Back to Knitting

It feels like I haven't knitted anything for a year.  It hasn't been quite that long but it's true that I've been focusing on other things lately.  But visiting the lovely knit shops in Nashville last weekend, I got inspired to get started again.  I have a lovely California baby to knit for that hasn't had anything since the beginning so I found some beautiful Mandarin Petit, a cotton yarn, that I thought would be beautiful and bright.  But I couldn't decide on a pattern.

Here's what I finally came up with:

It's from the Lanas Stop Bebe Baby 0-3 Book #120.  It's a very cool multi-lingual book of baby patterns that I just couldn't pass up. Because I don't have that many baby patterns. That's my story, anyway.

So on to the sweater.  I'm doing the main body in this chartreuse green and I'm going to do the cable band in yellow and then use yellow buttons.  I think it will be ever so sweet and will work for her in California.  It's knit from the top down with the cable band worked side to side. Should go pretty quick, too.

A Day Out

Last weekend I took a trip to visit a friend.  It's been so cold around here do on my way back, I was so enjoying the rare warm day that I decided to doddle.  It was a perfect day for wandering off the beaten path and visiting some antique shops.  I've decided I need to start an antique shop blog, since I go to so many of them!

Anyway, I pulled into this little town in Kentucky but the first few shops I came across in their "historic" district were still shut.  Since I wasn't in the mood to wait around for them to open, I went a little further up the road to find a place to turn around, I came across a large shop that was open.  BINGO!

I wandered through and saw some interesting things until I came up to an area with a table that had a bunch of stuff on it.  Now, it's important to know that I usually power walk through these kinds of antique malls.  I'm pretty good at spotting things that might be of interest but mainly I just like to see what's there.

This time, though, I had to do a double take because there on the table, under a mile of dirt and grime, was a table loom.  I could see well enough to know that it was complete and sturdy.  Good bones.  This type of loom can run anywhere from $900-1,300 dollars purchased new and this one was a fraction of a fraction of that.  I didn't even have to offer the lady a lower price.  She volunteered that if I paid cash or check, she'd take 20% off the price.  There was no way in creation I could pass that up.  Deal!

I don't have any good photos of it with the pile of dirt but here's what it took to get it cleaned up:

I had brushes and cloths and furniture orange oil and canned air and screw drivers and more.  I spent almost 2 hours on the porch (where it was almost warm enough to sit on the porch for 2 hours) working on it, much to the confusion of my neighbors.  I'm still working on the reed and heddles but I'll finish those this afternoon. 

Just a note to say, I was thrilled that it came with a 15-dent reed, a size I don't have for any of my other looms.

Anyway, here are some pics of how it cleaned up.  I knew it was well made but I had no idea the wood would clean up this beautiful.

There are no company markings and as you look closely, you can tell it was all made by hand.  The only markings I found were some pencil markings on the back of the back support.  I can't read all of it and haven't got a good photo of it but the part that I can read says "William Workman."  A quick search didn't bring up anything about William Workman but I have access to some very knowledgeable people so I'll see if any of them are familiar with him.

I couldn't be more thrilled by this beautiful addition to my rapidly filling apartment.  Next time, I'll tell you the story of the half-bale of straw and the new bobbin lace pillow!