Weekend Update

I was so glad to get to Last Saturday knitting on (what else?) Saturday. I missed the get together last month, and it really felt like a year since I had seen everyone. Nice to get caught up on news and knitting projects. I did discover that a stitch pattern I thought was permanently grooved into my memory, was not. So I didn't make so much progress on my second Hudson River; but that wasn't really the point. (I think the Victor Allen barrista secretly thinks of us as the "Raucous Every Month Knitters." I was the first one there, and I could see it in his eyes when he spotted the knitting bag. "Oh no, here they come again." Actually, he is very nice, and I think mostly a bit amused by us.

Kitty Mommy Jen remembered my cautious fascination with the idea of a tatoo, and snagged me a temporary one from the last Sow's Ear Late Night Knitting.



Great Design:"Knit or Die". That kind of says it all. I'll wear it proudly til it flakes.

On my way over, I stopped in Verona to snag the new Knitcircus magazine.
It looks terrific. I like the "purse or knitting bag" size. Some cute knitting patterns, some cute sewing projects (including a sewing project for knitting.)



Brief as it is, Jaala's article on 1950's handwork is just about worth the cover price (because I think those pictures alone just might make this a collectors item). Can we say "naughty housewives"?

Speaking of retro, I'm still enjoying Knitting America just immensely. Anyone who thinks garter drop stitch scarves are so last year is off by several decades. Check out the "Imogene" scarf from 1924 (p.115). And remember that "magic" scarf that was making the rounds a year or two ago, the one you knit about half the length you wanted, then dropped about every fifth stitch to leave openwork ladders? Well Godey's Ladies Book was using that same trick in 1861, presumably in much finer yarn, for stockings.

I should mention that the book I am reading is Knitting America by Susan M. Strawn. (not Knitting in America by Melanie Falick, although it is confusing because Melanie wrote the forward and her name is also on the cover, and the two books are sort of the same shape and size).

After my first read-through, my favorite quotation (p. 172) is this:

Mrs. Fred Bard of Isleton California, salvaged her hand-knit Red Heart "Wintuk" sweater-coat that had been buried in mud for five months after her home flooded. She hosed it down, tossed it into the washer and dryer, and claimed it looked as good as new.

Strong evidence, I think, in support of my contention that the "best" yarn is the one that most adequately serves your purposes. A Wintuk sweater-coat might not serve my purposes, or even, perhaps, yours. But Mrs. Bard was a happy customer.