Books and Good Things

I keep finding interesting stuff on my bookshelves.  That has always been the case with me and books.  Any books.  Books of letters between 18 th century people, collections of short stories, novels, histories, biographies and so on.  Plus anything to do with fibre arts. Books are maps to travel to different places and times.  

As I was wandering among my books, I came across this sweater.

It's a lovely textured crochet sweater.  I made it in the 90s long before I learned to knit.  I wore it as we traveled by ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert.  I had several ladies compliment me on it.  It was one of the best things I ever made.  

I have often thought of recreating it in knitting.  A similar look could be made very easily even if you are not normally a winging it sort of knitter.  The Penta Pillar pullover by James N Watts could be used as the base and then you just need to add interesting stitches to your work.   

Personally, I would use the Lusk as a pattern base and when  I get to patterns, I am thinking of the crisp twisted stitches of the Styrian valley.

Or some of the gorgeous stitch patterns from this tour deforce stitch dictionary.

I mean really.  How lovely.

Now this pattern would be lovely in a summer tee shirt or a winter lacy pullover.  

So many beautiful things to think about and to knit.  There is nothing like knitting to excite all the little grey cells in my head.  Endless possibilities from simple string.

Interesting yarn and pattern combinations.

I feel like I have ten thousand things to talk about and if I am not careful, they will all spill out at once.  I will attempt to keep on track.

I'm not quite where I hoped to be on my cream and white sweater but I am in a good place.  I am almost at the point where I need to decide if the ribbing is going to be cream or white.  There is lots of both yarns.  This is where the top will become cream with white stripes or white with cream stripes.  It's a conundrum, but a fun one.

Friday I talked about looking at yarn in a different way.  A few years ago I did a stash dive and some yarns spoke to me. They actually screamed at MD but nicely.  I saw magic.  I started knitting them into a Starting Point shawl by Joji Locatelli.  I frogged it because I will never use a shawl like that no matter how beautiful it was.  And it was beautiful.  Magic happened when I saw the yarns together and that feeling has never left me.  

So rich and striking.  I have been searching for the right pattern to keep them together for a while now.  I have 5 colours to use and many patterns use more or less.  Five is awkward, but it is not negotiable.  And I am not interested in colourwork for these yarns.  I don't have any single one of them in quantity to play main yarn.   

I have also been looking at my bookshelves lately too. It's nice to do that when my hands are done for the day.  There are so many good things in my knitting library.  Stitch dictionaries of all sorts, pattern books, all kinds of things fibre and craft related,  that fire up my brain, sending my thoughts pinging hither and thither.  I came across a couple of old crochet garment books.  These are not the granny stitch crochet garments that are sweeping the Fibre arts world at the moment.  They go a step farther to make really lovely sweaters in crochet, a far step beyond a double crochet.  

One of them is this one.

Do you see it?  

I have always loved this vest.  I think it will work for my gorgeous pile of yarn. 

It's a shape that is simple and could easily be converted to knitting.  I could just crochet it too but the things I need to do to make it fit me nicely might be easier for me to do in knitting.  YMMV of course but I think my brain is more flexible in knitting. 

The pattern asks for 6 colours but I think 5 will work because of the changes I need.  I am going to colour up a colour placement chart like the book shows for the original design with the changes I need in place.  I will also think about sleeves because I would really like to use up the yarn.  

Anyway that is what I was dreaming of this weekend.  It was fun.  Exhilarating even.  Today I am going to work to getting the Lusk cream and white tee done.

Which reminds me.  Rebecca Clow just put out the perfect new little summer sweater/ vest/ tee for summer.  Check out her Sollas pattern.  

Seeing Something Different in the Yarn

Oh my, this is looking so good.

I am so utterly pleased with this.  It is exactly right.  

Yes it is cheap cotton not often used for clothing but why not? I would use kitchen string if I did not have anything else at hand. I crocheted a top years ago out of Handicrafter cotton and the only problem with it was the stitch pattern I used was too open for wear in the office without a camisole.  But it worked.  A Ravelry search before I started this top shows I am not the only one who makes garments with this yarn.  

The cream is a some ancient 1824 Cotton that I have had forever.  I tried making tops 3 or 4 times with the yarn before but the tops just never happened.  

This entire top is a whim.  I was putting yarn away after my last dive and as I was putting this last box away, I just saw the yarns in it, in a different way.  That sometimes happens to me.  I have a bunch of yarns and one day, magic happens and I see something different going on between the yarns.  I see something new and occasionally brilliant.  

Next week, I will show you one of those.  I can, now that I know what I am going to make  happen.   

Back to the cream and white Lusk top.  I am just going to keep working on it.  I would like to get it done fast because I can really use the top on my spring and summer wardrobe.