We've had a few pretty exciting days here at the farm. On Monday afternoon, Gale Zucker, author and photographer extraordinare, arrived for a quick visit. For those of you who don't know Gale, you probably do. She is author and photographer of two popular knitting books - Shear Spirit and Craft Activism as well as photographer of Mason-Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines (Kay and Ann's second book). Gale and I have become friends over the past couple years and she has been dying to come and visit the farm. Gale loves to take photos of animals and let's say there are many opportunites for that here!
The main reason for Gale's visit was that she was ferrying pod-caster Brenda Dayne from NY on a leg of her Cast-On MegaTour to our part of the world. Do you know Cast-On, the wildly popular podcast on knitting and philosophy? Brenda was set to appear at Webs in Northampton and we planned a get-together here at the farm before her Webs appearance.
Boy, two fantastic knitters/authors/creative people in one day. I was in heaven. Gale couldn't stay long - just enough time to snap some photos, commune with the Boys, and grab a pot of British tea made from the box that Brenda kindly brought us. Family duty called.....
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| Gale and Archie and Winston |
Upon Brenda's arrival, she told me that her sister Pam is a huge fan of my work and has been knitting flower after flower after flower. I was pretty excited to hear this and later that evening Pam sent a photo of some of the flowers she has made from my Felted Sunflowers and Zinnia pattern and available on Ravelry here. Are they not just incredibly gorgeous with all the pretty embroidery Pam added?
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| Pam's Flowers |
My family and I had such a nice time hearing about the farming area Brenda lives in in mid-Wales. It sounds quite similar to our local area. I got the inside look on how Brenda develops a pod-cast and all the work that goes into it with the editing and mixing. She began podcasting in 2005, one of the early adopters of podcast technology. Brenda audio-taped and interviewed me, The Farmer, and the animals here for a podcast that will come out in the future.
On Tuesday, after a leisurely breakfast and chat, I drove Brenda down to Webs in Northampton so she could prepare for her performance on Tuesday night and be taped for the Webs Podcast. Brenda drew a huge crowd, including many fans who drove in from out of town and stayed overnight in Northampton.
It was great fun to meet so many knitters. The highlight of the evening, besides Brenda's speech, was the collection of the Memory Bags, made by many different knitters.
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| Brenda Dayne at Webs |
Check out the next legs of Brenda's tour here. If you get a chance to see her performance of A Memorable Yarn, go! It is a fun time and you will start thinking about your knitting in a whole new light. If you can't make it to a performance, you can still participate in her giant art project. Click here for the instructions to make a Memory Bag. You can send it to her in Wales and it will become part of her project.
6 comments:
That was just a fabulous day! Thanks for having me, and I love that photo of me with the Big Boys. Next time I plan to visit more than 2 hours (it is possible I made a speed record back to shoreline CT. Turns out I only live 2 hours away , if the gas pedal is depressed enough).
I need to do a blogpost abput my visit, too.
Wow, too much fun in just one day!
I love the shot of Archie and Winston with Gale, it really gives a better sense of scale. Those boys are huge! I hope they survived their 'snips.'
And to have Brenda all to yourselves - how fabulous.
Thanks for a vicarious peek into a grand visit.
I'll look Brenda up - a fellow Welshwoman, for me to follow - yippee! Thanks for an interesting post and as always, lovely photos.
So excited 'cos the sun is actually shining here this morning - we haven't seen it for weeks. I have a market tomorrow and would love to finish a couple of cot quilts, but I've been working hard to finish a huge crochet blanket which I can't wait to photograph this afternoon, after work! Enjoy your weekend - people, collies & boys + sheep!
"I tried to download Cast-on several times, but the download always stops though I do hear a voice talking. I am disappointed. I don't know why the download is not successful.
The files are big. I download through iTunes. Give it another try. Technology is great but sometimes frustrating. I can listen to the smaller ones on my iPhone in the car but the larger ones don't load.
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