Ode to Wool

I love wool. Wool is cozy and warmy. Wool keeps the cold out and allows you to mock the below zero temperatures. Wool socks keep your tosies warmy and cozy. On top of all that wool is pretty.

My point (and I do have one)

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite all-time people.

My Grannie. She was a hard working, creative soul – a country woman who could crochet, sew, cook and garden. For me her meatloaf, creamed corn and English pea salad were legendary. I can make the English pea salad to suit me but have never mastered her meatloaf or creamed corn.

She ate a slice of white onion and slice of tomato with almost every meal and loved ice tea and Mexican food and hamburgers.

After my Grandad died in 1968, my Grannie, who was married very early and had never earned her own living, was left to make her way. She found a little house, got a job in the cafeteria of the local hospital, saved her pennies and crocheted. She crocheted doilies and afghans and doilies and lace collars and doilies and table clothes. I can’t even tell you the number of hours I spent lounging on her bed or sitting in the rocking chair while she crocheted, talking and watching her form stitch after stitch and stopping every once in a while to count.

My Grannie was the ultimate perfectionist (my mother can be, too – wonder what happened to me?). I can remember her making the little loop at the back of a blouse for the button closure over and over because it kept twisting. Never mind that it wouldn't twist once it was buttoned. Her clothes were always as beautiful on the inside as they were on the outside.

I can also remember her making huge table clothes using size 10 or 20 crochet cotton. Every once in a while she would go back and count to make sure everything was copasetic. A loud “Ohhhhhh…” would be followed by her ripping back to the point where she’d made a mistake – even if that was 100 rounds back! I could never understand it – after all, 100 rounds later, if she hadn’t caught it all those times she’d counted, who else would know. “I’d know.” And that was the end of it. Since I’m much more the person who would try to find some justification to overlook such a minor error, I was always at a loss to understand her compulsion.

All of that was to say this.

I’ve started my Skrå-trøyer sweater over. Here’s where I was:

And here’s where I am now.

If you check out this post from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, you’ll have an idea what happened. My math mistake wasn’t in the buying of the yarn but in working out how many stitches I needed.

Using the number of stitches I originally cast on would have made a sweater to fit a sumo wrestler. I sort of realized it early on so I decreased by a pattern repeat on the front and back and on I went, thinking I could just steek that little bit. And on I knit.

I got to the armhole where I had to split for the top part of the front and back. You see, up to now, the sweater was on a circular needle and not where I could easily spread it out and check the size. After all, I’d done the math. Well, the split happened and I realized that it was smaller than I’d started with but would still fit an NFL line backer. So I took it in by 2 pattern repeats as I worked up the back and happily knitted on. Ignorance (even willful ignorance) really is bliss, evidently.

I got most of the top back done when I happened to hold it up and realize that it was still going to drape down to my elbows so, in distress, I abandoned it to its basket while I worked on other things such as the Miser’s bag and shawl.

Finally, I plucked up the courage to look at it. I knew all the time in my heart of hearts that I just wouldn’t be happy if I kept knitting with my head in the sand. Alas, the winds of reason have blown away the sands of denial. In my head, I just keep hearing Grannie say, “I’d know.” And I knew.

Therefore, in honor of Grannie, and because I plan to have this sweater until I’m 90 and because, even after all this, I’m still so enamored of this sweater, I started over.

Of course, the fact that I’ve got about 150 fewer stitches will make it go faster so I’ve got that going for me. I don’t want anyone to even ask the question about what went wrong with my math. Let’s just all agree that I suck at math and leave it at that.

Here’s to Grannie, the voice in my head pushing me to do better!

Portuguese Fisherman meets the '70s

Just a quick post with a photo of a 1970's American Home Crafts magazine version of a Portuguese Fisherman's sweater. I like the look but it's not like any of the other pics I've been able to find of a traditional pattern. Any thoughts or ideas of where I would find references for this type of sweater?

Finishing off

I’ve been on a finishing jag this weekend.


The first thing I finished was the geometric miser’s bag I’ve been working on. I was moving right along when I ran out of thread but once I got more (and more than enough) I was able to finish it up fairly quickly. Every once in a while you make something that you just fall in love with; this is one of those for me. I definitely want to do others like this. The squared part is made from a cross stitch pattern so I’m going to try a few other projects with these patterns.

The second thing I finished was my prototype for my Scottish shawl. Here’s a shot of it as it was drying after being blocked. The original plan was to have the saltire (St. Andrew’s Cross) in the middle, then the thistle leaf pattern for the border and, finally, a knitted border. I did this prototype because I’d never done a Shetland shawl before and wasn’t quite sure how the middle would work out and because I wasn’t sure how the border section would work doing it all in the round. You’ll see the border looks more like seashells than thistle leaves. Ah, yes, well
there’s a story about that. I did it wrong. But at least I did it wrong consistently and made up my own different pattern! Happy accidents, don’t you love ‘em? I also wasn’t sure about the corners of the border. On this one I just did a stockinette stitch, which I’m not crazy about. But now I know I want to do a running vine pattern on the corners that should contrast nicely to the thistle pattern (once it’s actually done properly, that is!) and with this prototype, I can easily see how to work it in.

The nice thing, too, is that because so much of it was plain stockinette, this version went really quickly. The other adaptation I made was not working the knitted edging. I really didn’t want to invest that much time knowing it wasn’t going to be the “real thing.” I crocheted off the stitches and then did a couple of rounds of crocheted edging and I have to say that I kind of dig it. I think on another shawl of this type, I would definitely do a much larger crocheted edging as I think it would be really, really lovely and much faster than the knit off edging.

Class with glass

With beads, that is. I taught my first class at the local bead store last night - La Bead Oh. The class was on knitting with wire and beads and I had an absolute ball. There were 4 students (one of whom didn't even knit) and each one of them finished a project during the class. And let me tell you, they were gorgeous. I keep telling people, the technique is so easy - the beads and wire make it elegant or fun or flirty or like springtime.

I have about 2 dozen examples of different things I've done with the technique, all the way from rings to bracelets to necklaces and pendants. These creative ladies took those examples and the 2 second lesson and went to town. One was plush and rich and elegant with a crocheted gold chain, one was a bracelet bursting with lavender and purple springtime, one was black and white and glittery with copper bracelet and one was the same sort of mix of beads with gold which made another elegant pendant with a whole different feel.

Sorry I didn't get photos. I meant to. I had my camera. I even had my camera out. But when everyone got close to finishing it went a little wild and, well, um, I didn't get photos. Take my word for it, they were beautiful (and I'm not just saying that!). And let me just reiterate that one of the ladies didn't even knit. She learned to knit and made a gorgeous pendant all in one night - how's that for talent!

Woo-hoo!

I know there are some fun, quirky web sites out there but I want to share my favorite with you.

www.woot.com

Not just a shopping site, they focus on 1 thing a day and 1 thing only (unless that have 2 things or unless you look at the t-shirt of the day or the wine of the day or whatever else they may have added).

They really just have 1 thing a day and it’s out there until it’s sold out or until midnight comes around when there’s another 1 thing for that day. The exception (sort of) is 2 for Tuesdays which is 2 things but it’s 2 of the same thing so I’m not sure that counts. You can join a discussion about the 1 thing for that day, you can get some very cool stuff for a good price (usually) and it’s a lot of fun. Some people actually log on at 12:01 just to see what the item for the day is. I found out about them from a Dallas Morning News article my mother sent me several years ago which talked about how people would set their alarms to check the item as it’s posted. Of course, for some of the really good things, you have to be that quick to get it before it’s sold out.

But my favorite thing about it is the daily description of the item written by some resident (lunatic) staffer who seems to have way too much time on his (or her) hands. They are hysterical. I actually visit their site every morning, not so much to buy something, although sometimes I do, but to read the latest offering.

I have several favorites – here is one of my favorites:

There’s Something Fishy Going On Here

You can tell by the song in your heart and the pungent aroma in your nostrils: National Catfish Month is here! Every August, a nation drops to its knees before the altar of the slimy fish-god. Children stay up late hoping to catch a glimpse of the Phantom Catfish making his rounds, and thousands of the whiskered, scaleless bottom-feeders are ritually slain and eaten in a bloody orgy of bilge and batter. Here’s how the Pinnacle PCTV To Go can make your National Catfish Month celebrations even fishier:

• PCTV To Go lets you watch your fishing shows in HD on any PC anywhere in the world. You haven’t seen noodling until you’ve seen noodling in high definition. Bring your laptop out to the lake with you for total hi-def catfish overload!
• Even better, PCTV To Go’s PVR-style functions let you pause and rewind to savor the “money shots” – those moments of supreme catfish ecstasy when the gasping, thrashing beast is hauled into the boat.
• Not compatible with Macs – which is great, because Mac people hate catfish people. So screw them!
• Easy wireless setup gives you more time for eating, catching, thinking about, and drawing pictures of catfish.
• When somebody scoffs because the PCTV To Go has no HDMI, bet them ten catfish that component cables carry an HD signal just fine. You’ll win – then, hey, free catfish!
• Take your PCTV To Go unit, turn the Wi-Fi antennae so they jut out to the side, and glue on a couple of googly eyes. Presto! You’ve got yourself a whimsical replica catfish head.
• Got a Jewish friend who can’t eat catfish aren’t kosher (Leviticus 11:10)? Give him or her a Pinnacle PCTV To Go so he or she doesn’t feel left out of all the fun.
• Record the 2007 Miss Catfish Pageant for your personal archives. Our money’s on Miss Tennessee again this year.
• If you’re pretty handy with technology stuff, you can offer to help other people with the PCTV To Go’s tricky Windows Media Center setup, in exchange for – you guessed it – sweet, sweet catfish.
• Use the Pinnacle PCTV To Go as bait on your next fishing trip. Catfish cannot resist the convenience of wireless, HD TV on their PCs.
• We dunno, trade it for catfish or something? Sell it and use the money to buy catfish? We’re running out of creative steam here.

You get the idea. National Catfish Month is the time to cook catfish every which way but loose: fry it, broil it, bake it in bread, put in on pizza, whip it into a smoothie. But as delicious as those ideas are, we’ll take our catfish with a side of Pinnacle PCTV To Go.

It’s still funny! I laugh every time I read it. I laugh out loud.

www.woot.com – go up and see ‘em sometime.

Happy New Year

Holidays have come and gone. Hope you had a wonderful time, not too rushed.

Much knitting happened during my break but nothing that I felt I could get a handle on. No work at all on the Danish sweater. For some reason I’m caught with that one and am finding it hard to get working on it. I’ve gotten past the armholes and much of the back section but will need to wait for new inspiration to get it finished.

I got most of a new Miser’s Purse done but went and run out thread. I thought 2 balls would be more than enough but since the flat side was done in single crochet, it took a lot more than I thought it would. But I love the way the pattern came out. I have a book with Celtic cross stitch patterns and found this one which was just the right size to repeat for each side of the bag. It actually ended up being a really easy pattern to work this way, it just takes lots of thread! The only challenge with it is that when you crochet with beads, the beads are on the side that sits away from you so you can’t see the pattern developing. I had to stop quite often to make sure I was counting the pattern correctly. Although I did have to rip out a little, I did alright with it and was more than pleased with the way it came out. Moving into the middle of bag, I tried to do a graduated increase into the double trebles and then a graduated decrease into the round side of the bag in order to have a nice flow from one side of the bag to the other. The last one I did was a bit more choppy so I wanted to smooth that out and make that middle part long enough to balance both ends. I decided to just do a spiral sort of pattern for the round section as it seemed to balance the geometric design of the other end without having too much trouble decreasing down for the end. I tried to use the silver rings I have for the closures but somehow the silver just didn’t look right. Of course, that meant a trip to the bead store to see what I could find! And I did find these lovely doughnuts made out of a seed (sorry, can’t remember what the seeds are called) and which were died almost exactly the same purply blue of the seed beads. How often does that happen for it to match like that?!

Another project I’m on the final lap with is the Scottish-inspired Shetland-style shawl. I’ve done a bit of corner cutting on this version because I decided to use this one as a jumping off place for the final pattern. I wasn’t too happy with the stockinette corners and I want to make sure the thistle leaf pattern I used for the border works like I wanted it to. I was also not totally happy with the way the Saltire middle came out so I’ve decided not to invest the time of knitting off the stitches with a knitted edging until I get the other elements worked out. So I’m going to crochet off the edge and do a little improvised edging like that. I’ll be more than happy to use it that way and then I can use what I’ve learned with this one on getting the final pattern worked out and done. The middle and the edging went really pretty quickly so I’m excited to get everything worked out and make the real version.

Anyway, once I get the edging finished, I’ll block it and get a picture posted so you can get an idea of what it will look like. I’ll also do a little bit to explain what I did so you can see how really uncomplicated this is – it’s certainly one of those minimum effort, maximum impact patterns. It’s not really hard at all but it looks very intricate and impressive.