Las Vegas Inspired: Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend several days in Las Vegas recently. While there I was able to take in three wonderful shows. My postings this week are inspired by these Las Vegas Shows.

Info taken directly from the Cirque du Soleil website:

Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil is an acrobatic rock experience that blends circus arts with the surreal to create a world where physical virtuosity rubs shoulders with the strange.

Zark, the ringmaster of an extraordinary circus coming back to life, guides us in an abandoned theatre populated by a motley collection of off-the-wall characters and incomparable acrobats. Among other attractions, he introduces the Mutants, four sirens as sinister as they are fabulous.

Zarkana is a visual vortex set in a twisted musical and acrobatic fantasy universe where, little by little, chaos and craziness give way to a true celebration.

This is a show that takes you out of this world. Freak show meets impossible acrobats with addictive muisc and memorable characters.

Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil

It's one of those shows you really have to see to believe. And even after you see it a may still be hard for you to believe what you saw.

Sandpainting like you've never seen before in Zarkana

A spider woman, a singing flower, six-arm mutated baby- and that's just the first half of the show! Cirque du Soleil crosses the unusual with the daring in a way that flows seamlessly between both worlds.One of their newset shows to come to sin city, it is sure to fit right in the surreal life that is Las Vegas.

Take a little walk on the wild side with these spider socks by Terri Knight. 

Spider Socks by Terri Knight

Hello? Is this thing On?

Wow, long time no see. Well, I would like to tell you that I've been working on some fantastic knitting book or traveling the country teaching knitting classes, but nope, nothing cool like that ever happened. Instead, my life has been filled with the ups and downs of just getting through life. You know, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging about life.

So, have I been doing any knitting while I've been away? Unless you count the little blankets I've been knitting for princess' ever growing Barbie collect, really not much.

Somewhere along the lines I got hooked on needle tatting and really haven't had a reason to pick of the needles again. Until now.

With so many of my friends breeding like rabbits these days, I've gotten the itch to knit baby items. I am currently working on a sweater from the book Special Knits by Debbie Bliss.

Wait, what about the sock knitting you ask? I haven't been inspired to produce anymore socks lately. I think my sock knitting muse has left me for good. I think my refusal to make Lady Gaga- inspired socks was what finally did it.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

So, now what will I be talking about on my blog? Not sure, but whatever it is, I'm sure it will be fun and involve yarn.

Right now you can catch me musing about my tatting at simplyjoi.blogspot.com.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="299"] Special Knits by Debbie Bliss[/caption]

 

Socks Before Husbands

After all the celebration from yesterday, it was time to settle down and get back to work. I'm still working on that pair of men's socks that I mentioned to you before. I want to make sure I get them in well before the Knitty.com deadline.

My Boy Toy will reluctantly be my model for the socks.

Boy Toy: "Do I need to shave my legs?"

Liver Chick: "No, you can just stay all natural."

Boy Toy: "But my legs are so white! Maybe I should go get one of those fake tans or something."

Liver Chick: "Yes and have your legs look like a pair of over-baked french loaves?"

Boy Toy: "Better than them looking like the first stage of rigamortis."

Liver Chick: "Your legs are fine."

Boy Toy: "Wait, what if someone recognizes me?"

Liver Chick: "I'm not taking a full picture of you. It's just your feet and legs."

Boy Toy: "But someone could still recognize me."

Liver Chick: "Yes, because you have done oh so many fashion spreads that your legs are now as recognizable as J-Lo's butt."

Boy Toy: "What, you didn't know I was a leg model in my youth? Seriously, what if one of my ex-girlfriends see the picture and realize its me."

Liver Chick: "So, you're saying your ex-girlfriends were on their knees so much that they would be able to recognize your knees and feet?"

Boy Toy: "Well...."

Liver Chick: "Or will they have to turn the picture upside down because they're more use to your legs being up in the air?"

Boy Toy: "Okay, that's just nasty! I don't even want to think about where you're going with that one."

Liver Chick: "Hey, you were the one talking about ex-lovers recognizing your legs."

Boy Toy: "I was just saying. Maybe I should shave."

Liver Chick: "No shaving!"

Boy Toy: "But I'm so hairy. I have freaking bear legs."

Liver Chick: "No shaving. No tanning. And if some ex-girlfriend recognizes your legs, we'll deal with it on Jerry Springer! I just want to take a cute picture of you wearing my socks, that's all."

Boy Toy: "This is not going to be one of those pictures that some jaded knitter is going to try to blackmail me with later when I run for president?"

Liver Chick: "Yes, forget that you balanced the country's budget and ended poverty in America. Your entire presidency will crumble and fall all due to this one picture of you wearing my socks."

Boy Toy: "It could happen. Besides, you women are evil like that. Walking around with two sharp pointy things in your purse and a ball of yarn. At any moment you could drop a stitch, snap under the pressure, then stab someone to death with your needles in frustration and then use your yarn to wrap them like a mummy."

Liver Chick: "And that is why you can never divorce me."

Boy Toy: "No. I'll just leave the country and then serve you divorce papers."

Liver Chick: "You do remember, they allow knitting needles on planes again."

Boy Toy: "Crap!"

Liver Chick: "I love you too, honey. Now try on this sock."

Sock Yarn Saturday

 

Imagination Hand Painted Sock Yarn By Knit Picks

Content: 50% Merino Wool 25% Superfine Alpaca, 25% Nylon
Weight: Fingering Weight
Knitting Gauge: 7 - 8 sts = 1 on # 1-3 needles (2.25mm-3.25mm)
Crochet Gauge: 21 – 32 sc = 4'' on B - E hooks (2.25mm-3.5mm)
Amount: 219 yards/50 gram hank
Care: Hand Wash/Dry Flat

Interested? Find out more about this yarn at:

http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Imagination_Hand_Painted_Sock_Yarn__D5420173.html

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Photo rights belong to Cauchy09

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

Make sure to show some green love today. Unless you like getting pinched. ;-)

A Sock Poem

ODE TO MY SOCKS

 

by Pablo Neruda

(Translated by Robert Bly)

Mara Mori brought me

a pair of socks

which she knitted herself

with her sheepherder's hands,

two socks as soft as rabbits.

I slipped my feet into them

as though into two cases

knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin.

Violent socks,

my feet were two fish made of wool,

two long sharks

sea blue, shot through

by one golden thread,

two immense blackbirds,

two cannons,

my feet were honored in this way

by these heavenly socks.

They were so handsome for the first time

my feet seemed to me unacceptable

like two decrepit firemen,

firemen unworthy of that woven fire,

of those glowing socks.

 

Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp tempation

to save them somewhere as schoolboys

keep fireflies,

as learned men collect

sacred texts,

I resisted the mad impulse to put them

in a golden cage and each day give them

birdseed and pieces of pink melon.

Like explorers in the jungle

who hand over the very rare green deer

to the spit and eat it with remorse,

I stretched out my feet and pulled on

the magnificent socks and then my shoes.

 

The moral of my ode is this:

beauty is twice beauty,

and what is good is doubly good

when it is a matter of two socks

made of wool in winter.

Purple Haze Socks

Here is a pair of socks I knitted using my two-needle method. The model wearing them was my secret sock swap buddy known as Frizzlechick on Ravelry. I call these socks, Purple Haze.

My Secret Love Affair

I have a confession to make. I am in love with another. All this year I have been having an affair behind my husband's back. I have managed to keep it a secret until now. I feel that in order to be forgiven for my sins I must confess my wrong doings. So, here it is, the truth- I'm I love with hand knitted socks!

I can tell you exactly when this affair started. It was at the second meeting of the knitting group I attended. At the meeting I was introduced to Cookie, as in Cookie A., the sock goddess! (Yes, the knitting angels allowed me to knit in the presence of sock knitting royalty.) At the time I didn't know who she was but from her conversation at the table I figured out she made money designing socks for us knitters. The idea of making money by knitting is still a strange concept for even a crafty chick like me. So I did what most curious girls with access to a computer would do- I Googled knittined socks. Oh, the eye candy that appeared on my screen was enough to make my knitting needles a bit horney.

Well after about an hour or so of sock knitting porn, I found a pattern for knitted socks on two straight needles and I've had an affair with them ever since. I recently joined a sock swap on Ravelry where I got my first pair of knitted socks all the way from Australia. I tell you, slipping those socks on my feet was something close to erotic. I loved the pattern, the feel of the yarn, the way they enveloped my feet in pure warmth. Honey, I'm telling you its enough to make you want to throw away every cheap sock you ever bought from Walmart.

So, there is my confession. I've been honest enough to air out my dirty laundry with you. Now it's your turn. What knitting love affair are you in or have had in the past?

Liver Socks

There is this website call Ravelry.com. It is like Facebook for yarnies. Everyone who’s anyone that knits or crochets is there. On this site is a group that I chat with regarding the upcoming Sock Summit. Yes, you read that right. There is actually a summit where people talk about, teach, read, knit, and buy stuff dealing with the sacred and beloved knitted socks. (Unless you’ve been blessed enough to have wrapped your feet in a pair of hand knitted socks you wouldn’t understand.)

Anyway, in this group I’ve chatted with a couple of ladies who also had organ transplants. We’ve been joking around about  going to the Sock Summit wearing some cool t-shirts that would identify us as the transplant posse. It’s a cute idea and one that recently got me thinking- how cool would it be to come up with some socks  in support of organ transplant?

I’m still just toying with the idea, but I do think it would be neat to show up to the summit wearing some tricked out socks that really showed my organ transplant pride. What do you think?

So, if God be willing and the creek don’t rise, I plan on attending the sock summit next year. If you plan to be there come and find me and maybe we can chat over a nice ball of cashmere yarn. I’ll most likely be the one wearing the “ I *heart* my liver”, t-shirt and some funky socks to match. I should be easy to spot.

PS- if I do end up knitting the socks, I promise to post some pics.

My First Two Needle Sock

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the two needle sock!
Go ahead, gasp in its awesomeness. Ooooh over its beauty. Be amazed by the fact I actually finished something!

This is my first sample of trying out a two needle sock pattern. I made a few mistakes that I will be able to make changes to when I make the actual pair.

Overall, I love the way it looks and how simple the pattern is to follow. I can see how easy it would be to add a pattern down the leg area. Okay, its official. I'm addicted to two-needle sock knitting.

Here is a link to the pattern I used:

http://www.stitchlinks.com/pdfsNewSite/Patterns/2%20ndl%20stitchlinks%20socks.pdf

Simply Socks Summer of Color Contest

Itching for some knitting competition? Need a reason to buy more sock yarn? Want a chance to win a $200.00 gift card to buy even more yarn?

Well look no further than Simply Sock Yarn Company Summer of Color Contest!

Have fun with colors while creating socks that just may be your ticket to win a $150.00 gift certificate in either the Strip Sock or the Mosaic/Fairisle Fun category. Then the bonus of winning an additional $200.00 in sock yarn money if it wins Best in Show!

Deadline is June 30th. Visit the link below for details on how to enter and to learn more:

http://simplysockyarn.typepad.com/simply_socks_yarn_co/2010/05/simply-sock-yarn-contest.html

Sock Summit 2011

I vow this very moment to do everything in my power to be at the 2011 Sock Summit. After drooling over the pictures online from Sock Summit 2009 and reading the numerous blogs from those who attended I feel almost ashamed that I did not get back into knitting and dive into sock knitting until now.

The teachers. The classes. The yarn! There doesn't seem to be anything about the Sock Summit that's not to love. So, I'm saving up my pennies and starting my own countdown for what I am sure will be one of the largest and craziest gathering of knitters around. See you there!

Two Needle Socks

Yes, you read the title of that post correctly. There is no typo. I am knitting socks using only two straight needles.

I decided to do this after my failed attempts with DPN's and circulars. I even tried the 'magic loop' method and realized that when you start reaching for the rum and coke then that's the time you stop and find an easier way.

Knitting socks on two needles is by far the better way for me. I don't mind the fact that I will have to sew seams later. I have no fear of the sewing needle, (I'm a damn costume designer, after all).

There is not as much information about two needle sock knitting. Most of what you will find are from the early 1900's. That was when two needle socks and mittens got real popular.

I feel this type of knitting is well overdue for a modern renaissance. So, right here, right now, upon this pair of pink cotton toddler socks, I vow to bring back the noble art of two needle knitted socks, so help me God!

(Wow, that was a total Joan of arc-reliving-past-life moment)

When I get more work done on these socks, I'll give you a link to the pattern. FYI- I'm actually knitting both socks at the same time.