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Cotton + Acrylic

We like it. I took a small break from the ASJ to revisit the swatch for the Lightning Lace Jacket by Jill Vosburg—you'll remember from last week that we were complaining about knitting with pure cotton, even though it was lovely cotton. There's just no give and take with pure cotton—I don't know why I hadn't realized this before, but then, I'm not sure I've ever knit with pure mercerised cotton. I recently bought some Rowan Calmer, which is 75% cotton + 25% microfibre and which feels completely luscious while knitting. But we can't afford to be profligate with our Rowan stash.

So! We've been road-testing Lion Brand's Cotton-Ease. It feels hundreds of times better than the pure cotton we were wrestling with last week. Who knew? I'm now an acrylic convert. Bless me, Wendy, for I have sinned.

Nice zig-zags, right?

I was thinking when I looked at this swatch through my camera lens that this jacket is a good candidate for knitting little creepy figures into, as in yesterday's Lacemaker photo. How cool would that be?! Looking around for knitted figures, I came across Olga Gringa's website. She's a Russian artist making some lovely things, but this is my favorite. Click the thumbnail to see a completely wonderful dolly.

Because It's Friday

And because we can't get enough color! Color Matters is one you'll want to bookmark; this website has loads of compelling and colorful information.

Color in Motion is an amusing exploration of the way colors are perceived by us humble humans (little Flash movies!). Enjoy!

Pups

The sun is out, and we're glad of it. Even though this is a short weekend for me, the pups have plenty of frolicking scheduled. Cousin Dyna is supposed to have her stitches out tomorrow, so we're all looking forward to a dachshund reunion. Until then, Mike and Jack muse on the general adorableness of themselves.

Happy Friday, and Happy Weekend to You!

Story Hour

While I'm knitting away on the ASJ, how about a story? I found a very moving one by clicking through my favorite treasure trove of textile happenings (mille grazie, Cynthia!).

From Raw Vision:

"The patient who I have come to call "The Lace Maker" was born in Virginia in 1863, the eighth child in a family of nine. Until recently, I hadn't succeeded in discovering who she was. Since this piece of lace is her sole claim to immortality it matters greatly that her real name be attached to it."

Documenting the compulsion to create, for whatever reason, is both fascinating and heart-breaking. This is the tale of a woman physician who took the lacy art of a female patient seriously enough to understand the story the patient was trying to tell.

Shobhana's Fun Link!

By popular demand! Thank you, Shobhana, for the excellent and amusing link for charting designs!

Pups

Happy Thursday! Wet your needles and make glove to the camera.

Two Beautiful Words

O the sheer delight of reaching those two beautiful words in my ASJ pithy directions: Work Even! The ASJ by Elizabeth Zimmermann continues to grow, but now I'm just adding some inches with no further shaping. Happiness!

Some bits that might interest you: So far, I have used 15 balls of Noro Kureyon. That's less than I figured, and remember, my jacket is oversized. Were you to make it at the size Mrs. Zimmermann wrote the pattern for, 44 inches, I'm pretty sure you could make and finish this at 15 balls or less of Noro. I'll be adding length to both the body and the sleeves, so I'll be using more. But surely not the extravagent 30 skeins I initially imagined! Had I not had my Noro (bought at nearly 50% off at a sale) in the stash, I would certainly not rush out and buy some at full price for this project (unless, of course, I had scored a lottery win). Yes, it does look very Hanne Falkenberg-ish, and it's going to be absolutely fabulous, but spending $200 for an unknitted Adult Surprise Jacket? It seems out of keeping with the spirit of the thing.

I extend delighted thanks to those of you who commented on the interesting knitting photo from yesterday. I love the idea of embroidering (back stitching?) around an intarsia design such as the one with the motor scooters. Shobhana of the delicious TomTom sent me a marvelous link to a little program that creates a chart over a photo; I've been playing with it practically all evening. I think when I do my photo-knit, I will use J&S odds and ends. I know what my gauge is with shetland wool on several different sizes of needles and several different types of knitting. Ideas are a-popping here :-)

It continues to rain in Austin, so the pups continue to sulk indoors, and I continue to not take a photo of new progress on the ASJ; the colors are very peculiar-looking when not in natural light. So! Back to knitting and hoping that the sun will shine before I finish this.

Wednesday. Mikey says About Time.
Cheers! and Enjoy!

NEARLY DONE

I'm at the part of the ASJ by EZ where she writes 'NEARLY DONE' in the pattern; just have a couple inches of work-even to take care of. I do feel over the hump with this project and am now excited about getting to the end. Plus, I need to take a trip to the LYS for a 40-in circular needle. Who knows what else I'll find there :-)

Now that I'm past the seemingly endless increases, I have decided that making an ASJ is a type of homage to Elizabeth Zimmermann. Many of you know how much I admire and respect her knit-engineering and artistry, so I'm more pleased than ever with my version, and intend to wear it forever and ever as a Thinking Knitter reminder. Photo update tomorrow, if it ever stops raining here.

Intarsia Plus?

I came across a website that has a gentleman wearing a vest with intarsia-type scooter-cyclists knitted into the front. You can see part of it here, or click-the-pic it to see the whole thing. Actually, you won't want to miss his cockroach tatoo . . . so go ahead and click!

I've only worked intarsia a couple of times, and neither time did I have outlining around the motif. Is this embroidered after the fact? Duplicate stitched? Can you tell? Have you done this? I rather like the effect and would like to know how to do this. Also! Can someone point me to instructions on how to chart a design without knitting software? I'm interested in something like this. Do you knit a gauge swatch first, then obtain knitter's graph paper to the correct stitch size, then lay a photo of dachshunds over it? Hypothetically speaking about the dachshunds, of course.

Pups

Hot and steamy here outside. The pups' long hair, even with their summery short haircuts, curls very becomingly.

Who loves you baby? We do. Woofs, and happy Tuesday.

Increase a Day

Through sheer force of personality I've finally reached the end of the initial increases on the ASJ——I'm glad! It's downhill from here, and now that those increases are behind me, I think this is going to be the best jacket ever. I'm already starting to forget how long this has been taking to knit (one of the reasons, explained by clever Geane, is that garter stitch yields a compressed row gauge—isn't she the smartest and walnuttiest?).

And aren't the stripes pretty? We have shadows and light in our garter-stitched masterpiece by Elizabeth Zimmermann, knitted by me. As I've mentioned before, it was the buhRilliant Terri's idea to use the Noro Kureyon, but it was such a buhRilliant idea that I want to mention it again! Now, if you'd like to see a handspun and nearly finished version of the ASJ, you can look at FuzzyDot's. I think it's wonderful.

A New Old Story

I was browsing Rebecca's Pocket this weekend since I hadn't checked in for a couple of weeks, and saw this beautiful story about boys who crochet. I don't know how I missed it; perhaps you've seen it already. If not, though, give it a glance. I've been wondering off and on the past couple of months how I could continue to keep the focus of this blog on knitting and hand-fashioned textiles while the world seems so crazy-scary. Some days I feel quite vapid. Thanks, Rebecca, for pointing me to a very life-affirming tale, and for once again demonstrating the power of blogs to spread the news.

Pups

We had scattered thunderstorms over the weekend so the pups were in a bit of a mood. The sun was out for only a few minutes Sunday afternoon, just long enough to photograph the ASJ progress. Thanks to Cousin Dyna, the pups learned about the most delicious treat in the Dog Universe. Apparently:

A big dog doesn't want to chew a...small bone
Any more than he wants to play a...trombone
In fact if he could use the...telephone
He'd call and he'd order a...Jumbone!
It's a really really big really big big bone
And that's why they call it Jumbone

Who knew? Hours of quiet chewy fun.

Monday. We're out of Jumbones and back to work.