Still no monitor, so I'm still photo-challenged here at String. Progress is being made on several fronts, in spite of the joyous accumulation of frozen precipitation that continues unabated.

First, I'm on to the sleeves of Crazy Raglan. I am knitting them flat, both sleeves at the same time, each from a single ball of the Regia Crazy. I had started the sweater body the same way, but being wider, I didn't like the way the self-striper was manifesting itself. Those I did from two balls each, with an Intarsia-style join down the center front and back. I think the sleeves being narrower might look better done straight across. But as with the body, if I don't like the way they look after a couple of inches, I'll rip back and start again.

I've also completed a couple of pairs of socks that were sitting half-done in various small briefcase project bags. One is from a Lana Grossa Melienweit self striper, and is yet another standard toe-up, with a very ordinary ankle based on Old Shale. The other is a pair of kids' toe-ups made from leftovers of several projects. One or both of these pairs will end up being donated to a charity auction.

I'm also finishing up my Cursed Socks. I'm well?past the heel of Sock #2. Unfortunately, I've misplaced my two Strickfingerhuts, and working without one is slowing me down. They're in a knitting bag. Somewhere...

I've still got several UFOs in queue. But while I like to start off the year finishing up some of?the previous?year's stalled efforts, it's also fun to think on some new things. One idea I'm toying with is for a toy. Although I'm not a fan of Muppet-pelt furry novelty yarns, my kids adore them. They've asked if it's possible to work up some patterns for stuffed pillows or floppy bed toys. But they don't want licensed characters or recognizable creatures of any sort. They want fuzzy "Alien Pets" of their own devising. They're scribbling madly away at their sketch pads even as I type this, adding extra limbs and/or tentacles, wings, and multiple eyes. We'll see what develops...

And finally, I'm still working on the write-up for the lacy scarf. Yes, I know it's taking a while, but I want to be sure that it's as error free as I can make it.

Sometimes useful things can be found in strange places. I don't consider used book stores to be particularly strange places, but I've found all manner of things there overlooked at the end of the craft book shelves.

Case in point - those multicraft omnibus type books. You know the kind - Needlework 101 with a sagging binding, pix of frumpy looking or laughably outdated garments, and short chapters on everything from plain sewing to macrame, with side trips to knitting and crocheting. The Great Great?Godmother of all of these (though not the first book of this type) is the classic de Dillmont Encyclopedia of Needlework, aka The DMC Encyclopedia of Needlework. That book is still in print, and remains a very valuable resource in spite of the fact that it was first published in the 1890s.

There have been thousands of books of the same general type published since. Many can be found languishing in used book stores, upstaged by their far more popular sisters. But many of these books are more useful than their sad covers, dated projects, and scattershot presentation suggest. Today I'll look at a couple of these.

First is?Stitch by Stitch:? A Home Library of Sewing, Knitting, Crochet and Needlecraft.? I believe this to be a hardback periodical or installment-bought crafts series, issued in at least 20 volumes by Torstar Books. The copyrights start in 1984 or 1985. I only have Volume I (shown), so I can't speak to the rest of the series.

Volume I?is a standard exemplar of its type, but it's better illustrated than many, with the knitting?and crochet?sections stuffed full of?photos showing how to hold the needles or hook, and how to form?the stitches. That's the kicker in this particular book. It's got the best illustrations I've seen of the pencil grip, throwing/flicking?with the fingertip?knitting style. Volume I just covers the absolute basics - crochet chain, single, double and triple crochet; plus knit, purl, cast on, cast off, and ribbing, arranging the subject matter into six lessons for each craft?that use simple scarves and other projects to teach (some are very dated). There are also sections on needlepoint and plain sewing. ?Now not everyone NEEDS an on-shelf resource showing an alternative way to knit, but I've used it to help teach people who were uncomfortable with both Continental/picking, and the more popular methods of holding the yarn for British/American/throwing. Plus there's a bonus here. Among the patterns is a very nice lacy throw, shown as a baby blanket.

More useful is The Bantam Step by Step Book of Needlecraft by Judy Brittain; New York, Bantam, 1979 (left). This was also published in the UK as The Good Housekeeping Encylopaedia of Needlecraft, (possibly bearing the name of A. Carroll as editor) by Dorling Kindersley, Ltd, 1979. It's been re-issued under a couple of different covers over the years. Along with a '40s era Spool Cotton Company "Learn How Book" (right)given to me by my mother this is the book that taught me to knit.

Like Stitch by Stitch, this book covers several crafts and is copiously illustrated with color photos and (sadly dated) projects. It goes into much deeper detail than SbS.?? For example, the knitting section includes a small stitch dictionary, and covers all the basics, plus everything from designing one's own pattern to gloves, socks, traditional lace shawls and edgings, bead knitting, and fixing mistakes. It describes both throwing and picking?styles, but?after a couple of cursory how to hold the needle?drawings?avoids showing finger placement again, probably to avoid committing to one method or the other.There's a tremendous amount in there for only 90 pages of text and illustrations combined.

Although briefer, the crochet section is similarly nicely done. The book goes on to cover needlepoint and macrame (it was the '70s); weaving, tatting, several styles of embroidery; pieced quilting; applique; and plain sewing. I find it a handy reference, even though I've got lots of more specialized and more complete books on my shelves.

I still have my mother's?old green "Learn How Book."? That one is only 65 or so pages. It exists in many, many editions, varying mostly by the projects included at the end. Some editions also vary in the crafts detailed. Mine includes knitting, crochet and tatting, with side trips into embroidery for embellishment. The earlier ones were published by the Spool Cotton Company, which was bought by Clarks some time in the 1940s. Clarks in turn was gobbled up to become part of Coats & Clarks. The booklet continued to be published with updated projects and under the new owners' names in turn. It's useful but is now more of a sentimental curiousity than a living resource. I do however buy other editions of the thing when I stumble across them and the price is reasonable. I've got four or five now, ranging from the '40s through the early '60s.

Little to Do With Knitting - Firefly Series on DVD

How did we miss this one?? A very good friend gave us a Firefly?DVD set containing this entire very short lived SF series originally aired on Fox in 2002.

Fantastic!

We must have blinked at entirely the wrong nanosecond the half-season this was on the tubus. What an inopportune blink that was. Interesting scenario and stories, strong characters, excellent writing (too witty to have survived on regular TV), and even good acting with compelling and believable chemistry among the cast members.

The only bad thing about the DVD is that there were only 14 episodes, including a two-part pilot. But all is not lost. Sniffing around the web I note that a movie derived from the series is in production right now, scheduled for release in September.

Why does this have little to do with knitting instead of absoutely nothing?? In one of the episodes a particularly lumpen and lurid hand-knit hat makes a cameo appearance. It's such an incongruously memorable thing that knitting fans of the series have posted patterns for it.

Did you crochet those snowflakes on your tree??

Yes. I've done them in several batches. I often invite holiday visitors to take one home with them, so replacement/supplement sets have been made. A couple of?the flakes?are my own invention, one or two are single motifs?intended for bedspreads or tablecloths,?but most are from these books:

Of the two, I like the patterns in the green Leisure Arts booklet better than the red American School of Needlework leaflet. The LA flakes are?smaller, lacier and a bit more delicate. Both books are pretty easy for experienced crocheters to follow, but ?I'd recommend the red one if you're relatively new to thread crochet. Warning - this?IS thread crochet, although it's pretty large scale for that style. These snowflakes all look better done with smaller threads and hooks. You can work them with relatively large threads, size 10 and?bigger, but you won't get?flakes of a pleasing scale for hanging on a tree (they'll look nice as door or window ornaments, though.) ?Mine were done with size 20 crochet cotton, although the next batch I'll make will be with size 30 cotton, comparable to the stuff I used on the dragon curtain.

There are also lots of patterns for snowflakes on line, although I haven't tried any of them yet. Noel Nevins maintains a nice index to them at her thread crochet?website.

How was the cassoulet?

Wonderful. Worth the year's wait. Beyond that, words fail me. And when that happens you know I've been conked royal.

Is cassoulet the most complicated thing you've ever cooked?

No. In what now seems like a previous life, The Resident Male and I were very active in the SCA (East Kingdom, Barony of Carolingia). Among the many things we did was host a Valentine's Day event for the local group.

It was a themed day, and included several activities as well as a sit-down three course dinner for 125 people. The feast?offered up?nine main dishes from historical sources?(of which I can only remember seven), plus three in-between-course sweets. The theme of the day?was Chaucer's Parliament of Fowles poem, in which the birds hold court to debate the nature of love. ?It's more than 25 years ago, but as close as I can remember the "Feast of Fowles" ran something like this:

First course

• Ostrich eggs on salad nests - many chicken eggs cracked and separated, then the yolks poured into round golf ball sized?molds and cooked to set. The whites were poured into huge half egg-shaped molds. When they were mostly cooked, the centers were set inside two half-whites.
• Not Chickens - a chicken skin with legs and wings intact, stuffed with a forcemeat style sausage, sewn back into chicken shape and roasted.
• A barley-thickened chicken soup with leeks (broth made from the bones and scraps from the Not Chickens)
• First sweet - spun sugar nests with tiny marzipan birds

Second course

• Ham dressed in pastry to resemble sleeping swans
• Chicken pies - the meat from the Not Chickens after the soup was made, cooked with onions, leeks and bread,?made into open face pies
• ?
• Second sweet - Feather shaped shortbread cookies (?)

Third course

• Roast duck stuffed with kasha and onions
• Beef birds - rollades of thinly sliced beef, wrapped around garlic and mushrooms, then braised
• ?
• Third sweet - Peacock in its pride - three magnificently shaped and painted gingerbread cakes, each sporting heads, wings, and a fan of real peacock feathers behind.

There were also sallets (vegetable side dishes), brewed mead and ale, and nibbles offered earlier in the day. Before your mind boggles, please note that we didn't offer these dishes in full-serving-per person portions. There was enough of each for everyone to have a fair taste, and to be full at the end of the meal, but not enough to stuff everyone silly (For example, for each table of ten we sent out one pie, one duck, one Not Chicken, etc.)

The Resident Male and I did not do all the cooking ourselves. Lots and lots?of friends helped. They did the marzipan birds, the splendid?peacock cakes, the beef roulades, the mead and ale, and half of the Not Chickens. Most?of the rest we were able to cook together ahead of time and warm at the hall; the remainder we did on-site. RM ran the day-of kitchen, I ran the hall,?the service,?and arranged the entertainments, which included copious dancing (and flirting); a Court of Love adjudicated according to the rules of Capellanus; a poetry competition; and other gentle activities suited to the day and theme.

Needless to say, life has interfered with other pursuits and we don't do this sort of thing much any more.

I had the opportunity to hit my local library during the holdiay week. It appears that they're either culling their knitbook collection, or many other people had the same idea at the same time. The shelves were picked over, and even the older, dowdier looking books were in short supply. More investigations are necessary.

In any case, I did find this one:? Neighbors, Jane F. Reversible Two-Color Knitting. New York:? Scribners, 1974.

Neighbors appears to be a disciple of Barbara Walker (the book mentions her in the acknowledgements). The Walker legacy is also evident in layout and subject matter, both of which are very familiar if you know the Walker stitch treasuries.

Layout is very Treasury-like, with large, clear black and white photos illustrating each stitch. There are 12 pages of color illustrations showing the projects that accompany the stitch pattern directions. With the exception of one chart associated with the most complex project in the book, all directions are in prose.

The reversible techniques covered include

• Simple garter and knit/purl combos? - lots of tweedy-looking seed stitch and ribbing variants);
• slip stitch patterns - mostly?linen stitch variants, and "chain patterns" -linen stitch or other tweedy textures overlaid by columns of slipped knits that end up looking like embroidered chain stitch
• "Reversible geometrics" - slip stitch patterns that form regular (but different) designs on the front and back. One example of this is a vertical two-tone stripe that reverses to a horizontal two-tone stripe. This section also includes some mosaic-style slip stitch patterns.
• Motifs - Also included under geometrics, these are simple motifs worked in true double knitting to produce a double-thick fabric that shows a stockinette surface on both sides of the work. By necessity, motifs done in this techique swap colors front and back, so a red motif on a white ground would reverse to a white motif on a red ground. The double knit hat I made was done this way. Neighbors also describes stuffing the area created between the two faces of double knit motifs. She calls it Trapunto Knitting, a nod to the venerable quilting technique of the same name and similar method.

Patterns are marked as "true reversible;" "unlike reversible;" "alternate reversible'" and "opposite reversible" depending on the appearance of their flip side. Some but not all of the patterns assigned to the ?latter types are photographed both front and back. These photos are very helpful in understanding what the differences are.

The book also includes several simple projects in reversible knitting. I have to admit I found them uninspiring, but they are well described and would be good learning pieces. The best of the lot are some mittens, a shadow rib pullover, and a very 1970s wall hanging of a labrynth. The labrynth (the only charted project in the book) would be exceptional?updated as?a motif on a sweater, pillow,?or throw. The book ends with some solid discussions of project planning, motif mathematics and placement, specialized bind-offs for reversible patterns, and the basics of designing your own reversibles.

Reversible Two-Color Knitting is still in demand. I note that hardcover copies can command quite a premium, and have recently?sold in the $80-90 US range. (One optimistic seller has a? hardback edition priced at $150.) Paperback copies seem to go for $20-50 US. ?

Is it worth the premium price?? It's hard to say. Much of the material is available elsewhere. For example, many but not all of the stitches?Neighbors shows are covered in the four Walker treasuries. They're not called out by type of the pattern created on the reverse side, but they're there. The recently issued Fourth Treasury includes a previously published piece on vertical reversing to horizontal striping. There have also been other books on slip stitch and mosaic knitting of late that?plow this ground, too. It's harder though to find a book that discusses double sided double knitting. There are a couple (most notably Beverly Royce's Notes on Double Knitting), but they're?also not exactly easy to find.

I don't own this book, but I think I'd like to add it to my collection. I'll probably keep an opportunistic eye out for it at local general merchandise used book stores (the appearance of the thing is frumpy enough to languish on the shelves in shops unfamiliar with knitting content). I wouldn't pay a premium for it though, because while very useful it doesn't cover enough ground untouched by books I already have to justify a big investment.

It's the last day of the year, and like everyone else I should be looking back over the year past, and ahead to the year future.

Lessons Learned for 2004

First and foremost - blogging is fun and (I hope) less of an imposition on people than is?writing interminable posts to the knitting-related mailing lists. At least the audience here is self-selected. Plus I've never kept a knitting-specific journal before. I find myself going back and looking up what I've written before to see how or why I did something in a specific way. Who knew?

I learned a lot this year about the periodicity and use of variegated or hand/dyed yarns. Although the projects on which I employed them aren't completed yet (Crazy Raglan, Entre deux Lacs Tee, and Birds Eye Shawl), I did spend lots of time figuring out how to get the color effects I wanted given the color cycle repeat lengths. This remains a fascinating topic for me, and as each skein of hand-dyed offers up new challenges, won't be an area that becomes boring any time soon.

Filet crochet. I've done piddly little things in crochet before. Even blankets count as "piddly little" because they are generally very simple in motif and technique. Snowflake ornaments, a table-topper round cloth of simple design, several blouse yokes in the '70s, a couple of ill-conceived faux Aran style kids' sweaters, but nothing as complex as the filet dragon curtain. It turned out to be an even bigger project than I thought, and consumed the better part of five months. Lessons learned include the fact that no two companies' crochet hooks are the same size (even if so marked); the effect that near imperceptible differences in hook size can make on gauge; how to do a near-invisible join on adjacent strips of filet crochet; and how well the old graphed patterns for Lacis and other Renaissance needle arts can look in filet.

Along the way to the filet crochet project I learned that none of the methods of filet knitting I tried worked particularly well, nor were they fine enough in gauge to handle the complexity of the dragon graph. I'm not through with this subject yet. I did do some experiments in alternate techniques that were less cumbersome than the methods I had read about. I'll probably revisit this in the future.

Entrelac is much faster if you can force your fingers to knit backwards. I'm still no speed demon at left-to-right knitting, but I'm faster at it than I am at knitting and flipping at the end of each mini-row. Especially when those rows are only six stitches across.

I also learned (via my Suede Tee) that novelty yarns can bring a world of interest to a simple, well-drafted pattern, but at the same time can be a *(#@ to knit. Side note:? I am also not that pleased on how the Suede is wearing. The microfibers do tend to be grabby, and catch on even the slightest roughness.

I learned several methods of knitting a lace edging directly onto a piece, rather than making it as a strip and sewing it on later. The most fiddly but most satisfying came via the Forest Path Stole. I used it again on my Spring Lightning Scarf:

Under "miscellaneous," I learned a nifty I-cord trick that applies a band of cord to both sides of a strip of knitting (apologies for the blurry photo):

I also used?a highly trendy but extremely boring to knit kiddie poncho to experiment with double width I-cord treatments to help tame edge curl in large stockinette pieces.

And finally, I learned an important lesson about something to avoid in the future. If any of you have ever looked at a loosely plied yarn like the Paternayan's normally sold for needlepoint, and thought about how nice only one or two of those plies might be for lace knitting - take heed. Spare yourself. The yarn for the Larger Kid's simple drop-stitch rectangle poncho took longer to de-ply than it did to knit up. For this one, I still bear the scars...

Next year?

Who knows. If you've been reading along, you'll have noted that I'm more of a whimsy knitter than a planner. Projects leap up and seize my interest. Sometimes that interest wanders before I finish, but I (almost always) go back and work to completion. Eventually.

I'm finishing up a couple more unanticipated last minute gifts right now - more socks, and a pair of quickie Coronet hats from Knitty (one hat = one evening). Then it's back to the Birds Eye shawl and the Crazy Raglan. While I don't as a rule knit to deadline, the Raglan is for The Small One, and the one thing certain about 6-year olds is that they're a moving target growthwise. The shawl is a present that I really should finish by the summer. Unless another killer project like the dragon curtain ambushes and drags me off first...

Another pair of quickie socks. Unfortunately technical difficulties preclude my posting pix, but this is another pair knit from Lion Magic Stripes. Again the same as before - o.k. sport weight sock yarn; very inexpensive; ho-hum striping pattern (although to be fair, the repeat for Stonewashed Blue is about 6.5 inches long as opposed to the 1 inch repeat for Lumberjack Black). Ripped through the whole pair in one afternoon while playing with the kids on their new PS2 unit.

So ends my foray into Lion's sock yarn line, as both skeins (received as a gift) have now been knit up and presented to happy recipients. Which brings me to a question. Is receiving a yarn gift, knitting it up and then giving the resulting item as a present considered "regifting?"

I note that some regard the idea of regifting as being somehow suspect.I can agree that receiving something truly awful and then foisting it off on someone else just to get the thing out of the house isn't the most generous gesture in the world. But there have also been lots of occasions on which I've?received something perfectly nice that wasn't either to my taste, or wasn't useful to me. At the same time I knew that those items would be both deeply appreciated and used by others. Regifting in those circumstances seems less egregious.

But getting a yarn gift... Does it imply that the donor wants you to make something for yourself?? I've used yarn gifts to make presents for the person who gave me the yarn (but only for people who clearly would not expect such a thing). I've used yarn gifts to make things for third parties, or for charitable donation. Do those uses devalue the original gift?? Or is yarn once given entirely free of obligations or nuance, and eligible for any use the receiving knitter might desire?

Sort of.

Holiday knitting is four rows away from being finished; all cookies have been baked, packed and distributed; holiday cards are sent; the presents are all wrapped; the holiday wine is selected; the remaining incoming boxes have been retrieved from the post office; the roast is resting prior to cooking; the tree is decorated; and the kids have just put the final touches on the gifts they'll be giving to each other. And the replacement for my dead monitor showed up a week early!

So, what's a family to do?

Play Killer Bunnies!

Now for those of you who say that doing so violates the pan-humanist side of the end of year holidays, please note that no actual bunnies were harmed in the creation of the game.

There will be a hit or miss pattern of new String posts?over the coming week because we will all be home. The resulting chaos will probably preclude any regularly scheduled pursuits.

I wish all a year filled with health, prosperity, and the hum of happy fiber-related activities.

I promised a while back that I'd post pix of finished projects done from the patterns here, on wiseNeedle, or adapted from The New Carolingian Modelbook. I'm tickled to say that I've gotten pix from a couple of people recently.

First there's Frieda, who worked up these little blues from the Tiny Sock pattern I posted here on String. She's got a red one artfully posed on a present, too. Very cool!



This kiddie-size Taco Coat was done by Dana. She took the general principles of the thing, then invented her own. Great job!



I hope I'm not breaking blog-etiquette by posting the following links, as I've been too lazy this afternoon to write and ask permissions from the various original posters. But I'm posting links to the sites themselves, not pirating bandwidth, so it should be o.k.

Works from TNCM patterns can be found in several spots.

• Two handkerchief borders in blackwork embroidery
  by the very accomplished Lady Ethelind of Darkwind Keep (an SCA member from Caid)
  
• A magnificent blackwork panel, worked by Linda. Very nice!
  

I'm also wildly impressed by these knit things:

• See Saw Socks, knit by Marilyn (a pattern I sold long ago to KnitNet, that has been reprinted by them twice)
• Jelly Bean Toe Ups, also knit by Marilyn - pattern here
• The Knitting Geek took the basic texture pattern from my See Saw Socks and adapted it for a beautiful lacy scarf
• Impossible Socks done at a human gauge, knit by Katherine (who in an amazing coincidence, happens to be the highly talented mom of an old friend) - pattern here
  

Since I'm in this for fun not money, my biggest thrill is seeing what my pattern "children" are up to out in the real world. If you've ever knit or stitched something inspired by a work I've published, please let me know (and make my day). If you'd like me to post a picture or a link, please let me know, or leave a comment below.

Too good not to share immediately. Not everything that can be knit should be knit. Proof positive of this.