Translate

Saturday, March 31, 2012

New Knitting the Old Way

My son saw this on-line somewhere. A nice balance of the old and new...

Saw Posted in a Bathroom

Some people like to read in the bathroom. Now, I can't comment on the fiction written in men's bathrooms, but in ladies' restrooms, we have a wide variety of readings to choose from. Besides normal graffiti, sales posters and directions on how to download new rolls of tp, we have plenty of other directions. Have you ever noticed how proprietors of the loo can't agree how to phrase, "Flush nothing but bodily products down the pipes"? Often they list in details the other items we should NOT flush.

This sign I saw recently helps clear up what CAN go down the tubes:

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Commandeered by a Shawl

February was swallowed whole by a sweet, Estonian Shawl. To look at it, one would never guess the depths to which it beguiled me -- held me under it's spell saying, "You're gonna do my pretty nupps, aren't ya?"

Nupps are Estonian for "button," I believe. They are also a knitting technique, supposedly created to make the lovely lace shawls weigh a bit more, and so fetch a higher price on the scales of knitting-for-living economy. In simple terms, a nupp is a knit stitch in which one knits 3, 5, 7 or 9 times into a single stitch; then, on the return purl row, all of those increased stitches are knit back into one. All of my nupps had 7 increases. What it creates is a charming little whorl of yarn around a single stitch. It creates a visual texture in lace knitting that actually is quite lovely. The lace itself is airy and ethereal, but the loop is solid -- not even opaque -- but placed on the airy background, it appears to float. Estonian lace knitting, arranges these loops to form designs in a kind of dot-to-dot. This shawl looked like it had Ohio Star quilt blocks floating on it.

The shawl I did, Crown Prince Square Shawl from Nancy Bush's Knitting of Estonia, was chock full of nupp-y goodness. I can say those words only because a week has elapsed since I have had to do one. A week of bliss, I must say. In my most nupp-y row, while in the throes, had 48 nupps in a single row. And, there were hundreds of rows, and thousands of stitches.

Now that it is done, I plan to enter it in the fair. I think I have to fold it and put it away till then! I have worn it several times, and each time the yarn has caught on a zipper, or I have had a child precariously perched above me, dancing with peanut butter in hand.

What a fright!

Pictures to follow, the next time we have a nice day!