Taylor
Our urban farm has expanded to include a fiber animal! This is Taylor, a four month old French Angora rabbit. We’re in the process of deciding just how big our herd of fiber animals should be. Crazy? Maybe. But she’s soooo soft! And what could be more perfect than knitting angora wool with handmade glass needles? It all makes sense…if you squint a little bit.
felt-to-be
In the midst of a very busy school year and super-busy internship (which I love!) I’ve been longing to make some non-glass, not-for-sale art. Generally for me, that means either paint or fiber. I started dreaming about my eventual therapy practice, and my office…the artwork in my office…something my clients would feel nurtured and hopefully uplifted by.
The next thing I knew, I was buying all the feltable wool sweaters I could find at thrift shops all over Madison.
Shades of red
After that, I decided I needed many shades of red felt, so I cut up my felted sweaters and put a bunch of them in a red dyepot…got out the thread and sewing machine…
And many happy hours of stitching, cutting, improvising, embroidering, stuffing…
Voila!
Heart Pillow One Side
Heart Pillow The Other Side
Organize that Stash!
School, internship, classes, making new glass work, shipping knitting needles, restocking my galleries, connecting with knitting shops all over the world about my needles…what’s a gal to do of an evening? Why…organize that stash, of course!
Frogging a Shawl
Our goddaughter Kaya instigated this project. “Let’s organize your yarn” she said. Heh. She had no idea. Here she is helping frog a long-abandoned start on a shawl.
Amazingly, and many thanks to Kaya, all the yarn is now tucked away neatly and organized. Best to knit some of this up before I get any more though, because my yarn storage drawers are full to capacity. I know…that’s what all the knitters say right before they go yarn shopping!
Noro Striped Scarf
Well, multiple scarves actually, and all knit on glass needles. As the semester drew to a close, I finished off the Noro striped scarf, and here is a picture as promised.
Then I had thyroid surgery…this was planned for my 4 week break so I could recover in the fullness of time and without school pressures. What’s a knitter with a surgical recovery and a scar on her neck to do?? Knit scarves, naturally.
Mango and Martha Knit a Scarf
I loved the process of knitting the Noro striped scarf, but wanted something softer and daintier, more like my cashmere scarf. So I bought some Mini Mochi, and knit the same scarf again.
Mango, my orange nurse-cat, is here supervising the knitting. Together we stuck with it, and knit the Mini Mochi striped scarf gradually while visiting over the holidays.
Two Ribbed Scarves
Here you see the fabulous cashmere scarf, next to the Mini Mochi scarf. Both are knit in the same manner as the Nors striped scarf, which is to say the whole thing is ribbed. The only difference is that the striped scarves have alternating two-row sections from two different balls of yarn where the cashmere scarf is just one colorway with the pattern emerging from the dye pattern of the yarn. Warm neck, soft scarves, warm house, warm heart.
Kilim #5
Today I took four new pieces to Milward Farrell, two Kilims, a 25 Patch, and a Dance of Light. I took barely adequate snapshots of the two Kilims so you could get a glimpse. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos; I assure you, the pieces themselves are neither grainy nor blurry!
Kilim #6
I also finished a new batch of needles I started yesterday. There are three new sets of double points, which I can’t seem to make enough of, so get them while you can! I don’t make many of these sets of five little needles for knitting in the round, and they are very sweet. Scroll down to see the olive green ones.
In other needle news, I’d like to introduce you to our newest retailer, Alpacas from Eighth and Mud!
Olive Green Double Points
It’s an honor to have a shop carrying my needles in Canada; if you’re in the neighborhood, go check them out!
And thanks to Johanne for showing my needles to the shop owners; for her efforts a free set of needles is on its way to Ontario. Thanks so much for promoting my work!
Martha Shovels Snow
When it snows in Wisconsin, it can really change your plans for the day. We shoveled slush before bed last night, and then maybe 8 inches of snow this morning. It was gorgeous, and not nearly as hard work as the slush-moving was last night. Here you see me wearing quite an assortment of hand-knit items; the mittens are even handspun, and both the scarf and the mittens are hand dyed.
Garden in Snow
The yard and garden are under quite a thick layer now, with that slush underneath weighing everything down.
After our morning of rearranging the snow and tending to the chickens, I photographed and uploaded 16 new sets of knitting needles to the Etsy store and packed a wholesale order. So much beauty inside the house and out!
Glass Knitting Needles
House Chaos
Today I uploaded ten new sets of needles to Etsy; all in unusual sizes and colors. I hope you like them!
But it’s also final’s week, and the house is a wreck, animals are testy from not enough attention, and there are unfinished projects of all descriptions scattered around the house while I study and write papers and wrap up the semester.
Here you’ll see a bike pannier, an ironing board with a sewing project on it, cats playing in the sewing machine box, and various other craziness.
Sweet Pink Needles
And here you see one of the new sets of needles; I love these sweet pink ones!
Size 8 Cranberry Double Points
I just uploaded some new needles to my Etsy store, in hard-to-find sizes.
The holidays are coming, not to mention finals week for me, so now is the time to order!
Size 2 Blue Needles
Here they are…the long-awaited new double points! These sets of needles come in groups of five, and are used to knit things that are circular, like socks and mittens. I’ll have these four sets up in my etsy shop soon, but until then, here’s a little preview.
New Double Points
Hot Picks Indeed
Wow! Thanks, Vogue Knitting.
For a closer look, head down to your local news stand and check it out. Or just click over to my Etsy shop and pick out your very own set of needles, and then go straight home and cast on.
But really, it’s not just because of my needles that I recommend you pick up Vogue; I think you’ll agree, this magazine is gorgeous all around!
Click on the flame to return to MarthaKauppi.com.
This blog will help me get to know other artists, customers, gallery owners, and knitters. Here you can keep in touch with me, find out a little about the life of an artist, and look at pretty pictures of glass and other aspects of my life, including but not limited to: gardening, animals, farm adventures, fiber adventures, knitting, and a few recipes.
