October 2018

Spoons? Spoons ... Spoons!  2018

This year I am celebrating 25 years of my hobby - collecting spoons. Almost all the spoons are 'just' souvenir spoons - brought either by me or by my friends from their trips to different places. It is a really great way to keep track of the trips and the best way not to spend much money on souvenirs (not my case :-)  And to me, it is also one of the signs of friendship - meaning being happy for my friends' wonderful experience. Thank you for thinking of me during your trips!

• Started in 1993 in Russia
• First spoon - from my mom
• Now - 505 spoons
• From - 53 countries
• About 3/4 are brought by me or by my family;  and the rest - by my friends
• Displayed on 21 spoon racks
• First spoon rack - from Kathy Volk

The idea of a 'Spoons Party' was to thank my friends again for these pretty souvenirs... People travel a lot and bring spoons from all over the world.
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The winner became Boris Kats who has brought me more than 20 spoons from more than 15 countries since 1996; and the last one was from Berlin and it was brought to this party !! It was the 505th in my collection!! Thank you!

The most exquisite spoon in my collection is still the Veliky Ustyug (severnaya chern) spoon given to me by Oleg Gordus. Thank you!
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Click on image to see more

'Spoons Jewelry'
At the party, I was wearing all 'spoon jewelry' I had :-) 
I also made some - like this little knitted bracelet.

Click on image to go to Fiber Bijouterie

'Spoons Jewelry' 
These earrings are made of the spoon handles, and the pendant on the left and right is made of the spoon bowl. How cool is that ?!! 
I bought this jewelry in one of the souvenir shops right on Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. The company is called HUNTER STREET SILVER.
They make jewelry and home decor items handcrafted from old silverware. Their new website is under construction, but you can google this name, and you will see amazing stuff.

'Spoons Jewelry'
This 'spoon bracelet' I got at one of the One of a Kind shows.
The designer-goldsmith is Danielle O'Connor from Ontario.

Click on image to go to Fiber Bijouterie

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Yummy hobby :-)))​​

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October FOX Scarf  2017

Animal Scarves Knitted animal scarves for kids are very popular, so I decided to make one.
Click on image to see other animal knits on Artisaknity Crafts

Fox Scarf I picked a Fox Scarf. It is very easy to knit - a two-three hour project. The process is described on numerous websites and on Ravelry. Click on the second image to see other kids knits
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Yarn: Gray100% Fine Merino Superwash Wool Spun in Peru. 
Coral 100% Wool. Soft touch ultra. Made in Canada (bought at Toronto Knitters Guild meeting for $1 !!)

Falling for Fall  2015

New Model For my October creation (!) I needed a new model. My husband's done it once (in Chile). Now it's the time .... again. I made a warm winter scarf, and 'who's going to wear it?' is still being decided. The weather, even at the end of October in Toronto, is not right for this kind of scarf, but in knitting you've got to plan ahead!! :-) So, he's Andrey sweating in alpaca.... 

Click on image to see Andrey modelling made by local knitters in Atacama Desert alpaca hat

Shop This beautiful yarn was bought in Nova Scotia, Halifax - in The Loop - modern fiber craft shop. I bought 3 skeins of 3 colors. The yarn is called Alpaca 33 :-) Click on the first image to learn more about The Loop
Yarn Skeins become balls. It's 100% Superfine Alpaca. Made in Peru for Estelle Yarns. The yarn is thick, fluffy and soft
There's approx. 33 meters to 100 grams. Click on the second image to learn more about another type of Alpaca yarn.
Fabulous Fibers There are so many beautiful fibers for cool temperatures: mohair is one of them for sure - comforting, soft and warm. Click on image to see fall mohair knits

Fall Colors Every time October gives a party, we are happy to attend the colorful leaves ball ... and we are falling for fall again. Happy falling... :-)
                  
October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came -
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
~George Cooper, "October's Party"

October Color Cacophony  2014

October Colors As usual, Toronto fall turns everything around us into a knitted  blanket of bright colors. Some colors really stand out - like this yellow amber. Yellow is a color of a wide range of possibilities: from gold, butter, and ripe lemon to olive yellow and ginger ale. This wrist warmer is like a beam of the last sunny autumn days. It can juzz-up your fall outfits and bring some optimism and pleasure.

October Accessories Brown is another fall color. Many call it "safe". To me, it creates the feeling of warmth and friendliness - like these two autumn leaves paired together to make a hair pin :-)

One Color at a Time October color landscape is like multicolor knitting. There are many ways to weave in the new yarn. But both in nature and in knitting, the trick is the same-one color at a time. 
 

Cacophony of Colors Greenish-yellowish-brownish is the northern autumn palette. In some parts of the world, fall colors are different. My Chilean fall sweater paleta de colores is a combination of city colors on  the earthy background.

October Crafts  2013

Knitters know that Knit the Season is Kate Jacob's third book from the series Friday Night Knitting Club. The novel is about life changes and decision making and, of course,  knitting. In this mixed media I included some quotes from this book. One of them is: 
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"Don't be afraid of messiness in life. The mess isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The world doesn't stop if you take a break."
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Yes,  yarn and needlework can be messy sometimes :-)
To me, knit the season means to knit the colors you are in now - colors of the beautiful Toronto autumn - a thoughtfully organized "mess" of leaves. 

October Party  2012

Fall and Fiber Dream
One of the most popular fall festivals in Toronto Nuit Blanche (first Saturday in October) originated in Paris.
Nuit Blanche: The mother of ‘all-nighters.’ This cultural festival originated in Paris and has been copied in cities throughout the world. Many attractions and the metro are open all night for free to the public, as well as concerts, film festivals, art, photography and multi-media installations and every other conceivable form of entertainment and culture.

​This collage is my image of the fall in Paris. Oui.
​C'est magnifique!

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October Has Arrived  2011

Fall in the city 
The poem below is the translation of the famous Alexander Pushkin's "Autumn". It's about the fall in Russia.
Октябрь уж наступил — уж роща отряхает
Последние листы с нагих своих ветвей;
Дохнул осенний хлад — дорога промерзает.
Журча еще бежит за мельницу ручей,
Но пруд уже застыл; сосед мой поспешает
В отъезжие поля с охотою своей,
И страждут озими от бешеной забавы,
И будит лай собак уснувшие дубравы.
October has arrived - the woods have tossed
Their final leaves from naked branches;
A breath of autumn chill - the road begins to freeze,
The stream still murmurs as it passes by the mill,
The pond, however's frozen; and my neighbor hastens
to his far-flung fields with all the members of his hunt.
The winter wheat will suffer from this wild fun,
And baying hounds awake the slumbering groves.

Early October in Toronto is different from the same time in Russia. It is warm and sunny here, it is beautiful in both places though. This year Toronto is still geen. It has just started changing colors.
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My fall gift to myself was this crocheted carry-all bag. The leaves were made last year. 

Bittersweet October  2010

Bittersweet October. 
The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between
the opposing miseries of summer and winter. 
                                                              ~Carol Bishop Hipps

This time I was inspired by the following saying: 
Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower! - Albert Camus

This outfit is the flower dance from my September newsletter. Click on the image to see more.

Here, I decided to use the quotes about fall and leaves. 

October Party 
October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came -
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

~George Cooper, "October's Party"

Napkin Ring One of those crocheted leaves made a wonderful napkin ring which can also be used with silver.
Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.  ~George Eliot​

Napkin Rings Napkin rings not only take  a small amount of yarn to complete, but they are really simple projects and can be completed quickly. They make a nice last minute gift idea.

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
​Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

Robert Frost Gathering Leaves.

Hair Accessory and Ring One of the easiest and fastest projects- a hair piece and a ring.
No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face. ~John Donne
Oak Leaf Hair-pin This Oak Leaf Hair-pin requires very little yarn and can be completed in no time.
"The sweet calm sunshine of October, now
Warms the low spot; upon its grassy mold
The purple oak-leaf falls; the birchen bough
drops its bright spoil like arrow-heads of gold."
-   William Cullen Bryant
Two-Leaf Hair Piece Two crocheted leaves can make a warm and very "autumnal" hair piece.
"You ought to know that October
is the first Spring month." 
-  Karel Capek

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~Elizabeth Lawrence
There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been! Percy Bysshe Shelley
Spring and Autumn
Every season hath its pleasures;
Spring may boast her flowery prime,
Yet the vineyard's ruby treasures
Brighten Autumn's sob'rer time.
Thomas Moore Spring and Autumn.​

Happiness
Every leaf speaks
bliss to me,
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
Emily Bronte

When nature is aglow
"Just before the death of flowers,
​And before they are buried in snow,
There comes a festival season
When nature is all aglow."
               Author Unknown
The leaves fall...
"The leaves fall patiently
Nothing remembers or grieves
The river takes to the sea
The yellow drift of leaves."
-   Sara Teasdale

Smile ....
Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.
William Cullen Bryant    ​