It has been SO good to get back to work this new year! I’ve been happily hard at work, revisiting a technique I used on one of my favorite necklaces from years ago, utilizing some newly purchased vintage components and exploring the possibilities of combining I-Cord with my Abacus Bead Knitting technique. Images from my professional photographer just landed and I’m happy to share a few of them here and the rest in the One of a Kind Necklace Gallery.
So yes, it’s been awhile…. but for a good reason. We made a major life change, sold our family home of 39 years (very hard to do but definitely the right choice) and moved to a new single home in a nearby life care community that sits next to a working farm and beautiful nature preserve with lots of walking trails and ever changing natural views. We are beyond fortunate. We look out on grazing (and occasionally mooing) cattle right beyond our back yard. So peaceful here. But the process of downsizing and selling our house and moving into a house that we gut renovated was not…. So peaceful, that is. But we’re pretty well settled, I have a lovely, dedicated studio space and I couldn’t be happier to be back at work. Here are some home-taken photos of the first few new pieces completed since the move. Several are already at my professional home away from home, Gravers Lane Gallery in Chestnut Hill, PA. Professional photos to come.
Thanks for the continued support and best wishes to all for happy holidays and a happy and healthy new year ahead.
Next up!! Always happy to have my work appear in a show sponsored by The Society of Arts and Crafts (SAC). This time it’s the virtual show “Pins & Needles,” up on their site from March 4 – April 17.
I work on anywhere from two to five knitting needles at a time, but given the tiny scale of some of my stitches, some might think that I’m working on pins! And in truth, early knitting needles were actually called knitting pins. So I guess I fit right in!
For this show I am offering a wide selection of my Slider bracelets. They are the fiber equivalent of a bangle bracelet. They have some stretch so fit a wide range of wrist sizes. And best of all, NO clasp. Just roll them on. So, as I call them, partner free! 😉
Head over to the Society of Crafts website HERE to see this wonderful show!
Yes, I guess dreams do come true! This is where you’ll find me and my work from 12/6 – 12/11.
Could not be more honored to have been invited to be part of this show at the Museum of Arts and Design on Columbus Circle in New York City. Details HERE
If you are in or around the city, I hope you’ll stop by. And oh yes… It’s FREE!!!
Thrilled to share my debut participation in this beautiful show. And can you think of a nicer place to be in early fall (my favorite season!) than Northhampton, Massachusetts? I can only imagine how beautiful the foliage will be. Need an excuse for a Columbus Day Weekend road trip? I think you have it! I can’t wait.
The Three County Fairgrounds exhibition space, covered but open air, is the perfect choice for a live show given health concerns in our current climate. It’s my first in person show since the onset of the pandemic and I wouldn’t have signed on without the sincere assurances from the show’s organizers that the health and safety of both attendees and exhibitors is their top priority. I believe them. You can too.
Click on the image above to be taken to the show website for further information. Hope to see you there!
This is my book. Plain and simple, I am as proud of this effort as anything I have ever done professionally and forever grateful to the team at XRX Books who encouraged me to write it and provided all the support any author could ask for in bringing it to reality and putting it out into the world. Along with technical bead knitting instruction and over 30 pattern designs, it tells the story of my creative awakening in a series of seven essays scattered through the book as well as a publisher’s colophon.
How I got from where I was to where I am today encompasses quite the journey. I share an abbreviated version of that journey in the short form video I created for the Society of Arts & Crafts “CraftBoston: Fiber Stories” online show that runs from July 16 thru August 29. You can view the video on You Tube HERE. Visit the online show HERE. See my work in the show HERE.
If you are sufficiently intrigued to learn more, the book is available for purchase HERE in its original paperback edition, or as a downloadable PDF or on a USB flash drive called a Stitchip that you can connect to a computer or laptop. All from the original publisher, XRX Books. Still undecided? You can preview the book by clicking HERE or on the link named “Betsy Beads” that you should see in the Navigation Menu to the left of this post. I hope you’ll check everything out as time permits. Proud knitter here!
What a nice surprise! The PR folks from The Society of Arts and Crafts alerted me to a listing in The Philadelphia Weekly, sharing news of my participation in the upcoming CraftBoston Fiber Stories Show. Not gonna lie… Always nice to see my work and name in print. Show opens on Juy 16. In THREE DAYS!! Counting down… 3 – 2 – 1… 🎆
Only nine more days until the opening of CraftBoston Fiber Stories, the newest virtual show to be offered by The Society of Arts and Crafts. I’m honored to have 10 pieces selected for this show and always happy to support and have my work recognized by this terrific organization, the oldest continuing non-profit champion of fine American craft. Lots of stories will be shared by the 40 some artists in this show, myself included. New for me was the creation of a short form video – really more of a slideshow – telling a bit of how I came to this work and what it means to me. It will appear on my Artist Page when the show opens on July 16. I look forward to reading the stories of others in the show and will welcome feedback on or questions about mine. I will share links as they become available, both here and on my Instagram page bio.
I can’t imagine I’m the only one who is not sad to bid goodbye to 2020. Not that there wasn’t anything to be joyful about. At the top of my list? We welcomed another lovely granddaughter to our family. That makes three of them! And it’s pretty clear that the world is profiting from the presence of more and more strong women. We’re just doing our part.
Working with The Society of Arts and Crafts as they mounted their first online CraftBoston Holiday show was also a highlight. Yes, sales were made, but equally important was expanding my circle of friends as I “met” and learned from other participating artists in ways I might not have had time for at the live shows of the past. Whatever format they choose to utilize, I will be grateful for any opportunity to work with these great people in the future.
And while there were times when I wanted only to retreat into “regular” knitting in order to self soothe, I continued to find inspiration in materials and diverse visual imagery. I’ve added images of some new pieces to the One-of-a-Kind Necklace Gallery so please click on over and have a look. One of my favorites appears below.
Lastly, if you are in the Philadelphia area, I urge you to stop in at The Gravers Lane Gallery in Chestnut Hill. I’m always grateful to have my work shown there alongside so many gifted and inspiring artists.
I feel positive changes brewing for this coming year. I choose hope. I hope you will too.
