A Rare Wisconsin Gem

Avalanche Looms is a beautiful store and workshop, deep in rural southwest Wisconsin.  This is a lovely area of Wisconsin, and very near to the place I call home.  Susan Johsnon is an exquisite weaver/fiber artist, and the owner of this magical shop.  My family has known the Johnson-Arnold family for many years, and they have always been a creative inspiration to me.  I had many art classes with Susan's daughter, Sofia, when I was in high school.  We played pick-up sticks a lot, and I think I remember her making a painting once of David Duchovny dreaming of a salad.  Sofia was also responsible for creating and distributing "PRO SEX" buttons at our school.  I wore that button until my sophomore year of college, when it fell off my backpack by an Einstein Brothers Bagel shop.

Avalanche Looms was the first place to carry any of my creations.  I took up hand-sewing during high school (circa 2000) and started making handbags out of recycled materials under the label, "OLD BAG."  I made funny labels with a grumpy old lady wearing a silly hat, and my slogan was "Don't be an OLD BAG, Just Carry One."  Susan carried my handbags in the shop until I moved to Minneapolis.  I think I sold two.

I had the pleasure of visiting with Susan, Sofia and Daniel during my holiday visit to Wisconsin over the past few days.  This family is truly an inspiration to me, and I have dreams of one day retreating to the wilderness to create work amidst trees and streams in a beautiful valley, just as they have done for so long.


Avalanche Looms Shop

Avalanche Looms Shop and Front Counter

Susan's Workshop

OLD BAG Handbag from around 2000 (Child's Bathing Suit and Tulle)

Happy Heart

Unemployment has been treating me well so far, and I am happy that this opportunity has finally entered my life.  It may be short lived, but for right now I am thrilled with having a focused mind in my own work.  Waking up in the morning feels much different, knowing I do not have to walk through the halls of Target, dodging rolling racks and foam core boards.  I can have my morning dose of folk music, coffee, and feel at ease with the day ahead.

On Monday and Tuesday, I knit this pencil skirt, inspired by the very primary weekend I had with New Land of Milk and Honey activities.  For the past few weeks, I have been challenging myself to work with fewer colors in pattern work.  This look demonstrates the power of the edit, with two color patterns in the hat and scarf, and only four colors in the skirt.  Sitting behind the machine waiting to improvise the color and pattern sequence can be overwhelming, and even with fewer colors, I still find myself unraveling enough rows to make another garment. 

I have had several inquiries about where these items can be purchased, and unfortunately, there isn't an easy answer to that question yet.  Send me an email if there is something you are particularly interested in and we can work together to make sure it happens.  Much needs to be figured out before any of these pieces will be readily available, so until then we will just have to fly by the seat of our pants.


Mini Cone Hat + K Scarf + Pencil Skirt - Modeled by Joy Janice
Merino wool and fine guage cotton v-neck sweaters for Merona at Target

NLMH Weekend

This weekend, friends of New Land of Milk and Honey gathered to celebrate the spirit of our community in a two-day session of meditation, gardening, music, crystal hunting, and field work.  This series of events culminated with a joyous party, Harvest Feast 2009, with the precious energy of friends and loved ones ever present.



Harvest Feast was a collective effort by many friends, with hearty dishes to be savored by all.  I feel so fortunate to have good friends in my life!  Everyone in attendance had a gift to share through song, speech, food, and spirit. 

"Today we gather in thanks to honor the light that lies within us all.  As we gather, we give thanks to the blessings of this quarter moon in our house of magic.  Here we gather in this moment, that which is eternal in each of us.  Yes, the answer is friendship.  Yes, the answer is love.  Yes, the answer is you.  Blessed be to you and yours."

Excerpt from Harvest Feast toast by AnnMarie Delathouder Freeman.



YES THE ANSWER IS YOU!

A Noble Babe is a Good Babe

Lindsay Noble is a good babe, one of the best, in fact.
Last night she paid me a visit and brought belated birthday treats, including a Tracy Chapman tape, corn on the cob holders, knit magazine delight, and a beautiful four color screen print of her own making!

We played a game of dice and then started dressing her up in some of the things I've been working on. The sweater is a vertical birdseye stripe pattern with raglan sleeves and 2x2 rib cuff, hem, and neck. The hat pattern is a backwards lowercase letter "k."

Lindsay is all ready to go to the Harvest Feast!

Work For Free Magazine

Visit Work for Free Magazine to view my recent email collaboration and interview with Paul Wagenblast. Work For Free is an online art/design publication based in London, and this is part of their second issue. I sent Paul digital images of some of the knit patterns I have been working with recently, and he superimposed them on these photographs to make a new composition.

The Internet is a funny place, and I haven't always liked it. It's been a real challenge for me to keep up with blogging and updating my flickr page for the past few years. I always felt like I was a late bloomer in this department and continue to struggle with figuring out the best way to represent myself in this expansive web universe. I am trying hard to not let the Internet intimidate me, which is why I have contributed to this project.



Composition by Paul Wagenblast

Toby in a Turtleneck

Michael Gaughan drops by our place for a friendly hello more often than most, which is a delight because his positive energy is infectious. During a recent visit, Michael asked if I would make a sweater for his dog Toby based on some of the knit swatches I have been working on. The idea of making a tiny dog sweater was exciting enough, but the discussion led to other ideas, and we decided together that Toby and Michael should have matching sweaters for winter.

The patterns are scaled appropriately for each of their body types, and are identical in color combination and order. These two will surely be best buds forever and cozy as can be in their new winter gear. Seeing a small dog in a turtleneck sweater has truly made me a happy person.


Toby and Michael Gaughan, photo by Eric Carlson.

ENERGY

Please forgive my hasty photo-shopping...
There is a point to this.

This photo is showing what an L.E.D meridian cage might look like on top of a full knit body-suit, complimented by a long chunky warmos scarf knit from cotton rope. The scarf would probably reach the floor, but I got tired of copying and pasting that same scarf blurb over and over again.

The external cage would be a series of knit tubes with thicker el-wire inside. I like the idea of it being a separate piece from everything else. It simplifies things from a technical standpoint, but it also provides new opportunities for mixing and matching! I imagine these costumes starting out as a base layer, and continuing to grow over time...piling as many forms of yarn as possible on to one human being.

Another idea for the CASTL CRNRS costumes, the latest version (2.0). This might be the one!

Goodbye Target!

After 3 1/2 years, I have decided to leave Target. So long!

When I started designing for Xhilaration in 2006, leggings were really hot. We started selling them like crazy, which led to the sales of other things, like poly-rayon tunics and sequin tops. Later on, I got lucky and started working with a true gem and darling friend, Ann Marie Freeman.

One day, we showed up to the office wearing nearly identical sweaters...



In my mind, our greatest accomplishment was an adaptation of Multiples for Target, as shown below. Unfortunately, this concept never took hold with our buyers even though we wore the outfits to work. We had grandiose plans for matching vests, cardigans, oversized t-shirts and so on. This was in 2007.



During this time, I was also designing juniors' outerwear which was interesting. The outerwear buyers at Target were not yet convinced that teenagers actually wore jackets. Hoodie sales were on fire, after all. We forged on...the cire puff jacket made it into stores for Fall 2008, and the rain slickers set in Spring 2009. Here they are modeled by Emily Snyder, Elliott Kozel, Lindsay Noble and myself. Photographs by Eric Carlson.




Sometime in the middle of 2008 I moved to the Men's design team, where I worked on classic knits and sweaters. This transition happened at a really appropriate time, as I was trying to become more classic myself. Designing sweaters was the best part of my Target career, hands down. My bosses were da bomb.

Pictured below is the Merino V-Neck in nine colors. Since we use a special yarn book to order colors, I had the privilege of naming them myself. Some of my favorites from this season are Aquamerino, Grape Expectations and Dense Foliage.



And finally, there is this darling being that is still wandering the great halls of Target. This photo of Erin Smith and I was taken inside of Target HQ sometime in 2008. Hearts forever...

McNutty

I am definitely in sweater zone.
Day job work has been crazy the past few weeks, designing for the Fall 2010 sweater season. I have been up to my neck, swimming in men's classic sweaters. Coming home at night is a life-saver, because I can work on knitting things like the pants in this photo and forget that rugby stripes ever existed.