New Jersey Dyer Profiles: Interview with Myra Rubin of Woolbearers

As part of the Jersey Shore Knits project, it was important to make sure that local companies played a big part. It wasn't hard to find some really talented people with great hand dyed yarn based in the garden state, it was however quite unusual to have the opportunity not only to work with Myra Rubin of Woolbearers in Mount Holly, NJ, but to visit her incredible store. There she is on the left wearing the Seashells Shawl, knit in her Fingering Wool. Below she answered some interview questions about her story, yarns, and retail shop. 

Q. Can you share a little about your business and how you got started?   
A. I started Woolbearers 11 years ago with a partner.  We envisioned a tiny yarn shop with lots of our hand dyed and hand crafted  yarns. It morphed into a big yarn shop with lots of commercial yarns as well as Woolbearers hand dyed yarn. 

Jersey Shore Knits

I'm proud to introduce my first collection of accessories, inspired by the Jersey shore. It contains 4 projects perfect for beach knitting. Each is inspired by a part of the Jersey Shore culture and setting and is knit in a yarn from a different New Jersey dyer. I'll be interviewing each of the dyers over the next few weeks to highlight their unique and individual approaches.

People have asked why I'm focused on New Jersey and I have a very simple answer: The Jersey shore is a beautiful American treasure, filled with unique small businesses. In recent years, press from shows like Jersey Shore have colored people's perception of what it's like to vacation in New Jersey, but there's so much more to the shore than partying and wearing flashy clothing.

My Jersey shore experiences are all about the fun, food, and a beautiful setting.

I've been traveling to the shore often thanks to my aunt and uncle, owners of the Northwood Inn in Ocean City NJ. It is a treat to stay in one of the best B&Bs on the island. The Queen Anne style Victorian, was built circa 1894 and was restored inside and out by John Loeper. It has a porch that's made for sitting and knitting.

It would be a crime not to mention Marj's breakfasts. She's known for her orange chocolate chip muffins, but personally I am a fan of the lime nut muffins and the coconut bread. Marj will be sharing some of her recipes in the next few weeks. 

One of the unique and interesting attributes of the shore is the variety of colorfully painted victorian houses, known as "painted ladies." The Northwood has a palette of wheat, salmon and sage - beautiful, but calm in comparison to some other houses. Cape May, only 30 minutes from Ocean City is known for an abundance of beautiful Victorian houses. These lacy motifs and and historical colors inspired the Seashell Shawl. 

You can see how the intricately painted houses influenced the colors and detailing in this shawl. The yarn from Woolbearers in Mount Holly, NJ is a traditional colorwork yarn hand dyed in semisolid colors. 

When you stay in one of these nice houses, you can smell the ocean air coming in with the tides. On the beach, there are surfers, swimmers and sunbathers, but the beauty of the ocean is in the way the waves break at the shoreline. As they come in, they split into a bunch of smaller ripples, creating an interesting texture in the water. 

The Atlantic Ocean Cowl is inspired by the way these waves break on the sand. 

Knit in  Nooch Fiber Morningside Sock in color O Trem Azul,you can find this special colorway in their etsy store right now.

In between the ocean and the land there's the boardwalk. It's the center of the entertainment day and night with all the snacks, amusement parks, and arcades.

In 2012, hurricane Sandy decimated businesses along the coast. The boardwalk in many towns was hit hard. But in spite of the devastation, many people have worked hard to rebuild. On my most recent trip, reminders of the storm were almost unnoticeable and are mostly visible in placed where the planks on the boardwalk were replaced with new wood. 

You can see the repairs in this early morning photo taken before the shops open for the day and the crowds arrive.

The Boardwalk Wrap knit in Spark Story Toughie Sock is an openwork mesh perfect to wear on a warm day. The geometry in the lattice knit motif reminds me of the way the planks of the boardwalk make interesting patterns. It is hard to convey in a photograph just how nice this fabric feels to wear.

So what kind of businesses are along the boardwalk? Mostly surf shops and junk food, I cannot resist sharing a few images of food eaten during the Jersey Shore Knits shoot:

There was more, But I'll stop and tell you about another big part of what's on the boardwalk. Amusement parks are one of the biggest draws to the Jersey shore. These small family run establishments have none of the outrageous lines  and gimmicky feel of big parks, in fact many have historic carousels and an old time feel. They also almost always have a huge ferris wheel, acting as a beacon to guide arriving tourists towards the beach.

We were lucky enough to plan the photo shoot so that the annual opening of the parks was our last night there. It was a pleasure to see everyone out to celebrate and to photograph the Ferris Wheel Shawl, knit in MollyGirl yarn, right in front of those iconic lights.

You'll be hearing mor about these patterns, yarns, and locations over the next month, remember it's not too late to book a vacation to the shore, but if you 'd rather just knit your way there, check out the Jersey Shore Knits E-book on ravelry.

Field Trip: Lion Brand Retail Store

Last weekend I took a trip to the Albany area. The trip included a stop at the Lion Brand Retail store in Colonie, NY. If you like Lion Brand or live in the area, this store is worth the trip. It's one of the only places to see nearly all of the yarns and colorways that Lion Brand has to offer including clearance and discontinued items, new yarns, and a few small batch products that are only carried in their retail and factory stores. Any knitter, crocheter, or general crafter can find something there.

Machine Knitting Trip Part 2: Knitting

The 2 day intensive machine knitting course at the Textile Arts Center in Carroll Gardens was incredibly informative.The instructor, Mandy Kordal, Really knew her stuff, using a combination of demos and one on one instruction to make sure everyone was able to grasp the basics.

IKEA

Going to IKEA is almost like going on a day long vacation.

This was lunch. The selection of non offensive American classics, Swedish dishes, and pretty pastries is a really good way of explaining what is good about IKEA. On top of a sturdy foundation of organization, coordination, and presentation, they have options. There are certain things that could be considered IKEA classics, Poang bent ply chairs, mod fabrics, and those famous meatballs. If you are into the brand, this is what you want. Then there is furniture which fits the average home. It is less minimal with more upholstery foam, floral prints, and moldings. These are like ordering a mac and cheese combo in the cafeteria. Each section also has a sprinkling of more expensive items with slightly better quality or craftsmanship. You can splurge on cow skin rugs and leather sofas if you really want. These are like those indulgent desserts but for your home.

Most people can find something they like because of these basic themes.

The IKEA in New Haven is particularly pleasant from a design perspective because the dining room looks out to the historically significant Pirelli Tire building.

Designed in 1968 by Marcel Breuer, this vacant building was supposed to be demolished to make room for the IKEA. Though the majority of the structure was torn down, the most interesting section was left standing. The masterful use of texture in the concrete cannot be seen in this picture, but the building is actually worth visiting to get the details.

Though I wasn't looking for furniture on this trip, I was looking at it. I made special note of the way textured accessories were used to add personality and interest to the constructed interiors.

 These were some of the reference pictures that I snapped to use as texture inspiration.

I also found a new friend to take home with me in the children's department.

This is my new vegetable friend. He is a carrot with shorts.

I'm pretty analytical about how I choose stuffed toys, and our friendship is a result of an outstanding hug test. I actually tried explaining to some strangers that as part of my college education, I learned a lot about what makes a good stuffed toy. Each toy can be critiqued on form, character, and educational value. I think they thought that I was either making things up or mentally unsound. Anyway, this carrot in shorts came home with me. I like him a lot.

If you ever need a good vacation spot, check out IKEA.

It's time we Met

For those of you who live near the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the phrase is familiar. The ad campaign from 2009-10 showed people and art from the collection interacting. I'm a little late on my entry, but here it is.

Notice anything? I have heard that fans of Harry Potter wear robes to book signings, Trekkies wear uniforms to cons, and sports fans obviously wear team colors for their outings. When I heard that Carlton was on display, I just had to go see it (him?), and when I went to see it, I had to wear my fan sweater.

This is me emulating the cantilevered shelves. I tried to think of a more clever pose but couldn't. Anyhow, by taking this cheesy picture, I can ensure that the internet knows that I'm a big enough designerd to dress up for museum trips.

extra nerd cred for anyone who outdoes me by wearing the infamous Eames leg brace to somewhere showing or selling bent ply furniture.

Future of stuff

I actually don't feel like saying much about this, but I'm due for a post.

Slime mold experiment and a makerbot hooked up to a kinect on the same table

The Future of Stuff was a fun mini conference about.. you know what. I learned a few interesting things from the speakers even though I had heard a few of them (Mary Huang and Aminimal studio) only a few weeks ago.

Alex Hornstein talked about his interest in how independent designers make successful products, showing a few case studies. How exciting to hear about the logobot which is a physical robot version of the turtle in logo and spikerbox which is an at home neurobiology kit.  He was really excited about products which brought the cost of traditionally expensive machines to an affordable price.


Jessica Rosenkrantz & Jesse Louis-Rosenberg spoke about the Nervous System aesthetic and their generative design philosophy.

Graphic designer Richard The showed some examples of his work. It was interesting to see logos which used interactivity to reinforce concepts. He also showed a few examples of parametrically generated graphics which were used as constantly changing but recognizable logos.

I was especially interested with what the final speaker, Marius Watz, had to say about coding and parametric art and design. It's better that you go look him up because my summary of his presentation won't be as interesting as his own words.

Mostly I learned that programming is something that I should probably learn.  oh, and that Lasersaur is working to make affordable laser cutters a reality.

Digital Design Therapy/Shapeways Meetup

I went to a meetup yesterday that was hosted by the Digital Design Therapy group about the possibilities of 3d printing. There were speakers from Shapeways and design studios which use digital media as part of their design and manufacturing.
Though a lot of time was spent on the materials and capabilities of 3d printing, a few ideas on general design theory also came across as important.

More and more, people want the freedom to design their own products.
This is something that I have definitely been thinking a lot about lately. The democratization of design is kind of a threatening idea to me because its already hard enough to find work, but there is still a place for the professional in the future. Mary Huang showed a few of her interfaces which are designed to give people the tools to make products interactively. Ddress, an app on the Continuum Fashion website is an interesting example of this phenomenon. She designed the interface to give users complete freedom to choose form, but consciously limited them to black fabric and a low poly pattern. This helps people make something that is unique, but still fits into an overall aesthetic.

Like all manufacturing processes, 3d printing has unique properties and capabilities. Justify high cost by making things that cannot be made by other means.
Thee founders of Aminimal studio spoke about their lighting and jewelry projects which take advantage of the printers' ability to make highly detailed, complex forms accurately. It just doesn't make sense to print something if it can be made cheaply using another process. Similarly, designers from The Future Future showed their jewelry, which uses the freedom of 3d printing to generate unique but similar pieces. Because there is no master mold, there is no reason to make only version of a product.

All of the designers acknowledged the potential of this new technology to change the structure of manufacturing in a way that has not happened since the industrial revolution. I don't doubt it, and will be continuing to think about these new rules for design as we all should.

Talk to Me

I went today to see the Talk to Me exhibit at MoMA. There was a lot of interesting content and commentary about the integration of technology into everyday life and how we interact with it. Ranging from concepts and predictions to widely used designs, most of the content of the show seemed to be a direct response to Anthony Dunne's Hertzian Tales. I thought I wrote about Hertzian Tales, but it seems that I didn't. It was about the need for empathy and philosophy in the design of electronics. Its a really interesting book - a bit dry, but you should read it.

Anyway, a lot of the content focused on the ability of electronic objects to alter perspectives, augment reality, and to create emotional responses. The subtitle of the show is "Design and communication between people and objects" which is, I guess, a good way of explaining the theme of the show. The general feeling that I got from it was that people just want to get personal with inanimate objects, whether that means artificial affection from an iPad app or pointing out the coldness of sending an email. We are human and we now expect experiences that are more human.

There were scannable codes on all of the museum tags, which makes me realize how amazingly innovative those guided tour headsets were when they first came out. Now we can scan so many things to get more info, but that idea seems to have originated in a gallery setting. A lot of the displays required headphones, which I don't like, so I only listened to some. Surrounded by so many interactive technologies, headphones hanging on hooks looked even less inviting than they usually do. There was so much to take in that I wouldn't have been able to listen to everything anyway.

The most interesting part of the exhibit was the interactions that people had with the displays.

The first piece in the show was a projection of an app called Talking Carl. There was an iPad where you could interact with the character on the touch screen. A little boy saw someone touching the screen and ran up to try it himself. His mother stopped him. She yelled "don't touch the exhibit." The boy said he saw someone else do it but she still said no. I went up to the screen, gestured the character to do a flip, and said "its interactive."  She let the boy play with the screen and thanked me, I don't know if she was being sincere. I think this experience shows the difference between generations and their reaction to technology. To someone who grew up without touchscreens everywhere, a screen in a museum still means "art, do not touch," but for someone who only knows a back lit rectangle as an icon of interactivity, they know what to do.

Another funny scene was the metro card vending machine, on display for the exhibit to show interface design at its finest. It was fully functional, dispensing cards and everything. People kept going up to it to see what it did. They would touch the screen and look confused when it did what it was expected to do. Some even asked the guard what it was for and whether it was part of the exhibit.  If good design is in fact invisible, congrats to the designer - not even the tourists found it noteworthy.

So, this review is getting really long. I will be going back to see the show again when I can spend more time. I will then write about it again with some more thoughtful and designey comments about the experience. Also next time I will show up with a charged phone for a more complete experience.

Yeah, if you go, charge your phone. And you should go.

Renegade craft fair was very Brooklyn-y

This Saturday I went to the renegade craft fair to see what kind of things Brooklyn is doing-it-self. It turns out that the entire city has a similar color scheme of muted pastels and super saturated neon.

 There were a lot of good looking ceramics booths, but a lot of the other crafts were just too smilar to each other to hold my interest.

One of the more interesting vendors was selling these terrariums with small figures inside.

Mostly there were a lot of hipsters hanging around in the rain.

things that are no longer on display

These are a few pictures that I took at the Armory last Saturday.  They are of the 630 red and white quilts that are no longer on display. The lighting made very cool patterns on the floor.

You should look at the second image large, the quilt is embroidered with the busts of bearded men.


I think that my professor took better pictures, so you should look at those too.