Swatch Notebook # 6

Ever swatch in front of the TV? My Norsk Strikkedesign kitty has distemper....and a mysterious appendage around the hind quarters. I'm glad my stranded cat is happy to see me, but I'm not happy with it.

Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solids (coral)
Cascade 220 (light grey)
5 sts per inch.
note: I don't have Norsk Strikkedesign -I worked from a photo.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM!!!!

Swatch Notebook #5

I am not very good at using variegated yarns for stranded colourwork.
I find it really difficult to find a solid that consistently contrasts with all of the variegated yarn's permutations. Is using two variegateds at opposite points of their repeat cheating? I haven't made up my mind yet.
Have you any tips on picking a solid?

Noro sock yarn
8.5sts per inch
-Yes, I think it's cheating, but the result is sortof undeniable.

Opal solid,
Zitron Trekking varigated (?)
7st per inch.
I think this worked fairly well.

Cim-di, Comme Ca

Wedding Mittens for Baltic Pixies?
Visit the Latvian Institute to learn more about traditional Dainas (Folk Songs) like the cheeky ones below.

Pretty knitter is that maiden,
She will be my loved bride,
I will give her my hand manly,
And to her my ring of gold.

Smuki ada ta meitina,
Ta bus mana ligavina,
Tai es dusu sav'rocinu,
Savu zelta gredzentinu.

Many mittens am I knitting
Putting in my dowry chest
When the rich girls have been taken,
Then will I come in their mind.

Adu cimdus, kulainisus,
Lieku pura dibena;
Kad labas izvedis,
Tad ar'mani iedomas.

Dear, dear maiden,

What a mitten! -hands are freezing.

Have you knitted those cold mittens

Sitting on a freezing stone?

Ai, ai tautu meita,
Tavu cimdu!-rokas sala.
Vai tu biji adijusi,
Uz akmena sededama?

Found in Upitis' Latviesu Cimdi, translated by V.Berzina-Baltina

Swatch Notebook #4

Kroy, Palate, Jawool,um.
UK 13
Knit Flat
Maroon is a very hard colour to find. I would have preferred it to the red. I will up this to 6st/1" and use Cascade 220

ps in addition to lagging with posts, it would appear that I've been having comment problems. I didn't realise I'd been tagged! 7 Random Things...My Canary chum, I shall have to give a good think before I answer...
Here is one random fact:

I always get sick of ribbing half way through. I need to start using a provisional cast on. And I have a freckle in my bellybutton.

Charts; Birds of a Feather?

I have long disputed (and tried to ignore) the need for "Knitter's Graph Paper' vs. the regular kind used for Needlework and other academic graphy things. For the most part, images can be duplicated with normal, square graph paper, and the elongated stitches of knitted colour work aren't too upsetting ("They're slimming," I'd tell myself).

But I have found the conversion's limit. I had thought that if the gauge was small enough, such weird angles and slopes wouldn't be so troublesome and the image wouldn't look like a pixelated Luigi when I was hoping to settle for a pixelated Mario. At the 9st/1" to follow that's obviously bunk.
I've worked this in Assisi Embroidery; stitching only the background.These little birds are from Bibliothèque DMC Point de Croix Nouveaux Dessins, Ire Série c.1905(made available by http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.com/) and when they are cross stitched they are pert, pleasantly squat, and Escher-y.

Knit, they have goiters.
My Mushroom sweater however, is working out. So my new rule shall be Geometric yes, Pictorial no.

EDIT: Go grab some free knitter's graph paper here.

Swatch Notebook #3

Traditional Latvian Mitten pattern from Lizbeth Upitis' "Latviesu Cimdi (Latvian Mittens)"
Lanette Sock Yarn
2mm
Knit Circularly
19 sts/2"
Unblocked

-I had trouble understanding the Cuff Braid ("Pines raksts valnitim") but got it by the end of the swatch. It is a bit tedious, but v.unique and well worth the effort.

Growing up Daisy

Using the Bloom Loom to create Tenerife Lace:
(I made this up and have not tried it yet)
Fill loom's radii before looping the entire diameter of the loom (use a finer gauge thread than usually called for-my examples of normal Blooms are dk.)
At the last stage of the Daisy stitch loops together and weave through/group together what would have been petals to create new patterns. Use an extra long tail, and stitch the centre as you would a spider stitch in Crewel work. The solid colour work in these examples could be created with simple weaving.
It might also be an idea to use the bloom loom (or daisy maker) to make the ground-if it were removed from the loom and then pinned out as lace typically is, any number of needlelace techniques could be applied (?)


Tenerife diagrams and photos taken from Dillmont's,Bibliothèque DMC La Dentelle Ténériffe[c.1895],
Available in pdf form here

Blackwork Sampler #1

Blackwork Embroidery was introduced to the Tudor Court by pious Catherine of Aragon who was no doubt taught the technique by her Mother, Queen Isabella-Catherine's suitcase was stuffed with the stuff when she married Prince Arthur. It's mainly comprised of running stitches, and cleverly placed backstitches. Many of the designs are equally impressive on the reverse, making Blackwork on cuffs, collars and ruffs popular well through to Elizabeth's rein. Less Moorish than Catherine, (and less boorish than her father) Elizabeth used her needle to change Blackwork in to a more 'English' (organic, free form) needleart. The printing press was making trickier designs accessible, and the influx of Italian lace makers enjoying low import taxes meant that cuffs were frilly again -no more reversible, geometric demands on Blackwork designs. So now you know.




1. Portrait of Mrs Pemberton, Hans Holbein, 1535. Catherine of Aragon's influence
2.Lady Kytson, George Gower, 1573, Elizabethan all-over Blackwork.

Blackwork became so popular under Catherine's Spanish influence that Master Holbein's Court portraits are full of the embroidery. His careful eye for detail helped propel the technique and he favoured it in the real-life decoration of the King's court-soon Holbein stitch was borne. A double running stitch, it seems to be a chicken and egg situation. I shall tackle it next. Maybe on a sleeve like Jane Seymour's?


Excellent Double Running Stitch tutorial available at The Blackwork Archives

Swatch Notebook #1

Pattern adapted from late 40's fair isle vest.
KnitPicks' Palette
2.75mm
Knit Circularly
7st/1"


Norwegian Star Tesselation from Jessica Tromp
Opal Gem Merino -fingering weight
Cream + Lt.Grey
2mm
Knit Flat, Dark on Light, then Light on Dark
9st/1"
And Unphotographable

In a few days I'll be adding a new free Vintage Pattern Section.
I've been working my way through the 30s and 40s, retro gauges turning out firm ribbed waists and smart square necks (as well as outrageously puffed sleeves).
Texture, laces and bobbles are providing a welcome foil for the traditional shetland stranded colour work I'm quickly becoming obsessed with. These classic lozenge and cross (OXO) patterns are based on 1850s museum samples and follow all the cardinal Fair Isle rules of colour and design.
The sample below is coming up at 10st/1" in Knit Picks' 'palette' (I bought the sampler pack).
Wow, bad photo.
Soundtrack: "Mannequin Bird to a Coati", Morgan Forrester