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Allsorts

So busy! But there is a tiny bit of knitting to display. I'm working on a second design from Magnificent Mittens (ISBN: 0-9646391-3-0) and they really make me think of licorice allsorts, so much so that I'm considering a little hot pink and green duplicate stitch after the knitting is finished.

In other glove and mitten news, my copy of Håndplagg til bunader og folkedrakter arrived, and dear me! It is simply glorious. I'd like to buy a copy for each of the splendid stranded color knitters I know! Since I can't, I hope you'll think about buying it for yourself. It's expensive! But it's a great big heavy book you can keep on your coffee table! There are over 300 pages of gloves, mittens, beaded cuffs, lace cuffs, pulse warmers plain and beaded, and pages and pages of beautifully photographed Norwegian folk costumes. The book is in Norwegian, but all the designs are charted, so you only have to be able to count. My copy, from Nordic Fiber Arts, came with a list of Norwegian knitting words translated into English.

Many of the gloves and mittens have gorgeous embroidery on the backs. I e-spoke with our embroidery expert, Kim, and she told me that the embroidery is of the type known as crewel. (I feel so lucky that we have such a generous resource to call upon at all hours of the day and night with our emergency embroidery questions! Thanks again, Kim!) The embroidery is very bold and colorful, not dainty (as in a sampler, for instance), and predominantly satin stitch, sez Kim. I would love to be able to show you a photo here, but I don't have permission. Do check your public library, though, to see if this wonderful book is coming soon--if not, you simply will have to buy it :-)

This is a beautiful book that I think will be on every color knitter's wish list for birthdays and holidays for some time to come. It's fabulous. Read more about it here and here.

Pups

Our all-time favorite houseguests were here for nearly five days! The pups were delirious with joy.

We went out on the river and saw the bats, simply clouds of them—all 1.5 million, I think, although one or two may have stayed in. The pups were so excited that Mikey strained his back. Della and Jack were extra solicitous toward him, which, I think, would make anyone feel better. Mike does.

We wish you a happy Monday with *all sorts* of good stuff.

Be Vewwy Quiet

We're hunting Yentala, and we found her! And her little dog, too! We didn't have our camera-phone (curses!)! But we saw her! And we were completely star-struck, and interrupted the very important meeting she was having! Oh! The excitement! Like meeting a real celebrity! And me with just a set of double-points to greet her with. Yentala's channeler, Deb, works full-time and goes to grad school full-time. No wonder she isn't blogging regularly! But she looks gezunter, bubbelahs, so don't be feelin' tsiterik about her lack of blog-updates. No shande on the Yentala. Debela, biz hundert un tsvantsik!

We also saw the new IK Crochet magazine. We like it! Knitting magazines have been kind of a drag to me this year, and to see some crocheted designs that looked creative and smart did my heart good. Two thumbs up for fashion-forward crochet--there were several vests and sweaters and jackets in this special edition that I would be happy to wear. Some of the garments are downright stylin'. There's also an interesting article on tapestry crochet. I think I'll learn how to do that, it looks cool. I don't quite understand why crochet takes more wool than knitting, but I'm sure it will become perfectly clear in my comments today :-)

Personal: I have houseguests coming over the next few days, and I'll be hitting the pause button on the blog so I can take them to see the bats. The pups and I will be wishing you a happy, happy week! Cheers, and good knitting!

Color Clutter

Enough about me, let's talk about my latest mitt.

It's the one I mentioned yesterday that could have worked, perhaps should have worked, but somehow didn't work.

I have a chart of a butterfly on small squares that I've been wanting to turn into gloves or mittens. How cool would that be, to wear butterflies on the back of your hands? And as for colors, what could be more suitable and natural than a butterfly on a leafy green background?

Well. I took two beautiful colors of Lorna's Laces, Cedar and Watercolor. My knitting experiments in combining handpaints and variegated colors thus far have shown me that if one of the yarns (we'll call it the foreground) has even a speck of the same color as the other yarn (let's call it the background), the design will blur around the edges owing to insufficient contrast and look (professionally speaking) muddy.

Watercolor, my foreground color, hasn't got a speck of the background Cedar green in it, as you can tell in the upcoming photo. What I failed to consider, however, was that the greens in the foreground would become analagous to the background green. Thus, I created harmony instead of contrast, with color values that were too close together. It seemed to me as if it might work as a very subtle design, revealing itself to a loving observant eye. But it doesn't, really. See for yourself.

[The chart is from Alice Starmore's Charts for Colour Knitting (ISBN: 1874167001, but out of print) by the way.]

Color is a fascinating thing, and I have much to learn about color theory. Perhaps knowing more, I could have guessed how this would turn out, but as it was, the contrast seemed just enough to keep me knitting up through the butterfly before conceding color-defeat. I kept thinking that since the colors weren't the same, if I kept knitting, the design would surely and suddenly pop out. Nope. Never did, never will. I'm intrigued by the idea, though, of moving the background green up or down the value-scale to see when, exactly, the design would become crisp, with enough contrast to the foreground to make a leafy green background work. The brilliant Sheila is putting together a wonderful wooly color resource here that I know will prove useful as well as lovely. And, I like this website for color tutorials. Do you have it bookmarked? Knit and learn, right?

Pups

After posing with all manner of charming miens last week, the pups have decided to make faces whenever I try to take a blog-photo. Observe Della and Jack, misbehaving and loving it.

I ask you. Do they have to do that?

We wish you a photogenic Tuesday with colorful knitting! Cheers!

Back to Work

What a great birthday we had here! Thanks very much, everyone, for stopping by and for the greetings you sent—your presence at the party greatly increased our joy.

We Return to our Knitting

We did get back to knitting, but we had rather the same experience as Siow Chin Yeo and did quite a bit of ripping. (Even when ripping, Siow Chin Yeo has a great blog! Go visit!) Out of the four mittens I ripped, I saved one to discuss with you regarding its color design, which should have worked, but didn't. But we phorgot to photograph it, so we'll save it for another day. Instead, we have guest gorgeousness to display:

Isn't it beautiful? It's the cardigan from Poetry in Stitches, but our guest knitter changed the colorway very successfully! Marianne is, in her own words, "a sparkling autumn," and the blues just didn't work for her, so she switched to reds and oranges. I think that when I knit this sweater, I'll do the same, because I think the change is really fabulous! Thanks, Marianne! Everyone else? Go visit Marianne's knitting—it's wonderful!

We Return to our Job

Ho-hum. Party's over. We go back to work with our memories to sustain us.

Some of us are better at keeping a stiff upper lip than others.

Hang in there. It's only a Monday and will pass.
We send you subdued cheers!

You Say It's Your Birthday?

Famous blog pups decided to get together.

First there was lifelong Sandy:

then, some Blogdogblog dogs:

and then, those Dogs Who Steal Yarn:

As with all good parties, word gets around! Sandy, Diego and Sadie, and Mike, Jack and Della play host to regular famous dogs who bark their regards for three knit-blogger birthdays.

Happy birthday to Greta, Cari, and me!

Happy August 20 to everyone else.

I would like you to dance. Take a ch-ch-ch-chance!

Woofs to all!

Mitten Maniac

We've been studying mittens here, and compiling some sources for future esoteric mitten-knitting. Isn't knitting the greatest? Something new to learn every time. It's hard to believe we would be so easily distracted from the Tunnel of Glove.

We've been doing a couple of other things, too, besides knitting, that are taking up an inordinate amount of our time and energy. Some weeks are bound to be like that, I guess!

Let's not think about being overly busy, though. Instead, let's go look of Gunnister Man's knitted gloves. (Thanks, Jacinth, for the link.)

Mikey is busy practicing a special song for some special friends on Friday! Get ready to sing along!

Cheers! We hope your week is going very well!

Armchair Knitter

Let's do some armchair knitting/traveling today. There is some fabulous stuff being knitted around the Nordic Knitblog ring. Wow! And as ever, the Tricofranco knitters are superb!

more later from me and the pups...

'Til Tuesday

Busy busy here. Go help Mimi Kirchner, okay?

NW Damm Fine!

Cassie in Brooklyn sent us a link to a small photo that has us jumping for joy and clapping our gloved and mittened hands here—Håndplagg til bunader og folkedrakter (ISBN: 82-496-0187-4), from publishers N.W. Damm & Søn. Yeah, knit-babies! New inspiration in small projects!

Cassie, who has her copy already, says there are examples of gloves, mittens, and wristwarmers from various regional museums in Norway, and along with the examples are beautiful patterns and beautiful photography as well. I called Nordic Fiber Arts immediately and my copy is on its way. I even forgot to ask how much it was, now that I think of it. But we don't care! We're nearly mad with joy! Thanks, Cassie!

My current knitting has still not decided whether it is going to be mittens or gloves, but at 10 st/inch, it has time yet to make up its mind.

Friday! Let's all learn some Norwegian from Theresa so we'll be completely ready for our new book!

We wish you a happy day, a stroll in the park, and a lovely weekend. Gjør Ræt, Frykt Ingen! See you Monday!

Best Readers in Knit-Blog-Land!

You know who you are! You stop by here frequently, and I'm always surprised and delighted by how completely generous you are with your time and your supportive comments (and praise of dachshunds!). Thanks! You make my day!

Q&A

Maus asks: how much wool did the Apple Butter mitts use?
And I sez: Approximately two-thirds of each hank. Those are big generous skeins from Apple Laine, and I have enough wool left over for baby booties, or wrist bands, or any number of yummy little decorative items. Except those little sweaters used as egg cozies. We're not having that.

Judy asks: What's up with the Knitted Stitch sweater by Meg Swansen?
And I sez: The colorway is being reconsidered. The purple and orange mittens reminded me that, astrologically, I am a Leo and I like bold colors and unusual combinations. The colors I began the project with are lovely. But I wanted a red one. So, I am waiting on some extremely snazzy and decidedly *me* wool to begin the project again. Knitters, for the happiest knitting experiences, to thine own preferences be true. (Or, as Wendy sez: Be a Bad-ass knitter!)

Pups

Thursday. We are whirling like dervishes here from overloads of Busy. Jack and Dyna remind you to slow down and share the love!

Cheers, and happy knitting!

New Mittens

Or maybe gloves. I'm not to that point yet in my next set of hand-cozies. The latest are of rare and astonishing subtlety. . .in fact, they are almost too subtle, you know? Overly subtle and mysterious, I'll show them to you tomorrow, when there is a bit more progress.

Thank you all for your lovely comments and emails on the Applebutter mitts. The wool did most of the work :-) because it's just so luscious, but I appreciate the compliments! Maus asked about the invisible thumb; it is indeed on the palm-side of the mitten, rather than having a gusset or the sore-thumb effect. This type of thumb is well documented and clearly described in Zilboorg's Magnificent Mittens and (of course) Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia. It's the first time I ever tried to make the thumb invisible by working it in the main pattern; I like the effect and recommend to you both books. Is it an afterthought thumb? The construction does seem similar to EZ's afterthought heels and pockets, but I don't have surplus research time today.

Ginny asked about keeping the tension even while working on two circulars. It is easier for me to do this with two circs than with four or five dpns. However, most famous knitters will tell you that if you are knitting too tightly while stranding two colors, whether on two circs or a bunch of dpns, you might want to try turning your work inside out. You can still read your knitting, but since the floats/weaves are on the outside of the work now, they stay a bit looser. The Applebutter mitts are actually the first pair of mittens I've ever knit. I didn't think I would like them, but felt I should add them to my knitting repertoire. Mittens are loads of fun! Lots of room for design, and no fingers to fret over! Yay Mittens!

Stash Diving

Whoa! Look what I found while I was diving in the stash for more mitten wool!

This is an unfinished project from so long ago that I still used straight needles! And the Tomato Factory was still in business! And you could buy Alice Starmore's Scottish Heather wool in every color imaginable! Long, long ago. This project was to be a Rowan waistcoat; miles upon miles of seed stitch. The Scottish Heather is a defunct color called Wilkinson. It's not really dark dark purple as in the photo above. Instead, it's one of those magical Shetland creations, as below:

HolyCOW!! it's beautiful in person!!! Does this color still exist in Jamieson-land? I don't often find projects that I've forgotten about completely. How nice to find such an evocative one; it's a trip down Knitting-Memory Lane. Cleverly, at some point I stuffed the pattern, upon which I actually made a note of the size I was knitting, into the Tomato Factory bag with the wool. Sometimes I'm just brilliant like that.

Pups

Everyone (except me) got short haircuts over the weekend. All are pleased with their new looks, but they have been a little shy about showing off their glossy loveliness. Little Jack finally sat for the blog, but he did it only for you.

Wednesday! Have a wonderful Wednesday! It's downhill from here!
Cheers!

Hiho! To the Post Office!

The mitts are finished just barely in time; they are still a little damp from Sunday night's dip into Euclan. I'm wondering what will happen if I use my blow dryer on them. (Hmmm. wonderwonder.)

Here you see completed damp mittens that were designed by Anna Zilboorg and worked in two shades of Apple Laine's beautiful handpaint Applebutter wool:

Hey Waldo! Can you find the nearly-invisible thumb in the photo above? From the right mitten:

And from the left mitten, here is the reverse-color cuff with double applied I-cord, per Elizabeth Zimmermann.

I'm not happy with the wool tensioning I did in these mittens; I guess that goes to show that no matter how much color work you've done, you still need to pay a tiny bit of attention. I found I worked significantly more loosely with double points, and significantly more compactly with two circulars. I much prefer the two circular method now, feel more comfortable with it, and prefer my results.

These must go in a Priority mailer today to be in time for a birthday; I will enjoy imagining these mittens out for a walk through Central Park in wintertime. I miss the City. I'm glad I can send mittens to visit!

The wise Kim S. was looking for a link to a Russian mitten website that's been around for a bit; I happened to have it and sent it on to her, but you might enjoy looking at it too. By selecting the knitting link on the left side of the page, you can view some fancy handknit Russian mittens with beautifully crisp graphs. The rest of the website is very interesting, too. Save some time to browse the recipes and the embroidery. (Hint: if you haven't had lots of coffee yet today, turn sound down.)

Monday! Monday! Monday! Della says gRRRRRRRR and we agree.

For some cute kitty photos, go meet Hillel!

Misbehaving Mitts, Glorious Gloves

One mitten is finished and the other is knit down to the invisible thumb, but they are defying indoor photography. So! I'll take photos over the weekend in natural light. One thing I'm doing with the pattern that you can see in the rather crummy photo here is what Meg Swansen sometimes does: reverse the colors in the pattern. When I began shaping the cuff, I switched the background to the foreground. I think it makes things much more interesting.

Cool, isn't it! One thing that has slowed progress is that a ball of the Applebutter wool has collapsed and fallen apart in a snarly heap of wooly vermicelli. I don't think this has ever happened to me! It needs to be sorted out and then rewound before I can finish the mitten-mate. Good thing it's Friday, otherwise, we'd be rather grumpy about it. Observe the tangled web we must un-weave:

While my mitts are misbehaving, we can look at Maritobita-san's "Pansies in the Snow." Nanette brought these to our attention in March, and Mari and I immediately began looking for back issues of the SpinOff issue in which the gloves-chart appeared. Ultimately, we were both successful, and Mari has kindly given me permission to show you her glorious glove:

Isn't it the most gorgeous thing? Imagine the utilitarian splendor of gloves like these! You could go anywhere and do anything and be anyone if you were wearing handknit gloves such as these. You can see the fronts and backs and even the beautifully stranded and impeccably tidy glove interior if you go to the Glove Gallery. Please do go look; Mari's gloves are small and wonderful woolen jewels.

Pups

Mike, Jack, and Della are all in the pool over at Sister's with Dyna and Apple. Get ready for Nearly Intolerable Cuteness, then grab your flipflops and a MaiTai and head on over! While you are preparing yourself for the wanton adorability of swimming pups, why not prepare yourself for the best Friday ever? C'mon! We've won again!

Cheers!

Knittin Mittens

That's what we're up to here. It remains extremely hot, yet so far, I haven't seen anyone burst into flames...I keep expecting to, though. Meanwhile, we have news about Anatolian Knitting Designs from the Schoolhouse Press Knitting Goddess; with her permission, I quote:

Meg Swansen wrote:

I am the US distributor for Anatolian Knitting Designs - and I bought the last existing copies from RedHouse Press in Istanbul -- so when our copies are gone, that's it (we supply Needlearts and Unicorn).

Please consider yourself forewarned, color knitters and color knitter-wannabes.

Take Me Now

Look what the brilliant Cynthia has found. It's a crazy little thing called cross stitch.

Cynthia also has links to a couple of textile projects in which you can participate: this art quilt project by Terese Agnew, and the previously mentioned SharonB's Textile Textale. Spread the word, knitters!

Pups

We took Sarah's advice and had a pup pool party Wednesday afternoon. Thanks, Sarah! Next time I have to remember to make those little drinks with parasols in them; other than that, it was perfect.

Speaking of perfect, we hope your Thursday is!

We're Melting

Way too hot here. We'll be brief.

SocksX3

When we were talking about Socks Socks Socks last week, Pubah mentioned errata. I've been meaning to tell you that Pubah is quite right; there are errors in a number of the sock patterns. The XRX website is a bit difficult. Google for 'knitting universe' and you should find a working link to the splash page for Knitters. From the front page, try to find the link to XRX Books, then look for a link called Knitters Books Help on the right side of the page (their .php pages don't seem to transfer off the website or I would give you an exact link--sheesh! that website gets more and more difficult to navigate!). Thanks, P!

Will Buy or Trade

If you have a copy of Dale No. L55 and are willing to part with it, would you please contact me at the address in the sidebar? Courtesy of Dalegarn, here's a reminder of the cover:

Pups

Does it ever get too hot for mosquitos? Shouldn't they be frying in the sunshine here, considering their size and the air temperature? The pups are considering a swimming pool but we are reluctant to invite any more mosquitos to the party. The uninvited ones are thriving.

Oy! Way too hot. Take it easy, okay? If possible, share the ride and spare the ozone.

High Summer: Mittens and Books

Summertime! I was so pleased with my new copy of Knitting for Anarchists that I hauled out all my other A. Zilboorg titles (Magnificent Mittens, Fancy Feet, and 45 Fine and Fanciful Hats). I recommend them all to you, particularly if you are interested in color knitting. What an imaginative and scholarly knitter! Many of her designs have a historical basis, but after casting on stitches, her designs take flight into colossal knitterly realms.

I cast on some mittens from a design in Magnificent Mittens. Mittens are a wonderful project for August, especially here in the Southwest, because of size and design possibilities, and because I am bored with socks. The design I chose is based on the hook motif in Turkish knitting.

The wool-mohair-nylon blend I'm using is from Apple Laine, and is called Apple Butter. And it really is buttery-feeling! Very soft hand, and the mohair halo makes the colors shimmer. The two handpaint colors in my mittens are "Pretty in Purple" and "Arizona." These mittens are a birthday gift for a friend who has an August birthday; aren't the purple and gold perfect for a Leo?

Nice wool and a nice design made for some fun Sunday knitting. And the hook design made me wonder about other Turkish designs, so I took Betsy Harrell's Anatolian Knitting Designs off the shelf, too. Do you have this book? There are over 150 charted designs inside the covers, and it is wonderful. It's from Istanbul (you can buy it from both Needlearts Bookshop and Schoolhouse Press, to name two of my favorite booksellers), and I hope it is available forever. Common stitch motifs and the use of color in Anatolian knitting were researched, primarily in a small Turkish village, by Harrell between 1968-1978. The book's subtitle, in fact, is "Sivas Stocking Patterns Collected in an Istanbul Shantytown." I'm not certain, but this book may have been the first modern comprehensive knitting research project. Many of the motifs are completely unique to the area, but others, like stars and some small borders, are seen in many other charted designs from many other knitting traditions. Isn't that clever of knitters? Presumably, you could knit a garment with any number of motifs that could be read and understood in many cultures! Our own secret handshake! Fascinating! Anatolian Knitting Designs is an odd-looking little book, printed on something resembling recycled newspaper, and you must have it in your library if you are even remotely interested in traditional knitting. I have spoken. Buy this book.

The pups were too hot just from helping pose the mitten-in-progress, so we didn't linger for close-ups. It can't be healthy for them to be lounging about all day indoors, waking up only to look bored, then resuming snoozing, but I haven't quite figured out temperate replacement activities for them. Suggestions will be most welcome. The "feels-like" heat index for Monday is supposed to be 106-108 F. Too hot for pups to be playing fetch or chasing squirrels or barking at the neighbor's dog. Poor little furry slobs. Thank heavens for air conditioning and for being able to play inside with squeaky toys.

Two of the poor little furry slobs join me in wishing you a very pleasant Monday. Mikey stays in the shade except in the earliest and latest parts of the day.

Drink plenty of water wherever you are, check on the elderly, and follow Mikey's example for heat safety. Oh, and get the Harrell book while you still can, okay? Cheers!