confessions: i can't knit

:: 1st collage :: 

row one

knitted armchair slip cover in cream | biscuit scout

yarn & sprigs art print | jenna dickes

knitted back in gray | NzLbags

row two

knitter's spot photograph | kerri brewer

wedding shawl in mustard yellow | TickledPinkKnits

mustard yellow acrylic wool | yarnisland

 

row three

skinny knitted tie | vKnit 

collection of vintage knitting needles art print | kookyskeins

chunky ivory cream wool & silk sweater | ovejanegra

row four

pound sterling handspun art yarn sampler | no222

cabled leg warmers |  cleos craft

wooly vase in mustard | the same

row five

knit pillow sham in cobblestone | precious knits

gray chunky baby blanket | knitsome designs

sunflower pompom hat | tortilla girl

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:: 2nd collage :: 

 row one

rococo shawl | tickledpinkknits

quiet time photograph |  habitofbeing

 row two

ball of yarn silver charm earrings |  luckymejewelry

letterpress cable knit coasters |  redbirdink

loop scarf pattern pdf | ruby submarine

row three

large knit pouf |  luckyhanks

creamy white slouchy hat | love and knit

silver gray sock yarn | evermorestudios

row four

spicy mustard hairband |  baruchslullaby

super snuggly knit cowl | happiknits

organic hemp & silk textured yarn |  eliade

row five

knitted cable ipad sleeve | haramis

the conversion cowl | awkward

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confession: i just can't knit.

honest.

my master crafting teacher grandma tried to teach me.

5 different times.

over 20 years.
to no avail.

many friends have tried to show-me-the-ropes, too.

but i just can't knit.

i so admire knitters. 

that lightning-speed way you can knit, purl, drop a stitch, increase, cast on ... make amazing things magically appear from a simple yarn.
it's all a secret mathematical language to me!

AND... aren't knitters phenomenal multi-taskers? knitting while visiting, knitting while watching a concert, knitting while bathing, knitting while exercising (i've seen it done!) ... wow!

how about YOU & knitting - yay or nay?
have an artform you just can't seem to master?

join my club. :)

i'll just have to sit back and admire!

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greatest hits & a giveaway: with Tickled Pink Knits

what inspires you artistically & creatively? what would those inspirations look like visually? in this fun series, (please see the others here) ... i’ve invited some wonderful artists to share with us 4 images of inspiration in their artistic life, something of an interview in images! the guidelines were basically this: choose 4 visuals (something like your creative-stimuli *greatest hits!*) that you feel most inspires & expresses your art or craft today. for some, it might be a person, place or thing; a material; a pattern; a colour; a sound or song, etc. it might be a photograph, a drawing, a scan, etc. i’ve tried to leave it a bit open-ended so that we might better glimpse into these artists' motivations and their amazing, raw talent! today i’m delighted to present the next in the series : greatest hits with TickledPinkKnits (and a giveaway, too!)

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ah... the transforming beauty of handmade!

isn't that a wonderful thing? seeing creations that can transport us to another place!

that's exactly how i feel about today's guest, Elena of Tickled Pink Knits. i'm sure so many of you, just like me, have long oogled over this beautiful shop. filled with gorgeous textures and luxurious colours, i just adore Tickled Pink Knits' talented designs, and what a breath of fresh air her work is in every season. a visit to see her is functional escapism at it's best!


and now... a Tickled Pink Knits original piece can be yours! (read on for how to enter this fabulous giveaway!) but first...


i believe that Elena has handcrafted not only the most gorgeous works, but also the most gorgeous of shops: i am always transported by the beauty of her images! now.. let's see what images inspire her....

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1. COLOR and SHAPE provide boundless inspiration for me every day, and they directly influence my knit designs. I love exploring the properties of color through the medium of yarn and fiber. It’s sheer joy to play with color juxtapositions, contrasts, and gradations. While I have a few favorite colors (warm orange and turquoise among them), there isn’t a color I shy away from in my work. Form and shape, the undulations of lines, merging and diverging, are also fascinating to me. When knitting and designing, I am always toying with curves, folds, symmetry and asymmetry.

image source

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2. The beauty and power of HANDMADE amazes, surprises, and inspires me very, very much. I am fascinated by how imagination, creativity, and vision can be brought to life and expressed by our hands, be it through drawing, embroidery, working with clay, wood, fabric, gems, or fiber. There are few limits to what the hands can shape, mold, sculpt, and fold. This power (and joy!) to take raw materials, small and large, old and new, substantial and virtually weightless, and see them transformed by our hands and in our hands – it’s exhilarating!

source: Valerie Hammond
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3. Serendipity is one of life’s loveliest phenomena. You know, the discoveries we make, the people we meet, and the directions our lives take, when we least expect them. For artists and artisans, it is often finding beauty in unexpected place and at unexpected times. The way a tree’s silhouette looks from a certain angle, or the way some random objects colors echo each other, or how sunlight, shadow, and reflection combine at a certain hour to conjure up something mesmerizing. When encountered, serendipity is always magical even if not always tangible. Having experienced it, and hoping it will happen again, and again – that’s an inspiration to me.

source: windowsill daydreaming by minor white
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4.I knit almost exclusively with natural fibers, like various wools, alpaca, and cashmere, and so I am infinitely grateful to the amazingly beautiful creatures that provide the gorgeous material that is then turned into yarn. I have a mild (mildly speaking) obsession with imagery and representation of sheep, alpacas, and llamas in all incarnations, and I find it impossible to resist their silhouettes on paper, fabric, stone, and such. So if you are ever in need of a miniature ceramic sheep or an alpaca-shaped pendant, please get in touch, and I will point you in the direction of all sorts of sheep-ly and alpaca-full goodness.

source
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thanks so much, Elena!
now.. this nicey has something superfun for you!

one lucky rikrak studio reader will WIN....

a custom knit wrist cuff/bracelet, designed and made especially for the lucky winner,
by the talented Tickled Pink Knits! woowee! what a fun prize!

AND... she's also offering FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on any purchase in the shop! (Just use code "rikrak" at checkout, and upon purchase completion, the shipping amount will be promptly refunded via PayPal.)

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here's how to enter the giveaway!

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1. go visit the wonderful Tickled Pink Knits shop!
... take a look around ... come back here and leave a comment in this post about your favourite lovely goodie from her shop & why.= 1 entry

2. leave us a comment on something that inspires you!
... = 1 entry

3. visit Elena on twitter and follow her:
... then come back here and tell us about it. = 1 entry.

4. tweet on twitter
about this giveaway and leave us a link to it in a separate comment here. please be sure to include @therikrakshop so i can find you! :) = 1 more possible entry.

5. blog about this giveaway and leave us a link to it in a separate comment here.= 1 more possible entry

6. follow or subscribe to the rikrak studio blog
and leave me a comment here telling us that you do! = 1 more possible entry.

7. :: PLEASE NOTE:
each entry must be it's own comment.. thanks! ::

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:: RULES ::
a) it is possible to have a maximum of 6 entries total per person.
b) please make sure to leave each entry as it's own comment. thanks!
c) using random.org, 1 winner of the Tickled Pink Knits giveaway will be chosen on monday march 1st @ 9pm EST.
d) please be sure to leave me an email where i can reach you if your account doesn't link to one. thanks.

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happy monday nicies!
hope you had a great weekend - and what a great week it's going to be!

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mother's day: grandmas & crafting

vintage threads from my Grandma's sewing basket!

when i think about my grandmas… i think of so many amazing qualities: they were loving, spiritual, courageous, strong, inspiring, talented, spirited women who i always admired, from an early age, and cherish somehow even more now that i’m an adult.

i was so lucky to have such wonderful women as grandmas.

i’ve been thinking much lately about where we learn our crafts from, and the beautiful, inspiring links that many handicrafts have to generations of women, in particular, passed on through families & friends.

indeed, my maternal grandma & crafting really go hand in hand for me.

she was amazing @ so many things in life. she really was. and my grandma was also an amazing handcrafter: she was a master @ handquilting, embroidery, macramé, knitting, photography, crochet, caning, woodworking and the list goes wonderfully on & on.

i have such fond memories of my grandma & crafting. she always had a few crafts on the go, a few projects neatly stowed in baskets around the house or in her lovely, sunny yellow sewing room. it was a treasure trove for me to see, on a visit, what she’d been working on….

she had 15 grandchildren, and over a period of 20 years, between 100s of other projects, she handmade all of us our own queen sized bedquilt, quilted in her perfect, beautiful handquilting stitches, on her grand quilting frame in their blue room! as each of us married, my grandparents would give us our special, beautiful quilt. i know each of us cherish that quilt we have! we’re so lucky! (you’ might be thinking: what if they never got married?! i thought it too! :) )

so as we approach mothers day, i think of the very special connection i feel with our mothers, our grandmothers, our family members, and the many women, like family, who have, for some of us, given us the gift of valuing handmaking, and in some cases, even the gift of teaching us our crafts.

i know it’s such a deep, warm and wonderful part of the handmaking community. last week, when the nice QYDJ article came out on Etsy– so many of you nicies dropped me a note or comment (that was so sweet of you! thanks!) – and quite a few of you mentioned, specifically, how kindred you also feel with your own grandmothers and crafting. how wonderfully entwined we are with the heritage of handcrafting!

so thanks to all of the grandmas and aunts, and dear family friends who have passed on to us their handmaking expertise & stories. and how wonderful that so many *traditional* handicrafts have seen such a resurgence of popularity! i know my grandmas would be so happy, and surprised, to see arts like knitting & quilting & embroidery as dynamos of the handmaking cyberworld!

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do you have a grandma-ly or mother-ly connection to your craft or art?

i’d love to hear your story!

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