Knitting Stuff

The last couple weeks out Monday Knitting Group has been at our Corps in Homestead. The apprentices in the Brigade want to learn to knit. The group has become where we teach the Clown of The Brigade to knit. Now that there are a bunch of young folks in the Brigade it is easier to move the meeting than move the Brigade.

By the way that is Apprentices Thurman, Wilson and Brimage. Aren't they cute this is their first knitting group. Walt is in the fore ground working on some socks I think.

This is my and another Apprentice Brimage. She is the youngest Apprentice in the Brigade. I think she likes the idea of knitting. The practice of knitting is another thing.

By the way this took place in the Clown Room at our Corps. WE are still working on putting the room together. At the moment it dose not have an overhead light. So we are using the old makeshift lighting that the Knitting group used at the Bee Hive. It is not so good for photography.

My wife was around there somewhere trying not to be associated with me. That is a common thing for her when we are out in public. Still, I don;t mind eating with a ski mask on while at restaurants. Although it is much harder to go into airports that way these days.

Well look at that I actually had some knitting news. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

We Got a Sign

I am close to finishing another hat that I have not taken pictures of. It is made from an acrylic. It is going to have a pom pom on a six stich peice of icord that comes out of the top of the hat.

The good people at Joseph Beths made us a sign for our knitting group. At the Bee Hive we were not allowed to have a sign. Look at it that put a dinosaur on it because we are the Sheep and Dinosaur knitting group. Good times.
Here is Walt mussing over a clown hat that he is starting. He even has a pattern for his hat. I am really a bit scared when clowns are that organised.
Carol and Jamie are going through untangling some yarn. It did get untangled. I know it does not look promising at this point.

Clown Founder Day

Hi folks, we had a fun Sunday at Steel Valley Corps. It was one of our Advancement ceremonies and Sunday Practices. This is me in an old ceremonial uniform. We don't have any of our own yet so I still wear my old one. By the way The Captain has been painting at the Corps. A couple weeks before this stair well was in not so great shape.

This is a close up of the candle arrangement used during the ceremony. Each clown is represented by a candle and we move the candles up as they advance through the rank system. It is a tradition that goes back through the various clown troupes that I have been part of. This is a pulled back shot of the altar after we have set up the clown stiff on it. The advancement steps have been covered with the Barry Scarf. As had become the tradition we display juggling equipment and a Bible on the alter to recognise the nature of the Brigade. Also displayed are the logos for each of the Sessions of Clowns thus far and the Brigade Logo.

After the Ceremony was practice time. His is Apprentice K in his kilt and a pretty pretty balloon hat. Behind him are several other Apprentice Clown and the newly appointed Second in Command of the Brigade Junior Clown and our Music Sergeant JC Stewart

The future of the Brigade is shown here with our first class of Cadets. Until this year we have not had enough people joining at one time to have Cadet Classes. One of the main reasons for the Sunday practices is to quickly train these new recruits. This the basic orientation where they begin to work on their clown face and names. Cadet Wilson on the right has taken the name Silly Lilly. Cadet Thurmon has taken the clown name Alakali.

This is Apprentice Prealu during the balloon section. She is up to eight or so Balloons in less than a month.

A big pile of balloons with Cadet Thurmon at Balloon Practice.

We also had a pot luck diner at this event. This was great fun as usual. See everyone at Hive Knitting. Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

Random Stuff - Pom Poms _ Clown Practice

Something that I know is troubling all those folks out there is how do you get a good pom pom out of red heart.

Well over to the side here I have a sort of step by step picture thing. And if you are wonder yes we get very snap happy with the camera at Hive Knitting.

Anyway you get this plastic thing and you wrap yarn around it. They you cut the yarn at the edge of the gizmo. Then you tie some more yarn around the center of the mass of yarn you have made. Then you have yourself a pom pom.

I am sure that is the informative rant about how to make pom poms If you honestly wanted me to go on and on about Red Heart Pom Pom I am sorry. Come into the store and I can sell you the gizmo and a promise I will talk to you about endless for at least ten minutes.

By the way this pom pom is the largest pom pom that you can currently get from Clover.

For anyone that is interested this is a large pom pom that will be going at the top of Apprentice Stewart hat for her costume.

Of course being a clown hat it must have the largest and bestest pom pom that you can get.

Onto other very important things. Someone wanted to know where I got a cut out of a Boston Terrier.

I printed out a dog I downloaded from the interweb. I then glued it on some corrugated cardboard. Moving on.

For those of you that are keeping up with the picture over to the left I am tying off the mass of yarn there. I have found that to be one of the most interesting part of the process.

Since this is such a long series of picture I am taking this moment to have an intermission. So the next thing here is a clip from our practice tonight.



Practice was fun tonight. As you can see , if you bothered to watch the pointless video, I started juggling torches again. So I am not back to where I was, still, it is nice be moving along to regain ground.

By the way if you are still following the pom pom action you pull the gizmo apart and fluff the ball. Great Stuff I know.

Back to the clown stuff. I may not be the worlds greatest juggler. Never the less I have always liked it.

One of the best parts of being a Clown is sharing the knowledge with other people. Having Apprentice Prealue just starting out on her juggling is great. Even in my beat up state I can still pass on that knowledge to others.

Life is good at the shop. I still have a hard time believing that I get paid to sit around a big room full of yarn. What is not to like.

I have also been have a couple people take classes. No men yet but a few kids and the Machine classes are doing well.

Well life is good. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Party Time

I did not make it to South Hills Knitting tonight. The cult had to meet without me. Their next meeting will be the same night as the next Men's Night

On the up side. the guys have been talking about meeting more than once a month. In April we are going to intentionally schedule them on the opposite evening from the Cult Meeting. It will be nice to get to those meeting on a regular basis.

Jamie from Hive Knitting interviewed for a job a Natural Stitches today. That is her dancing there. I suppose the interview went well.

I did get to mess around with the apprentice Vest against today. The vest has a slightly different design. We will see how they go.

Be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.

No Pictures Good Machine

I am not able to post pictures again. Some day I might get annoyed enough that I actually move to a better thing. At this point I am not that annoyed.

I had a class in the Bond knitting machine today. It was the first class where the person liked the machine and had used it. Up until this point everyone that has taken the class has been having trouble with the machine. It was like having an advance machine class.

If I am not mistaken I even have people signed up for other machine knitting classes. It is nice that the classes are beginning to have people signing up for them.

I am going to look for a baby sweater pattern and put together a class for it.

On other subjects a new knitter out there has started posting a blog. Jamie, who attends Hive Knitting, has a started a blog. Jamie gets in Trouble is the name and if the gizmo worked it is also the link. If you get a chance stop by.

And on a slightly related subject Jamie just had her hair done. It is braided and really cute. Compliment her hair if you get the chance. Our manager Melissa also got a hair cute that is really nice. I never did feel right complimenting women's hair. Still, it is like new shoes it always has to be noted.

We got in a bunch of Denise stuff at the shop. Long time readers will know that I am a fan of the old style Needle Master from Boye. Incidentally when i make billion of Dollar I am going to buy Red Heart and Boye from who ever own them and turn them into a super knitting corporation. My Red Heart Boye Cooperation will buy Malibrigo and slap a big Red Heart on it so we can sell it at Natural Stitches.

Oh that brings me back to the stuff we are selling at Natural Stitches. I am not much for hucking stuff on my blog. By the way that will change when i have a book to sell but I digress. They have started to sell individual needles. This is something that I have always liked about the Needle Masters. I just like that sort of thing. If you haven't tried them give them a shot.

And like every good wreck this post will now come to a sudden and abrupt end. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Apprentice Vest

Work continues on making uniform for the Brigade. Since most of the clowns would rather have vests we have switches to making vests. Pictured is we working on the yellow trim that goes on an Apprentice Vest. If I recall correctly this one is for Apprentice Speigel. If I am lucky I will be able to finish it before practice tonight. If not then it will be another week.

Hive Knittting had a small group this week for our first cup cake night. Still at one point we only had myself and my wife. With the move to Joseph Beths we are starting to climb out of the cellar. None of the old people have returned but we are getting new people.

Ravelry K2tog was huge. We had around thirteen people. I do think this may have been our largest knit together to date across the boards.

Just checking in be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.

Stuff

Fun was had at Hive Knitting this evening. I have been up to my eye balls in books and clown stuff. So it was nice to get away and knit with some folks on The South Side. Walt has started postng to the Hive Knitting Blog it looks as if the Hive Knitting group may be turning the corner. For a while there it was Walt me and my wife.

I am still playing around with the shop thing on Etsy. Several people have sent me notes reassuring me that paypal is safe. I sometimes think that I am becoming one of those people that thing a little gremlin lives in the conputer waiting to mess my life up. Although it is is better safe than sorry.

I have had several people tell me that they have been burned by people that did not send them checks. I wonder if there are enough people using pay pal that one would not need to take checks.

Ravelry night on tuesdays has been going like gangbuster though. It is amazing what you can do when you advertise something through and internet site that his hundred of people on it at any one time. That group should be having it's own surprise sometime soon. I will keep you posted on that when I have something to post about.

I have been working on Vests for the Clown Brigade. I should have one finished in the next couple days. We will see how they go. Be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.

A couple Great Evening of Knitting.

It has been a couple of great evenings of knitting here in Pittsburgh. Hive Knitting at Joseph Beths was lots of fun. Most of the gang was there. We did some cranking on the Marley and I worked on some socks.

Walk finished the hat that he is knitting for his moths. He did very well. He has been working on for a week and it was supposed to be a surprise so i could not talk about it till now. The hat was made from purple Malabrigo. The hat was done in less than a couple weeks. Not bad for a first project.

The second night of knitting was the Ravelry Knit Together at Natural Stitches. We had a new person who is really excited about the Ravelry and Natural Sittches. Apparently she really likes yarn and friendly service. Some people have high standards i suppose.

With the way the holidays work we will not be having programs or Clown practice. . So that mean I will have Wednesday off. since I have the time I will pick a group to go to. I am not sure which one it will be. The Hurricane Knitters were fun. I also suspect that they were missing half their people so it might be nice to see them at full strength.

I haven't figure out where to get yet. I will be working on it though.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Small Knits

As I may have mentioned earlier there is a memeber of the Hive Knitting Group that knits cloths for dolls. Anyway DDancer sent me some links to some sites that have .

http://www.bugknits.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/knitpurr/sets/72157594242831187/

The as yet unnamed expandable fez cap was large enough to be tried on the clown it is being knit for. And it looks as if Lucy Dolittle will have a new hat for her costume.

Cool stuff

Clown Knitting

Life has begun to settle down around the Zeeppo Homestead. With the shop open and going well it has found it's stride. I am still loosing my mind over the various books that I am working on. And I may get to that craziness later.

On the clown knitting front great things are happening. The Knitting For War book is still plugging along. I am not exactly sure when it will be done. Progress is made every week. Still, knitting books are complicated things. I would like this to be able to do justice to the charity knitting scene. As it stand there will almost have to be a sequel. There are simply too many important knitting projects going on for them all to be put in one book. Heck I don't think I have been able to cover just what is going on in my own denomination.

The clown stuff that you see popping up on this blog are patterns that will probably show up in the book. Being that it is being written by a clown clown knitting has a warn and fuzzy place in my heart. That could also be the Lopi I ate for breakfast but I digress.

I am still looking for hats, mittens, sweaters. I would especially like a couple hat scarf mitten sets. I had to fit that in somewhere I am not sure that was the best place. Still, there it is.

Any way it has been very rewarding working on this knitting book. I have been on teams that have put together text books before. And I wrote a good deal of the copy for these books. Still, the best part , oddly, has been writing as the Brigadier.

Clowns do not get the chance to write books as their clown selves. And unlike an actor, clowns like to think that their clown persona is within them and comes out when needed. Yes, I know this sounds like a need therapy or Sigorney Weaver should be involved. Still, with everything in The Army I have been told alot about what I cannot do. Clowns ask Why not?

Perhaps that is why clowns run into so much trouble. Hmmmmmmmm, deep thoughts as a clown. Somewhere there is a shrink hoping to write a paper on this, but I digress.

Alright back to the subject. The Brigadier character is new for me. It is like an older less sane version of the clown persona that I have used for years. Perhaps being older I am less sane {Yes I picked up on that, thank you very much}.

Clown knitting continues and perhaps one day clowns will have the own knitting book {Everyone else appears to}. At Hive Knitting at Joseph Beths the clowns and I will be cranking on The Marley some more. With my hand injury we will not be able to use the scarf in the way we intended until at least the summer. That means Marley will not make it into our Spring Shows. Between the knitting book and several new clowns we have decided to concentrate on house cleaning things in the Brigade. Winter is the traditional time for getting things in order. Well at least it is among the clowns.

On the upside we have started looking at other clown knitting projects for the spring shows. We are going to work on long armed cardigans and hats that pull out to absurd lengths. We think the clown chemo cap will make it into the book, probably not the shows though. Although there will be a hat with a ribbed bottom instead of curled stockinette bottom.

Well that is it for the moment. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

First Meeting at Joseph Beth

The Joseph Beth was everything we hoped for. We met on the second floor around a fire place. We have a couch and padded arm chairs. This is compared to a used kitchen table and chair that have been salvaged from the garbage of the South Side.

I still love the Bee Hive. And it do not like the idea of going to a big chain. Still Scott and Steve {the owners of the Bee Hive} so not stress customer service in any way. I suppose it is easy to say that rude is cool. I looked at the Starbucks across the street and several other cafes in the area. The bottom line is that the chain store is willing to treat us well.

I like the sort of Independence that the Hive represents. Still, there is a line when people just need to be treated right.

On other fronts the class schedule for December is up on the web site. We are also working on January. Hopefully I will get it up on this blog soon.

Well I hope to see you all at Hive Knitting. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Moving Hive Knitting

Well it appears that Hive Knitting will be moving to the Joseph Beth Book store on the South Side. I spoke to a manger at JoBeth's today and they will be getting back to me on Monday.

When we do move we are going to be moving the group up to 6:00PM because they close a bit earlier than the Bee Hive.

It sad to have to be moving the group. Still, we have had to bend over backwards to do the group. We bring our own lights are frequently the subject of rude people. I don't know. We should have given up on them months ago. Still, it used to be the cool place to hung out.

Poetry readings, musicians and all sorts of artists used to call it home. Now it is dungeons and dragons and people playing cards games with monsters. I suppose that officially makes it not the place the cool people are hanging out at.

I never claimed to be a cool person. I suppose cool people are people that others aspire to be. I have never really aspired to be anything other than the best me that i could be. Maybe that make me cool. Probably not, still, it is nice thought.

Well that leads us to the next question. I suppose we can no longer call it Hive Knitting. I suppose I will put it to the group. If anyone out there has a good name let me know.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

A great day at Natural Stitches

Great fun was had at the Natural Stitches today. I got to build a Christmas tree shaped shelving unit for our December display. I just need to put up some Christmas lights and a few decorations. When I am done I will try and get someone with a camera to take a picture of it.

I must admit that I am liking selling yarn more than I thought I would. You get to meet people and hang around with yarn all the time.

On other front we are organising a Men's knitting night for December 14th. There will be a ten percent discount for men attending. It is nice to be doing something like this at the shop. I have consoled myself with the fact that there is not much a local male knitting community. Still, with events like this one we may be able to nurture one over time.

As I am working on the Knitting for War book I am thinking of other knitting books that I might want to write. I would like to write a real knitting book for men. Not something with a silly title and little content. But a real book aimed at at men that does not insult their intelligent. Yes I know it would not sell. Still a clown can dream can't he.

By the way I am still looking for pattern for the Knitting for War Book. I am going to put something on the side bar with a list of the patterns I still need. I continue to be bogged down on the how to knit section. I think I will have something that people can look at in another week or so. I may be overcritical on this section. I had not really thought about doing it when I started working on the book. I figured that I would concentrate on the who charity knitting thing and little else. Still enough people thought it was improtant that it should be included.

I am still kicking around the books about Brigadier Mason and Admiral Jefferson and his wife. I have found the old old short story that was about John Jefferson's first fleet command. I never did publish it. I have been working on it a bit. I will polish it up and send it to the Navy for approval. If they like it I will put it on the blog. Also it will be a relatively painless way to see if the plot and characters are up to snuff.

The main character in these book represent a couple organization that I care greatly about. Mason represents The Salvation Army which is my church. Even if I am not respected by them I still respect them. The other is the Navy. And quite frankly their daring during world war II may be the only reason that we are still here. When we look back at it now we tend to think it was foregone conclusion. The reality was there were several places that things could have gone the other way.

My grandfather served in Halsey's fleet during the war. He did not talk about it much. Still, it was apparent that the Navy made him much of the man that he was. I do hope to represent both of these organizations well.

On other knitting subjects. The Bee Hive Knitting Group is still up in the air. If I do not hear from them by noon Wednesday then I am calling Joe Beths. Knitting is supposed to be fun. Arguing with people over tables is not fun. And I am not going to do it any longer. Life is just too short. I will let people know via the Hive Knitting Yahoo thing if we change locations.

Well read me here and or see me at Natural Starches. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Happy Me - The Last Hive Knitting Maybe

I have had several people say that my clown picture is not happy enough. This is one of the cartoon type pictures that we have been working on for the Brigade. I am thinking about going with a half bald blue wig. At the moment I am still coloring my hair white which turns to an interesting color. It also has me in my Salvation Army Uniform.

Any way if you like it better than the actual picture of me let me know. I am thinking of using it on the Ravelry as well.

Hive Knitting was a Disaster this evening. At the Bee Hive there is only one table that we can use. We have an agreement that we get this table. In order to make it better we bring our own lights. Well our table was taken over by Dr. Who game players. They refused to move even tough there were other table available. The staff claimed they could not honor their agreement with us because they were not aware of it.

If they do not call be tomorrow with an apology and a promise that will not happen again we will be moving the group elsewhere. I am think about Joseph Beth Book at the South Side Works. I do not want to go to Starbucks even though they are willing to host us.

I don't think the Joseph Beth's has a coffee shop. Still, they probably have better light and no smoking section. I know they would put us in their newsletter as well.

Anyway it is one of those things. If anyone knows if there is place on the South Side let me know.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Good Morning

Well it is off to the shop this morning. My retail yarn adventure continues. It is not the circus or private practice clowning still, it is interesting in it's own way.

We had a good time at the Hive Knitting last night. We are hovering around half a dozen folks now and it is an interesting little group. I have noted that there are very few people that go from one group to another. There are folks that have a couple knit together that they go to. Still, there are not people that visit random knit togethers.

In clowning when a clown goes to a new town they would always visit the local clown club if they were meeting at the time they are in town. Perhaps clowns are just friendlier than knitters. Maybe it has something to do with excessive amounts of makeup, but I digress.

I do need to update the blog. Put up a new class schedule and add some links. I must remember to take some time to do that. You all have a good day out there and keep your stick on the ice.

More Ramblings

The gizmo is not letting me post picture so no Save Chicken for the moment. Anyway it is monday morning and it is off to the shop. It is odd working in a retail enviroment. True the shop has not opened. Still, I am used to having my clowning skills being the thing that is being sold. Now something else will be the object os my sales skills. It is not bad just different.


I am not in charge so I will not say when the shop is opening. I will say that it is coming together rather quickly. Everytime we leave we are amazed at the amount of stuff that is done. True we have a good crew. And there are several folks working at this enterprise. And many hands and all of that stuff.

Between the shop and the book I have not had much time to get to all of the knitting groups that i usually ghet to. I have not been to either of the two groups that I attend sporatically at Knit 1 for a couple weeks. I do need get back there.

The book is plugging along. I am working on a section on The Army's History of knitting. By the way if any of the Army Knitters out there know some are knitting sotries I would like to hear them. I know the Red Corss had a knitting kit that they gave to soilders in hospital. I am wondering if we did the same thing. i have not found any evidence of a kit as such. I will keep looking though. It does appear that the majority of our historical records we have are in Alexandria Virginia. And I do not have time to go down there before I would like to publish this thing.

Well I need tobe heading off to East Liberty. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice. And see you at the Bee Hive if your a Hive Knitter.

Rambling Around

It is another Monday and another Hive Knitting coming up. I do enjoy our little group. By the way if you happen to be around stop by. We still meet at the Bee Hive at 7:00 PM.

My hand is doing fairly well. As you can see I am back to typing. I do prefer entering in things this way. My grammar and spelling may not be perfect. Still, I can almost type as fast as as I can think.

I have been looking for a turtle character from bleach on line and have not found it. I also cannot find my cartoon knitting book that I have a couple years ago. It was from Japan and had a couple of neat dolls in it. Japanese knitting is an interesting thing thing. One of the people in the group was asking about it and i wish I had some more answers to give.

The book is moving along nicely. I am going to have to ask the Navy and The Salvation Army for their permissions. The Navy has an office that handles that sort of thing. I am not exactly sure how my church deals with it. I suppose I will ask someone at DHQ.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Clowning and a Little Person in Mutil Media Extraviganza

This is a little elf type doll that one of the knitters at the Hive Knitting Group is making a sweater for. He even has a little chair. What is not to like.

And it is not a plain chair it is one of those trendy saucer shaped chairs. None of my dolls have a trendy chair.

I digress about those whole my dolls having boring chairs thing.

On the Festival Front we spent some time at practice stuffing info into envelopes to go into shops and other places. All of the knitting world will soon be covered in our cheaply made information sheets.

On knitting fronts I am still trying to rebuild my half missing collection of Boye Plastic Needles. I found a set on 9s and 10 1/2 . I am still missing a couple of the larger size and 2, 4 and 5. When I have billions of dollars I am going to buy Boye from who ever owns it. Then I will start making the plastic needles again. And I will make Boye Needles from Rosewood, Ebony, Bamboo, Titanium, Silver, Gold, Mahogany, Crystal and good old fashioned Steel. There will also be a special edition 19mm needle made from Highland Style Shortbread covered in white chocolate.



Well this video is from our practice tonight. Enjoy Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

A Busy Week End - Sergeant Major on Hold

I spent the better part of the week end dealing with a dozen or so details of the upcoming Yarn Festival. In addition to that I am starting a Cub Scout Pack, getting the Brigade ready for four shows, editing a book and attempting to train a cat. So as usual the blog suffers.

What can one do? Anyway a good time was had at Hive Knitting We may be few in number these days but fun is still had by all. I do enjoy our group down there. The Hive may have a reputation for being a strange place. Still, it is one of the few places that I fit in.

On the Sergeant Major and Training Front. Several people have offered their prayers on this one and I thank you. The unfortunate thing is there is no news. According to our Divisional HQ they do not know if they are allowed to make me a Sergeant Major. When asked why they say they have not been told.

Frustrating is no longer the word for this thing. Frustration comes when one is surprised by an odd behavior. At this point it is expected. I suppose I would have been surprised if thing has gone well with Sergeant Major thing.

Being that there is no official word as to why, my only guess is my odd past. I must say that I find it frightening that this may be the case now. At one point in history anything went in the saving souls business. We tell stories of our founder, General William Booth, sticking an umbrella in the ground and talking to it. Then when a crowd gathered to see the crazy person he would tell them about Jesus.

Joseph Garbedian dressed in outfits that would have made Liberace jealous and yelled on the street corner about Jesus.

The sad thing is I am not allowed to talk to anyone about this. Bureaucracy will be the death of us.

In reading the Army Blogs out there I have seen many people that are openly talking about renewal in the Army. Even though I have firmly believed that we are not what we once were. I have not talked about it openly because I thought it would hurt my chances of getting into training. That is sad. It is truly sad that a member of an organization can not talk about what is wrong with their organization without fear of being ridiculed. Even if in my case it is behind closed doors and I am not allowed to know.

We were once a church that was proud of outcast heritage. We were proud of the strange people that would join our ranks. Now we want to be respectable. And I fear if we get too respectable the outcast may one day not be welcome at out doors. Currently they are not welcome as officers.

I still firmly believe we are the best church out there. I firmly believe that we are the most Christ like denomination out there. If there was anyone better or doing more work for Christ I would join them. I just fear that one day we may loose that position because of our attitude toward our own people.

Pray for us out there in Blog Land. Satan is attacking us like he attacks us all. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice