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Peeries, Stars, Crests?

One of my new books from (God Bless) Dover is Traditional Japanese Family Crests for Artists and Craftspeople (ISBN: 0-486-42273-9). I wanted it because the designs are small, historic (11th century) and range from the floral to the ornate, and I thought there might be some good knitting inspirations to be gleaned.

Here's a sample:

Aren't they interesting? And full of fearful symmetry? And wouldn't they make some interesting Os in XOX designs on a Fair Isle sweater?

As I was turning pages and thinking about graphing some of these small family crests/motifs, my knitter's-eye spied the back cover of my McGregor book, The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting (ISBN: 0-7134-14324). Remember your McGregor? It's a tumble of Fair Isle Tams with a few pairs of gloves and a set of mittens. Don't remember? Here, have a look:

Now. Maybe it's the Celebrex talking, but am I the only one seeing some similarities between 11th century Japanese crests and Fair Isle Wheel designs? Coincidence? No way for me to know. But this little Dover book is full of designs that would suit the top of a tam as perfectly as if some little old Shetland knitter had studied Japanese textiles before designing her next tam-top. I know that many patterns, the Sebu/Norwegian star, for example, have traveled through history from ancient times to the present. Are some (certainly not all) Japanese family crests another example of universal designs finding their way into every culture's knitting fingertips, so to speak? Within the pages of this book are lotus blossoms and floral arrangements that look as if they came right off the sweaters in Poetry in Stitches, for example. Tell me more.

Props

Thank you for your kind words and wishes re: my recalcitrant neckbones. I was feeling very frustrated Wednesday night over my knitting. I want to get back up to speed as soon as possible. And, because I was feeling sorry for myself as well as frustrated, I decided to treat myself to Flora from A Scottish Garland (ISBN: too far away for me to reach right now). I am going to work my physical therapy show and aim for being knit-ready when Wendy starts.

Pups

Guess what Sister has as of 4:30 Thursday afternoon?

Little Jack extends a dachshund greeting to the newest member of the family:

Are we lucky or what? I think so! Dachshunds for everybody! We hope you are lucky today, and that your weekend bubbles over with perfect health, happiness, and prosperity.

Glove on the Rocks

Ordinarily, we stick to our knitting on this blog. But I haven't finished my Herringbone Gloves!

How, you ask, can it possibly be taking me so long to finish a pair of gloves? Minako, Noriko, and Caroline F all have their beauties completed. And Mari finished a lovely pair today— go see them at her site. Beautiful! Elegant! Stylish! So, why are mine taking so long?

The answer is here in a paragraph where I don't stick to my knitting. Did I ever mention that I despise discussing health issues? Especially mine. But. Overachiever that I am, I simply cannot *stand* the idea that you might be thinking I'm a knitting-slacker. So I feel compelled to tell you why these and the Landra's Gloves are not finished yet. I've got a couple of protruding discs in my neck that are making knitting a bit of a chore after about the first five minutes. I'm in a good physical therapy program, and have new protocols to deal with getting neck-things back on an even keel. And, as you may remember, I told myself I couldn't start anything new until I finished these items, because, as Wendy says, That would just be wrong.

It's Here!

My copy of Two-End Knitting by Anne-Maj Ling arrived from the Schoolhouse today, and I'm very eager to begin to learn how to do this. The examples in the book are very cool, and the illustrations for how-to directions are wonderfully explanatory. I think I can learn to do this just by looking at the pictures. I think it's an excellent book, one that belongs on the bookshelf of any knitter who enjoys the cultural diversity and history of historic knitting techniques. I have a lousy photo with a flash in the center of it here:

but you can also read all about it here. I think it's well-worth the money, and will (as you've probably guessed already) be blogging with extreme enthusiasm about this technique as soon as my knitting muscles are back in action. Possible Amazingly Lucky Bonus: The translator, Carol Rhodes, is giving a workshop on twined knitting here in Austin, and I'm on the list!

Today's mail also brought some Dover books that I want to talk about tomorrow. Dover. Bless 'em.

Free Colorful Art Knitting Patterns!

Intarsia-lovers, get your freak on with this and/or this free pattern(s) courtesy of Peruvian Connection. (PDF files)

Pups

Thursday! Thursday! Yes yes yes! Mikey says People who Live in Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Dachshunds.

Happy knitting! If you'd like to get rid of your useless old copy of Spin Off magazine, Winter 1996, I'll take it off your hands. Even while suffering, I'm noble like that.

Midweek

Wednesday: The dachshund justifies the means.

Nothing to blog here; move along please.
(Or, you could go look at Murmuring Maa's Fair Isles and other knitting. See it under the "Stuff" link.)

See you tomorrow.

Itchy Fingers

The weather has been very mild here (for months), but especially mild today. It made me think of the upcoming Texas knitting-season, summertime, with the a/c blasting. So, I got home from work and opened my mailbox and woohoo! Waiting for me was the newest issue of Wool Gathering! The sweater design in this issue (#70) is called A Knitted-Stitch Pullover, and it features a pattern of highly stylized knit stitches on the body, while the sleeves are stylized purl stitches. Brilliant! Hoo-boy! Is that clever or what?

This design is first on my list for when the air conditioning goes on full-time. You can see a color photo of the original design about mid-page down on the right side of the Schoolhouse Press home page. Me? I've had a bag full of Campion wool sitting about for a few years, in colors Marjoram and Rye. I'm thinking this might be an excellent combination, and a refreshing return to knitting full-sized garments. (Imagine! I have to start thinking of 50 Ways to Leave Your Glover.)

What do you think? I wish those were the actual colors, but they are closer to this, which I still like very much, and of which I have lots:

I love the idea behind the charted designs on this sweater; it's a knitter's mantra, beautifully rendered. Cool.

Celebrate the Glove!

C'mon! It's a celebration over at Pink Tea; Caroline F has finished her completely beautiful Koigu Herringbone gloves. What elegance! What style! I love this pattern! And Mari is helping me track down a pattern for Mary Allen's Gloves, the reproduction of Yorkshire Dales gloves that both she and Wendy have knit so beautifully. You saw Wendy's yesterday if you chose to select the link; today take a look at Mari's. And while you are at Mari's, click around and view some more of her masterpiece knitting.

Barnes and Noble is Doing What???

Check this press release, and remember, the LYS you save may be your own. First they added Starbucks, and now this. What next?

Pups

Tuesday. Della says Don't go near the dachshund until you learn how to swim.

Cheers, everyone! Have a grand knitting day!

Inspirations

I'm still working on my Herringbone Gloves, inspired by Saku and Minako and Noriko. I'm not allowing myself any other knitting until this pair and the Landra's Gloves pair are finished.

I was thinking this weekend about how much I was enjoying all my new gloves skills, and thinking about inspirations. I think two knitters in particular are responsible for starting me down the road to glove, and those two are Wendy and Nanette. Wendy's replicas of some Yorkshire Dales gloves from the 1800s can be seen here, and no matter how many times I've looked at this photo over the past few blogging-years, I'm always amazed at how beautiful these gloves are.

More recently, Nanette's Sanquhar gloves made me want my own (scroll down to the bottom). Now, when I was looking through Nanette's archives for her Sanquhar gloves, I found and remembered how totally inspired I was by her version of Landra's Gloves; what a difference different wool makes, right? I will trade my blue and white ones for Nanette's red ones any day of the week!

I point out these gloves and bloggers to you because I feel so lucky to have an international community of glovers to turn to for inspiration. Knitting blogs are wonderful! I really don't know how I got along without them and their inspiring authors.

Fingerpainting

I love this, and you won't get your fingers messy, either.

Another Miniatures Knitter

This woman's work is as astonishing as the other miniatures knitting sites we've been visiting lately. Go see, here.

Pups

It's Monday. Mikey says Dachshund is as Dachshund does.

Have a good one!