Time for a little summer knitting, and MagKnits comes through with some patterns to keep you cool! This issue includes two tank tops and a lacy sweater called Rufflette made with Rowan’s Kid Silk Night — yum! I also liked the Saturday Market Bag, which would be useful for carrying around all those seashells collected at the beach or treasures hunted for at the flea markets. And how could your eyes not be drawn in to the hot, hot, hot Tropicana socks?

Bad News, 44″ x 54″, by Lori Lupe Pelish (copyright the artist)

Lori Lupe Pelish is a fiber artist from upstate New York. Her work has progressed over the years from abstracts to nudes to some mighty compelling depictions of herself and her family that seem half real, half imagined. In her artist statement, she explains: “My imagery expanded as I took a more detailed look into the makeup of the individual and their coexistence within contemporary family life. Freeze frame dramas concerning age, gender, motherhood, and the varied circumstances that shape and mold our lives. These quilts are made to draw the viewer in and question the roles and responsibilities that we all endure.” Pelish’s work has been widely exhibited and rewarded — most recently, her Safe in Suburbia won the People’s Choice Award and the Brakensiek “Caught our Eye” Award at Quilt National 2005. Don’t miss her amazing hooked rugs either.

Young Archer, 51.5″ x 41″, by Lori Lupe Pelish (copyright the artist)

directions at ihanna

So the final post of whiplash the first edition.

Lots of teething problems and great suggestions for making it bigger and better in the coming weeks. But first I must announce the winner of the Fun quilts prize - a wonderful basket of goodies donated by funquilts

This basket of goodies includes a copy of each of the books ‘the modern quilt workshop’ and ‘colour harmony’ as well as 1x yard and a fat quarter pack of their freespirit fabric range, and a pack of gift cards.

We could not decide who to give this to so we have split it between polvoron de limon and Moki. Congratulations.

Now another prize that is a bit unexpected. An invitation to be a contributer on Whipup goes to Flawed Maude whose original and quirky entries each week I and many of you too followed with glee. Each week she came up with something witty and unexpected, I am really looking forward to seeing what she might bring to us here. Please welcome her in the coming weeks.

Now for some thank yous.
To Rob and Jon who have given lots and lots of behind the scenes technical help (the plugin for adding links can be downloaded for free for use with wordpress from here)
To Heather who did page editing and html editing.
To the judges who wish to remain anonymous but who each week looked through each and every entry and gave their unbiased opinion about each one.
To Jan who designed the whiplash badges.
To the sponsors for donating funds and prizes to get this idea off the ground and for believing in whipup enough to take a chance on a relatively new website.
To all the websites and blogs who gave a shout out about whiplash and whipup.
To everyone who entered once or many times, what wonderful entries.
To everyone for checking out the entries.
To the readers for supporting whiplash, for the taking the time to give your opinion and suggestions and ideas.
To the contributers for keeping on keeping on.

Every now and then I find a link which takes my breath away.

The other day I discovered the ebook of Beeton’s Book of Needlework originally written in 1850.

The preface states:
The Art of Needlework dates from the earliest record of the world’s history, and has, also, from time immemorial been the support, comfort, or employment of women of every rank and age. Day by day, it increases its votaries, who enlarge and develop its various branches, so that any addition and assistance in teaching or learning Needlework will be welcomed by the Daughters of England, “wise of heart,” who work diligently with their hands.

While needlework now transcends gender, it largely remains in the cultural conscious as “women’s work,” a term which in itself has been denigrated over time. Despite language seen in modernity as old-fashioned, it also speaks to what is perhaps craft’s greatest gift, allowing the transferral of knowledge without worrying about stolen ideas or copyright. Craft has a legacy that is beyond legal confrontations or who had what idea first, it’s about taking skills and passing them on.

To me, this is where craft truly diverges from art, in the radical notion that knowledge can be given to others without fear of someone else running away and profitting from it. I have found myself trapped by this at times, and have had to remind myself that what matters to me is that transfer of knowledge and the perpetuation of ideas.

Also available is The Ladies’ Workbook by Unknown, thanks to The Gutenburg Project.