blogdogblog

Quick Yellow Fox, Busy Dachshund

Hiho, it's Friday and we are too busy to blog :-) I had planned to spend most of Thursday evening being able to sit and knit but you know how plans are led astray, even the best-laid.

Updates:

—Finished the giant knitted purple birthday present things!
—Worked on Laura's "ruffles" scarf!
—Decided to participate in three knit-alongs concurrently!
—Practiced tapestry crochet with black wool and nearly went blind!

Pups

Everyone is fine, and the weather has been fine. That encourages some dachshunds to race around all over the yard and bark at every falling leaf. Della has been fox hunting this week:

We bet you are glad you are a knitter, rather than a plushy squeaky fox toy! Have a terrific Friday, and enjoy your weekend.

Off on a Tangent

We're off on a tapestry crochet tangent while I finish up my secret knitting. You know? I much prefer Wendy's phrase: stealth knitting. Somehow it sounds more elegant.

But back to our tangent. I'm more fascinated than ever after spending a bit more time perusing Decorative Crocheting. Who thought that stuff up? So far, I don't know. It can't have originated simultaneously in Finland and Guatemala, could it? It is an old craft, though.

Wednesday is a long day, because there is so much to squeeze into it—work, school, pups, and then all the stuff I usually forgot to do Tuesday. So on Thursday, we like to have a little eye candy. We're in luck on this particular tangent, because there are several pages of very wonderful tapestry crochet out there. Here you go!

Claudia's Elaine Benfatto's beautiful examples are inspiring. Is there anything that woman can't do? [15 Oct 2004—I don't know why I thought the Urban Spinner was named Claudia . . . my apologies to Elaine, and my thanks to Amber for catching this bungle.]

Dr. Carol Ventura wrote a Tapestry Crochet book (ISBN 0932394159) in 1991 that is very good for explanations. Her website includes instructions and photos for a small tapestry crochet bag and a tapestry crochet vase. Sculptural! In 2003, More Tapestry Crochet (ISBN 0972125302) was published, and if you select this page, you'll see the nice clear photos of the second book's projects. Definitely worth a look. I just gotta get with the multi-talented Cyndilou this Sunday for a tutorial! By the way, Tuesday was her birthday, go make with the birthday wishes!

Back to the tangent-mobile! One more tapestry crochet page; this one details tapestry crochet rugs, crocheted from fabric. These are not the same as crocheted rag rugs; these are much more interesting.

Tapestry crochet is lovely and intriguing. I'm eager to give it a whirl. I'm glad that nowadays, knitters and crocheters are such congenial hobbyists and share knowledge to the degree that they do. Remember the old knit lists, in which people were snobbish to a ludicrous degree and not only despised acrylic yarn (which they spelled ACKrylic), they wouldn't even spell crochet? If the word had to be used, it was spelled like this: cr*ch*t. Hee! Silly knitters! I wonder if crochet lists used to bash knitting? or kn*tt*ng!

Thursday sometimes works out to be a great day to squeeze some knitting in—I hope that's the case for all of us! Have a happy one!

Q: What do you call a dog that hears voices?
A: A Shih-Tzu-Phrenic!

Färg och flärd med virkat

Decorative Crocheting (ISBN 951-96888-4-6) is easier to obtain now that Nordic Fiber Arts is importing it, and my copy arrived on Saturday. The book is written in Swedish and English and Finnish, and is 72 pages of traditional Korsnäs sweaters that are simply breathtaking.

Korsnäs is on the western side of Finland, and the people speak Swedish. The sweaters, created by both knitting and crocheting, are unique to any I've ever seen. Here is a photo of the book's cover from the publisher's website:

These types of embellished sweaters have a long history; they were designed so that the wearer would be noticed and recognized as a wealthy and much-loved person. The Korsnäs sweaters at the Ostrobothnian Local Museum's textile collection are the inspiration for these amazing sweaters. The book gives instructions for tapestry crochet, then how to make a Korsnäs sweater, then launches knitters into several sweater designs with dancing girls and flowers. Also included are instructions for tapestry-crocheted mittens (yeah baby!), colorful crocheted small traditional purses, crochet fringe, and wrist bands. I think it's a lovely book, and exactly the type that will be hard to find in a few years. If you are interested in tapestry crochet, or tapestry crochet combined with knitting, I'm very happy to recommend it to you.

I looked around for some modern examples of this almost indescribable sweater-art, and found a place that makes Korsnäs-type knitted and crocheted everything! Select "Collection," then click on the photos for the details in the sweaters, mittens, socks, and hats at this wonderful place. Enjoy!

Pups

Tuesday night is a school night so the pups have to go to bed early. But while the sun is out, they are really enjoying some cooler Texas weather! We hope you are enjoying lovely weather wherever you are.

If your weather isn't great, we highly recommend going over to Terri's and viewing her incredible vacation photos. They really are beautiful, and if you view them in slideshow mode, you'll feel like you're right there with the Big Fella and Terri!

Little Jack reminds you to keep moving! It's Wednesday!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

There is still a bit of secret knitting left to do, so no photos of said secret knitting again today. I can show you my Poetry in Stitches kit that arrived Saturday, though. Now I'm ready for Ginny's Poetry-along! Yay Ginny! And, Yay Carrie! The wig is perfectly awesome!

Isn't it a pip! I'm happy to have it.

Yes, we have no current knitting photos. We do have a few questions to answer, so let's begin, shall we?

Kylie asks about the Elizabeth Lavold Angora blend. I'm three balls into the "Ruffles" scarf and have encountered one knot, but that's my only complaint. It's soft, not too fuzzy, and the color doesn't bleed onto my needles or hands. By the way, please go visit Kylie's blog and see the amazing crochet that Australian Penny O'Neill has created.

Cynthia, a dachshund enthusiast and therefore one of our new dearest friends, asks about machine-stitching a crochet steek for security. In my experience, it's completely unnecessary—that crocheted steek is going nowhere! Any other crochet steek stories out there that might help Cynthia? Please leave your steek tales in the comments—we thank you!

Bug News

Did you ever??? It's a phasmid, more commonly known to everyone but me as the Walking Stick. This curious beauty was outside my back door Monday morning. Finding a giant monster science fiction bug outside your door is always a splendid way to begin the new week. We consulted Sister, our personal bug expert, and then, longing for more information, we hunted around until we found Bug Biographies. Read all about it!

Pups

The little furry dears had their energetic cousins over for a visit; it's so much fun to have a sister and a nephew who have two wacky little dogs! Watching five dogs running around like furry maniacs is pretty funny, and anything that is pretty funny helps us out on Mondays.

It's Tuesday! Mikey says "Keep them doggies movin' RAWHIDE!"
(thanks, Kerry!)

What, Already?

We're doing some secret birthday knitting here in addition to Laura's scarves, and we also have two knit-alongs coming up fast! How can we cram more knitting and more hours into our days? The laws of physics are against us. But we could knit faster. Improbable, but not impossible: read the The UK Mail and Guardian Online story on the woman who can knit 255 stitches in three minutes.

We hope your weekend was fine and that you got to learn something new. More photos and a longer entry on Tuesday. For now we leave you with the cutest Della in the universe:

Happy Monday! Take deep breaths!