What a knitting mess!

But being messy is part of the process. 

Almonds, chocolate and yarn, my type of table!

I was so excited about this workshop. Out of all the goofy things I create, the hearts are my favorite. Yes, yes, I know I've said that before, but they really are!

These huge arm knit hearts, attached to 1/4" copper tubing are so abstract to me. Sometimes you can see the stitch definition, but most times you cant. 

Which is what I love. 

And you know me with hearts. . .I spot them everywhere!

A heart made from snow

A heart made from my hair mouse

A heart from lint. Hum, I guess I'm not that good of a house cleaner!

So it was only a matter of time before I started creating my own hearts. 

"Do you want to head to Chester to the hardware store with me" I asked my Faithful Sherpa. "I have to pick up some copper for the workshop."

We drove the 30 minutes north to the new Lake Almanor Ace Hardware. It's actually not technically new. It used to be a True Value Hardware store, but within the last 6 months, Duane and Tammy switched over to Ace. 

Anyways, I walked in and asked Duane if he had any copper tubing. "It typically comes in packs with refrigerator parts to repair your ice maker" I told him. 
"I have 1/4 in copper tubing, do you want that? What are you going to do with it?"
"Make hearts." 

Duane stood there, jaw dropped, glazed eyes, and completely confused. 

"Don't ask" said my Faithful Sherpa. "It's art!"

Sometimes it's fun to leave a long tail where the hearts cross.

A perfectly shaped heart!

Ann has a large heart!

1/4" copper tubing is super easy to manipulate into whatever shape you want. Except if you bend it too far and get a kink. Then you'll either live with the kink, or start again. And you know my motto, "don't worry about it, it's an embellishment!"

I'm not sure if you've arm knit before, but it's a goofy, silly and weird way to knit. But still, you're knitting, your work is just larger. 

Can you see the heart shape?

Really, I swear, it's a heart!

And this makes your work look at little more obscure, weird and hard to see. But don't worry, it's all part of the process. ​ 

Everything you need to embellish your sticks!

Several years, while preparing for a Early Childhood Education conference (my other job) one of our keynote speakers had asked if we could provide her with artifact sticks, similar to what the Native American tribes use. So, I enlisted the help of my girlfriends 9 year old daughter, Paloma, and her cat Mars. We wandered the woods, looking for the perfect sticks, then drove to our house, sat in our tiki hut with all kinds of beads, yarn, and ribbon and created artifact sticks. We made 30 sticks. In fact, they went over so well at the conference that different school districts asked to use them during their meetings! What a compliment.  

I've used some of the leftover artifact sticks  in the larger hearts I've made over the past couple of years. But I still use the same concept, decorating a stick, in my work. 

I'm so happy to see that everyone was thrilled with their completed heart. Each one so different, the colors, the shape, the embellishments. Some are loosely knit, some are tighter, some of the arrows are straight, some have multiple sticks. 

​But I can guarantee you, that each heart was made with love!