FO Friday; Bits and Bobs

Most of you are either reading this between errands and cooking -- or reading it after Christmas. Either way, I hope you are enjoying your holiday. I just put a Brisket in the oven because we are doing family Hanukkah at my mom's apartment tomorrow. Next up, some baking.

I finally got a photo of the Through the Loops Mystery Shawl 2017. As you can tell, it is huge and I haven't quite figured out how to wear it. But I like it anyway. I'll figure out something.

I generally love my Knitting Guild, but once a year, the speaker is from Lion Brand Yarns, and it's not my favorite meeting. Instead of being informative, it's just a long commercial for their yarns.

They do give out a great giveaway package, but I'd rather be entertained or informed or both. I will say that I do like the Jeans yarn that they gave out this year, and I'm looking for a cowl pattern to use it for.

But Marsha and I had a good time wearing the matching ponchos we knit.

Nancy asked in a recently comment if I am going to use a library sale book to learn to do a portrait of my house in needlepoint. I'd like to! But it's actually super complicated to prepare the canvas. I might try just a plain old embroidery version first.

Knitting and War: A History

I just loved the speaker at this month's Madison Knitters' Guild meeting. A graduate student from UW-Madison named Rebecca Keyel talked about her research area: knitting during the two world wars. Knitting and history are a heady combination for a nerd like me.

This was called a "helmet." It's one of the samples that Rebecca knit using the traditional patterns. She used Quince & Co. yarn.

I didn't take notes (too busy knitting) but here are some tidbits that stuck in my mind:

• Socks were really important during the trench warfare of WWI because the men's feet were always wet and muddy. Trench Foot was a real condition.
• Knitted items were called "comforts" because they brought comfort to the soldiers.
• Women started knitting the minute war was declared, feeling the need to participate in the war effort and to support the soldiers.
• By WWII, there were more knitted items than were really needed, but the government kept encouraging knitting to keep up morale on the homefront.

These are socks based on wartime patterns. Again, Rebecca knit them from Quince & Co. yarn.

I hope Rebecca eventually publishes a book because she was fascinating. She told us that there were constant rumors that the Red Cross was selling the sweaters and other items instead of sending them to the front. So far, she has found no evidence that this is true.

I apologize for the poor quality of the photos, but there was quite a crowd around the table that held the samples.

As you may have already noticed, I'm getting back into the swing of blogging and have been catching up on my reading and commenting. I've missed you so it's nice to see what you are all up to.

A Class With Laura Nelkin: Swoon!

Madison may not be a big city, but it is a big knitting city. We had our Knit In this weekend, and the line-up of teachers was amazing. Saturday morning, a friend and I took a class on knitting with bead from Laura Nelkin, author of Knockout Knits.

The class was amazing. Did you know that you should never use beads on single-ply yarn? Me, neither. It's not strong enough. Also to be avoided are wool/silk blends and cashmere. I also learned that you need to use bigger beads when you are placing beads (like with a crochet hook) than when you pre-string beads.

This is the Stellanti Shawl, which was our favorite one of her samples. The beaded sections are super easy so this is definitely going in my queue. Nelkin is quite funny. She described more difficult projects as being "anti-Alzheimer's patterns."

I do love knitting jewelry, though I haven't made any for quite some time. Nelkin's samples gave me plenty of inspiration.

The class was just for a half day, so we shopped after scarfing down some sandwiches from home. It turns out that I am quite the Wisconsin shopper. The two reddish/pink skeins are going into a second Perhaps, Perhaps. They were dyed by Sun Valley Fibers (Mount Horeb, Wis.), and I cannot say enough good things about their yarns. They are stunningly beautiful, a joy to knit with, and hold up well to wear.

I could not resist the mini skeins from Ewetopia (Viroqua, Wis.). All my favorite colors in one package! I'm looking for the right poncho or shawl pattern. Let me know if you have any ideas -- though I should mention that the yarn is DK weight.

Last but not least is the gradient cake in blue and purple, which I bought to make an Antarktis out of, but now I'm thinking it would make a good Stellanti. Such tough choices.!The yarn is by Knit Circus, which is right here in Madison. Yes, I am lucky!

This seems like enough for one post, so I'll tell you about fair isle with Mary Jane Mucklestone later!

Wrap-Up of a Week

It was a busy week, which means it was much like most weeks during the school year. It started out with a treat at Monday night's Madison Knitters Guild meeting: Laura Ricketts talked about her research on the knitting of the Sami people, formerly known as the Lapps, a a derogatory term no longer used, who live north of the Arctic circle spanning Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.

I've always been fascinated by people who live near the North Pole, so I thoroughly enjoyed her talk. It turns out that the Sami people don't do a lot of knitting -- they have depended on reindeer for centuries -- but they do make gorgeous mittens. Some of the Sami-style mittens she has knit are shown in the photo. She has an ebook with six patterns, something I'm bound to purchase sooner or later!

Working with high school students can be emotionally exhausting. This week seemed to hold more traumatic events than most. I don't mind that part of my job, but it can be draining.

The week ended, as they always do, sweetly. One of my colleagues is THE BEST cookie baker in the world. I normally would not touch a ginger cookie (no chocolate -- not worth the calories), but Jim's cookies are always worth the calorie splurge. He always brings in a tray of cookies on Fridays.

Note: Jim is in his late 50s, but slim as a racing greyhound. He's a devoted runner and a coach for the cross country team. He can probably eat as many cookies as he wants! I like him anyway.

The weather this weekend is both amazing and terrifying:

Temperatures are not supposed to go well over 50 degrees F in Wisconsin in February. Still, it is lovely weather.

For my quilt, I need to figure out how to color a face using Derwent Intense pencils, my favorite medium for cloth, so I experimented on paper:

Keith admired my creatures from outerspace. Not quite the comment I was looking for. Now I have to get up the courage to put pencil to cloth. I wish I would have colored the face before I assembled the quilt top. At this point, I have no room for error.

Still half a weekend to enjoy!

Another Awesome Knit-In

As if spring break beginning isn't enough to make me happy, the Madison Knitting Guild held its annual Knit-In this weekend. Marsha and I had a great time there and kept commenting on how wonderful it is to have a friend to share knitting with.

We started out by taking a class on mosaic knitting. The teacher was truly wonderful and had designed a great sampler for us to learn on:

The entire event was just adorable. The theme was "tea" and look at how cute the centerpieces were:

Of course we spent a few hours at the marketplace. We thought it was the best one yet.  We lingered for quite a while at the Ewetopia booth. See the brown & green poncho? That's the one that Marsha and I both knit in gray & black. Marsha bought a pattern and yarn for a different Ewetopia poncho.

I was really blown away by the Yarn Culture booth. Yarn Culture is a store outside  Rochester, NY, that carries exquisite yarns like Woolfolks (which is not easy to find!).  They had really amazing shawl patterns and yarns.

I fell in love with Eden Cottage Yarns, an English brand, and bought a skein and a shawl pattern, which will be on the needles very soon. If you live anywhere near Rochester, I highly recommend a visit.

All in all, it was the perfect start to a vacation.

Meg Swansen in Person

Meg Swansen -- daughter of Elizabeth Zimmerman, for anyone who hasn't heard of her -- was the speaker at last night's Knitting Guild meeting Yes, we are lucky!

Meg always impresses me with her poise, graciousness, and wit and she didn't disappoint last night -- even though she talked about a subject that doesn't figure into my current life: EZ's patterns for children.

She went through EZ's patterns, explaining the construction of each one. My friend Marsha commented, "She was an architect or an engineer." And that's really true. All of the garments had an unusual construction, like the baby hat that starts out as a heart. And of course, everyone is amazed by the Baby Surprise Jacket.

Speaking of the BSJ, Meg announced that her son Cully is writing a "comprehensive book on it with some new developments." I haven't yet knit a BSJ, but I'm still fascinated by this origami-type pattern.

Meg explained that the original pattern for the BSJ gave detailed instructions for the first 7 or 8 rows and then told the knitter to keep going. "My mother's premise was 'you have as good a brain as me so use it!'" Meg said.

My favorite of the patterns she presented was the Katmandu hat. She showed pictures of children wearing it, but the Ravelry link shows at as an adult pattern. It's in EZ's book Knit One, Knit All, which I will be tracking down!

I'll be checking in with Nicole today to Keep Calm Craft On.

A Very Small Knit Along

At the Madison Knitting Guild a couple months ago, my friend Marsha and I decided to do a knit-along. Every month we swear we aren't going to be tempted by the vendors at the meeting, and most most months we fail.

One of the vendors  was Ewetopia, a store about an hour away, in Viroqua. Owner Kate Ashley-Wright is a talented dyer and designer, and there was lots of yummy stuff to look at and pet. One of her kits on display was the Winter Ridge poncho (she calls it a cowl shawl). We didn't think much about it until we noticed that a good number of the other knitters were wearing it.

Then we fell in love with it, and decided to knit it together in a gray cashmere/silver mohair  combination.

It's good thing that we decided to work on it together. You start at the bottom with a loopy edging with is very pretty, but also quite tricky to figure out. It took both of us to figure out the directions and get it right.

I am sure Marsha will finish far ahead of me. Not only does she knit faster -- she's a picker and I'm a thrower -- but she is retired! That's OK. I love the way this is coming out and it will be worth the wait.

Still Chugging Along

I'm mostly working on the same projects I was last week. I finished the hand of my first-ever mitten design:
As you can see, the top is way too pointy so I'll need to rip that back. I've done this type of thumb before, so I'm almost ready to knit the first "real" model. I'm excited about that.

Monday night was the Madison Knitting Guild, and the president announced that we are up to 637 members. Pretty amazing, huh? Yes, I realize how lucky I am! The speaker is a national Knitting Guild master knitter, and she talked about the process. It involves knitting a lot of swatches and a few garments. Her Aran-style sweater is amazing:

The process sounds interesting and worthwhile. I don't see myself doing it because there is much that I want to knit that I think I'd get frustrated spending my knitting time on swatches.

I'm trying to get through Outline, and I am about to admit defeat. The writing is beautiful and the level of detail is impressive, but the story is totally lost -- to me, at least. 

I'm joining up with Ginny today for Small Things.

The Advantage of a Huge Guild

Between work and family, I have been a busy girl. And I'm trying to knit monagamously, so I don't have any interesting WIPs to show you, but I went to the Guild meeting on Monday ...

The Madison Knitting Guild has more than 500 members now and all those dues add up to enough money to bring nationally and internationally known speakers to our meetings. I was SO excited about our October speaker: Kristin Nicholas. If you haven't checked out her books or blog, do so ASAP. Her use of color is amazing, as you can see in these samples she brought.

She is so nice and down-to-Earth. She lives on a sheep farm with her husband and daughter in western Massachusetts. Her house is as colorful as these sweaters; this woman is brave with a paint can! How does she come up with this stuff? She does tons and tons of swatches. She just plays with colors until she finds something she likes.

There was a table heaped with donated winter items.

I was inspired! So I took a bag of scrap yarn and I'm going to learn to do Russian joins so I can make a magic-scrap ball and knit a charity hat.

It was a great evening and it made me appreciate living here, where there are so many knitters!

I'm joining Knit Along.

The Guest Speaker That Wasn't

Every month I swear I won't buy anything at the monthly Madison Knitting Guild ... some months I do better than others.

But before I get to that, I want to talk about the guest speaker that wasn't. This is how it was explained in our newsletter:

It is with great regret that we were forced to cancel the April visit and Icelandic Knitting classes with Hélène Magnusson. Our request for a visa to bring Hélène to the U.S. and pay her for her services was denied. Although we requested the visa in December, we did not receive a written decision until March 21. Homeland Security did not agree that MKG provides an ongoing program that qualifies as a cultural exchange. We appealed the decision, but there is no guarantee of success and we cannot take that risk. We are gravely disappointed in this outcome as we found Hélène to be an absolutely delightful person who we know would have delivered an extraordinary program. 

 
Is that crazy or what? I think Homeland Security may be worrying about the wrong people here! We had a lovely talk by the curator of a local textiles collection and we are greatful she was willing to pitch-hit -- but it wasn't the same as an expert Icelandic knitter!

I decided I could buy yarn for gifts only, so here is what I purchased from Ogle Design, an indie dyer and designer in suburban Milwaukee. I chose:

On the right are two small skeins of 100% Superwash Merino to make mitts. The larger skein is 100% Merino and will become a hat. Can anyone guess why I grabbed this colorway?

Friendly Knitters, Great Classes, Amazing Yarn: What's Not To Like?

The highlight of the year for the Madison Knitters Guild is the annual Knit-In and this is THE weekend. Our guild has about 500 members so it's a huge event. This year, we had to move to a large convention space, where the lighting is not so great for photos:

But the event itself is awesome, with a great classes and lots of tempting vendors -- like Annie Modesitt, shown at the left here with her business partner, Kathleen Pascuzzi. No doubt you've heard of  Annie as a designer, and now she's dyeing yarn in Minnesota's Twin Cities. Can you see all those yummy skeins? 

The vendors are always fun to talk to. Annie and her family have moved around the country and weathered a number of crises; she is one strong lady! We got into a discussion about the politics in our states, and she gave me a "Wisconsin teachers" discount when I bought a few things, including this:

(If you don't follow U.S. politics, our governor in Wisconsin has cut pay and benefits for many government employees, especially teachers; Minnesota's governor has maintained a strong public sector.) I can't wait to make this cowl, although I am not allowing myself to cast on until I get a few things off the needles!

You can learn more about Annie and her business here.

I took a great class yesterday, but that's another post. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

When Knitting and Math Collide

A few days ago I picked up a project (one of many) that had been languishing in its project bag.

It's the Jet Set Cowl, and this photo doesn't do it justice. (I'm blaming that on weak winter light.) It's a simple pattern that makes a lovely textured cowl, which you can see better in this photo:

It turned out to be the perfect project for the Madison Knitting Guild last night. Our presenter was Carolyn Yackel, who is an avid knitter and math professor at Mercer University. She is adorable and very funny, qualities that are very useful when you're trying to engage a group of non-math majors in the intricate relationship between math and knitting.

I'd say I understood about half her talk. Once she got into hyperbolic geometry, I was enjoying her personality enough to carry me through the hard parts. She has co-edited two books about knitting and math, both available on Amazon. If you love math, you have to check out her work.

You might also want to check out Keep Calm and Craft On with Nicole.

Yes, It Was Awesome

I had forgotten how invigorating it is to take a really good class.

Learning to make the Latvian Scalloped Braid was fun. It was hard. It is definitely not intuitive. But the end result is worth the struggle. Here's the sample I completed:

Mary Germain taught the class. A former owner of a yarn store in Milwaukee, Wis., she has become an expert on Latvian knitting. She traveled there in 2001 and then went to Estonia in 2003. She has self-published a some books with her friend Sandy De Master. Mary explained the process very thoroughly and provided written instructions. I highly recommend taking a class with her if you have the opportunity!

Now I have to find a pattern that I like that has a Latvian Braid. I know there are a lot of patterns out there, but I need to find one that is not too daunting.

The marketplace was smaller than usual, but the quality was awesome .... but that's another post!

On My Bucket List

I picked up these three skeins of yarn today and I have to get them swifted (is that even a verb?) today.

Because tomorrow I am taking a class at the Madison Knitting Guild's annual Knit-In: Latvian Scallop and Braid. It's hard to believe that my huge stash did not contain three coordinating colors of sport-weight yarn for the class. But it didn't!

The LYS was really busy, which makes sense. I'm sure the two-day Knit-In draws a lot of out-of-towners. I was happy to see the crowd was shopping locally.

My class is from 9 to noon, and I have afternoon plans. This crowded schedule will keep me from spending too much at the Knit-In marketplace, which I'm sure will be full of temptations!

I'm Captivated by the Brioche Stitch

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that Madison has (so they say) the largest Knitting Guild in the United States. At the moment, we have 493 members. Even though all the members don't attend every month, we have a hard time finding spaces large enough to accommodate our numbers.

I haven't gone to many meetings this year, largely because I am just too tired after work, but I made sure to go last night, when the guest speaker was the author of this book:

One of the cool things about having an enormous guild is that we can bring in world-class speakers every month. I have been lucky enough to be in an auditorium with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Franklin Habit (not at the same time!).

I would put Nancy Marchant, the reigning expert in brioche stitch, in that same category. She is a great speaker, funny and self-deprecating and knowledgeable. Not only has she build a great career on knitting, but she lives in one of my favorite cities, Amsterdam -- a long way from her native Indiana.

Brioche stitch has intrigued me for a long time, but it just seemed so complicated. Marchant is a great speaker and her explanation demystified the stitch. Her slides of the stitches and projects she's developed drew "oohs" and "aahs" from the audience. She spent a lot of time exploring and experimenting with the stitch and has developed beautiful body of work.

But, what really got to me were the samples she brought. Brioche stitch has an incredible amount of richness and depth. I'm hooked. It's only a matter of time before I get my hands on her book and give this a try.

We always have vendors at our meetings -- and they always offer tempting stuff. I am so proud of myself for not succumbing to this beautiful table of yarn and resisting the urge to go home with at least one skein of yarn!

I

I'm not sure exactly how famous Sheryl Thies is. She is a knitting/crochet designer who has published five books and is very well known around here -- but she's a local girl, so that doesn't tell me much.

At any rate, she was the speaker at last night's Knitting Guild meeting. Her two most recent books are about Tunisian Crochet, which completely puzzles me. She had Guild members model 16 of her garments, which was a great way to show off her designs. Some of them were breath-taking, but I'm not tempted to take up Tunisian Crochet, as knitting keeps me happy.

However, I really should finish this scarf:

 This is the Ocean Waves pattern from the book above. I started this a very long time ago -- and it was a bit too hard for me. I should be up to it now, though.

A Brave Woman

Is there anything braver than projecting unflattering pictures of oneself onto a screen in front of a couple hundred people? Short of fighting the Taliban in Afganistan, I'm not sure there is.

Which makes Amy Herzog an extremely brave woman!

Amy was the March speaker for the Madison Knitting Guild, and she was fabulous. Her specialty is customizing sweaters to flatter ANY body shape. And she is very clear: all bodies are equal, none of this good or bad stuff for Amy.

This is a woman who practices what she preaches. She shows pictures of her own body -- rather straight lines, heavy in the thighs, short legs -- in unflattering clothing. Then shows how we can use clothing to achieve the look we want. That's her in the photo above; doesn't she look great?

Not being much of a sweater knitter (yet!), I don't feel I can describe the technical aspects of knitting sweaters that flatter -- but you can pre-order her book, Knit to Flatter, on Amazon.com. I can tell you that she has some fascinating ways of shaping that really work.

If I ever prove I can knit a sweater, I'll definitely want it on my shelf!