Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Everything is more or less in place, except that the towels are still un-ironed. I don’t have a dryer or any way to hang them out of doors. Un-ironed, they feel a bit stiff. Everybody (!) is converging here for a late lunch. Helen says that means baguettes, ham, green salad. I’ll go out scavenging soon. I don’t know whether I’m strong enough for this. We’ll soon see.

Shandy, I was very grateful for your pointer to Liz Lovick’s Pierowall vest, which does indeed use the technique I fumbled to describe yesterday in which the colour changes and the stitch pattern are not related to each other. What, or where, is Pierowall? Does she say anything about the technique in the pattern? I may have to buy it to find out. It would be a possibility for the great day when Scotland next win the Calcutta Cup. If Liz is changing colours like that, maybe it really is a northern tradition.

Or maybe she has Odham’s Encyclopedia of Knitting. There was a famous designer a few decades ago – for the moment, I really can’t remember her name – who produced a pattern based on that idea. I’m sure she was using the book, because her stitch pattern came from the same page.

Tamar, my way (as in the sweater illustrated yesterday) was to give each colour three rounds, never changing both at the same time. There was always one more pattern colour than background, so the relationship kept shifting.

Meanwhile, hospital knitting: the Whiskey Barrel sock is nearing the heel. And I can't remember whether I used to knit 75 rounds, or 90, for a gent’s sock. I can’t get any sense out of my basic computer – the one with the sticky keys which I have temporarily abandoned in favour of my husband’s one. It won’t respond to its mouse, and I can’t find Lotus Organiser anyway (in which the answer is held), and I can’t remember how to turn it off.


Life is needlessly complicated. I’ll count the rounds in one of the socks in my husband’s drawer. 

8 comments:

  1. re Pierowall Vest. Last year, the pattern was used as a KAL by the Stranded group on Ravelry. Liz often added comments to the discussion. She says that Pierowall is a village, local to her, where there are some incised stones. She drafted the spiral pattern from those, she says.
    On the actual pattern for the vest, she does not mention Odham's, but does give lots of advice on choosing colour sequences which will work, and how to manage the system. Several people on the KAL used two balls of Kauni to avoid all the colour changing.

    Hope your day goes well.

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  2. That change rhythm reminds me somehow of the old EZ 3 and 1 colorwork. I made a sweater using it, but don't quite remember. I'll have to look it up later. I hope you just get to sit around and hold the baby.

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  3. Sock idea - compare the current sock to one from the sock drawer. The difference between 75 and 90 rounds is large enough to be able to tell from that.

    Unless you enjoy counting sock rounds, in which case please ignore me!

    Here's to sitting around and holding the baby.

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    Replies
    1. =Tamar7:22 AM

      I tried a site-search on google and didn't find any reference to knitting either 75 or 90 rounds. I did find references (on 01/31/2008 and 12/01/2011) to knitting 50 rounds of ribbing before starting the stockinette leg.
      I also found a mention of knitting ribbing all the way for added stretchiness, compared to enlarging from 64 to 72 stitches in circumference, so perhaps the 75 was the original 50 plus 25 that used to be stockinette. You listed some variations you'd tried in a post on Feb 26, 2012.

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  4. Anonymous12:11 PM

    Jean have you solved your mouse problem yet? Giving it a new battery usually works for us. Chloe

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  5. ChiGail4:09 PM

    Enjoy having your family around.

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  6. Anonymous7:23 PM

    I usually wash everything in cold water only but I wash the towels in warm wash/cold rinse. Somehow that seems to make them fluffier when they come out of the dryer.
    No towel ironing over here either!

    I hope the family lunch was fun!

    I enjoy reading about the Fair Isle pattern planning.
    Maybe I would try it in a hat or mitten - not likely ready for commitment to a sweater.

    Keep well!
    LisaRR

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  7. =Tamar8:47 PM

    I was looking over some old stuff and found kmcat's note from 2013 about how great satin sheets and pajamas are when recovering from surgery. Slippery bedclothes make it much easier to move or be moved.

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