Monday, July 10, 2017

Wimbledon promises well – I should be able to finish the basic Northmavine Hap. I’m just about to start row 9 of the final 12, the pattern row. That will leave a garter stitch edging, a sewn bind off, many a loose end, and blocking still to come. But it will be a significant step forward.

We start off with Venus Williams. The BBC has been singularly uninterested in her. They have been fully occupied, on the women’s side, with two British hopefuls (the survivor of the pair not terribly British – she was Australian until recently) and a great many brilliant players with Eastern European names whom I can’t keep straight. But it turns out that Venus has quietly made it through. I’m a tr’ffic fan, being an elder sister myself.

Thank you for your message, Cat (comment yesterday).  Are you (or is anyone?) familiar with Sally Melville’s “Knitting Pattern Essentials” or with Deborah Newton’s books about design and finishing? I ask because you said yesterday that you prefer to design your own.

It becomes more and more striking, I think, how everyone is designing shawls these days and eschewing sweaters.

Yesterday I re-watched Fruity Knitting Episode 19, from the end of last year, when Newton was the interview-ee. She is most engaging. That was before poor Andrea was struck down with repetitive strain injury and forced to stop knitting, we hope for not too much longer. She really is brilliant -- meticulous and inventive. The podcast suffers while she can’t knit.

There should be a new episode this week.


I liked your comment, Chloe (and agree with your programme for an ideal Japanese knitting class). How lucky we all are that even with our betes noirs firmly in the cupboard – bobbles and beads, for starters, in my case – there is still so wonderfully much to do!

10 comments:

  1. I tried to post a few days ago using the pc and got into a terrible tangle as my husband's name kept coming up as the author. So I'm laboriously picking out the letters on my phone. King Cole Bamboozle is on sale and I succumbed - my Wimbledon knitting! I'm pretending it will be fine even though I've cast on 67 instead of 65 st, and mysteriously gained another stitch along the way. With all this texture and colour no one will be able to spot it???

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  2. I am a big fan of the Deborah Newton books. Useful and beautiful. I haven't purchased the newest one yet, but based on the others, I certainly will. Maybe I'll plan a Japanese stick class with a pointer!

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  3. I forgot to add that I think the shawl mania is because they take less yarn and don't have to fit.

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  4. Some of us persist in designing sweaters, but it is an uphill slog. Sweaters work best with searching and honest measurements (both of the swatch and oneself), whereas shawls don't ask so much of the knitter. I persist because I love wearing my sweaters (shawls are only warm all over when you're completely wrapped up in them, at which point it is difficult to get anything done) and hope the pendulum will swing back to garment knitting. There are knitters persisting with sweaters even now, and I have a podcast for them called The Sweater.

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  5. I was driving through Hatch, New Mexico, the other day on three hours' sleep and with a puppy and dog in the car. My "galloping horse" refused to stop (I think it's the same horse you use!), but I snapped some photos with you in mind. I cropped out most of the inside of my car. The town seems to typify 1950s roadside attractions. I think you get my email with this post? Otherwise, it's my name as one word at gmail. If you write to me, I will send them along in a reply.

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  6. I really love Fruity Knitting which I found through you. I am up to episode 16 and have become a sponsor.
    As ever, I must thank you for all the wonderful links around the knitting world.
    I have never knit a shawl; the lace sort of discouraged me, but I did get the book and there are some gorgeous patterns there.
    I love garment knitting, but mostly for my grandkids. Thanks to Andrew and Andrea, I have ordered the book, Knits Men Love, or something like that. It has been years since I made a sweater for my husband. He deserves one and I will use the Merino I bought in New Zealand.

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  7. Anonymous9:25 PM

    I borrowed the Deborah Newton "Finishing School" book from the library a couple of years ago, because I was struggling to sew the collar onto my Eala Bhan (Alice Starmore) cardigan, and one of the Ravelry projects mentioned it as a reference. It did indeed help with that, but skimming the rest of it didn't make me decide to purchase it myself.
    Fiona

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  8. Yes, familiar with both Deborah Newton and Sally Melville - also Amy Herzog, Melissa Leapman and others. They all have something to offer and are useful for teaching. Chloe (comment yesterday) I sympathise with your desire for a class.

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  9. Cannot wait to see how Andrea of the Fruity Knitting Podcast gets back to knitting! And thank you for your kind words about Venus Williams. She has been through a terrible trauma - that it turns out was not her fault. Love Ms. Newton's books - have one of them and will likely purchase another. Hoping to see your finished Hap soon!:)

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  10. Anonymous12:14 PM

    So glad you all understand about the pointer and classroom setting. In a world full of millennials I usually get blanks stares when I comment about almost anything at all.:-) Chloe

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