Joan, I'm on your tailgate

A while back I found the Kauni cardigan along with untold hordes of other knitters. It looked addictive to knit, but surnuf some of the color sequencing got a little dicey for some folks. Some examples looked like the yarn got away from them. THEN I saw the glorious Damask Kauni here and I was sold on the yarn's possibilities.

One small problem: no way in Hades could I ever follow that pattern for more than a handkerchief. So I looked in vain for another pattern. Classic Fair Isle didn't seem a perfect fit. I wanted something with the vertical sweep of Damask, but much easier to follow and a bit more geometric. Starmore was consulted; I looked at old needlepoint journals; I marvelled that I didn't have nearly as many knitting books or magazines as I thought I did, since clearly they were insufficient to present need. Then one day i saw a photo on a blog: Joan, right after the Bohus sweaters, in exactly the type of pattern I wanted, in the same yarn. Well, easy as pie! I would go to her website or find her on ravelry, right? No. I hunted. A lot. All I found was another small photo. ARRghghhGHH.

Joan!

So, I got out the good graph paper, and I did bunch of heavy squinting, and I have a chart to work from.

Just to be sure, I did try a pattern from Poetry in Stitches, but the floats were too long for comfort, and it didn't use the colors at the same rate, an important factor. And yes, that's a mistake on my swatch: I was watching the Indiana Jones movies, prepping for the new release, and apparently it got too tense for me.

A Busride Too Short to Knit

Guys (by which i mean Me),


I'm trying to get digital. One Hamilton's worth of cheapo camera at a time. The first one needed all the light of an atomic explosion to show anything but deep darkness, but it was $10. To be expected. Catomine found a slightly less no-name, but extremely similar item for same price that yielded visible objects. now to upload . . . ohgod, ohgod.

Aha! soon, i may be powerful enough to remove blemishes -- or at least strong enough not to have caffeine or chocolate, which causes them.

Please note my Winter Scarf 2007, which everyone is tired of seeing on me. Daily bus riders (78C) surely have scarf fatigue. it was knitted several years ago from a forgotten thick and thin unspun yarn, and i didn't wear it for a loong time because i was so tickled that i had used the complete amount of yarn with only a 3inch tail on either end. with no frogging at all. of course the decrease gets a little funky as i raced against the shrinking yarn length, but i made it work out so nicely with no waste (EZ would be proud) that i couldn't bear to weave in the two tiny ends that i was so proud of. so the scarf lived in a box until i resurrected it and wore it one winter day, darning in the ends as i rode on the bus. how's that for procrastinating? and seed stitch, who can get enough? It even matches my storebought cashmere hat.

What I really want to know is: Who made the sci-fi reader's scarf? I would try to sneak a photo, but it will be too warm next week for him to wear it. It is the size of a table runner for the 40-foot state-dinner table in a movie. I believe each stripe is an entire ball of yarn. It appears to be over twice the length of his body and over a foot wide. If it happens to be his first and only attempt at knitting, i applaud his gusto for knitting and his aplomb in wearing it. If it was a gift, however, i suppose i must respect his loyalty to the donor. But really, it's like a knitting machine went crazy while he slept, and then he tripped into it on the way out the door. I want to like it, but it puts him in danger of tripping.

Dark Lace

Almanac of projects: March
I have received shipment of hemp, nettle and camel yarns from nearseanaturals.com and have used my boyfriend as an umbrella swift. the hemp and nettle is going to be a farmer's market bag in Azalea lace. Cannot tell whether plan of doing 5 reps instead of 6 will cause dome shape instead of flat circular. and my selected xerox does not reveal exactly what a M.3 is, so i'm doing my own blind equivalency.
my stash closet is looking very well organized. the crochet cotton has been firmly segregated, and the wools protected.

i need homes for beading supplies (seed beads mostly) and aluminum knitting needles.

Remember, if you get a pattern or two you like from a library book, don't forget the abbrev. page!