A smidge of history

Last week I was reading an amazing Knitty article about the history of knitting. I really suggest you go take a look. One of the parts that really blew my mind was about the direction that we knit. The English language, as well as many other languages, read from left to right. We know that, we’re doing it right now. Knitting on the other hand, is done from right to left, and the difference is most noticeable when we’re reading a chart. Trying to force your brain to read from right to left on a chart is always a little difficult. And of course I knew all of this already. What I didn’t know is that knitting was a Middle-Eastern invention. And knowing that Arabic is read from right to left, it all makes sense. Now I might not know as much history as some people (cough Ty cough), but this is why I wish I did. It’s fascinating and shockingly pertinent to current life.

At the beginning of the article, the author mentions how knitting is a relatively new invention. There are no myths involving knitting, but there are plenty about spinning and weaving. This started me thinking about why I love knitting. And although there are numerous obvious reasons (soft yarn, pretty yarn, soft pretty yarn…) the one that contrast so much with spinning and weaving is it’s portability. There are very few materials required, and they are all small. I always have at least two different projects in my bag at all times, often three. It’s so easy for me to take out a sock on the metro, or while waiting for a friend, or at the airport or doctor’s office. It’s nearly impossible for me not to take out my knitting any moment my hands are still. This habit has either encouraged, or completely created my fidgety-ness when I’m not knitting or using my hands in some other way.

Knitting helps me focus. In lectures or seminars it’s always been easier for me to follow the speaker when I’m knitting. By occupying my hands, my brain isn’t allowed to wander, or else my knitting is messed up. Obviously there are limits to this, and doing a complicated pattern involves more attention than would allow me to multitask. But stockinette stitch or ribbing? Perfect for keeping my mind on the speaker in front of me. I don’t find that I’ve spaced out and missed three slides.

Knitting is something different for each person. And portability is just a small part of why knitting is so important to me.

Happy Knitting!

Sunshine yellow

It’s finally getting a little warm here, but still cool enough for my gorgeous new hat! I literally just finished it in class today, so I haven’t actually sewn in the ends or blocked it, but I think it looks fantastic!! I’m really glad that this turned out so well because I absolutely love this yarn, it’s so beautiful, these pictures don’t do it justice. The yarn is Malabrigo silky merino in Pollen. I will absolutely be writing up a pattern, and trying it out again to sell on Etsy. Hopefully it won’t explode when I block it, but the blocked swatch only expanded a little width-wise and not at all length-wise, so my fingers are crossed.

I did block my lace shawl this weekend, which still needs to be photographed, but that will be forthcoming. I went to one of the larger DC public libraries on Monday to find some lace knitting books, and what I walked out of there with was five lace knitting books, a Cookie A book (cause who doesn’t love her socks!) and a drop spindle spinning book. If I haven’t said it before, public libraries are the best idea ever. Still on my knitting to-d0 list is my other convertible glove, my coworker Rosy’s sweater, which I have an idea for, but must actually start, and of course the three lace shawls. Hopefully sometime soon I will begin typing up all these patterns…

On my Etsy to-do list I’m hoping to rephotograph most of my current items, take down the really old ones (probably donate them) and politely beg Alex to make me a beautiful new banner for my shop. I also stumbled on a great looking tutorial on how to make tags for hand knit items from Grumperina. So that might be happening in the near future.

In wedding news, we finally got the save-the-dates out to most everyone, and we’re planning on having a dinner party this weekend, so we’ll give them to our local friends then.

In the meantime, Happy Knitting!

Yay!

Alex made an Etsy for me! So now I can sell the random stuff that I make. I have a huge bag of things that I’ve made but for no one in particular. We also bought some roving and a drop spindle. We spun a whole skein already. I think we’re going to dye it with cool aid, cause it’s undyed yarn. We have some more roving, but only one spindle, so I bought another one so that we can both spin at the same time.

Let’s see. I just finished the second round of midterms. And the grades that I’ve gotten so far are good, but I dunno about the other ones.

Oh, and I finished the back of my diamonds sweater, so now I’m doing the first sleeve. Then it’s just the second sleeve and the neck ribbing and then just sewing it together! I also finished the neckwarmer from the yarn Ty gave me for my birthday. I’ll try to put up this pattern soon too.

Oh, and I got my hair cut, as you can probably see in the picture, and here, right after I went to the salon.

It’s nice and short now. And when I just let it dry it gets super curly.

No More Summer

Today is my last day of work, and I’m definitely ready to get back to school. Tomorrow and Thursday will be full of packing and shopping and seeing friends. We’re heading down to DC early Friday morning, and moving me at least part of the way in on Friday. Ty will be there too. For the whole long weekend! He was here this past weekend and my parent’s were up in Vermont, but they came back to have dinner with us on Sunday night. Yummy steak and salad made by Ty. The salad is the weird part of it. Radishes (his favorite), feta, and other random vegetables you have (we added cauliflower and snap peas), add a little olive oil and salt and pepper and you’re done. A nice summer salad, which contrasted nicely with the spicy chipotle and cumin rub he had on the steak.

My Starburst shrug is all done, including being soaked and blocked. It’s definitely bigger, but not quite in the way I was hoping. I think it will look better on someone else though, someone smaller. I’ll just have to keep that in mind for my Working Diamonds, seeing as it’s the same yarn. I started that a few days ago, and have at least five inches of progress on the front (or the back if i cop out and don’t want to do the neck shaping yet). I decided not to have any body shaping to it because it’s got cables, which will stretch where necessary and be tight where it’s not. I still have to get the white button up to go underneath it, which will help me decide where the neckline should be, and how long the sleeve will be. I figure that they’d be just below the elbow.

Hopefully Starburst will get a home on Wednesday when I see my friends, and I’ll get pictures of it and Summer Breeze on some lovely models. I also need to take some pictures of my swift. It’s all done, but I haven’t used it since it was completely finished, only when it was nearly finished. I’m think of knitting a carrying case for it, with pockets for the spare parts we made, just in case. It doesn’t take up that much room, and barely looks homemade. My dad is so cool! I’ll try to have him get a picture of it in action, although because I’m winding by hand it won’t be quite as cool as if I had a real ball winder.

I’m currently making Alex (my friend from last year and now my roommate) a stash basket to store (some of) her yarn in. It’s crochet, which I haven’t done in a very long time, but I remember. I haven’t gotten that far, but with an 8 hour car ride to DC, I’ll have plenty of time.

I also want to buy some undyed yarn, so that I can try out this whole dyeing thing and see if I like it. I figure that I can just do the cheap-o Kool-aid dyeing, and the instructions on KnitPicks. I also want to try spinning, but I’d definitely have to do more research. Maybe someone at SnB at school will know…