It's a mystery to me...
Thanks for your compliments on my orange yarn combination. Helen commented: "Gorgeous. I think that's the loveliest thing you've knitted out, of a lot of lovely things. I would admire your patience but I expect it's something darker than that. Obssession?!"
Obsession indeed. There is definitely an element of obsession in how I operate. Fortunately, my life is currently such that it can accommodate endless knitting outside my day job. From the time we were small, my sisters and I were always making things or reading books. Tracing each other's outline on huge rolls of paper, making little worlds in the roots of trees with flotsam and jetsam, cutting out images from magazines, pasting and colouring, making puppets, houses for dolls, sewing and fiddling with yarn. I fought my way onto the sewing machine when I was 8 but only using the treadle. There wasn't much knitting until later but there was yarn. My mother wove and did rug hooking in addition to sewing. Alternately, we were glued to books. I don't remember being heavily scheduled or receiving much direction when I was young. Meals, school and bedtime were definite interruptions. Now it's meals, work and bedtime that are the interruptions. Oh and cleaning the house, but we won't talk about that.
My earliest memory of knitting involves my mother, her sister, my grandmother and my older sister. At least one of them must have had knitting in hand. My aunt, who was probably in her mid 20's said something like, "And why aren't those girls knitting?" We were probably hanging around to catch the adult conversation. We would have been quite small, perhaps 5 and 7. Anyway, someone gave me some pink yarn and some needles and I did it for a while and then just began to pretend to knit after I forgot what they showed. Then they took it away and that was it for several years until someone else showed me and I made a few doll blankets. Serious knitting came when I was a teen ager and my boyfriend's mother taught me how to follow a pattern and make a pullover for her son. Then I kept at it off and on until I was in my forties and quit smoking. My friend Shirley showed me how to knit socks and it was game over. Now it's an obsession. Thanks Shirley!
Obsession indeed. There is definitely an element of obsession in how I operate. Fortunately, my life is currently such that it can accommodate endless knitting outside my day job. From the time we were small, my sisters and I were always making things or reading books. Tracing each other's outline on huge rolls of paper, making little worlds in the roots of trees with flotsam and jetsam, cutting out images from magazines, pasting and colouring, making puppets, houses for dolls, sewing and fiddling with yarn. I fought my way onto the sewing machine when I was 8 but only using the treadle. There wasn't much knitting until later but there was yarn. My mother wove and did rug hooking in addition to sewing. Alternately, we were glued to books. I don't remember being heavily scheduled or receiving much direction when I was young. Meals, school and bedtime were definite interruptions. Now it's meals, work and bedtime that are the interruptions. Oh and cleaning the house, but we won't talk about that.
My earliest memory of knitting involves my mother, her sister, my grandmother and my older sister. At least one of them must have had knitting in hand. My aunt, who was probably in her mid 20's said something like, "And why aren't those girls knitting?" We were probably hanging around to catch the adult conversation. We would have been quite small, perhaps 5 and 7. Anyway, someone gave me some pink yarn and some needles and I did it for a while and then just began to pretend to knit after I forgot what they showed. Then they took it away and that was it for several years until someone else showed me and I made a few doll blankets. Serious knitting came when I was a teen ager and my boyfriend's mother taught me how to follow a pattern and make a pullover for her son. Then I kept at it off and on until I was in my forties and quit smoking. My friend Shirley showed me how to knit socks and it was game over. Now it's an obsession. Thanks Shirley!
So I've finished 2 more shawls since the orange one. Purple Island in the Sea, a lace square on the smallish side, it wears well folded corner to corner. It is made from Malabrigo Sock - The Queen’s Lace with Bead Stitch Insert from Heirloom Knitting around a garter stitch diamond centre. Here:
Also, another mohair laceweight mohair combination, this time a bright sea green mohair with alpaca in a milky shade of robin's egg blue. Ah, the depth! The pattern is Stahman's GS Catharina Here's how it looked in the bath but the dye ran and the colours blended somewhat. I saw one of these felted at the Fiber Fest at Hemlock Looked great.
Now I'm messing with Jill Draper's laceweight, Aurora which I bought at Hemlock. I'll let you know how it works out.
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