Some of my best friends

‘Some of my best friends’ is a new series of trees at Meher Spiritual Center. All the trees there are gorgeous and intriguing, but these are trees that I don’t just see on passing, but actively look for.
Some of them – like some of my best friends, have died.

The knittings are not accurate to reality, and mostly were knit without a chart. They are based on drawings, and the feelings I got from these trees.

 

This first one I call ‘The Greeter’. It stands right at the gate, small and humble, with a little heart shape cavity.

Somehow it reminded me of the row of little white hearts on the floor between Baba and Mehera’s tomb, so I added the colorful hearts at the base.

 

 

The tree at the cross road, with a little mushroom at it’s base:

 

This small long leaf pine tree died in the last storm:

 

The golden tree, on the way from the gateway to the main parking lot, is not there anymore. It was beautiful, and right by the roadside. It’s leaves were golden, probably because it was dead for a while, but very beautiful.

I knitted it twice. This is a big curtain/baby blanket size:

and a very small version, about 10×10″:

 

The “Dancing Trees” are on the way to the beach, by Gator Lake, and I am always enchanted by them:

 

 

 

* Apologies for any hideous advertisement that may be added below – I’m really sorry!

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Rainbow poem, 7 steps.

This scarf is a continuation of rainbow poem shawls. The name I call it for short is Karma. It has 7 squares, symbolising our journey towards God:

• Starting with all colors, as I believe we have everything in us from birth. The first step has more red, to symbolise more earthiness, attachments, me mine & I. And very little sky blue, which symbolises God.
• The second step has more orange, and no red, To symbolise loosing the heavy sanskaras/karma, and moving more towards light.
• The last step is all sky blue and is knitted in only one direction: UPWARD! There is no confusion/sidesteping.

It took me 5 tries to get the look that gives what I mean. This is the last and finished one:

Knitwise: start with all yarns, metered/modular knitting, and loose a yarn/color each step.

If you are interested in the pattern (knit or crochet ) let me know.

Here is the front and back side:

and here are some of the previous attempts:

 

and another:

 

 

Rainbow Poem Shawls

The rainbow poem is a series of showy shawls/scarves,

with little variations in how they look and how they are knit.

It is still work in progress, but the first 2 are ready as a pattern.

Rainbow poem. Mild.

Photo above and below, knitted with 5 yarns. Starting at one tip with all yarns, knitting them together through the whole piece, and finishing at the other tip with all 5 together. This shawl has a lot of sweetness to it, and sits beautifully on the back.

See more details here.

 

Above, the pattern is called “Rainbow poem. Wild”.

These shawls are bigger, knitted from side to side like the Mild version, but with 7 yarns and a different stripe width.

For more details, look here.

 

 

The third is called: “Rainbow poem. Landscape”. It is the easiest one to knit as it is knitted upward, starting with one yarn and adding one more with each stripe. It’s size is L-XL, and the pattern will be ready in 2-3 weeks.

 

The forth is “The bird of paradise”, and its the most complicated one:

 

And I’m ashame to say that I have few more version of it that I would like to try… Oh dear!

‘Color & Picture Knitting” book, the charts

Here are some of the charts in the book:

These are the first ones, being easy knits:

 

More landscapes and how to knit the border as you knit along:

 

These are pictures that were done with the same chart (the chart is for the blue one):

 

Portraits, show knitting in ‘invisible’ technique using 1 yarn and reverse st.st to create the image, and the advantage of knitting sideways:

Invisible Meher Baba,

Mischievous one

Charts about working from drawing:

O.K.

Karma

 

And adding your own writing:

Nothing/Everything

WAKE UP!

 

Special techniques (knitting in quilting & weaving styles):

Blue Cross

Ancient One in blue

How to knit a group project (no charts here):

 

And some heart charts we used in these projects:

I enjoyed knitting them all!

‘Color & Picture Knitting’ book

 

Dear Tracy,

I can not find your comment, so will answer you here, as other people asked about the book too.

The book is a work book. It explains how to knit pictures, from easy ones to more involved. The patterns in it are like exercises. They are meant for you to knit them and hopefully hang them on your wall or give as gifts.

You may not sell my patterns, but you may do many pictures using the charts in the book, and even sell the pictures you knitted yourself.

I am saying that the charts are exercises because my purpose was to give you enough information so that you can continue to make your own charts and do your own pictures.

So, to sum it up, the patterns in the book are for you to knit in order to learn the techniques used.

After the picture is knitted and BO, you can block it. For this you will need to stretch it upside down on foam board or anything else handy, spray lightly with water and let dry for 24 hours. Because of spraying it with water, you need to use stainless steel pins. You can buy them in a sewing store.

Some people prefer ironing their knits, I do not.

After the picture is well dry, you can attach it to foam board that is cut to fit the size of the picture. For this you can use straight pins (they do not have to be stainless steel).

Some people glue the picture instead of using pins, I do not.

See next blog post for detailed account of the charts in the book.

The book is available on Amazon.com

Good Luck, hope you’ll enjoy it, and feel free to ask questions.

 

Meher Center Exhibit, Aug. 2016

I’ve been working all year on this exhibit.
In a way this is a summery of my life since I came to Baba, and specially of my first trip to Meherabad, India.

Knit-wise the pictures are knitted in stranding, intarsia and one in what I call weaving style. They vary in degrees of easy – intense knitting.

Looking Back: Did you see Him there?

To say that these pictures were made for the exhibit is not fully true: they were made for my heart , and for ‘digesting’ things from deep within.

The ‘Looking Back’ series is going back in time. The first picture is of the bridge at Meher Center, where my current life is.
The second is about the year I spend in Meherabad (India), and is symbolized by the walks I used to do with my friend Nana Kher.
This last one is of my first trip to Meherabad, which was very intense. I used to imagine Meher Baba standing there under the tree. I did not want to add His image, so just ‘sprinkled’ some gold shiny yarn on the ground instead. It’s by the gate on the right side.

 

If you’ve been to all these places:
1. Looking back at the bridge, from the steps to the Guest House (Myrtle Beach, sc).
2. The round-about opposite the Dhuni, meherabad, India.
3. Looking back toward the pilgrim center, on the way to the Samadhi, before crossing the road (Meherabad, India).

Meher Baba’s I (as in I am)

Based on Meher Baba’s writing of the word ‘I’, from the book ‘In God’s hand’. To my surprise, even though Baba did write “I” a few times, it was never “I am”.
These are the I’s I used:

Sky Blue: Real I (i.e. mind stopped i.e. Self) = Light natural, page 1.
Blue: & when stopped feels I am unlimited. Page 17.
Purple: …feels I am this body only… page 17.
Green: The false I, page 17.
Yellow: The false I, page 17.
Orange: false I i.e. egoism, page 1.
Red: false I (i.e. mind working, egoism) = Darkness unnatural, page 1.

Mixed sts / Couples knitting

This is a new / continued theme I’m still exploring: I see the knitting as a double knit fabric but sometime do double strand garter st or st.st.

If you want to try it yourself:

a double knit unit = 1 knit facing st + 1 purl facing st.

Change a unit like that to 1 double strand st or 2 st.sts (k on one side p on the next).

There is a lot that comes with it and I’m still learning (it’s fascinating), and I hope to write more about it. For now here are some photos:

Above is one of my current projects, I’m actually half way through the other side by now. Mixing short rows with the above way of stitching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a scarf using that technique.

 

 

 

 

 

And this is how it started:

1. mixing double knit and stockinet

2. Mixing dk & double strand:

The mushroom under the Elf – a children book with advanced knit patterns

Our book is ready! We are happy & excited! The book is a fun bedtime story about a lost Elf that makes friends with a mushroom. It has a lot of photos and knitted art work for illustration.

The other thing it has are 4 knitting patterns, scattered here & there in the middle of the story! The patterns are:

1. Small mushroom chart for double-knit coaster.

2. Double knit mush-puff baby toy (instructions for how to stuff & puff are included).

3. Modular mushroom picture potholder – small project, fun and surprising technique.

4. The Elfy game blanket, which you can also play right on the cover.  

The book is available at Amazon.com and at Create space