Timor Mortis Conturbat Me

Sorry about the headline, but that's what it's like.

A very helpful email from Socklady offers a suggestion about posting pictures to this Blog. I hope to take hold of the situation soon and follow up her method.

Meanwhile the book "Patterns from China" by Judith Gross has arrived. That's the book Janis remembered when I wrote about my ambition to have my Mandarin-speaking granddaughters write a definitive tome on the subject of Chinese knitting. The blurb on the dust-jacket says it is "the first to bring the lovely originality of Chinese hand-knitting to the Western world." There's room for more, I'd say, but this one is extremely interesting.

The author noticed, on a trip to China about 25 years ago, that the children (one per family, of course) were wearing colourful and original hand-knit sweaters, whereas the adults wore a semi-uniform of blue or grey or dark green or brown. That has changed, and perhaps there is less knitting now (as in Scotland), and now there are pattern books with Western-style designs. I came home with a couple last year. Ms Gross says she found no printed patterns at all.

But she did find a printed sheet of stitch patterns posted on the wall in an LYS, with eager knitters copying them down. She was given a copy, and, with some difficulty, had it translated, and has created patterns for children's sweaters using the Chinese stitches. The book is partly illustrated with pictures she took while she was there of Chinese children wearing their knitted clothes.

I found the book on www.abebooks.com, an ever-useful resource.

I'm expecting two more knitterly items in the mail -- two books from the Schoolhouse Press, and some yarn. Not to mention the new issue of Knitter's Magazine with my friend's hat pattern in it. That ought to be enough to cheer me up, but it isn't.