Saturday, August 14
I knit with a little help from my friends
Have I used that title before? Seems strangely familiar . . . .
My knitting is informed by everything around me. My friends and I talk about sweaters, scarves, mittens; I troll online for ideas; I admire knitwear on the street. I should carry a notebook so I keep a list to choose from when swept by that wave of ennui as I pick up and discard any of the projects already at hand.
Here is a project that has exact and direct links to several friends.
Julie gave me inspiration. Our coffee meetings take place around her kitchen table which at different times is where she feeds her family, reads her books and studies her knitting. One time she had a new book to solve a recent design problem, The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book. Self-serving as these books are, produced by a yarn company and featuring the sponsor's yarns (though I hesitate to label anything to do with Green Mountain Spinnery as "corporate"), I decided that day I could knit every single item in the book - I like the project or want the item. This over-qualifies for purchase. I found it, bought it, alternately panted, sighed and drooled over it.
April gave me the material. Among the yarn she divested when I visited in May was a bag lot of this colorful cotton. The yarn has endless possibilities - something for baby: a cloth, a bib, an afghan; something for bigger people like a vest. "Rebecca's Little Sweater" calls for cotton. Wildflower D.K. Fancy became a sweater.
Anna gave me a reason to knit. Part of Hyde Park Cats, she was the object of the quiet excitement that other women feel when a baby is going to be born. We had a shower for her way back in April, breaking all the rules of caution that baby showers should not happen until closer to the due date. Schedules fill up and people had other plans. Little baby was born ahead of schedule, blowing my deadline of early August but the sweater is done and big enough that once I add the buttons, everything is ready until the wee one is a bit bigger.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My knitting is informed by everything around me. My friends and I talk about sweaters, scarves, mittens; I troll online for ideas; I admire knitwear on the street. I should carry a notebook so I keep a list to choose from when swept by that wave of ennui as I pick up and discard any of the projects already at hand.
Here is a project that has exact and direct links to several friends.
Julie gave me inspiration. Our coffee meetings take place around her kitchen table which at different times is where she feeds her family, reads her books and studies her knitting. One time she had a new book to solve a recent design problem, The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book. Self-serving as these books are, produced by a yarn company and featuring the sponsor's yarns (though I hesitate to label anything to do with Green Mountain Spinnery as "corporate"), I decided that day I could knit every single item in the book - I like the project or want the item. This over-qualifies for purchase. I found it, bought it, alternately panted, sighed and drooled over it.
April gave me the material. Among the yarn she divested when I visited in May was a bag lot of this colorful cotton. The yarn has endless possibilities - something for baby: a cloth, a bib, an afghan; something for bigger people like a vest. "Rebecca's Little Sweater" calls for cotton. Wildflower D.K. Fancy became a sweater.
Anna gave me a reason to knit. Part of Hyde Park Cats, she was the object of the quiet excitement that other women feel when a baby is going to be born. We had a shower for her way back in April, breaking all the rules of caution that baby showers should not happen until closer to the due date. Schedules fill up and people had other plans. Little baby was born ahead of schedule, blowing my deadline of early August but the sweater is done and big enough that once I add the buttons, everything is ready until the wee one is a bit bigger.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Friday, August 13
The wild, the wet, and the woolie
We went on vacation at the end of July and I brought my knitting along. This year we were accompanied by the MIL which turned out just fine. Instead of parking ourselves in front of the TV when we visit her, we got her out and about, in the middle of nature and sometimes just on the outskirts. We stayed in a fully furnished house, decorated to put us in the mood:
We got right out there -
Munising Falls:
The view from Miner's Castle
Lake Superior a little closer at hand:
and the start of a fun project 3 miles from the car:
We got right out there -
Munising Falls:
The view from Miner's Castle
Lake Superior a little closer at hand:
and the start of a fun project 3 miles from the car:
