Tomorrow night, a show in the Biddo. And more knitting.

Yes. This Friday, the first day of summer, at the Oak and Ax in Biddeford, Hersey State will be playing a set with the amazing Vio/Mire (from Providence/Portland) and Laughing Eye, Weeping Eye (from Chicago). Show page here. We Herseys believe this is the first time we've played a show together since the O + A festival last September. (!) The thing I love about Hersey is that all of us in the band, 8 in all, are each songwriters--so whenever we play, we have a lot of songs to choose from. We each bring our own thing to the table and somehow magically make it all sound cohesive.

Here are some things that are in progress. I've been enjoying photographing my knitting first thing in the morning!

First, a log cabin blanket:

Started with some odds and ends I had around, but now it's getting serious(ly big) so time to step up my game. I would like to make this double bed-sized, but it's a square, so the plan is at some point to add just some stripes to either/both ends to make it more of a rectangle. It's fun (read: supremely dorky) to try and guess which yarns I will run out of first, and which colors the stripes will be.

 There's some Quince Lark in there (Bark and Twig), some Tess Designer Yarns left over from the Crocodile (by the way, that was a project from Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen. Ridiculously cute stuff. Also made the elephant.), some Cascade 220 that I never used for my Master Handknitting course, also some Manos and Malabrigo in there. The pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It has inspired me to check out what other quilt patterns have been translated into knitting...more on that later.

My Caramel, in CEY Princess, which I've heard isn't made anymore. Bummer, because my Effortless is also in Princess (next time!) and it is so nice to wear. The fabric stays a little stiff in the knitting but relaxes and softens up perfectly after blocking.
As an aside, I will say that for a long time, I was a broke musician whose source of yarn consisted of the yarn I was paid in exchange for sample knitting, and any Goodwill sweaters I had the patience to unravel; so I really haven't explored fiber too much over the years. I can say the same thing about music, where I was so wrapped up in my studies as a voice major studying classical music that I didn't start getting into the great Indie bands of the 90s until a few years after I graduated in '98...but I digress. Suffice it to say that I feel I'm always just behind the curve. (Also, I'm the only one in my office that doesn't have 1) wellies; 2) toms; or 3) a smart phone.)

And this...? This is my first design that is slated to be published. I will say no more! Except two words: Chickadee. Lichen.

A Brown Bird Benefit and some Knitting.

I realize now that trying to play catch up is the exact thing that's keeping me from posting regularly. Well I'm here to share just a couple of things:

Thing 1

Jeremy and I are preparing a few old Brown Bird songs for this benefit. This will be a very sweet show. You might have seen my post a few weeks ago about our dear friend and former band mate Dave, who is currently being treated for Leukemia. The fundraiser they put together to offset the costs of medical care and not being able to work brought in nearly $68,000 with over 1600 supporters, which is amazing. We are happy to be a part of this. We have to play the old songs, because we don't do that crazy thing he does with the singing and the drumming and the guitar playing all at the same time, (not to mention the fact that neither of us play violin or upright bass) and also, more importantly...these are songs we've loved playing with him over the years. They still need support, so please please come! You can keep tabs on Brown Bird here.

Thing 2

Some knitting-related photos.

Here is an adorable stuffed crocodile I made for my friend's baby. I started this when he was born, in 2010. I mailed it in March. His little face just kills me.

And here is a photo of the swatch that will become a sweater for my sister:

I'm working it in Chickadee by Quince & Co.--colors from the bottom up are Clay, Leek, Lichen, Clay again, Bird's Egg, Delft, Petal, and Chanterelle. Can't wait to get it started!

A few candids from some recent photo shoots I got to assist with. Keeping the garments organized, schlepping stuff around, holding an umbrella over Carrie so her camera doesn't get wet, running out to get coffee and snacks...and of course, enjoying the beauty of Maine! So nice to spend the work day on the beach (even though a few hours later it poured on us).

The top photo was taken at the Black Point Inn during the Knitbot Linen shoot. See some more candids of that shoot here. 

The works of Lamb

I had planned another catch-up post about finished objects over the past year plus, but this weekend I decided that I wanted to instead tell you about my friend Dave. He and is fiancee are musicians playing under the name of Brown Bird. For over 10 years, Dave has written and performed songs as Brown Bird, and through the years, he seemed never to get too discouraged about the difficulty of making a living as a musician. Whatever he's done to make ends meet, no matter where he's lived, he always has he energy to devote to working on new ideas--his prolificness is matched by few that I've known. How wonderful it was when he and MorganEve told us over a year ago that they were going to be able to quit their day jobs and be full-time musicians! They have a great support team between their tour manager, Dan, and their label manager, Tom. They've been touring pretty constantly all over the US when not recording, and I'm so proud of their achievements.

Last Sunday Jeremy and I got an email from Dave saying that he'd been at a hospital in Houston, TX, for severe anemia. They'd done several tests with no results pointing to anything specifically wrong, and Dave's had more than several blood transfusions--they are home now, but still waiting to hear the results of a bone marrow biopsy. As you can imagine, they've had to cancel the rest of their tour, and Dave's expenses for the extended hospital stay and all his tests have been formidable. Double whammy.

To offset all the losses they've suffered and will continue to deal with as Dave recovers, they've set up a fundraiser, an opportunity for friends, family, and fans to help make soften the financial blow of both canceling their tour and being stuck in a hospital for nearly a week, and far from home. Not surprisingly, our sweet friends have already reached their goal of $40,000 in three days! They will likely need more support, so if you love Brown Bird and would like to keep seeing them out on tour and following their passion, and don't have all of their albums already, follow the link above to help them get back on their feet; and if you don't have all of their albums already, you can collect them all (well, almost) here and here (and they have other things for sale too!).

That's it. More about knitting next time.

Catching up

OK, everyone I work with is managing to keep up with their blogs, and I've missed mine terribly--so I'm trying really hard to get back into it. Here's a broad-strokes guide to my life since my last post:

Last February (2012) I went to the Fashion Institute to take a Knitting Instructor course, which was really great. I learned a lot. A couple of days after I got back, I had a meeting with Pam Allen at Quince & Company, and instead of hiring me to do some sample knitting, she pulled out a list of things they could really use an extra hand for: customer service, wholesale, sales reports and royalty statements, etc. (I thank my lucky stars that I had a friend who encouraged me to get in touch!), and would I be interested in doing all that. Furthermore, the space is shared with Knitbot, and would I also be interested in managing Hannah's wholesale and trunk shows and other odds and ends. Well. A job was born. In fact, the job I've been searching for since I admitted to myself that I didn't want to be a professional musician. And with the company that I wanted to work for--I'd had my eye on Quince since they launched in 2010. I mean, come on. Who does that happen to? (Seriously, I love to hear stories like this--please share!)

Since I've been with this team of amazing knitwear designers and creative folk, I've gotten into tech editing, which is basically why I was born into this world (other than to marry Jeremy Robinson). I love it. It's only part of my job and I've got tons to learn and practice, but it is definitely my favorite part. Also, I do a lot of proofreading, which I love just as much as tech editing.

Last summer I took a tech editing course, and this winter I started a course on sizing patterns. I learned how to make charts and schematics on the job, which is the most fun part of tech editing--kind of like playing a video game. All these classes include a crash course in knitwear design, because of course, a tech editor needs to be familiar with how a sweater is supposed to get put together--so they've kind of been like a gateway drug, and now I'm feeling ready to put some of my ideas into action. Right now it's like I'm standing at the edge of the rocky outcropping, psyching myself up to jump into some cold Maine ocean water. I'm nervous, people.

And of course, I knitted. And knitted. And knitted. And so on and so forth. There is lots more to share in this department but maybe next time, I have photos!

And I played some cello and did some singing. Definitely not nearly as much as in previous years, but a little performing and a little recording here and there. And the second record from Plains is done, which we plan to release later this year. The link provided goes to our first recording, which was live at the radio station down at MIT.

I won't say too much about this right now because it's still sinking in, but I am going to be teaching knitting classes, starting late summer. More details to follow.

How do I still have time to eat, sleep, and hang with my husband? Well...I don't know. Sometimes it feels like I don't do any of those things.

I feel like a bad blogger for doing a long and wordy post with zero pictures, but...it will be short and sweet with photos next time, I promise. :)