Sunday, December 13, 2009

My husband is no worse, I’m pretty sure, but – at best – not much better. Franklin’s near-death experience is sort of encouraging. He pulled through. He also introduces a new temptation for the yarn dieter – Lorna’s Laces Fisherman Yarn. I hadn’t known about that. I think maybe my safest course of action is to start a list of what I’d like, for use when the year is up.

I’m proceeding happily with the ASJ sleeve. A couple more evenings should do it. And of course I can safety-pin the sleeve seam and try it on without even putting the stitches on waste yarn. One begins to see the advantages of top-down knitting.


At the very last moment, I grasped that I must pick up the sleeve stitches in a bright colour – that’s “Huron” – or I would only widen the unwanted brown stripe. I’ll balance it with another big brown stripe at the end.

But I think today will be cashmere-hat. I could put a pom-pom on top! I think I will!

I never finished telling you about my new knitting books.

I like “Norwegian Handknits: Heirloom Designs from Vesterheim Museum”. The museum turns out to be in Iowa – maybe you knew that. It is a museum of Norwegian immigrant materials, more than a century old. The book is good, patterns for mittens and hats and stockings with those shaped calves, and sweaters, too, and also lots of interesting old photographs.

“Swedish Knits”, on the other hand, is a huge disappointment. It is a knitting textbook, sort of Montse Stanley but I’ve already got her and she’s better. The authoresses are native Swedes, it says.

Schultz’ “Patchworkstricken” has also turned up, Even without much of any grasp of German, I think it’s going to be valuable. (Imagine trying to say “theologiques, nourrissants et morbifuges” in German.) For one thing, several of the projects are modelled by ladies of advanced age – although not as advanced as me – which is helpful in letting one see what looks ridiculous.

Comment

Leslie, it is wonderful to hear from you. When I got on-line, in 1994-5, my first venture into cyber-space was to look for knitters. I joined a chat group called, I think, rec.craft.textile.yarn. Leslie found me there, sometime in ’95, and suggested that I join the Knitlist. The rest is history. As I remember it, those early adventures were entirely text-based. I hadn’t figured out the Internet yet. It seems utterly of a different millennium.

4 comments:

  1. 1. ASJ is looking more wonderful every day.
    2. I use my Ravelry queue to do with patterns what you plan to do with yarn -- everything that strikes my fancy goes into the queue, but doesn't necessarily get purchased or made. This method reduces impulse buys, but also means that I don't forget about anything splendid when I'm ready to look for a new project. Ravelry has just introduced "pattern gifting" and, I think, a pattern wishlist function (I haven't read their post that carefully). Wonder if they'll do the same for yarn? That might be a useful addition to the "stash" function.
    3. I hope that your husband's health rebounds quickly. We have just entered the home stretch of the semester, with final exams beginning on Tuesday, so of course both faculty and and students are dropping like flies.

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  2. According to Google's translator function, the motto would translate as "theologische, nahrhaft, und gesundheitsfördernde". It couldn't translate "morbifuge", so I used the english term "health-enhancing" as an appropriately Germanic construct, which it apparently liked.

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  3. =Tamar9:07 PM

    I was on rec.crafts.textiles.yarn until something happened to the computer program and I am currently unable to read Usenet. Yes, it was and is entirely text-based. I miss them.

    Best wishes for good health for both of you. I had walking pneumonia once and suspect Franklin may have come close to it.

    What ever happened to the words "given", "giving", etc. In my lexicon, "gifted" means "being specially talented, as in having received a gift from God". (Harruph, pound cane on floor.)

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  4. Anonymous3:22 PM

    re: Schulz -
    Your comment about what looks ridiculous is rather ominous. Are we to conclude that some of the sweaters DO look ridicuous? Perhaps I need to check that out before embarking on the modular diamond tunic that has been stewing in my head for a couple of years...
    Beverly in CA

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