Knitting Projects February 25, 2008

After finishing the lime green waistcoat, I felt at a loose end without a serious knitting project in hand.  I had a few ideas floating about – and a fill-in project, but I needed to find a more serious project upon which to focus.  I have plenty of yarn in my stash to work on squares for another hodge podge – that is the fill-in project.  But the idea finally settled that I wanted to try to knit another cardigan.  So I set off in search of a nice bright red Celtic Tivoli Aran (CTA) yarn.  Alas,  this year’s CTA yarns do not include that nice bright red they had last year, or maybe it was the year before.  In fact, none of the CTA colours called to me at all.  How disappointing.  I was about to leave the store (and yarn stores are thin on the ground here in Dublin), so I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.  But joy – another bin of yarn caught my eye – a Sirdar Eco yarn, undyed, 100% wool and made under licence in Germany.  Nice warm earth tones.   Get that idea of red out of my head and switch gears. 

  Eco yarn, natural colours

So here I am.  I’ve cast on 86 stitches for the back, finished the ribbing, and am about to introduce a few rows of white – and who knows, maybe some of the left over lime green.  Watch this space.

By the way, grandaughter Ashley – if you are reading this blog – I haven’t forgotten that you and Caitlin want me to knit dresses for you.  I have a good pattern – now I just have to find the right yarn.

Other topics – the lawn bowling season is due to start soon, and in anticipation the Lady Captain’s dinner was held on Saturday night.  At our table the talk turned to our tastes in reading.  The name of Barbara Pym came up – well, I was the one who introduced it.  In our group of 6, only 1 other knew of this author, one of my favourites.  I warmed to this person – anyone who is a fan of Barbara Pym qualifies for friendship.   Either we are of similar age or similar literary tastes, or both.  And Barbara Pym, like Agatha Christie, is certain to have characters who knit.

700 Knitted panels February 21, 2008

700 knitted panels were used to make this video.   It was made by the Quebec band Tricot Machine.  The panels were knitted by designer Lysanne Latulippe of the fashion label Majolie.  I think it is amazing and I can visualize the panels and the music as part of a big installation such as was held at the Crafts Council in London a few years ago, the Knit 2 Together Exhibition.

Speedy Knitting February 19, 2008

Recently there was a knitting contest in a shopping mall in Minnesota.  Knitters came from far and wide to participate.  The winner hails from the Shetland Islands in the far north of Scotland.  Hazel Tindall won the title easily, for the third time, with a record number of 262 stitches knit in 3 minutes.  Have a look at this article in the Shetland News.

In Annie Modesitt’s recent Newsletter she said that she entered the contest but her count was only a mere 170 stitches in 3 minutes.

 Just out of curiousity, I might test my speed – I suspect it will be a very low double digit number.

Completion of the Lime Green Waist Coat

 At last, thanks to encouragement from Bettina, I have finished the lime green waistcoat.  I added the I-cord trim and did a pressing. 

I still have some of that lime green yarn which I like so much so now I will have to think of what else to make with it.

Knitting aside, my news is mostly about music – lots of recorder playing.  And reading – The Year of the Lion by Gerald Hanley, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  And a chance meeting with an old friend, Brigid Mayes, from Bhutan days.  Oh, and an email from ex-Nairobi New Zealand friends now working on an assignment in Bhutan  In Nairobi we did a lot of Scottish Country Dancing with these friends.  Now I am delighted to hear that there is a Scottish Country Dance group in Bhutan.  What fun.

For our time in Bhutan, I had brought trunks full of rug weaving yarn and I wove many rugs on my Glimakra loom.  Alas, I wasn’t in to handspinning and I did not have a source of knitting wool.  I tried knitting with the local acrylic but that was decidedly unsatisfactory.  Thanks to the Online Guild and the intervening years there are so many more textile activities I would like to pursue there if I ever had the chance to go back. 

Lime green cardigan morphs into…… February 15, 2008

 

 My lime green cardigan is being transformed into a vest (sleeveless sweater).  I was not happy with the fit of the neck or shoulders of the original cardigan so I started again from scratch.  Such a nice colour, I couldn’t bear to abandon it.

 So here it is with a couple of other colours thrown in.  Now I plan to do an I-cord border around the armholes.  Then I will think about the front bands.

Stamp Collecting aka Philately February 6, 2008

I like to collect postage stamps.  And at this time of year, special postage stamps are in abundance.   Now with the grandchildren coming along, I am saving stamps for them – just in case some day they might take an interest.

 I’m not sure that I am serious enough about this hobby to term myself a philatelist……..but, as a fibre artist/philatelist I am particularly interested in stamps with some sort of fibre or handicraft theme.  Thanks to Leigh, I have recently discovered that the All Fiber Arts website has a special section devoted to stamps of this sort. 

Environmental Issues

What was I doing while I was doing my mindless knitting (see previous post)?  I was reading a very interesting book which I happened to find in Seattle as we were on our way out of Barnes & Noble on the last day of our Christmas visit.  One particular book on the display table caught my eye – Wandering Home by Bill McKibben.  Bill McKibben was not a name I had encountered before – but lo and behold, I find that he is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College in Vermont and he is an ardent environmentalist.  (Middlebury is much in my mind this year as I approach my 50th reunion this coming June.) 

Now I have read his book – and knit 2 more squares for my hodge podge.  In doing a google search on Bill’s name I came up with this very interesting New York Times article on wind turbines.

Wind turbines aside, Bill’s book is rather philosophical in approach as he reflects upon the meaning of wilderness.  He airs his thoughts as he does his walk from Ripton in Vermont across the Champlain Valley and the Adirondack Mountains in New York.  A lot of familiar names there for me so I found the book extra enjoyable.

Now imagine my dismay when I read this article about underage drinking and rampant vandalism at the Robert Frost homestead there in Ripton.  The Vermont State Police have their work cut out for them.  But I just wonder about the young men who are being cited for their more than wild behaviour.

Mindless Knitting February 5, 2008

 Squares for another hodge podge

My current knitting is rather mindless.  I am avoiding working on the green cardigan – which I think is going to become a green sleeveless vest.  I just don’t feel like fiddling any more with  trying to figure out how to attach my existing sleeves to the reknit fronts and back of the cardigan.  And I don’t want to reknit the sleeves – they are perfectly good as they are – just need to be attached smoothly to something.  A dilemma which I am putting to one side.   At this point I rather regret trying to salvage the green cardigan.

  lime green cardigan with ill-fitting sleeves – the finished product had a neck problem as well

So I am turning to knitting squares or rectangles, using yarn from my stash.  These will eventually be joined to make another hodge podge.

Recent award

   Recently I was surprised and delighted to be nominated by Leigh for this award.   Leigh has been a faithful reader of this blog and has given me much encouragement with her comments.  Now this award.  Thank you Leigh!

One hitch about the award though is that it entails naming 10 blogs that I would like to honour in turn.  A hard task.  Hard to choose among the many wonderful blogs that are out there circulating in cyberspace.  This raises the question of what blogs do I read and why.  My choices and interests might not be the same as yours. 

When I started reading blogs, they were all about knitting.  So, when I finally succumbed to creating my own blog,  it, of course, was initially about knitting.  Gradually the net has widened and I have found myself directed to many blogs which are not only about knitting and other textile activities but also have other points of interest about them.  I find myself reading blogs for a whole variety of reasons – blogs by people of similar age, circumstances, and background akin to mine, blogs by people I know, blogs by family members, blogs by people leading a life I might want to lead given a 2nd chance – fantasy!, blogs for their textile content, blogs from different parts of the world, the list could go on.  Here are my sample 10 choices – my nominations, in alphabetical order,  for the You Make My Day Award:

          

            China – Smog Blog

            Dances with Wool

            Emperorp

            Freyalyn’s Thread

           Getting Stitched on the Farm

           Irish Sally Garden

           Jean’s Knitting

          The LeContes

           Road Blog Ahead

           Woolly Bits

Making these choices was hard.  Ask me again tomorrow and I could give you another 10!

Sketchbooks and Photographs February 4, 2008

The workshop theme this month for the Online Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers is sketchbooks.  Our first assignment was to select a photograph, any photograph, any source, and examine it for a couple of days.  Now we have to say what we like about our chosen photo.

  This is the photograph I chose.  A photo I took some months ago of one of the approaches to the new DundrumTown Centre.

I sat in Starbucks this afternoon and thought about this photograph.  Starbucks is away in the interior of the new Dundrum Town Centre here in Dublin. The new Centre is vast and my photo shows only one aspect of it – and it’s an archival aspect.  This area used to be one of the approaches to the Centre.  However, several months ago this approach was sealed off and there has been a lot of construction activity going on behind the hoardings.  Secret construction activity as far as the general public is concerned.   What will be revealed when the hoardings come down??

My thoughts about the photo as I sipped my coffee

1. the photo is mine and I can do what I want with it – crop it, enlarge it, reduce it, etc.

2. I know the location

3. it’s an archival photo in our changing urban scene – this area is now all construction material and machines and hoardings – what will it look like when the barriers come down?? – will that lovely stone cottage on the left still be there?

4. in the photo I like the clean lines, the reflections, the pop art, the sense of depth, the sense of height

5. I like the boldness of it all – this is a multi-purpose area – a Bold New Town Centre cum Shopping Mall

I’m not sure where all this analysis is going to lead to in our workshop but here is another photo showing some of the activity going on in this area.

  not a very good photo of the barriers – I’ll try to find a better one.