the observation of the day.
He told me that he enjoyed my work so much and that it was so nicely displayed. "But," he said, "there was this lovely piece of jewelery or sculpture next to your lace."
"There was no sculpture," I said.
"Oh, yes! It had lots of pins, and around the pins were those lovely pieces of wood with plenty of beads on them."
Dear friends, it took all my good upbringing not to burst out laughing! But here my good friend Martha came to my rescue: "That was no sculpture--that was the demo pillow Miriam used to demonstrate how lace is made."
Believe it or not, I was talking all the time to the curator of the exhibition. He asked whether I was ready to sell, and receiving an affirmative answer, the fellow walked away. I doubt that I'll sell anything, since I don't think too many people will come to the gallery right now. The exhibition is on for two months.
Just this morning we returned from eight days in Wales. I took with me the addresses that Jennifer kindly sent me, of Colinette, Sasha Kagan, and Colourway. But I went with my husband and another couple of non-knitters. We stayed in Laugharne, which is in southwest Wales, and Colourway was very nearby in Whitland, since moving there from London a few months ago. The other two were in eastern mid-Wales, and so far away that I couldn't justify dragging three people there. Traveling in Wales is slow-going. The roads are mostly very narrow. We stayed in a time-sharing place called Laugharne (pronounced Larn), so we returned every night but one, and that time we went to Portmeirion, and the northwest.
The only projects I've completed this summer are a couple of baby sweaters. The first one I designed myself, and I wasn't excited about it. The second was the old reliable Knitters gull-wings pattern, but trying to knit it and navigate through Wales meant a lot of unraveling.
I do have knitting plans for the coming year. Since my middle son has begun his studies in Wisconsin/Madison, he'll need some warm stuff, and my daughter has expressed the desire for a knitted bag. So I'll have to make time for these.
Colourway is doing a thriving mail-order business. They seem to stock Rowan yarns exclusively, and mostly Rowan books. I was there last Sunday morning, and the owner was very busy filling orders which had arrived by email over the weekend. I asked for some advice on picking out colors for the bag project, and she was very helpful. Sorry, I neglected to ask her name. There was a nice pile of yarn on sale, discontinued colors, so I did my shopping from that pile. It was 30% off, plus she discounts the VAT.
In July we traveled to Belarus and Poland. Obviously the Belarusians still knit. But they use the cheapest yarns possible, because of their standard of living. (Average monthly salary is probably something like $40 or $50.) The Poles seem to be better off, but I didn't notice whether they knit.
I have been working and knitting. I came up with a very nice pattern to use some cotton yarn available here. It's a very thin yarn but it's 4-ply and I wanted a top to wear over a shirt in the air conditioning at work. I ended up making three tops in a dc crochet stitch using my own pattern. I'm now working on the 4th and 5th. It's a lot of fun to do so I could try to get a picture and send in the pattern, which I really enjoy.
I also completed a few scattered socks. I've been trying to inventory my stash and yesterday I almost completed the second room! Two more to go! After that, it's putting it on the computer for easier use. The problem is that more yarn keeps getting in the way. And I have decided to refuse to buy any more storage containers. I was worried about storing this stuff and finally decided to use mothballs plus keeping a window slightly open in each room so there won't be dampness. I hope this works. I've never had moths, but always worry about it.
Not much new in the way of magazines though. I now have some subscriptions going to my sister in NY rather than here as the postage is exorbitant. I plan on having my daughter bring them home. But my sister sent me the newest Vogue Knitting and Family Circle Knitting. My sister likes a pullover made in chenille rayon and I'm wondering if this will be nice. I have never knit chenille rayon. I'm doing two now in chenille cotton and in chenille acrylic and they are ok and the cotton one is really nice. I bought it on Elann.
