Oh, Those Stephen West Shawls!

I'm not much of a lace knitter, and so shawls are not really my thing. Whenever I see someone wearing one of those beautiful, intricate,  lacy shawls,  such as this one, I admire the work that went into them and think, not for me:

                                                                               


   Enter Stephen West with his fabulous designs.  It seems everyone is knitting a Stephen West shawl and they all look quite happy to be doing so; they look like quick projects that don't require alot of concentration or spending time ripping out mistakes made in a lace knitted shawl.   Here are a few examples of what I have seen at various knitting meet ups:

This is the very popular Daybreak and I have seen a number of versions of this:

                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                         
My friend Sue was working on the Little Colonnade last week:

 See how happy she is?  An attractive shawl with no tearing out trauma!

                                                                                  

Love this one in blue:

Here's the Earth and Sky shawlette done by noliegirl who was showing us a couple of Stephen West projects at Green Planet Yarn in Campbell.   She did this in Madelinetosh sock yarn. Take the time to check out her Ravelry projects page;  she has done some really beautiful work with alot of interesting shawls.

                                                                                  

Here is Stephen West's Spectra that she was working on using Kureyon sock yarn: 

                                                                                   

I've picked out two Stephen West projects for myself; the Bandwith hat that I'm going to do in Madelinetosh Vintage  and Earth and Sky similar to this one.  Kind of reminds me of a Frank Lloyd Wright design.

        Off to finish what I've got on my needles now!                                                                              

Playing the Tourist in NYC

Not alot of knitting going on this past week as I was in New York City for a family gathering.  Although I grew up near here, it has been awhile since I spent any time in The City and there have been alot of changes going on and as Martha would say "It's a Good Thing".  The whole trip was a delight and it was fun visiting and experiencing this nicer, gentrified New York.  Of course, some things don't change and it is always the highlight of any trip to New York to see this:

                                                                                   

The High Line is an old elevated rail track that runs through New York.  It was about to be torn down as an ugly eyesore when some of the local residents saw the potential for an elevated garden and walking path through the neighborhood, similar to one in Paris.  With Mayor Bloomberg's support, they saved the High Line and the walkway has become a huge success with lovely gardens, a constant stream of visitors and it's now a "must see" on any visitor's trip to the city.

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                         

Our hotel was the Marriott at Battery Park.  We asked if we were near The World Trade Center when we booked the room and they said yes, but didn't tell us how close.  Here is the view as you walk out our hotel:

                                                                                           
This is One World Trade and construction goes on here 7 days a week and late into the night.  Amazingly, it was very quiet in the hotel and this turned out to be a very convenient spot for visiting lots of spots like the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the South Street Seaport.  Here is the Memorial Garden that is now open to the public:

                                                                               

                                                                                 

                                                                               

Here's the South Street Seaport near the Brooklyn Bridge:

                                                                                   

Oh yes, and I finished my husband's socks, which really came in handy on this trip.  As you can see the weather was very overcast and cold but we were thankful the rain held off.  Here's the socks:

                                                                             

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!  Going over to Andrea's blog to see what other fiber folks have been up to.

Gale Zucker and Her Fabulous Granny Square Afghan

Gale Zucker is a knitter, professional photographer and teaches classes on photographing your knitting.  I like to check in with her blog, she shoots sheep shots, on a regular basis because there is always something interesting going on over there and, of course, the photography is first rate.    Recently, she has been blogging about a big project she undertook, known as The Big Ass Granny Afghan.  It's now done and the result is fabulous!  Here's just one of her great photos which she kindly gave me permission to show:

                                                                                 
                                                                                   
Unfortunately for me this is done in crochet, a craft I have yet to master, and so I won't doing one of these any time soon, but I Pinned this picture just because I like to look at it!

A while back I blogged about  how much I  enjoyed her first book Shear Spirit   in which Gale traveled around the country interviewing sheep ranch owners from New Mexico to Maine who were living their dream, and she and Joan Tapper now have a new book called Craft Activism which is a tribute to the growing craft movement in all its shapes and forms:

                                                                                     


Perhaps there's a knitting version of that Granny Square afghan out there somewhere....