The house is at the point today where everything is a total mess. I guess it is the turning point and now it should all start coming together.

We were out for the day and when we got home the contractor was sanding the kitchen floor. That's good it means that the floor should be laid today. The bad part was he didn't cover anything. The food. the counters, the stove, the cupboards. Everything was covered with dust. Somehow we managed to stay calm. Last night was spent cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. So now all of the dishes are cleaned, even the ones we haven't used for months.

The layer of dust created in the rest of the house will be swept up today......

....And in the shop. Drips. Yes there are still drips, a major reason for our leaving. I'm reminding myself that there is only one more month.

There, I even managed to find the time to update this blog.

Three days until a lot of people will be over and the gallery looks....

and a kitchen shot... notice no floor and everything piled beyond in the darkness. And I see Fran there too, and a bottle of wine.

2 Days Into The Sale

First, Thanks to Reader #7 and Reader #2 for your comments and sale lust.

Some things are moving. I am guessing that this week and the holiday weekend will be the most active time here.

The plan for this week is to get the studio pretty well packed up. That means no knitting machine news for a while. I am still doing the little projects, the sort of stuff that I can do while watching TV at night. (yawn) My attempts at being a real knitter using needles, and a pattern, and wool, stuff like that. We will see if anything gets done. Maybe there will be photos.

Otherwise the blogging may be sparse as I pack and clean and plan the open house for Saturday , OH, yea and I have got to get the things together for the trip to Toronto and the finishing of the unknown object.... That is planned for the end of September. Before that there will be the Brimfield antique market. and the sale is on for a month so.... I had better go and start working.

It's been getting busier.

I finally completed the things to send to Toronto. We are semi documenting the project at A-list Textilist and I have an image posted there.

There are also the "little" projects that I'm working on. Today at the farmers market I bought a skein of wool for a scarf.
It's from Scarecrow Farm in Hollowville, New York, the same people that I buy great eggs from.


The major part of the week though has been preparing the shop for a moving sale. It will start this weekend with everything 1/3 off. Here's the shop before the sale begins.

I'm nervous about it. All of this stuff needs to go, or most of it anyway.
The gallery at the house is almost done. We really just need the steps installed. We're planning an open house for next Saturday with a painting exhibit and sale. So a busy week ahead. I will try to keep you all (all 10 of you) posted on what's up.

Yesterday I had one of my revelations. I realized one of the reasons that I love living in this town.

The Artist's cemetery.

How many places can you think of with a separate cemetery (next to the town's cemetery) set aside for artists? Fran and I went there yesterday, looking for the grave of a local legend, Mary Weaver Wilson - who built the tower house around an oak tree. While we were there I just felt .... right... This is a really cool thing about Woodstock. There are musicians, and actor, and crafts people and painters, and sculptors. All in a special little place in town.

Some graves I noticed Hervey White founder of the Maverick artist's colony.

I also noticed Kuniyoshi's grave, and Guston's, and the Avery's. A real connection to history here.

I took photo's really I did but they aren't loading. Bah....

And now the links aren't working.
and Fran is pacing waiting to go somewhere....
Yikes, I started this off feeling nice and calm....

Deep breath

I also have a photo to post of the garage conversion.....

We're having an open house on the Saturday of labor day weekend. and we are showing the paintings of Mary Wilson. That prompted the trip to the Artist's Cementery and this post. Which somehow I have lost the thread of.....

Oh, well...... We're off for a day of art at Vassar.

I have been busy at the shop this weekend and there was no time to get any of the knitting done. I'll have a full day tomorrow to finish up the stuff and send it off to Toronto and the next step.

Part of the busy - ness has to do with the decision we've made to close the shop. Yep, were going to leave the store and move everything to the house. Including the studio. That has both of us feeling slightly overwhelmed since we live in a 1600 sq ft. house and the shop/studio is 3000 sq. ft. Something tells me we'll have to rent a storage unit.

Overall I am feeling great about the move. No more hassles with the bar upstairs, yeah!! So while it will be a frenzy around here for the next six weeks the outcome is going to be very positive. (can you tell that I am trying to live in the moment?)

The people who come into the shop provide me with endless amusement.

This week I had a long conversation with a woman about things in the shop, local places to go see and do. It was a fairly long conversation for the shop. She seemed normal and interesting. Then she says "I guess I can assume you're French?" , I say "why?". "Well, your accent". "Uhm, no that's New Jersey". "Oh" and she leaves the shop.

Tina, I know that you suggested that I speak to people in various accents while in the shop. But I wasn't. And I wasn't wearing a beret, who knows.

The rest of my week has been the usual machine knitting and sewing and at this point the work is at a creative standstill. I have a goal to get this one piece finished and off to Melissa. The goal was Friday, now moved to Monday.

I'm no Angel

Today is Mae West's birthday. My always inspiration. How gay is that!

Putting together Toronto stuff

At home today with the panel for The Gladstone. This still needs to be sewn and the embellishment needs to be added. I'm aiming for completing it to send by the end of the week. Better get to work.

More store strangeness

Yesterday, a beautiful sunny and warm sunday, two women came into the shop. They looked around for a short time. Then they stood about 7 or 8 feet (2 meters) from me and started talking to each other about whether or not I looked like John Travolta. Really! Talking like I wasn't sitting right there and couldn't hear everyword they were saying.

This is just a sample of the insanity I get to deal with in the shop.

Or is this a zoo?

Busy today

This is the beginning of the newspaper piece. I am using a vintage barbie dress pattern and making it big.



Here's the latest panel off of the knitting machine. I am getting closer to connecting a lot of the pieces and sending the whole thing to Toronto and Melissa so she can do her thing with it. Oh, and I figured out the embroidery issues that were holding me back so soon embroidery will be appearing on these. Well I'm calling it embroidery, it's my take on embroidery and related to embroidery.... just like the knitting is related to knitting. In my mind I think of it all as painting and drawing. call me crazy.

Two days off

I needed to take a little time off from the shop so I stayed at the house for the last 2 days trying to catch up on things.
I did mow the lawn and straighten up a little.

The best news from the last week. One of the pieces from the show sold.
Here is part of the review by Paul Smart that appeared in the Woodstock Times.

....Woodstocker John Krynick's knit cotton samplers of prosaic sentences, one stretching the entire last Norma Desmond "Mr. DeMille" speech from Sunset Boulevard across a dishtowel-sized surface. He's also got a series of fantastic woven newspaper works that someone should purchase immediately. One is an entire Sunday New York Times worked down to the size of a large washcloth; the other an entire week's worth of the same paper in the size of a bath towel.......

And the piece that sold was the Sunday NYTimes.

I've been working on the other knitted newspaper. Something is up with the blogger photo upload , or maybe with my connection so I will try to get the image up tonight from home with a different connection.

Yesterday Fran and I went to Bard to see "Uncertain States of America" . It is a show curated in Norway and traveling. Everyone was very young in the show, and there was reference upon reference to everything art-wise in America. I left it feeling confused but interested.....

Of Knitterly interest was the work of Jim Drain, aka Gorgon Radeo formerly of Forcefield.

So that was the week so far.

I have had a lot of comments about the the person in the shop on Monday. So far my favorite.

"Oh, that's proof, the martians are walking among us." .... thanks Michael.

Shop Question

I was thrown for a loop today when I got the dumbest or craziest or most stupid question that I have ever gotten in the shop.

A woman who had been in the shop earlier in the day came back in with her husband. She immediately said that she was just showing her husband a few things. Fine.

They look around and she comes up to the desk and asks " Um....Are these things for sale?"
My answer, wide-eyed "yes"
"Oh, Okay" and then they walk out of the shop.

Everything has a price tag on it. Did they think I just sit in a commercial district with an open sign to show off my beautiful things?

Wow, a first in the eighteen plus years in business. I am almost speechless.
"

Knitting the New York Times

I've got my dowels and the paper has been made into a giant ball of "yarn". This morning I cast on and began work on the project. There will be photos later.

I am still feeling summer lazy. That is good news.

I'm concentrating on the shop today. Not much content here.

It should be a busy day, good weather, lots of people on vacation, now they just need to spend some money.

First to answer Shelly's question. Ruby was an Affenpinscher. She was as cute as she looked in the earlier post even though that haircut was during her chemo.

The heat wave is suppose to break today. I have gotten to the shop/studio early and it is cooler in here than it is outside. The thermometer inside says 80. But it doesn't feel as humid as out. O.K. so this is one time I am happy to have the bar upstairs. I think that they have been running the air conditioner full blast and as we all know the cold air sinks.

I stayed at home for the past 2 days. I've been working on some newspaper "yarn" for a new knitted paper project. This ball is a sunday and a monday NY Times I just might have enough to knit with.

Don't tell Fran, but I have had I dream that I got a new dog.

Staying cool

snowflakes

Memory Day

The Heat has got me thinking about Mexico.
OMG I think I see a bald spot! It's gotta be the camera angle.
Without getting too sad about it I just wanted to note that today it is one year since Ruby died. I don't get all weepy about it anymore but I do miss her.