So the Apocolypse happened, that's no excuse for being late.

The Apocalypse is coming!   

Doomsday Knits is now available for pre-order from Coopertive Press.  

When Alex put out the call for designs for Doomsday Knits her concept really appealed to my whimsical side.  I figured after the Apocalypse (and personally I think it will have something to do with a critical build-up of Ikea allen wrenches) people would need to be able to carry all of their worldly possessions with them, so multi-function items would be a must.  I started thinking about how I could incorporate additional functionality into knitting.  What else could a knit item do besides keep you warm and look good?  I finally settled on a scarf with a built in lunar calender.  That makes perfect sense, right?

Lunar Progression

After civilization falls and Monday morning staff meetings are a thing of the past, survivors will still need a way to keep track of the passage of time.  Lunar Progression is a large cozy scarf with a built in lunar calendar!  At one end is a circle set into a diamond with buttons at the four corners that mark the four quarters of the lunar cycle.  The pointer moves freely on its button pivot point.  A button is moved along the length of the pointer to tick off the seven days of each quarter. 

On the other end of the scarf is another circle with a pointer and 13 buttons around its perimeter to mark the 13 lunar cycles in a year.   

The pattern in offered in 3 different lengths.  The 80 inch is "standard" scarf length.  The short 47 inch length is sized to wrap once around your neck then secure the tail through the slot at the other end, keeping your neck and chest warm.  And then there's the extra long version, which at 110 inches can be wrapped around your entire body in any number of ways for warmth, for fashion, or just to intimidate your enemies with your knitting prowess. 

Thanks to Cephalopod Yarns for providing their "Traveller" yarn for the sample.  It is soft and sqooshy and the color is amazing!  It was a real pleasure to knit with.  Thanks also to Vivian Aubrey for the lovely photographs.

Check out the entire Doomvember blog tour here and have a Happy Apocalypse!

Steampunk Bar-Mitzvah

As usual a whole lot of time has passed filled with everyday life stuff not worth posting about.  Of course, mixed in are the really fun exciting things but I'm usually to busy making them happen to post about them so here's a recap of the last few months;  costuming, bar-mitzvah planning, Steve got a job!, more costuming, more planning, drowning under out of town guests, fantastic bar-mitzvah (very proud momma here), oh, and some knitting in there too.

Sam decided he wanted a steampunk themed bar-mitzvah!  In addition to creating costumes for Steve, Sam, and myself, I became adviser on several others.  Basically I ate, drank, and slept steampunk over the summer. 

Before I get to the costumes, here's my favorite picture from the day, Sam and my dad posing together.  I bought that tallit for my dad when I was in Israel in 1986.  He loaned it to Sam to for the bar-mitzvah. 

On to costumes!  I did some knitting for the event including making myself a mini-top hat.  I kinda love the copper butterfly!

The rest of the costumes were mixtures of found garment lightly to heavily modified and embellished.

Miss Amelia and I went shopping at Goodwill and put together this lovely outfit.  I made the fascinator for her by embellishing one of the suede bar-mitzvah kippot! 

That's me on the left.  The corset is my sample of the Isambard Corset over-dyed with black cherry kool aid to make it the right color for the outfit.  The bustle skirt I made from a sari silk wrap skirt.

Steve and Sam looking very dapper!  For Sam's coat, I replaced the buttons for these really cool twist lock closures.  Each one is mounted on a square of leather sewn to the coat.  Steve's hat lights up!