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All I Care About is Glove

Mari, who knit the marvelous Mary Allen's Gloves that we enjoyed viewing recently, has finished her Rose and Diamond gloves, and she's given me permission to show them to you here:

Aren't they splendid? Rose and Diamond is a Sanquhar pattern, and Mari has created a tour de force pair of gloves. Simply. Fabulous. If you visit Mari's gallery, you can see the process she followed to create these gloves, plus, you can enlarge her photos. Cool.

But Wait! There's More!

Mari also sent a link to a Glove Gallery that is so fabulous that it must be seen to be believed. Go ahead; we'll wait for you.

Thanks, Mari!

Flora (Gush! Squeal!)

I love this vest.
I love knitting along with Wendy.
I'm so happy it's Friday, 'cause that means Saturday is coming, and then Sunday, and Sunday is knitting day.
Knitting day means a full repeat and more on our Flora.
(Gush! Squeal!)

Shhh.

We wish our readers from Bali a perfectly still Nyepi Day, and a Happy New Year.

Pups

Sunny Little Jack says You Can't Make an Omelette Without Breaking Dachshunds. Keep your sunny side up; catch some rays today; have a great weekend!

Inch by inch (cm by cm)

Slow but sure (and satisfying) progress on Flora by Alice Starmore, circa 1993; I'm about three rounds away from the half-way mark of a full repeat. I would like a little more knitting time each day, please. Because I'm so eager to have a full repeat to compare to Wendy's VY-version.

The aspect of stranded knitting that I love most is when you get to the point just past the beginning rounds, where you can read your knitting rather than the chart, and the knitting itself begins to sing its own tune. Fair Isle can't reasonably be called mindless knitting, I suppose, but it does slip into a groove pretty quickly. I like it.

Talcum, Pepper, Elastic Smoke

You know we love hearing about Frankenfibers! Here's a couple (Link 1, Link 2) of short news items about some intriguingly engineered fibers, including one that can help your body absorb nutrients more efficiently. Awesome. I'm just waiting to be able to knit my own garden clogs, with soothing powdered insoles.

[12:28 a.m. editorial update: In catching up with a few blogs, I find Sweatergirl has already blogged about the talcum powder fabric, and she cites David on the nanofibers...I'm too lazy to revise, so you can read more about these textile developments on their websites if you like—certainly you should go see their lovely knitting. David's almost finished with his Aran!]

Pups

Actually, weather. It was 83 degrees here this afternoon. Right. In mid-March. The pups felt hot and hairy, threw their chow about, and drank extra water instead of practicing their Spanish.

It's Thursday. We hope your weather is just right, and that your knitting is humming along. Drink some extra water yourself, okay, and have an excellent day.

Pionta Guinness, le do thoil

Jo asked yesterday about A Scottish Garland (actually, she asked where she might find a copy). Hmmm. It seems to be an eBay-only item now; neither Alibris nor Powell's has a listing for it. Just going by eBay, it seems to be gaining in price by the day. Is it becoming as coveted as some of the older books by Alice Starmore? I don't know. But if you find a copy at a used book store, or a yard sale, or on a yarn shop shelf, snap it up if it's less than $75.00, which seems to be the current going price.

The Textile Museum

If I still lived in the Northeast, I'd be off like a rocket to 2320 S Street, NW, Washington, DC, to check out the latest exhibits at The Textile Museum. The Museum does have a new feature, though, for interested but far-away folks like me: an educational website about textiles. Long Flash intro, but worth the wait. Right now it features weaving traditions and traditional patterning from Bhutan and Guatemala. Give it a whirl!

Flora

So pretty! So aptly-named! Wait 'til you see our version tomorrow, dearies! Only 14 colors, but my! how wonderfully chosen they are, and how beautifully arranged!

Pups

Wednesday. And St. Patrick's Day, too! Mikey says Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Pardon our Gaelic. We say Dachshund go bragh! And, enjoy your knitting!

Vest Zest

Flora is a frisky knit; how intriguing it is to knit away on the version from A Scottish Garland and compare to Wendy's VY version. Wot larks. We are aware that some curmudgeonly knit-bloggers frown on inch-by-inch knitting reports, but we loves our progress, precious.

Nowhere near a full repeat, but I'm enjoying it so much, and Wendy's Flora-knitting adds zest—piquance!—to my knitting. Ingeborgers? You've got a treat in store.

Distant Glover

Theresa has new gloves. We love gloves. Theresa's are beautiful. And knit with one of our favorite patterns in one of our favorite books. You, there! Go see!

Little Glover

Althea Merback over at BugKnits also has some new gloves. Oh, how we covet these tiny things. Were they ours, we would frame them and hang them someplace where we could see them first thing every morning.

Pups

Tuesday! Della says It's Good To Be the Princess.

We hope you take some time today to exercise your royal prerogative. Enjoy your knitting, too!

Vestward Ho

Katherine had such a great suggestion in the comments last week regarding the dueling AS vests vying for my attention—she advised starting the new one (Flora) until the pattern was established, then switching back to finish up the old one (Morning Glory). So that's what I'm doing. Thanks! I love it when knit-bloggers grant me knitting dispensations. (And Katherine, happy new house!)

While I didn't have a lot of knitting time this weekend, I did have time to finish the Flora-ribbing. Twelve or so rounds of ribbing may not seem photo-worthy, but, once it stopped raining here and I was able to look at the ribbing in some natural light, I was so pleased with the Starmore artistry that I'd like to share:

Isn't it lovely? The color shifts are both subtle and striking; I'm very pleased and eager for the knitting time it will take to see what happens next with this pre-VY version of Flora.

More Props

Thanks to some assiduous searching on Terri's part and a little bit of luck, I am now the owner of the Mary Maxim pattern I've been seeking for several months: the Most Coveted! Number 484!! Hoedown!

I LOVE this one! Do-si-do-ing couple, musical notation, and bars of music. Too, too retro. And sweet, too:

Aren't they a cute couple? Terri was so diligent in her search that she found several copies for me; I was so worried about having one intact version that I bid on everything...and here's where the lucky part comes in: I now own three of these patterns. When it rains, it pours so lavishly sometimes! Thanks Terri! And the rest of you? Go have a gander at Terri's beautiful Mt. Rose (13 March entry). Gorgeous. Not Hoedown, but gorgeous, nonetheless.

Pups

Lots of rain this weekend, so the pups were busy keeping their bellies dry. But while the sun was out briefly Sunday afternoon, the new grass seemed suddenly as high as a dachshund's eye.

Monday. Mikey says A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Dachshund. We hope your Monday contains quick steps toward the fun stuff. Cheers!