Mungo Ice & Easing On

And when you heard a dining-room smash
Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
Or down from the library came a loud ping
From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming -
Then the family would say: `Now which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie! AND Rumpelteazer!' - And there's nothing at all to be done about that!
from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" - T.S. Eliot

Gato the Cat is little and feisty, and when she wants something she is very good at finding the thing you least want knocked over and knocking it over. Occasionally, she will knock things off the stairs, just for her own amusement.

When I got home the other day, Mr. S. was in the tub. As he got out he said, "Oh, Gato was in the bathroom pestering me. Then she left, and I heard her knock over something fairly large - just letting you know in case you find anything." We didn't immediately see what it could have been, so we sort of forgot about it.

Yesterday, while I was working on the computer, I heard another crash. But again, no evidence in sight.

Today, a crash and a scratchy, rumbling sound; followed by another.

I finally figured it out: large icicles falling from the upper roof onto the lower. Gato is off the hook.

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A couple of posts back, I mentioned a good article on fitting in the current "Knit It!"; which got me to thinking. When addressing the questions "What size should I knit?" or "How much ease should I allow?", authors often advise: "Measure a sweater that fits you well and knit to that size." This is very good advice, as far as it goes. It just should go one step further, and say: "Measure a sweater that fits you and that is made from yarn close to the weight you intend to use." Because yarn weight does affect fit.

I saw this demonstrated years ago at a design workshop given by Lily Chin. She brought in four sweaters, in yarns ranging from fingering to bulky, all knit to exactly the same chest measurement. She proceeded to put them on. The lightest weight floated like a tunic. In the mid range they fit with average ease, and the bulky looked skin tight. It really was almost unbelievable, but there it was in front of our eyes.

Elizabeth Zimmerman explains this phenomenon in Knitter's Almanac: "...very thick sweaters should measure at least one inch, if not two inches, larger than you would think, as the thickness of their fabric makes them smaller inside than out. If you don't believe this, envision making a garment out of a foam-rubber mattress, and think how much wider the circumference would be than the inside measurement. The same applies to a thick sweater."

And keep in mind that a heavy-ish worsted can make a fairly thick fabric if it's worked up in a deeply textured pattern - say all over Aran honeycombs and cables. Just something to consider...


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Happy Valentine's Day