The Independent Stitch

KDTV, take 2

I'm not even going to try to make this entirely coherent. That's not how life is right now.

KDTV

Last week I flew to Cleveland again to be a guest for three segments of KDTV series 800. KDTV is Knitting Daily TV, a program that is available for broadcast on public television stations (PBS). A year ago I took this trip and appeared in two segments. I had the pleasure then of working both with Shay Pendray, an amazing woman who established a place for needle arts on public television, and with Eunny Jang, editor of Interweave Knits.

This time, I missed seeing and working with Shay; she had already completed her scheduled appearances and returned home. The trade-off was that because Eunny and I did all three segments together, we were able to get a little better acquainted and as a result could carry the positive energy from one segment to the next. In addition to the segments she did with me, Eunny was also taping introductions and finales and some technique concentrations, so she was busy changing clothes, getting the right demonstration materials ready, and talking to the cameras. Kristin Omdahl, who hosts the crochet sections, had finished her work early but wasn't scheduled to fly out yet, so we were able to visit in odd moments, and that was a treat.

Kristin's recent blog post shows the studio set-up and talks about the TV makeup, plus preparation, suitcases, and wardrobe issues. She's a pro at this and can show you the environment, while I'm just working hard not to trip over my own feet or end up stammering on camera: not much time or energy to document my surroundings or the process. Kristin's post also shows the amazing Annie Bakken, who last year and this managed to be in half a dozen places at once (or so it appeared), doing unobtrusive tasks that kept the process running smoothly, got us where we needed to be, and so on.

The segments are about 5 minutes long, and are timed to the second. The host—in this case, Eunny—keeps track of the timing. In addition to her microphone, which records the audio for the show, she has an earphone and has to listen and respond to information coming in from the production area. I just need to stay on my toes, follow her lead on the general timing, and be ready to let her wrap up when they call time. I imagine tightrope walking would be similar.

One of the segments was on using yak fiber. I talked about the basic qualities, and about using yak either on its own or blended, as well as why yak is a relatively new presence in knitting yarns. Eunny presented a neat hat pattern made with a yak-bamboo blend that features an intricate, but not so hard to work, cable running around its brim.

Back up two months, because it took me about that long to get all the swatches ready for the demonstrations of the segments that I did. For a 40-hour trip, I packed two suitcases and a large backpack. In the backpack and my carry-on suitcase were the absolute essentials: if the check-through bag had gone astray, we could have managed the segments, although not with the ideal array of supplies.

In addition to swatches, yarns, raw and washed fibers, and a bunch of sweaters to use as examples, the suitcases contained about a dozen different shirts and blouses. The garments all needed to be in specific colors, and had to be able to go on and off without messing up the makeup, which is done first and just once. I took the two shirts I wore last year, because I know they worked. I wore one of them again for the DVD I made for Interweave last fall. My daughter said I really shouldn't wear the same thing all the time, so I took along two other new tops I found on sale and a bunch of appropriate knits that I'd found at local resale shops. It's hard to tell in advance what will work best, so it's good to have alternatives.

Fortunately, one pair of black slacks, which I already owned, sufficed for the rest of what I needed.

We ran into a little glitch while filming the segment on why yarns pill. The numbering on one form was off, so Eunny wore the wrong sweater for our first take.

So we got to do it again. This was where it started getting nice that Eunny and I were working together repeatedly. The retake went smoothly. Here's the right sweater, and our smiles embody our confidence that we will hit the revised segment length. These photos are taken in advance of the taping of each segment. In addition to being useful for publicity, they are tacked up on the door to the green room, where everything gets prepared, to help everyone keep track of who wore what, and when. In general, they work really well.

By the way, the sweaters on the stands behind me are thirty and forty years old and have not pilled. In this segment, I talked about fiber content, processing damage, yarn construction, durability, and maintenance, and why and when we make trade-offs that result in pilling. (There is, by the way, an absolutely fantastic article by Erica Heftmann in an old issue of Spin-Off magazine on why yarns pill. Although I worked with other sources, if you want a one-stop overview, Erica did a fantastic job. Summer 1999, pages 70 to 77.)

The final segment involved some information on scouring and washing wools. Recognize Eunny's sweater? It belonged on this segment. I wasn't as happy with the content on this final bit. We did it twice as well, for reasons of the producer's, and I preferred the first version.

Still, Eunny and I managed to do two takes on two segments and keep them fresh-feeling each time. On one of them (and I forget which one), somebody mis-read the timing notes so Eunny was given the "wrap it up" signal at either 20 or 30 seconds too short or too long. I don't remember which. I think we needed to fill an extra 30 seconds on the second take. My job is to speak in ways that are conversational but that I can cut off at any time and sound like I meant to end there.

Then I packed up my suitcases and Kristin and I shared a cab to the airport. I heard she had a delay in getting home, including an extra overnight.

For me, this is what the day looked like, with all times indicated for Mountain Daylight Time, even though Cleveland is on Eastern Daylight.

• 3:45 a.m. Wake up
• 3:45 to 5:15 a.m. Yoga, wash and blow-dry hair, dress, breakfast, pack suitcases, check out of hotel, and be in lobby for ride to studio. I wanted to walk to the studio to see if I could stretch out my back some more, but it was raining and I needed not to show up with wet hair. I am so not a TV-ready person in everyday life!
• 5:15 to 7 a.m. Unpack show materials and begin arranging them on working trays; professional makeup (an hour).
• 7 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Tape all three segments, two of them twice.
• 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. Lunch.
• 10:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Repack all suitcases, then catch up on e-mail and a little work.
• 1:45 to 4 p.m. Cab to airport, check-in, and security. Buy a salad to take with me because the availability of future food is not at all certain. (Yes, I carry Luna Bars, apples, and other compact, security-friendly emergency fuel.)
• 4 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Fly home, changing planes at one airport or another, very glad that I have the salad (run from first gate to second, and make it on board as one of the final four passengers).
• 8:45 to 9:50 p.m. Disembark and reclaim the one checked bag. Miss the 9 p.m. shuttle by about 8 minutes. Grab a chai as the airport concessions are closing their accordion barriers for the night. Drink chai and do some reading while awaiting the shuttle.
• 9:50 to 11:45 p.m. Shuttle ride home.
• 11:45 p.m. to 1 a.m. Dinner, shower, bed.

Next day: in bed with a cold! Likely the result of not being able to dodge secondhand smoke (to which I'm allergic) while in the shuttle areas outside airports. I need to get rid of the congestion and start packing for SOAR, in addition to doing enough work at my desk that the office won't collapse while I'm gone again.

Packing for events other than KDTV involves a lot more fiber, but much easier clothing options: t-shirts, jeans, whatever sweaters I want to wear. And no makeup at all!

 

Gardening, such as it is, 2011 version

Ah, gardening. I still haven't adjusted to making it work in clay-soil, semi-arid conditions. We do keep trying.

This year we ended up with LOTS of tomato plants and we managed to keep them from being shredded by hail, which is a major accomplishment. The plants are happy in the raised beds. (They get water; the grass hasn't gotten much, and the summer has set records for heat.)

Both of the square beds are full of tomatoes. This was just a few days ago. I've planted a few herbs in the small bed, including some perennials, in the hope that we will have some continuity from one year to the next. The abundance of tomato plants, though, was unexpected, and I know we're not supposed to plant tomatoes in the same place two years in a row. So next year may be a puzzle.

Here is our tomato crop so far, picked and photographed on Monday the 5th:

That's my daughter's handwriting. We did share it. Even our tiny bites had more flavor than several pounds of store-bought tomatoes.

We do have some bounty this year, though. We are participating in a new CSA (community-supported agriculture) farm. We have a mini-share, which means that we don't get a lot of produce, but because of the way this CSA is organized we get to choose from a "menu" of options each week. Because of work and other commitments, for several weeks I arrived very late in the pick-up hours, and the number of the menu items still available was limited. However, each time there has been basil, and it's been abundant and gorgeous. So for a several weeks I have taken our whole allotment in basil. We are also growing a bit of basil.

Here's what happened after last week's pickup:

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?

Then came this:

And then this:

I ran out of pesto-sized (half-cup) containers, so we had to eat the leftover amount in the big bowl in the middle. Somebody needed to be responsible for taking care of the extra. It was a tough assignment, but we managed. ("HEY! How come there's only a tablespoon left? I haven't had my share yet!" - ("(oops) um, i guess i ate it . . . "))

Shortly after the packaged bits went into the freezer (alongside two previous batches), I asked the rest of the family, "Do you think we have enough pesto?" . . . wondering if I was nuts to be considering a whole mini-share of basil again the following week. Their response? "I think we need more."

These are the sorts of relatives it makes sense to live with.

They also are the sort who tend to say, "I hope you doubled the garlic."

Yesterday was the pickup. I got more pesto-size containers, more almonds, more asiago. We already have the garlic and the olive oil. This winter we may not need to ration the pesto supply. Last year's total pesto stash consisted of 8 containers. The photo above includes 10, and that was the third batch, with another about to be made.

We do love pesto.

So despite the garden's less-than-stellar performance, I'm feeling really happy about our harvest.

Plus we might still get a few tomatoes.

__

P.S. I riff off Susan Tweit's recipe. We read the garlic quantities as "at least this much." We minimize the olive oil (using half to two-thirds the amount called for), figuring that if we want a more fluid pesto we can add oil later, and the way we prepare the stuff reduces our need for both containers and freezer space.

Part of why it's been quiet here on the blog

I have many half-written posts. Getting one finished is a challenge right now. Here's an inkling of why:

Well, rats. The photo I need is on the other computer. I'll add it later. (I wonder if one of the advantages to Apple's new Lion operating system may be the ability to sync photo libraries, and their labels and keywords, between computers. Haven't had time to find out. Haven't upgraded yet; no time. Mostly I keep files accessible to both computers through Dropbox, which is a blessing, but loading all the photos up there hasn't seemed feasible.)

SOAR preparation

Here's that photo I wanted to find:

I'll be teaching at the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat in a little under a month. I'll teach a three-day workshop, a one-day workshop, and four retreat sessions (half days). All are on rare-breed wools.

1. I've made up the handouts, three separate versions for the three separate formats (one handout is in the middle of the picture). I've sent the PDFs to Interweave, and the very on-top-of-it SOAR coordinator Maggie Reinholtz has already duplicated them and has them ready to ship to New Hampshire and deliver to my workshop space!
2. I prepared files for, and had printed, additional materials that I'm supplying instead of asking SOAR to prep. These items require more than straight photocopying. The photo shows just one stack; there are 18 more just like it. I've packed the box and it's ready to ship (20 pounds / 9kg), as soon as I get information on when and where to send them. Other boxes of materials will be going, too.
3. There are also 900 (yes, nine hundred) fiber samples to be prepared for workshop and retreat participants, representing 19 (nineteen) rare sheep breeds listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Folks in the three-day workshop will get 15 breeds; those in the one-day workshop will get 8; and those in the retreat sessions will get 6. (Longer workshops get larger fiber samples, more background information, and more time to get to know each fiber. EVERY session will get a solid grounding for future explorations, and a carefully chosen selection of fibers that demonstrate different qualities.)

We'll be shipping between 35 and 40 pounds of wool to use in these workshops. Every bit of that has been acquired from a shepherd who keeps rare-breed sheep. Every bit of that has been washed—a bunch of it by hand, and some of it at a fiber mill. Every bit has also been measured and packed into a labeled bag, ready to be distributed in class. (Prepackaging improves the likelihood that fibers will be divvied up pretty evenly, and . . . if we didn't prepackage, we could easily spend two-thirds of our workshop time on administrative matters, rather than discovering things about wool and spinning.)

I could not be doing these workshops at all without the amazing help of

• Beth Pink Smith, at The Spinning Loft in Michigan (who is also teaching at SOAR)
• Jennifer Tepper Heverly, at Spirit Trail Fiberworks in Virginia (who will be at the SOAR market)

Before I agreed to teach at SOAR, I contacted both of these wonderful people and asked if they'd be on board to make sure we had the right fibers in the right quantities. When they both said "yes," so did I. We've all been working since last December to coordinate all of that prep work. (We warmed up by doing the same set of tasks for the Conference of Northern California Handweavers in May, which involved one two-day workshop, a dozen breeds, 12 pounds / 5.5kg of wool, and 192 packets. Everything went beautifully. Now we get to ramp that up by more than 5 times.)

So there's that.

Fibers are being prepared and shipped. Somewhere between $1000 and $1800 has been invested in materials and their preparation. ( Do I want to know the precise totals right now? No. Do the materials fees people pay to workshop facilitators matter? YES!) Boxes are packed. Handouts are ready.

Now I'm working on the slide shows. I like pictures. So I have pictures of sheep, and pictures of wool, and pictures of places where sheep live, as well as some different ways of looking at the information on the handouts. (All the nitty-gritty numbers people would be tempted to try to write down while I'm showing them pictures are already printed on the handouts, so they can make personal notes but don't need to transcribe the basics.)

Lots of the components of the slide shows are already in my files, but I'm upgrading some of the sheep photos (which involves finding alternatives and writing to request permission to use them). I've also discovered that a few photos of locks are missing, so I've pulled out my samples and taken snapshots.

As you might have gathered, there will be three slide shows, one for each format. . . . They work off the same basic material, but it's selected and combined differently.

By the time October comes around, I'll be close to ready.

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Knitting Daily TV

SOAR is still a few weeks away. Sooner than that, however, I'll fly to Cleveland to tape three segments for Knitting Daily TV (KDTV).

Although each segment is only 5 to 6 minutes long, the day requires significant preparation. There's the segment outline, defining the key concepts to be presented and how they will be made to work for the camera. There are the samples to gather and prepare (more raw wool to be found, locks to be washed, sometimes yarns to be spun, and definitely swatches to be knitted or woven). There are the clothes: We're supposed to have a different "look" available for every segment, along with a couple of backup options. Detailed specifications guide clothing choices: no white, red, or black; jewel tones and pastels are good; no stripes or large patterns (basically, solid colors); garment design must accommodate a microphone and must go on/off without messing up makeup. My daughter suggested that I not wear exactly the same one or two outfits for all the DVD and TV appearances that I ever do. I thought it was a good idea because it would be much simpler. I've been to the closet and to the resale stores. I think I have some possibilities, although I haven't had time to really try them out.

I wish I had time to knit a bunch of alternatives. Last year I tried to get that done, but didn't have time. No time this year, either. The kinds of things required aren't in my usual knitting repertoire, although there's no reason they couldn't be. Except then I'd want to use the same handful of options repeatedly. . . . There's something to be said for radio and podcasts, at least in terms of wardrobe requirements. . . .

Add to list: steam out wrinkles, and/or press, and carefully pack. (I have already washed all the clothing to freshen it up.)

This afternoon I need to wash a few locks of wool for one of the demos. That's today's step in making progress toward this event. After that: wind four more skeins into balls, and knit a few more swatches.

For one of the segments, I had planned to knit a demo object but the yarn hasn't arrived, so I need to figure out Plan B for what to show on camera to make the point. The positive side of this is that I don't have to iron the shirt in the background of the photo just above (it shows up at the lower corners), which would have gone with that now-nonexistent idea.

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There's more . . .

but I'm not thinking about it right now. I did go for a bike ride this morning, to get to the coffee shop that was open on this holiday and could accommodate some writing time (most of this blog post).

Now it's time to wash wool, make sure the bank accounts are all okay, and do some freelance work.

It's not boring around here!