Bits and Bobs

There was no school last Friday, so Mr. S. and I went to Madison: Trader Joe's, bookstores, a music store for a new harmonica for himself, gelato at a new place just off State Street. Bright lights, big city. One stop was at the Hospice thrift store on the West side, where I found this:

It's for making hairpin lace, something I've never done. Another experiment in the offing.

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At one of the bookstores I bought this:

And consequently I spent all of Sunday afternoon and Monday reading. I liked the first half best: the neolithic period, Crete, Bronze age Europe, Sumeria. There are some perfectly wonderful images. These periods fascinate me.

I was particularly taken with this one, in part because I immediately recognized her, though I had never seen this particular artifact before.

I knew her from these:

They are 19th-20th Century embroideries from Eastern Europe that appeared in an article in "Threads" magazine in 1987. It amazes me how the image has persisted through time and enormous changes of culture.

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I spent most of yesterday with Gypsy Girl. Here's how the center pattern is developing:

At least as much time went into charting as actual knitting (partly because the charting involved some erasing and re-doing). I'm reaching the point (in charting) where I need to start thinking about how I'm going to finish off the top.

Process or Product?

Which kind of knitter am I? Well, sometimes one and sometimes the other, but also another category altogether "Experimental".

I have hauled out the stitch dictionaries,



and started in on slip stitch swatches,



and this reminds me how much I enjoy swatching pattern stitches. I love playing around with them, trying to analyze why they do what they do, tweaking them, envisioning how they could be used, what they would be good for and what they would not be good for. I could almost be satisfied just swatching and sketching design ideas without ever completing a finished object. (Almost.) What I have done so far barely begins to scratch the surface of the possibilities.

Just one example: ringing some changes on a very basic 4 row pattern:



On this swatch I started out with Pinstripe from Barbara Walker (bottom). Looks like stranded knitting, but only one color worked per row - breaks up the varegation of the second yarn - sleeve cuff for sweater? The first half of the second section up is "Corn on the Cob" (also BW). These are really exactly the same pattern stitch, except the first is worked in stockinette and the second in garter. But there is a significant difference in look (and in feel). Thicker - kind of cute nubbiness - hat brim? The top half of the second section combines them: two rows stockinette based, two rows garter based. The difference from Corn on the Cob is very subtle, but might be more apparent with a different yarn combo, maybe one fuzzy and one smooth? Or what if I worked 6 rows stockinette based and 2 garter? You see how it goes.

Moving up, I am still working the Pinstripe Pattern, but...



In the bottom section, on the variegated rows I slipped with yarn in front instead of in back on Red RS rows. In the next section (looks like solid black) I slipped wyif on the black RS rows. And at the top I slipped wyif every right side row. (Hmm, that flattens out the fabric noticably.) None of these are all that visually exciting. But what if I worked that first bit slipping every third stitch instead of every second, so the background color peeked through a little more?

Some of this is, in a sense, reinventing the wheel. I expect that any number of stitch variations I can come up with will already exist in the stitch dictionaries. But by swatching for myself I start to get an understanding and a feel for how they actually work (not to mention tons of other "what if?" ideas). And I like that.

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P.S. to Jeanne: Thanks for stopping by and for the comments. I've tried to return the visit, but the link in the comment doesn't work for me. :(

Slipping Along

Slipped stitches have always seemed a little bit magic to me. It's rather amazing how so many (and such varied) pattern stitches can be based on such a minimalist maneuver - slipping a stitch from the left needle to the right needle without doing anything else to it at all. I'm thinking about working up a tutorial on the basics and the possibilities. But before that can happen, I will need some swatches for examples, so I have started on the first.



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Monday was sock mending day. This picture demonstrates why I don't usually do a classic darn. Its not very pretty, though it will serve the purpose (cover and hold together the gaping hole under the heel). I'm not sure why I attempted it, except maybe to see if this time I could do it neatly. As it turns out, I could not.

This next pair, however, hadn't developed an actual hole. The yarn had worn so thin that I was afraid to put it through the wash, but it was still in place. So I was able to use Swiss Darning (aka Duplicate Stitch) for a very unobtrusive mend. The socks are semi-felted, somewhat matted and pilled from many washings, but (partly because of the felting) toasty, toasy warm. So I'm glad I can keep them going.




(BTW this is the Not Really Cable sock pattern, which you can have for yourself if you scroll down the sidebar to the "free stuff" section)

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And on a completely unrelated note: sometimes there are obstructions to making up the bed.



He will probably stay there, a contented lump, until the sun is well over the yardarm.

Serendipity

The topic for this month's blogalong at Blogger's Paradise is "Serendipity"

Many years ago, when we still lived in California, I wanted to find a certain book about Norwegian knitting that I had seen referenced in other books. It had been out of print for a number of years, and these were the days before we had access to the Internet, so I turned to the public library. They took my request, and I waited and waited and waited and almost forgot about it. But about three months later it arrived, all the way from Iowa. I hated to send it back, but of course I did.

Several years after that we were in Decorah, Iowa, visiting the wonderful Vesterheim Museum. I had made arrangements in advance and their extremely gracious staff allowed me to examine some of their collection of knitted mittens and gave me access to their library for the afternoon (I was researching an article that ultimately never did see print). Among a number of resources, I found again my little book. By this point in time new publications on Scandinavian/Norwegian knitting had come out, and I had several in my collection; but I was happy to see it all the same and copied as many pages as I felt I legitimately could.

More years passed. We had moved to Wisconsin, and one day went into a used book store just off State Street in Madison. It is my experience that used book stores don't often have very large knitting collections (is this because knitters hold onto their books, or the because stores don't have sense to snap up every one they can get their hands on?) But I always cruise over to the craft section to check it out. And this time, there it was:

Needless to say, I brought it home with me.

Whatever Happened to Gypsy Girl?

"...'The very first time I saw that admirable woman, Johnson,' said Mr Crummles, drawing a little nearer, and speaking in the tone of confidential friendship, 'she stood upon her head on the butt-end of a spear, surrounded with blazing fireworks.'
'You astonish me!' said Nicholas.
'She astonished me!' returned Mr Crummles, with a very serious countenance. 'Such grace, coupled with such dignity! I adored her from that moment.' "
- Charles Dickens "Nicholas Nickleby"

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Gypsy Girl had been set aside for a time, while I attended to other matters. Now I've picked her up again and she is growing slowly (more and more slowly as the rows get longer).




Such grace coupled with such dignity.

Here It Is

As promised, a picture of the completed Tiger, Tiger Scarf. I'm almost done with writing up the pattern, just need to weigh the scarf so I can get a more accurate yardage estimate, and then calculate from that how much more would be needed for the shawl version.