Dick Blick

Monday, April 26, 2010

Sunday in MA




It was predicted to be a rainy day, yesterday. But only a drop fell on us.


I met my brother in Cambridge to spend a few hours together. It was a wonderful afternoon. Too bad we live so far apart.

We started the MIT press bookstore. http://web.mit.edu/bookstore/www/ It took us an hour to browse through all the indie press titles. That bookstore is a wonderful resource. The art selection is not the ordinary. One book, about Crochet, was crochet shown and created using math configurations. Thus, MIT's interest!

I bought Inspiring Writing in Art and Design: Taking a line for a while by Pat Francis. This fit right in with my current classwork by Susie Monday: Text on the Surface. http://www.susiemonday.com/ I am one of her test pilots and the class is motivating me to create more art.

Back to yesterday: Following the hour of browsing through all the terrific books. We lunched at Legal Sea Foods in Kendall Square. www.legalseafoods.com Umm, the Asian Vegetables with Scallops were delicious.

Two very full people decided to walk. And we did. Around MIT and across the Harvard Bridge to Boston. Along the Charles River : things were so beautiful and in bloom. Then across the crumbling Longfellow Bridge to Kendall Square. - 1 1/2 hours! It seems everyone was jogging or sailing or walking.

Rick, my brother went on to fly to Germany to work in Europe for the week. I drove home and two hours later it rained! What luck.

(This is a bridge in Back Bay Boston.)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

HELP! Seeking advice for the UFO




Several years ago I took a fair isle class from what was then the Webs’ Master Knitting program. They had personnel issues and the program changed. To make this short, I did not continue with the program. I had started this fair isle sweater during the Master Knitting Class and the new program leader washed her hands of helping the previous customers. Thus, I am left in a lurch with a sweater I am trying to complete.

Here is my dilemma. I created the body of the fair isle sweater using Knitting the Old Way by Priscilla Roberts-Gibson. I never bound off the shoulders and instead went to my LYS, which has since closed, to try to learn how to finish this sweater. She had me steek the front and put the front bands on. Before I got that done, she closed her shop. (Sounds like a bad luck story here!)

Now, the sleeves are knitted. I want to finish the sweater and I can figure out the neck band but I have all the stitches on the needle – neck and shoulders, etc.

Shall I bind off doing a three needle bind off for the shoulders now or knit some more? And shape the shoulders? Or shall I count off the neckline stitches and create it, after which I can do the bind off for the shoulders.

Any suggestions are welcome!