just another raveller

The young can get away with so much, can't they? The description for this photo, originally published in the Rochester Herald on September 22nd, 1918, reads: "Russell Dean of the U. S. Navy is the winner of the 100-yard swim in the city swim meet. He wears a garter-stitch knit sleeveless top in this waist-length portrait." Credits: From the Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum & Science Center Rochester, N.Y. You gotta love libraries! If you click on the image, you can see the knitting better. Wonder if he knit it himself?

It started back in   April as a small swatch of the Fleurette stitch from Barbara Walker using KPPPM Koigu on 3mm needles. I was trying out the yarn in various open stitches to see if I could up with something that would break up the colour pooling in an interesting way. I'd been able to buy 9 skeins of the same dye lot in the sale at KnitnPurl before they closed. I blocked it and checked the gauge. I ended up knitting a bigger swatch the size of the back of a cardigan up to the armholes. I blocked it and checked the gauge again. It was consistent: 5 stitches and 8 rows per inch. I contemplated copping out and just doing a drop shoulder  pattern, but something drove me on to conquer the set in sleeve.  I grew bold. I calculated the armscye using the instructions in Vogue Knitting: the Ultimate Knitting Book.  Knit her up and blocked again. The armhole depth was 7 inches. Maybe a bit shallow I thought, but the stitch is an open one and I thought it better to underdo it on such a s...

Six. Count them - Shandy in far away Essex, UK has knit six (!) pairs of beautiful blue mittens for the Rochester Knitting Guild community knitting mitten drive. I'm am completely stunned. Not only are there many pairs, but two pairs are beautifully patterned. If that doesn't motivate us Rochesterians to knit mittens, nothing will. Here's another super photo of Mrs. Nellis from the Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum & Science Center. The description reads: "Samantha Stanton Nellis stands in the doorway of her home, located near Naples N.Y., where she and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Nathaniel Eaton, live. She is wearing a dark dress and dark bonnet with a white knit shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She holds a broom in her right hand and a dust rag in her left showing that even at the age of 107 she still does chores around the house."  Poor old soul. They can't seriously have made a woman that age wield a broom. This picture is similar...

To begin with, the comments. Shandy , the winter here is relatively cold, I suppose. A lot of the time it hovers around the freezing point, but it can occasionally go down to what I would call minus 20. I'm completely out of it when it comes to winter temperatures, having grown up with Fahrenheit then switched to Celsius when I was in grade school and had just finished learning about temperatures. Then moved back to Fahrenheit just when middle age set in and the brain will not adjust. It is about the same as Toronto here but quite balmy in comparison to Ottawa or Montreal. We do get a lot of snow (100 inches or so on average per season) but it freezes and thaws and doesn't pile up the way it does farther north. I think that 25% wool will do just fine. I love recovering and re-using yarn too. It's very satisfying. Thanks again! Marjorie , I feel for you on the subject of deer but there's nothing to be done about it. It's not even worth crying about. Just pick your pl...

Here's a photo for Shandy who made my day by asking where to send mittens for the community knitting drive for the Rochester schools. Mrs. Nellis would certainly bless you! I grew these hostas from nubs or eyes or whatever they're called that I purchased at Home Depot. I've split them up a couple of times. Plants always seem to do better when you grow them from seeds or roots.  But really, thanks for your comment. It's the end of a long work week and it really lifted me out of the doldrums to read that someone from overseas might actually want to contribute to our humble effort. Our goal is to gather 500 pairs of mittens in time for the cold weather. We never talked about sizes, but these are for grade school children (ages 5 or 6 through 12 or maybe more) so any size is welcome.  I have been using this pattern by Elizabeth Durand. Very basic. I've been thinking of jazzing them up by knitting exclamation points and various punctuation marks into the palms of the ...

There were fireflies when we went for a walk this evening. It's really hot - about 90 F or 32 C and for some reason I didn't mind it today even though I was heaving books around and driving in the car for much of the day. Funny that. Normally I just melt in the heat. On Sunday morning I went with friends to pick sour cherries. I picked, washed and pitted about 8 pounds. I froze a bunch, made a Russian summer drink called kompot and a kind of fruit crisp dish for people who don't like oats or regular pastry. Tough customers I have.  About the Big Swatch, Helen , I think I might get back onto it this week. I've been pushing ahead with the blanket edging but it's so deadly that I have to turn to something else occasionally and I have only about 10 rounds left on Big Baby before it's done. That means I'll be turning to Big Swatch next.  Myfanwy   - I've borrowed the Gladys Amedro book from a friend who purchased it recently. If I do knit it, the first thing ...

Feels like the beach to me.  I'm easy to please. If it weren't for that dratted telephone pole.  There's a rocking chair, a zero gravity chair and a good upright hardback chair out of rattan. It's always in the shade and when you get fed up, you go for a toddle around the garden and eat a few strawberries, gooseberries or whatever is in season. Check on the progress of the dahlia's and get back up on the porch. Plus, you get on with your reading or knitting very nicely.  In knitting, the scalloped edging of the Cobweb Crepe style baby blanket is chugging along. I could finish the Big Baby and Big Swatch sleeves quite quickly if I put my mind to it. Hah, hah. I've been thinking about next projects. I'd love to get back to a large lace shawl. I've been thinking about Gladys Amedro's Sheelagh Shawl. Can't find a good picture of it on the web, but here's the Ravelry link . I just love the way the Print of the Wave outer border flows all the way a...