tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109014682024-03-18T20:56:10.724-04:00The PanopticonFranklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.comBlogger924125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-43443569058064493632015-02-02T22:00:00.000-05:002015-02-03T11:52:20.762-05:00The Exciting Adventure of the German Lace ManuscriptHow long ago was I in Iceland? Good grief, 2011.<br />
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While I was there, exciting things happened–including <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2011/10/oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy.html" target="_blank">this</a>. (Go take a look, please. I'll wait.)<br />
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On how many trips do you find a manuscript lace chart in a pile of old books? That's a day you never forget, unless you're me. Then you forget about it for three years.<br />
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When <a href="http://styledbykristin.com/" target="_blank">Kristin Omdahl</a> sent me some of her Bamboo So Fine yarn, I remembered.<br />
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Have you had a chance to handle this stuff? It's seriously groovy. All bamboo, spun and dyed in America. Fabulous drape, soft as soft gets, and the sheen is such that people keep asking me if it's silk.<br />
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My skein is the turquoise of a shady tropical pool, and arrived gorgeously packaged in a tulle gift bag with a sample of Kristin's "Wrapture" wash for delicates included. (If you like the looks of it, Kristin is offering $2 off this or her Be So Sporty yarns for the rest of the week in her <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/KristinOmdahl" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a> - use coupon code FRANKLIN. I've never been a coupon code before!)<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/16246341067" title="laura-yarn-bag by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="laura-yarn-bag" height="396" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7291/16246341067_b70c550f8b_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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I hadn't been this excited by a lace weight in a long time. It needed to be knit. When I went to the shelf in search of a test pattern, lookee what fell out of one of the books I bought in Reykjavik.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/16244844550" title="german-lace-chart-ms by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="german-lace-chart-ms" height="399" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/16244844550_15ba0cb3b2_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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I took it as a sign.<br />
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Now, a few things about this chart.<br />
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First, it's tiny. The squares on the graph paper are 20 (TWENTY) to the inch. Take a moment and admire how perfectly those symbols have been drawn. Each one's about the size of a midge.<br />
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Also, it's written in German. My German is meager, to put it mildly. Most of it comes from time spent working as a drama coach for opera singers, and operatic German has a limited vocabulary. You get oaths of vengeance, declarations of love, and overheated exclamations of rapture in the face of all-consuming beauty. None of this is helpful when deciphering a lace chart.<br />
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Happily, I have a knitter friend, Karen, who speaks German and offered to translate for me. There were no big surprises, except that the lengthy chart key includes explanations for about eleven symbols that aren't in the chart.<br />
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With the translation in hand and the chart blown up to accommodate my rapidly aging eyes, it was time to try out "Laura Star" and see what I'd get. Would it work?<br />
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It worked. Even fresh off the needles and unblocked it was cute. (I know, it looks lettuce-green in this photo. It's not. The lighting conditions were weird.)<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/16432247305" title="laura-unblocked by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="laura-unblocked" height="396" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7298/16432247305_4dedde1032_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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Then...<i>sproing!</i><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15809733234" title="laura-full-view by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="laura-full-view" height="327" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8649/15809733234_b6a957f72e_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15812200723" title="laura-swirl-detail by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="laura-swirl-detail" height="297" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7445/15812200723_037ce9eabb_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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If you've never tried one of these little doilies, this is a good starter. The piece is small, the progression is logical, and if you pay a reasonable amount of attention you'll have a dandy time.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/16244844210" title="laura-aerial-detail by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="laura-aerial-detail" height="396" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7300/16244844210_af4cfa5e23_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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There was one more surprise, which sharp-eyed readers will already have spotted; but which I didn't notice until I sat down to write this entry.<br />
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"Laura" isn't the chart I found when I first went through the sheaf of books and loose papers from Reykjavik. It's not the one in the picture from 2011. <i>There's another manuscript chart in there waiting to be translated and tested.</i> Um...Karen? May I have a moment of your time?<br />
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Meanwhile, have a whack at Laura. Here's the chart, modernized for your knitting pleasure. It's big, yes–so save it to your own computer or tablet or whatever you kids are using these days. It's free for non-commerical purposes.<br /><br />[EDIT TO ADD: The size of the chart is causing a bit of confusion. It's all there, but you're probably only seeing the left half on your screen right now. If you pull the chart file from the blog to your own device, you'll see the whole thing, including the chart key.]<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/16406665236" title="laura-star-chart by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="laura-star-chart" height="864" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8563/16406665236_c9154712cf_o.jpg" width="792" /></a><br />
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com393tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-31434939966527936372014-12-25T12:05:00.002-05:002014-12-25T12:05:44.264-05:00Fa la, etc.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UNEZ0n3Mdto/VJxD34vNKNI/AAAAAAAADF8/nxJVpS0G-4o/s1600/ethel-joy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UNEZ0n3Mdto/VJxD34vNKNI/AAAAAAAADF8/nxJVpS0G-4o/s1600/ethel-joy.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com161tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-14482191975646175542014-12-11T12:38:00.000-05:002014-12-11T12:43:35.505-05:00Me, Elsewhere: Lion Brand Blog and Knitty, Winter 2014I don't know if I've mentioned here before that I produce a monthly illustrated essay for none other than Lion Brand Yarns. Have I mentioned that? Well, now I've mentioned that.<br />
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The <a href="http://blog.lionbrand.com/2014/12/09/well-since-you-asked/" target="_blank">December edition</a> is newly up, and the topic is what to do when you're a knitter who doesn't feel like knitting. It's also about what to do when you're a weaver who doesn't want to weave, a crocheter who can't be bothered to pick up a hook, a tatter who is shuttle-weary, etc.<br />
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And right on schedule, it's the <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEw14/index.php" target="_blank">Winter 2014 Knitty</a>. My "Stitches in Time" column for <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEw14/FEATw14SIT.php" target="_blank">this edition</a> offers for your consideration an 1880s pattern for a pair of gloves, along with thoughts on why knitting gloves is not difficult, and why you should. Also: thoughts on mid-Victorian knitted faux-ermine muffs, and why I won't.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15996823931" title="gloves-win-14 by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="gloves-win-14" height="529" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/15996823931_fdf66bea8a_o.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
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<b>Ethel News</b></div>
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Sewing on Ethel's dress continues apace. The bodice is now complete except for the high collar, the hook-and-eye closures at the back, and of course the lace trim.</div>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15811416968" title="ethel-bodice by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="ethel-bodice" height="495" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7463/15811416968_de0caced11_o.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
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I haven't settled on tatting or knitting yet for the lace. There was a comment (I believe in jest) in the comments for the last entry that I do it in crochet...unless I subscribe to the notion that crochet is inherently ignoble. </div>
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For those of you who appear not to have caught the tone of that commenter's comment, I want to be perfectly clear that I <i>do not</i> hold any such ideas about crochet. In fact I am publicly on record in many places (<a href="http://blog.lionbrand.com/2013/05/08/play-nice/" target="_blank">including one of my own columns</a>) as saying that I find the modern custom of keeping knitting and crochet in separate, armed camps is stupid. Neither do I believe one is superior to the other.</div>
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The lace won't be crocheted because at present I haven't got the chops to do it well at the required gauge. I'm learning, but I'm not up to crochet with thread just yet. The kind offers to do it for me are much appreciated; but to paraphrase Hotspur in Shakespeare's <i>Henry IV, Part I</i>, she's my dolly and I'm a grown man and I have to do the work.</div>
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<b>Travel Knitting</b></div>
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I'm about to go on the trip that is, remarkably, not for work. I won't have Internet access for any of it, so this is the last entry until just before Christmas. The important packing is complete, which is to say I know which needlework is coming along. I'm particularly excited about what's going to happen to this...</div>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15998798135" title="shibui-staccato by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="shibui-staccato" height="396" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8593/15998798135_cea6b07674_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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It's Shibui Staccato (merino and silk fingering weight) in Blueprint and I would sit here and stare at it all afternoon if Ethel were not reminding me that she expects a skirt sooner rather than later.</div>
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See you in a few weeks, kids. Be good.</div>
Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com286tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-4129111847706866882014-12-04T15:36:00.001-05:002014-12-04T15:50:27.071-05:00Pins and Needles, Needles and PinsRemember Ethel?<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15946853162" title="one-sleeve by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="one-sleeve" height="396" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7530/15946853162_149264a828_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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You may or may not, it's been a while since I wrote about her.<br />
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She came into my life via a tray of miscellaneous junk at a flea market, lacking everything from the waist down. <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2010/08/hello-dolly.html" target="_blank">But I took care of that</a>.<br />
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So she was entire, but naked. I decided to dress her, starting with a <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-sew-like-girl.html" target="_blank">linen-and-lace petticoat</a>.<br />
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Then things got busy, and Ethel has been sitting around in just her underwear since then. She hasn't complained as such, but the look on her face speaks volumes.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15946853162" title="one-sleeve by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="one-sleeve" height="396" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7530/15946853162_149264a828_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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Happily, my friend and collaborator <a href="http://malarkycrafts.com/" target="_blank">John Mullarkey</a> threw me a sewing challenge. He has a long-delayed shirt that needs to be finished. I have a doll who is threatening to telephone the ASPCD and turn me in for neglect. Let's cheer each other along, he said. Fine, I said. So out came the needles and thread.<br />
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We began well.<br />
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I want to sew something reasonably appropriate–with two disclaimers.<br />
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First, I'm not producing miniature clothing (i.e. correct in all aspects, perfectly to scale). I'm making a dress for a doll, rather as Ethel's original owner might have. (Serious Doll People will recoil. With no disrespect to them, I am not a Serious Doll Person.)<br />
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Second, for this project I'm not fussing and fretting over perfect period (c. 1900) detail. Ethel probably "should" be in a shirtwaist with pin tucks and certain other details,<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15921724406" title="1900-costumes by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="1900-costumes" height="589" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8562/15921724406_b9f92bd789_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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but I know myself well enough to understand that if I begin this project with research, I'll never cut anything out. I will bog down, debate, and prevaricate. This is supposed to be a sewing exercise, not a trip to the library.<br />
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And I don't especially feel like sewing a shirtwaist. This dress is largely an excuse to make more thread lace (probably tatted and knitted) and stick it on something.<br />
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Anyhow, I drafted the bodice and sleeves (yes, I use paper towels) and felt pretty good about the results. Flat pattern making is new ground for me.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15327893333" title="patt-layout by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="patt-layout" height="396" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7559/15327893333_ecec87e225_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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Then, after a deep breath, sewing.<br />
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I enjoy hand sewing, but most of my training was under the stern eye of my late grandmother. She was a tailor. When I helped her I was usually working on tailored clothing, so there are certain weird gaps in my education–like gathering. Not a lot of gathers in man's suit. Ethel's full sleeve caps require gathering.<br />
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I swore a lot, but I finished the sleeve cap and it didn't look half bad. After a day off, I sat down with second sleeve. Marked, gathered, pinned. Sewed.<br />
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It was so much easier the second time! About forty minutes from start to finish, and so uneventful that I actually thought as I made the last few stitches, <i>"Well, so much for having an amusing tale to post on the blog." </i>Because you know, projects that go well are never funny.<br />
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I clipped the final thread, turned the piece right-side out, and realized I had sewn the second sleeve into the same armscye as the first sleeve.<br />
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I sewed <i>two</i> sleeves into the <i>same</i> armscye.</div>
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And didn't realize it until I was finished.</div>
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You really can't fudge that with ironing.<br />
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<i>Rip, rip, rip.</i><br />
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We are in a better place now, but Ethel is still giving me That Look.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15760221680" title="two-sleeve by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="two-sleeve" height="396" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8615/15760221680_baf5150e9c_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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She sure throws a lot of attitude for somebody who was fished out of a junk tray at a flea market.<br />
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com127tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-82793595681709247902014-11-24T10:33:00.000-05:002014-11-24T10:38:31.171-05:00Me, Elsewhere: Twist CollectiveThe newest issue of Twist Collective was published yesterday. My contribution is a paean to Elizabeth Zimmermann's knitting videos, plus a drinking game.<br />
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In our time, what greater tribute can a devoted fan offer to a beloved series than a drinking game?<br />
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Slash fiction, I suppose. But I'm not going to do that so don't even ask.<br />
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(If you don't imbibe, don't worry. Neither do I. It works equally well with cocoa or tea. Or, come to that, it works with little bits of chocolate, or shortbread, or... .)</div>
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Read it <a href="http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/107-articles/1939-sip-sip-knit" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com101tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-51128563918031431672014-11-21T16:36:00.000-05:002014-11-21T16:39:58.551-05:00MagicI've been taking a multi-week course in bookbinding.<br />
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This will surprise absolutely nobody who knows me well and has therefore heard me pine wistfully for a press and a bindery to call my own.<br />
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I'm enjoying it. The teacher is excellent, the fee is reasonable, and my first efforts are imperfect but promising. Last time we did Japanese stab bindings:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15224513314" title="three-bindings by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="three-bindings" height="396" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/15224513314_aeaab9a94e_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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The studio itself has taken getting used to.<br />
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I'm usually surrounded by fiber arts folks. Here's the thing about fiber arts folks: they're humble. Doesn't matter who they are or what they've done, you'll have to look hard to find a knitter who will throw attitude at you because she's got four decades of professional experience and has written a string of classic books.<br />
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This is probably due at least in part to the greater world's general sniffing disdain for textile arts, especially knitting and crochet. These are (so they say) unserious, unimportant, practiced by the sad and the shut-in. They're wrong and stupid about that; but on the positive side it does tend to keep us grounded.<br />
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Snobs there are, yes, and those whose <i>folies de grandeur</i> make for fun industry gossip. But they're a distinct minority.<br />
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So it was a bit of a cold bath to be reminded when I walked into the print studio for the first time what a room full of extreme self-importance feels like. Absolutely everyone in sight (except me) was a Serious Artist to Be Taken Seriously.<br />
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I heard more theorizing, posturing, and pronouncing in five minutes than in all the previous year. I heard an early-twentysomething who was silkscreening a cartoon owl onto a t-shirt refer un-ironically to "my earlier body of work."<br />
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I don't do very well in situations like this. I get scared and I shrink. I mumble. I took my bone folder and awl and sat in a corner and tried to disappear.<br />
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Last week I went into the room where the paper guillotine* lives, and just as I was getting ready to chop the head of my little perfect-bound book, one of the Serious Artists looked up from her bench–she was scrutinizing a very gorgeous letterpress poster–and asked me about my scarf. This scarf, which was made of leftovers from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/longer-on-the-inside" target="_blank">Longer on the Inside</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15227131883" title="wove-scarf by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="wove-scarf" height="396" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8628/15227131883_4d53833022_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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"I love those colors," she said. "Where did you get it?"<br />
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"I made it," I said.<br />
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She was taken aback.<br />
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"You mean you...what? You sewed it or something?"<br />
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"No, I made it. I wove it."<br />
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"You wove it? You mean you made the actual fabric?"<br />
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"Yes. On a loom."<br />
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"You <i>made</i> fabric?"<br />
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"Yes."<br />
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"Oh my god," she said. "That's incredible. You actually made fabric? From scratch? Can I touch it? Would it be okay if I touched it?"<br />
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I let her touch it.<br />
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"I just can't believe you made fabric," she said. "That's like...magic."<br />
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Good to hear. Good to be reminded that what we do can startle even Very Serious Artists.<br />
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We're magic.<br />
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<i>*Ohhhhh, the paper guillotine. It's so beautiful. Cast iron, almost five feet high, easily a century old. Can slice tiny slivers off the edge of stack of telephone books. Enormous, graceful curving lever to lower the blade. The paper guillotine. Mmmmmmm.</i>Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com139tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-46219084090533240752014-11-15T23:21:00.002-05:002014-11-15T23:27:35.487-05:00All About That LaceI am nothing if not easily distracted. What's below is the kind of thing that creeps into my notebooks when I am supposed to be doing serious work.<br />
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If Meghan Trainor's bouncy ode to the curvaceous posterior, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk" target="_blank">"All About That Bass"</a>,<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lHvm5iZEBtA/VGgnnTOH9vI/AAAAAAAADCA/hZzq-Bx0Tfs/s1600/all-about.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lHvm5iZEBtA/VGgnnTOH9vI/AAAAAAAADCA/hZzq-Bx0Tfs/s1600/all-about.jpg" /></a></div>
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can spawn a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV5WqRnFejI" target="_blank"><i>Star Wars</i></a> version, a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2pu8nsUtCQ" target="_blank">high school literacy</a> version, and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyTTX6Wlf1Y" target="_blank">forties jazz </a> version, <i>et al.</i>, I see no reason why we knitters should not have a version of our own. </div>
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I sing like a screech owl and haven't got the time to make a video (perhaps the <a href="http://www.masondixonknitting.com/" target="_blank">Mason-Dixon</a> ladies will oblige?), but here's my contribution to the boom boom on the dance floor.</div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Because you know<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’m all about that lace,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
'Bout that lace, lace, lace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yeah, it’s pretty clear<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I need a size 2.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
'Cause I been swatching, swatching,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Like I’m supposed to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
'Cause I know what you need to make it all lace–<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
All the right holes in all the right places.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
The knitting magazines down at the local shop,<o:p></o:p></div>
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You want a pretty shawl? They got a bumper crop.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yarn over, knit together, and never stop<o:p></o:p></div>
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'Til every inch of it
is perfect<o:p></o:p></div>
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From the bottom to the top.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
You know my mama she told me don’t worry about the size,<o:p></o:p></div>
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She said a shawl can be tiny or cover you to the thighs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You know I won’t knit your sweater for Christmas like
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So if that’s what you want you can knit it your own damn
self.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Because you know<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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Hey!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m using silk and yak,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I like the way my little needles clack,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I maybe wish I hadn’t chosen black–<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I won’t give up <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
'Til every inch of it is perfect<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the bottom to the top.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know my mama she told me don’t worry about the size,<o:p></o:p></div>
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She said a shawl can be tiny or cover you to the thighs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You know I won’t knit your sweater for Christmas like
Santa’s elf.<o:p></o:p></div>
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self.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Because you know<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,<o:p></o:p></div>
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No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,<o:p></o:p></div>
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No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,<o:p></o:p></div>
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No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m all about that lace, 'bout that lace,<o:p></o:p></div>
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No cables.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I’m all about that lace,<o:p></o:p></div>
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'Bout that lace.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey, hey, ohh.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You know you like this lace.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com278tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-88635755940481145202014-11-02T19:01:00.001-05:002014-11-03T17:12:40.623-05:00Strongly DisagreeI taught at Vogue Knitting LIVE! Chicago once again this year, and it's always kind of a kick to do a gig in my own town. No jet lag, no airport security lines, and I already know where to get lunch.<br />
<br />
I also get to say hello to a fair number of friends who live in various places around the Midwest and travel in for the big shows or events. One of them–I'll call her Martha–decided to sign up for my class on the gorgeous traveling stitch patterns (the stitches travel, not the patterns) commonly known to English-speaking knitters as Bavarian Twisted Stitch. You may also know it as Austrian Twisted Stitch, or (if you speak German) you may know it as one of the many forms of Strickmüster, or knitting patterns.<br />
<br />
You may not know it at all, in which case please allow me to recommend my class. (My calendar is always <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/p/franklins-calendar.html" target="_blank">here</a>–did you know I'm sailing to Alaska in July?)<br />
<br />
Anyhow, Martha showed up a bit early to chitchat and catch up. We went to <a href="http://schoolhousepress.com/camp.htm" target="_blank">Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp</a> together a couple times, but don't get to see each other much. She asked how the show was going. Dandy, I said. Good students, happy classes.<br />
<br />
"I'm sure your classes are always happy," she said.<br />
<br />
Well, I try. I try my damnedest. My classes take about a year of preparation to début; and ever after they are subject to constant fine-tuning. It's not enough to know how to do something in order to teach it. You have to–this is my opinion, anyhow–know it well enough to explain it at least five different ways. Not everyone learns in the same way, or at the same pace. You must be able to adjust your teaching to suit the students who walk through the door, and anybody can walk through the door.<br />
<br />
Even so, you can't please everyone. Sometimes your feedback forms come back with disgruntled comments. I've had marks taken off for<br />
<ul>
<li>the font I used in a handout ("Sans serif faces are unprofessional"),</li>
<li>wearing a bow tie ("so pretentious"),</li>
<li>not keeping the room warm enough (we were in a barn at a fiber festival),</li>
<li>talking too much (I was, you know–teaching),</li>
<li>being too gay,</li>
<li>being too unattractive, and</li>
<li>not making it clear in advance that a class on lace charting would require the students to use lace charts.</li>
</ul>
Martha sat in the back of the classroom with the other bad seeds. At the conclusion, though I clearly asked the students to please place their feedback forms on the chair by the door, she insisted on handing hers to me.<br />
<br />
I wish to share with you select excerpts from Martha's comments on my teaching.<br />
<br />
<b>Would you take another class with this teacher?</b><br />
<br />
<i>I don't know. Will there be wine?</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Would you suggest this class to a friend?</b><br />
<br />
<i>Only if they want to learn something.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Additional comments and/or suggestions.</b><br />
<br />
<i>Although instructor wore hat, nevertheless appeared to be unable to bilocate. Only in one part of room at any given time.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Was unaware that knitting is prerequisite for this class.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Purl stitches do not travel? This seems discriminatory.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Cannot decide whether these German-style charts prevent Alzheimer's or promote it.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Instructor's bow tie did not light up.</i><br />
<br />
<br />EDITED TO ADD: I must not be coming across quite clearly to all. Martha is (as I wrote) a good friend. Her lampooned feedback form, as quoted above, made me <i>laugh</i>. The other comments, from other classes at other events, aren't posted as a cry of pain–I thought they were funny. What can person do in the face of such absurdity but roll his eyes? Outrage would be an overreaction.Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com94tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-10559753571233634332014-09-25T12:05:00.000-04:002014-09-25T12:30:20.723-04:00That's What Friends Are For<div dir="ltr">
I was in Seattle, enjoying a weekend of lectures and classes at <a href="http://www.makersmercantile.com/" target="_blank">Makers' Mercantile</a>, when a long-time reader came forward with a magnificent gift.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
She remembered that I am (in a very small way) a print collector, and gave me this.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15165114358" title="Spinnerin (detail) by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="Spinnerin (detail)" height="528" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3846/15165114358_92b7bdd41b_o.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
It's called <i>Die Spinnerin</i>, engraved in the nineteenth century after a painting by the 17th-century Dutch artist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Netscher" target="_blank">Caspar Netscher</a>. It made my dark little heart go thumpitta-thumpitta-thumpitta-boom.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The folio sheet (21 by 28) hasn't been cut. The tones and textures, which defy capture by my cut-rate phone camera, are pure velvet.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Then there's the subject matter, of course, with all the lovingly rendered details: the niddy-noddy, the hank of flax,</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15328657586" title="Spinnerin (detail) by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="Spinnerin (detail)" height="629" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3904/15328657586_6684221f5d_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
the little hand-cranked* (!) wheel. (Single drive? Curious. I would love to hear from anyone who might know whether this is accurate, or whether the artist goofed. All the rest is captured in such fine detail that it seems odd he would leave out an entire loop of the drive band, if it were actually there.)</div>
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<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15165178387" title="Spinnerin (detail) by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="Spinnerin (detail)" height="612" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3882/15165178387_db79f7331a_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
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This isn't the sort of thing you fold up and stuff in a suitcase, so I asked my good buddy Chuck at <a href="http://skacelknitting.com/" target="_blank">Skacel</a> if he could please hand it over to their shipping department and have it sent home to me.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I got a message from Chuck a few days later saying that (as you might imagine would happen at a yarn company) the print had caused quite a stir and everybody had wanted to run away with it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In due course, a sturdy tube arrived from Skacel. Inside was the sweet spinning lady, looking as beautiful as ever.</div>
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<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/15328657226" title="Spinnerin by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="Spinnerin" height="528" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2947/15328657226_958c534f54_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
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Thanks, Chuck! You're the best!<br />
<br />
<i>*Edited to add: Mind you, there is a footman, which suggests there is also a treadle hidden under the skirts. So, hand-cranked and foot-powered? The more I look at this the more fascinated I get. </i></div>
Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com61tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-2572975603498911602014-06-01T10:13:00.000-04:002014-06-01T11:20:12.999-04:00Miniature Entry: Cheat Sheet from the PastA dear friend recently gave me a magnificent present that deserves (and will get) its own entry. But tucked inside this gift was a piece of paper, the survival of which amazes me.<br />
<br />
It's a sheet of the slick, translucent typing paper that some of us remember was called onionskin.<br />
<br />
Yellowed, battered, and containing...<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/14133712938" title="ktichener-full by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="ktichener-full" height="297" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5511/14133712938_9da7135631_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
typed instructions for Kitchener stitch.<br />
<br />
Below the typed copy is a spidery line of manuscript that reads...<br />
<br />
<i>ME spiral narrow at 19" narrow quickly</i><br />
<br />
Somebody was making socks, I bet. Knee socks, maybe? If you were to knit a 19-inch tube, quick spiral decreases would give you a toe at the right point for a short woman's knee sock.<br />
<br />
Or, possibly, "spiral" applies to "ME" and the socks were akin to the spiral stockings (knit without heel shaping) in <i>Mary Thomas's Knitting Book</i>.<br />
<br />
I can't say with any certainty what "ME" means. Make Even? Possibly, though it's not a usage I have run across before.<br />
<br />
In the upper right corner is a name and address:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/14133732639" title="kitchener-close by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="kitchener-close" height="254" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2912/14133732639_cbbd84ccb1_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Alice Maynard<br />
558 Madison Avenue, N Y City<br />
<br />
I wondered who she was, what sort of apartment she would have had on Madison Avenue in the East Fifties, and why she was typing instructions for Kitchener stitch for one of my friend's relatives. The miracle of the Internet gave me an answer in seconds:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/18/expert-guidance-offered-to-knitter-and-crocheter.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Expert Guidance Offered to Knitter and Crocheter</a> <i>(New York </i>Times<i>, August 18, 1964)</i><br />
<br />
Knitting help at Macy's,* Gimbel's, and Bloomingdale's. The mind boggles.<br />
<br />
If any of you have memories of knitting at Macy's, Gimbel's, or Bloomingdale's; or of shopping at Alice Maynard, I would love to hear about it in the comments. <br />
<br />
<i>*Although Macy's "has no time for anyone who has not mastered the basic stitches." Love it.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-82571837069904775752014-05-28T12:19:00.001-04:002014-05-28T12:19:17.903-04:00Miniature Entry: Advice That Made a DifferenceMy favorite quote by the late Maya Angelou isn't from one of her poems, and in fact there's not even a trace of it (that I can find) online.<br /><br />It came from an answer to a college student's question about changing the world. She told the student that if you want to change the world, start by making your bed every day.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />Because if you haven't got sufficient will and dedication to do that one simple thing, you might want to reconsider whether you have what it takes to reach your more ambitious goals.<br /><br />You don't have to agree with her about this. But I do. And it's one of the only pieces of Advice from a Sage Thinker that has made any damn difference in what I do with my day.Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-13141739427748951702014-04-17T19:51:00.001-04:002014-04-17T20:28:26.904-04:00Miniature Entry: On the Loss of a Great WriterI wish I had something poetic to say about the wonderful Gabriel García Márquez, who has just died; but I don't.<br />
<br />
Instead, I can tell you that in my freshman expository writing/fiction writing class at Harvard, which I hated, I once said in a discussion that I saw great similarities between the plots of "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" and <i>Auntie Mame</i>.<br />
<br />
I did this just to provoke an aneurysm in a snooty bitch classmate from Miss Porter's. She always spoke in a breathy voice redolent of italics of her desire to "explode the confines of linear fiction," and she openly loathed me for turning in assignments that were funny. Every time one of my stories got a laugh, she would shake her Annie Hall bob in disgust and bite the end of her pen.*<br />
<br />
It worked. She actually did get so angry she left the room. I've always been grateful to Mr. Márquez for that. And, of course, to Patrick Dennis.<br />
<br />
This will probably be the only Márquez tribute that mentions them both.<br />
<br />
RIP, Gabe.<br />
<br />
Now I have to go finish roasting a chicken.<br />
<br />
<i>*She was also an avowed Freudian. </i>Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-3924992799716315062014-04-12T12:36:00.002-04:002014-04-12T12:42:13.112-04:00Miniature Entry: Life at Sea<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/13801193323" title="hemispheres by Franklin, on Flickr"><img alt="hemispheres" height="554" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7231/13801193323_eb9ac5bfa6_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
At present I am aboard the Cunard liner <i>Queen Victoria</i>, sailing from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale via the Panama Canal.<br />
<br />
If you've been reading for a long time you know I love Cunard ships, past and present.
I am supposed to be having (on doctor's orders) a complete rest from work but of course you know I wasn’t going to climb aboard without any knitting.<br />
<br />
So I've taken to doing a little in the Winter Garden, in the mornings. As you would expect, it's a surefire conversation starter.
The passengers are in the main fairly elderly. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them knew Queen Victoria personally. When she was a little girl. I couldn't be happier–this is my crowd. We tend to like the same music and the same movies.<br />
<br />
I was clicking away a few mornings ago as we headed for Costa Rica and a flurry of tropical print hove into view. The person in the print stopped, then dropped into the next chair. She was English, ambiguously eighty-ish, artfully preserved.<br />
<br />
"That," she said, pointing at my knitting, "is very impressive work. My father was a knitter, so I know."<br />
<br />
Whereupon we started chatting.<br />
<br />
She is doing the World Cruise, Southampton to Southampton. This is something like her forty-fourth Cunard voyage. (The brand breeds loyalty.)<br />
<br />
"Of course my favorite is and forever shall be the <i>QE2</i>," she said. "They'll never build another like her."<br />
<br />
I nodded. I never sailed in her, mind you. I only saw her, once, back when I was on the<i> Minerva II</i> and she docked beside us in Malta. I remember that seeing C-U-N-A-R-D on the side of ship for the first time gave me chills.<br />
<br />
"But may I say something? I'm going to say something."<br />
<br />
She leant toward me and through her dark round sunglasses I could feel her glare.
"You young* people," she said firmly, "have absolutely no stamina and no idea how to have a good time. No. Idea."<br />
<br />
I raised my eyebrows.<br />
<br />
She pointed towards the windows above us, which belong to Hemispheres–the ship's disco.
"They will close that bar tonight at one o'clock and you will all go to sleep. Ridiculous. Ridiculous! On the <i>QE2</i> we never dreamt of bed before sunrise. A party every night. Until sunrise. We knew how to have a good time. You young people, I don't know what's wrong with you."<br />
<br />
"Well," I said, "the seventies were different, weren’t they? All that cocaine would keep anybody awake."<br />
<br />
This time her eyebrows went up. She leant even closer.<br />
<br />
"You'd better believe it, kid," she whispered. "You'd better believe it."<br />
<br />
<i> *Yes, on this ship I'm young. I'm quite possibly the youngest person aboard not scrubbing pots or being looked after by the Cunard nannies.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Note: The lady in the photograph is not the lady in the story. She's another lady, with whom I danced rather madly one evening.
</i>Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-2715056103313075052014-03-18T10:39:00.001-04:002014-03-18T10:49:27.968-04:00LorettaYou may not know that the chief residents of our little household are all on Twitter. I am @franklinhabit. Dolores is @doloresvanh. Harry is @yarnpoetharry.<br />
<br />
That was how I found out about our newest resident. She's still here. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/13244080963/" title="loretta-final by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="loretta-final" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2859/13244080963_76854336fe_o.jpg" height="1358" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-72917582686868997232014-03-17T09:46:00.000-04:002014-03-17T09:58:13.561-04:00Miniature Entry: Other StringI'm in Madison, Wisconsin. This weekend was the local (enormous) guild's annual Knit-In, and they asked me to come up and do a bunch of fun stuff. On Friday I gave a talk. It was all very prim, as is my wont, but they made it sound dirty.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/13218140863/" title="BiuKRKMCUAA25sk by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="BiuKRKMCUAA25sk" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7203/13218140863_b2a7735101.jpg" height="500" width="375" /></a><br />
<br />
For the record, a night with me ends at about nine. Party down.<br />
<br />
I leave for home in just a wee while but wanted to show a bit of progress with the tatting. When I remembered that dear, old <i>Weldon's Practical Needlework</i> had offered tatting numbers of course I had to pull them out and see if they were any good. Turns out they were. <br />
<br />
Working in odd moments between furious, deadline-driven labor I've crept along to two-thread tatting (Some folks call it continuous tatting or tatting from the ball.) This is a Weldon's two-thread edging.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/13218330314/" title="double-thread-tat by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="double-thread-tat" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/13218330314_91a0d7b1fe_o.jpg" height="528" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
The thread (some old crochet cotton I had lying around) is really too coarse for the work and my tension is all over the place; but hey, I'm having a good time.<br />
<br />
When I showed the first shots of my tatting I got a couple of comments–some quite concerned–that this must signal the end of my engagement with knitting. Really? <i>Really?</i> How? Why?<br />
<br />
Are you afraid I'll be unable to resist the pull of the tatting market, and the legions of tatting enthusiasts who flock in their thousands to the glamorous international tatting circuit? Are you certain that within a year I'll have been put under contract to appear exclusively on one of the several tatting television series that ornament the airwaves?<br />
<br />
This happens every time I mention a craft other than knitting. <br />
<br />
So, to clarify.<br />
<br />
If I write about a flirtation with crochet, tatting, weaving, embroidery, quilting, sewing, or any other fiber-y fabric-y gerund, it doesn't mean I'm jumping off the knitting ship. It means I'm looking to find out what else string can do for you. I find it refreshing. I find it inspiring. I don't believe in craft monogamy or textile purity. I'm all about seeing how techniques combine and complement.<br />
<br />
I wrote <a href="http://blog.lionbrand.com/2013/05/08/play-nice/" target="_blank">a piece for Lion Brand Yarns</a> about my desire to see knitting and crochet returned to their former unity. With John Mullarkey I've been mixing knitting and weaving in projects like our <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ligeia-stole" target="_blank">Ligeia Stole</a>. And when a Madison student brought this in to show me, my heart skipped a beat:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/13217997985/" title="antique-tat by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="antique-tat" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3734/13217997985_f15192669a_o.jpg" height="528" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
She found it rolled up in her grandmother's sewing machine. On the right is a tatted chain. On the left is what the chain looks like when you complete the edging pattern with...crochet.<br />
<br />
Mix it up. Mix. It. Up.Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-24064835336974811572014-03-07T19:30:00.001-05:002014-03-07T19:32:03.560-05:00Out of the Sketchbook<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/13000219524/" title="two cents by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="two cents" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/13000219524_7a6a42bc63_o.jpg" height="276" width="432" /></a>Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-84629310080592769062014-03-04T18:41:00.000-05:002014-03-04T18:41:02.873-05:00Miniature Entry: InternI decided that before one of this week's finished pieces goes to its forever home, it needs a little extra love. Pride in your finishing isn't everything, but it's almost everything.<br />
<br />
I brought it with me here, to the coffee shop where I do so much work that we call it my field office. Between bouts of pattern writing I ripped out the imperfect seam and started sewing a new one.<br />
<br />
A nice little girl, maybe six years old, came in with her mother for a hot chocolate. I liked her immediately, as you often do take to a person whose drink of choice is also yours.<br />
<br />
As they sipped and chatted, it was pretty obvious the girl was curious about my work. The mother quietly told her to stop staring, but I asked if she'd like a closer look.<br />
<br />
She stood at my shoulder and I showed her what I was doing with the needle. I chanted a little bit for her, the way I always do in my head when I sew by hand. Up, around, down, through. Up, around, down, through.<br />
<br />
"Oh!" she said, after about six stitches. "I get it. You have to do it the same way, in the same places, all the way to the end. And that's how you win."<br />
<br />
Kid, you're hired.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/12937779295/" title="work by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="work" height="528" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3813/12937779295_361c65bcd4_o.jpg" width="396" /></a>Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com224tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-47963853261603968062014-03-03T21:48:00.001-05:002014-03-03T21:48:23.058-05:00Miniature Entry: On Pattern WritingWhen you design knitting patterns for multiple clients, part of the deal is sending in your finished patterns using each client's house style.<br /> <br /> This can become confusing when three patterns for three clients all reach the finish line simultaneously.<br /> <br />
One client insists that "inches" always be written out in full; one
insists you must always use the double apostrophe (non-curly!) and never the word;
the third will only accept the abbreviation "in" (no period!).<br /> <br />
You pause in your writing, and remember a very nice student asking,
"Why don't we have one standard for knitting patterns? Don't you think
that would be a good idea?" and you laugh quietly and reach for the rum
bottle.Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-25325056195241885082014-02-26T20:14:00.000-05:002014-02-27T09:14:38.719-05:00New TatThis month I was out in Tacoma, Washington for one of the grooviest fiber gatherings you'll ever encounter–the <a href="http://madronafiberarts.com/" target="_blank">Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat</a>. I was enjoying a rare morning off when I found a bunch of tatting shuttles for sale at the <a href="http://carolinahomespun.com/" target="_blank">Carolina Homespun</a> booth in the marketplace.<br />
<br />
Tatting shuttles are used for making tatted lace. Tatted lace is very pretty. I did not know how to make tatted lace. All I knew about making tatted lace is that many, many of my friends have tried to make it, and have failed spectacularly. <br />
<br />
So I bought two shuttles (silver, brass). I also bought cotton thread to go with the shuttles (white, ecru). I very nearly bought a third shuttle (bone); but buying three would have been silly.<br />
<br />
That morning was my only free time for the whole of the festival, so it wasn't until I headed home that I got a chance to unwrap the shuttles and fiddle with them. My first flight out of Seattle was canceled, so I spent five hours in the Alaska Airlines Board Room drinking fruit juice and watching "Tatting for Beginners" videos on YouTube.<br />
<br />
This is where I began.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/12803992965/" title="before-tat by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="before-tat" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7325/12803992965_a69202f854_o.jpg" height="582" width="396" /></a>
<br />
<br />
This is where I ended, five hours later.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/12803952675/" title="tiny-chain by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="tiny-chain" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/12803952675_ce288b663b_o.jpg" height="603" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
To give you an idea of how small that loop is, if I inhale deeply it will disappear right up my nose.<br />
<br />
Perhaps you are entirely unfamiliar with tatting and would like to know how it works. Here is a brief overview.<br />
<br />
Tatted lace is really just a series of simple knots tied one after the other into a piece of string. You begin by winding the string onto shuttle, as shown above.<br />
<br />
Then you pull a little string off the shuttle and wrap a loop of it around your left hand. Then it's sort of like your left hand is doing cat's cradle, and your right hand is tying sailor knots, and meanwhile you are having a sneezing fit.<br />
<br />
Tatting is something that gets mentioned all the time in those 19th century books I read. Usually it's the daily occupation of a frustrated maiden aunt with dim eyesight. She sits in her room all day, embalmed in black bombazine, morosely tossing the shuttle from hand to hand. You think knitting has a reputation for being stuffy? Honey, compared to tatting, knitting is a drug-happy orgy being thrown by a Playboy bunny in the zero-gravity Jacuzzi of a rocket ship headed for Jupiter. Tatting is for people who are afraid to try lace knitting because they think it will make them look slutty.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, I find the appeal irresistible.<br />
<br />
Back at home, as a break from the deadlines that are the reason this is the only post for February, kept at it. At great length, I made a ring almost (but not quite) the size of half a dime.<br />
<br />
Then for about a week I just kept making rings, which are formed by a series of double stitches. Part of the fun of tatting is that the very first thing you learn, the thing you must learn before you can do anything else, is the double stitch. But the double stitch is, so far as I can tell, <i>the hardest thing to do in all of tatting</i>. So once you scale that wall, you're in good shape. But it's a very tall wall, crumbly, without a lot of good footholds; and there are gargoyles at the top who keep pooping on you.<br />
<br />
Anyway, to practice my double stitches I just kept making them, and turning them into rings.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/12804045543/" title="practice-chains by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="practice-chains" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7413/12804045543_8778afb553_o.jpg" height="451" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
They're not difficult, really; but you have to do them all perfectly or your chain will freeze and won't close into a ring. If you mess up even one, the only thing you can do is get a pin and a magnifying glass and unpick all the way back to that stitch, one knot at a time, and do it over.<br />
<br />
I will never complain about ripping back my knitting ever again.<br />
<br />
Once I had something of a grip on rings I moved on to picots, which look like little mouse ears.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/12803955135/" title="first-picots by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="first-picots" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/12803955135_ed83979121_o.jpg" height="542" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Here's my current <i>chef d'oeuvre</i>: two rings of the same size with picots that are pretty much the same size if you step well back and squint.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/12804508794/" title="two-chains by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="two-chains" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3824/12804508794_ed3bb66de2_o.jpg" height="507" width="336" /></a><br />
<br />
I don't need to learn tatting, you know. It's not like my life lacks for diversion. But I spend a great deal of each day knitting, and sometimes I find it fascinating to see <i>what else</i> string can do for you.<br />
<br />
<i>P.S. Before you mention it, I already know that there is such a thing as needle tatting and needle tatting has a reputation for being faster to learn. However, needle tatting does not give you an excuse to buy pretty shuttles. Nor am I much interested in going faster. Slow and painstaking suits me fine, thanks. </i><br />
<br />
<b>On the Horizon</b><br />
<br />
On the <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/p/franklins-calendar.html" target="_blank">calendar</a>, may I please draw your attention to a few noteworthy additions you may find interesting?<br />
<br />
March 29-30, I'll be at a shop I've been hoping to visit for years–the inimitable <a href="http://www.averbforkeepingwarm.com/search?q=franklin+habit&search-button.x=13&search-button.y=10" target="_blank">A Verb for Keeping Warm</a> in Oakland, California. There will be both classes and the lecture I think I may need to re-title "The One with the Victorian Bathing Drawers."<br />
<br />
April 25ish-26ish, I'll be at dear, old <a href="http://www.knitters.org/" target="_blank">Yarn Over</a> in Minneapolis, and also doing some classes (to be announced) at StevenBe. At the Yarn Over dinner, I'll be debuting my new talk for this year, "Five Women, Five Shawls." There will be history, as ever–but this time most of the history will be personal.<br />
<br />
And May 3-6, one of the things I'm looking forward to most this year: the <a href="http://www.northlightfibers.com/retreats-classes" target="_blank">North Light Fibers</a> Retreat on Block Island. A quiet, beautiful island off the coast of Rhode Island, in May, headquartered in a couple of handsome Victorian hotels? Plus knitting? And run by a small luxury fiber company? Do you see why I said yes? Four seconds after they asked?<br />
<br />
My life is rough. Come share it.Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com95tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-51768470296073000302014-01-18T22:01:00.000-05:002014-01-18T22:04:54.375-05:00Miniature Entry: New YorkThe desk clerk on the second floor at <a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/" target="_blank">The Strand</a> looked exactly like a Fred Armisen character from <i>Portlandia</i> and I was going to snicker and then I realized that I was wearing a bow tie and a 1930s Swedish shooting jacket and a newsboy cap and wingtip shoes and a chin beard and so do I.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/12023338536/" title="strand-shot by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="strand-shot" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5532/12023338536_d78ec8b97a_o.jpg" height="360" width="396" /></a>Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com76tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-28351278636300742162014-01-10T20:07:00.001-05:002014-01-10T21:03:34.832-05:00YO, MamaThere is no other way to start than with a word of thanks. Your reaction to the <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-package.html" target="_blank">bathing drawers</a> was everything I could have wished. Quite aside from the compliments, for which I am grateful, I was so happy (and relieved) that my preamble was taken as it was intended: as a plea for civility, not for praise.<br />
<br />
You might like to know that the drawers will be going on the road. I'm heading to St Louis and the <a href="http://www.kirkwoodknittery.com/" target="_blank">Kirkwood Knittery</a>, and on the evening of January 24 I'll be giving one of my favorite talks: <i>Impractical Magic: Oddities and Curiosities from Weldon's Practical Needlework</i>. (Seating is limited. For tickets, call the shop.) The original photogravure from the pattern has been the title card for that lecture since I wrote it, and now I'm thrilled to present a realized specimen.<br />
<br />
Around the same time I finished those, I finished a simple design that has since come out as part of a collaborative eBook, <i>Dreaming of Shetland</i>. The project was undertaken in support of Deborah Robson's research into Shetland sheep and Shetland wools, about both of which I am unabashedly crazy. Deb and I had a chat about it a year ago at the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat (read her own words <a href="http://dreamingofshetland.com/?page_id=62" target="_blank">here</a>), so when the chance came to help support her I jumped at it.<br />
<br />
This was my contribution: a lace scarf called "Fair Phyllida."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11880062366/" title="phyllida-01 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="phyllida-01" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7353/11880062366_10f743f60e_o.jpg" height="540" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
You may be aware that I have borderline-creepy obsession with old lace edgings. My first sketch for this piece was, rather unsurprisingly, a scarf with a lace edging.<br />
<br />
Then I thought–why fool around with the scarf part? Why not make the <i>whole thing</i> an edging? So I fixated on a 19th-century Shetland motif as my point of departure, fussed with it, mirrored it, and this was the result.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11879652964/" title="phyllida-03 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="phyllida-03" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3725/11879652964_f3c076d532_o.jpg" height="529" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Fair Phyllida is a gentle ride. <i>(That doesn't sound quite right, does it? Never mind, time presses. Moving on.)</i> If you have basic lace-knitting skills, you can do her. <i>(No. Never mind, moving on.)</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11879205935/" title="phyllida-02 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="phyllida-02" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3783/11879205935_2319e01712_o.jpg" height="541" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
There are all kinds of things (not all of them lacy) designed by all kinds of people in the book, from bags and mitts to wristlets, shawls, and baby clothes. <a href="http://dreamingofshetland.com/?page_id=13" target="_blank">Take a look</a>. <br />
<br />
<b>So's Your Mother</b><br />
<br />
A couple of months ago, in my monthly column for Lion Brand Yarns I presented a selection of <a href="http://blog.lionbrand.com/2013/11/06/ha-3x-yo-k2tog/" target="_blank">riddles reimagined for the yarn-centric</a>. A friend who read it asked me if I'd consider doing the same for her favorite humorous tradition: the yo mama (var. <i>yo momma, yer mom</i>, <i>yer mum</i>, <i>tu mamà</i>) joke. <br />
<br />
Before you curl your lip, please remember that maternal insults, like motherhood, have probably always been with us. They are ancient. They are hallowed. They go back as least as far as Shakespeare, who used them; they are almost certainly far older than that. My knowledge of classical theater is imperfect, but if there's not a yo mama joke in <i>Oedipus Rex</i>, there should be.<br />
<br />
That being said, if you're one of the gentle, dewy-eyed souls who is never remotely amused by this sort of thing, you'll want to stop scrolling now and head elsewhere.<br />
<br />
I mean it.<br />
<br />
<b>Seriously, stop now.</b><br />
<br />
Okay, fine. <br />
<br />
<b>I warned you.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so short, she needs a ladder to read the top row
of a chart.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so old, she remembers when they invented the
second knitting needle.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Yo mama's so skinny, she tripped and fell through a yarn over.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so stupid, she thinks stranded colorwork is stuck
at the airport.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so lazy, she gets First Sock Syndrome.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Yo mama's so tall, when she drops a stitch it takes three
weeks to hit the ground.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so cheap, she tries to k2tog with one stitch.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so fat, she can't even cross her cables.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so ugly, she can only get gauge by sneaking up on
it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
...<br />
<br />
Yo mama's so fat, she tried to make an Elizabeth Zimmermann<br />
percentage sweater and ran out of numbers. <br />
<br />
...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so greasy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all
</i>her stitches are slipped stitches.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so stupid, when she saw "k1 tbl" she
knit a coffee table.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so chunky, she knits up at three stitches to the
inch.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so hairy, she is easily mistaken for a ball of
Rowan Kidsilk Haze.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
... </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yo mama's so twisted, she biases sharply to the left when
worked in stockinette.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br />
...<br />
<br />
<i>Finis</i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-72439968940580654362013-12-24T21:02:00.000-05:002013-12-24T21:04:50.324-05:00Christmas PackageAround the time that Melissa Leapman's "Nautical Knitting" cruise was announced, I said that I (as Melissa's guest teacher) would use the trip as an excuse to knit up a pattern that had intrigued me for some time: a pair of men's bathing drawers from an 1880s pattern published in <i>Weldon's Practical Knitter</i>.<br />
<br />
The idea of knitting bathing costumes had interested me since I first saw pictures of two made by Elizabeth Zimmermann (one for herself, one for her husband) in her lovely memoir <i>Knitting Around</i>. I thought it was interesting that knitted suits had been ubiquitous, and then gone. Usually outmoded styles of dress take time to fade away completely. Those who are long accustomed to a cut or style, especially those of a certain age, are often slow to give them up. But it seemed that knitted bathing suits, once other options became available, vanished virtually overnight.<br />
<br />
Why? Could they really have been that awful?<br />
<br />
When I announced the drawers project, several folks who had personal experience of the suits came forward to assure me that yes, they were that awful. The itched, they stretched, the stretched-out crotches filled up with sand, they smelled like wet dogs, and so forth. Nobody, not one person, remembered them with anything like fondness.<br />
<br />
I didn't set out to make the drawers expecting them to replace my lycra suits and (spoiler alert) they sure haven't. However, I wanted to know, first-hand, what a knitted wool suit was like. This sort of curiosity about What Once Was is the reason people become historians–either the real kind, or my kind of passionate amateur.<br />
<br />
You would not believe some of the mail I've had about this. Most bewildering were those insisting that the suit was too brief and revealing to be authentic to the 19th century. These messages persisted after I posted the photogravure from the original pattern:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/9078609949/" title="bathingdrawers by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="bathingdrawers" height="405" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5495/9078609949_01d4e86f25_o.jpg" width="396" /></a>
<br />
<br />
They persisted after I posted this photograph of a men's bathing club in Brighton, England in the mid-19th century:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11540099424/" title="TopHatBTNSwimClub1860s by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="TopHatBTNSwimClub1860s" height="243" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/11540099424_c68677cdf0_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>
<br />
<br />
Some people will insist on re-writing the past to suit their modern ideas, even in the face of conclusive evidence. The human brain is a curious thing. I wrote about the phenomenon to a fuller extent in <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2013/09/twenties-real-twenties-fake.html" target="_blank">this post</a>. <br />
<br />
I promised to show myself wearing the drawers in here once they'd been revealed to the folks on the cruise. I promised it with a lump in my throat and a pit in my stomach, and my worst fears were pretty much immediately confirmed.<br />
<br />
I am not a person who is confident in his looks. I never have been. It wasn't uncommon when I was child for adults to make critical remarks about my appearance–openly and within my hearing. Sometimes directly <i>to</i> me. I was described at various times by teachers, strangers, and blood relations as being (these terms are verbatim) way too dark, too swarthy, green-skinned, yellow-skinned, big-nosed, scrawny, tubby, husky, dwarfish, awkward, big-assed, funny-looking, or just plain unfortunate. <br />
<br />
Then I reached adolescence, and things got worse. I was pimply, hairy, and oily in addition to all of the above adjectives. For about twenty years I didn't look at myself in the mirror. Ever. Not once. I couldn't bear to. I avoided having my picture taken and when pictures were taken, if at all possible I destroyed the prints when I got my hands on them. I wore clothes two sizes too large to cover as much of myself up as possible.<br />
<br />
I fell in love with the history of architecture, but felt guilty walking into beautiful buildings. On my first visit to Westminster Abbey, I stood in the nave and thought, "It's so magnificent, and you're standing in the middle of it and wrecking the view."<br />
<br />
I had my worst fears confirmed repeatedly by my fellow gay men. This still happens all the time. I stand five feet, four inches (which is too short). My waist is about twenty-nine inches (which is too fat for my height). My eyes are brown, when they should be blue. My nose is big, when it should be aquiline. My skin is olive, when it should be white. I am hairy about the chest, when I should be shaved. I am bald, when I should have a full head of hair.<br />
<br />
There have been a few times in the history of this blog when I've shown some part of me in a photograph. If you go back and find them, you'll notice they were <i>always</i> a punchline. Always. Because that is what my physiognomy is suited to, and I know it.<br />
<br />
I know I'm not a swimsuit model. <i>I know that.</i><br />
<br />
Once somebody, entirely without my permission, lifted an image of my chest from a blog post and stuck it up in a men's group on Ravelry. I wandered into the thread–I was a member of the group–and found myself being discussed in a "hot or not?" sort of way. The overwhelming consensus was "not." That was a fun afternoon.<br />
<br />
With all that in my past, it didn't please me to find a pack of comments in here (now deleted, and wouldn't you?) openly discussing my disgusting body. And yes, the word "disgusting" was used. So were the words "spare us." Apparently the commenters in question had seen my chest hair (disgusting) in a photograph from the Blue Lagoon in Iceland and were hoping that any and all shots of the bathing drawers were spare them more disgusting shots of disgusting me and my disgusting secondary sex characteristics. They also noted that I didn't have the body for the bathing drawers. One person helpfully suggested I hire a male model to show them.<br />
<br />
I wonder what would happen if I commented publicly that some female knitter's waistline was too big, or that she was far too bony to show herself in that outfit, or that I found her enormous (or tiny) chest disgusting, or pointed out after she posted a sock selfie that it was high time her legs saw the business end of a Lady Schick?<br />
<br />
I don't need to wonder what would happen. What would happen is that within ten minutes my career in knitting would be <i>over</i>. Women, with good reason, are beginning to object strenuously to the constant objectification of their fellow women. Unfortunately, some of them don't have any trouble doing exactly that to the male of the species.<br />
<br />
Yes, I am a professional in the business. And yes, being a professional means putting you work on the line for critique. Your <i>work</i>. However, one hopes that perhaps the ad hominem insults might be kept to a minimum.<br />
<br />
So please, if you look below, be forewarned. My horrible horrible fat fat waistline and my disgusting abominable body hair will be on full display–along with the piece of knitting that is supposed to be the point of all this.<br />
<br />
<b>Without Further Ado</b><br />
<br />
I gotta tell you, these things surprised me. The shaping of the Weldon's pattern is simple in the extreme–basically a large diaper. You start at the waist in the front, work down to the center of the crotch, and then the directions tell you to it all over again in reverse. That's it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11540089225/" title="drawers-back by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="drawers-back" height="274" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/11540089225_ace3666836.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
I expected them to be horribly, horribly droopy and ill-fitting. There's no special pouch shaping and no accommodation in the posterior for, um, fullness. The idea is that the stretch and drape of knitted fabric will do it all. And I'll be darned if it doesn't work rather well. The crocheted edge along the leg openings was quick to work and keeps the selvedges from curling. Looks nice and neat, too.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11540226753/" title="drawers-front by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="drawers-front" height="270" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2872/11540226753_f6345fa83a.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
The pure wool <a href="http://quinceandco.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1&zenid=7f0003b02c05756978e0521b00eaa7c4" target="_blank">Quince and Company Chickadee</a> proved to be a perfect yarn choice. The itch factor even when wet (and no, I am not going to show you photos of that–they have proved impossible to take) was negligible, and while the suit did sag it didn't fall off. I wouldn't wear these in a situation requiring perfect modesty, but <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2013/06/getting-deeper-into-my-drawers.html" target="_blank">as I wrote previously</a> they weren't intended for such a situation.<br />
<br />
Another score for Weldon and Company. Turns out they knew what they were doing after all.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11540129894/" title="drawers-midshot by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="drawers-midshot" height="478" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3822/11540129894_9cfb72b35b_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com441tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-28267129728644732412013-12-21T23:03:00.001-05:002013-12-21T23:22:01.183-05:00As I Was Still SayingI was going to blog again yesterday, yeah; but I had to do stuff. Christmas-type stuff, with the ribbons and the glitter glue and the peace on Earth and the what–another party, and the hey–what did you put in that egg nog and the excuse me–where are my pants.<br />
<br />
But I woke up eventually, and so here's something else from <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2013/12/as-i-was-saying.html" target="_blank">my stack of backlogged blog topics</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Thing Four. </b><br />
<br />
Look at this. What does it look like to you? Besides an indifferent cell phone shot? Stripes, right? White and purple stripes?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489492944/" title="griffin-01 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-01" height="486" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7455/11489492944_0cd6c3456f_o.jpg" width="396" /></a>
<br />
<br />
But...let's look at it from a slightly different angle.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489492764/" title="griffin-02 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-02" height="287" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5521/11489492764_cde8036565_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Huh. What's that? Is there something weird going on? Let's try another angle.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489459555/" title="griffin-03 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-03" height="308" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2833/11489459555_5a9810030d_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
WHAT? A GRIFFIN?! IS THAT A GRIFFIN?!! HOLY CRAP! WHAT DID YOU PUT IN THAT EGG NOG?<br />
<br />
Calm down, please. I didn't put anything funny in the egg nog. However I <i>did</i> put a griffin in the stripes. He was there the whole time–you just couldn't see him at first.<br />
<br />
His name is Merv. Merv, say hi to the people.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489492454/" title="griffin-04 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-04" height="308" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/11489492454_588b416684_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Merv is very street.<br />
<br />
This technique is called either Shadow Knitting or Illusion Knitting, depending upon who is doing the calling. I started fooling around with it this year, just as a goof. Merv was one of my early experiments. Now I'm unabashedly in love with it. It's a technique lots of folks look upon as a mere parlor trick. But I believe it has potential that hasn't yet been fully explored, in spite of Vivian Høxbro's excellent book from 2004 and the further elaborations of the UK outfit Woolly Thoughts.<br />
<br />
Also, it's the only knitting technique I have yet encountered that makes non-knitters literally gasp. <i>They gasp!</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489459215/" title="griffin-05 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-05" height="308" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5524/11489459215_2e12889c1b_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Exactly so. <br />
<br />
I felt so strongly about Shadow Knitting's potential that I've spent a great deal of 2013 exhuming every bit of information I can find about it; and playing around with different ways of designing it, charting it, thinking about it, and putting it to use. In 2014, it will be a new addition to my menu of classes.<br />
<br />
The début at the <a href="http://madronafiberarts.com/" target="_blank">Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat</a> is sold out, but I will be teaching it at the <a href="http://thepluckyknitter.com/index.php/plucky-shindig" target="_blank">Plucky Knitter Shindig</a>, the <a href="http://www.squamartworkshops.com/retreats" target="_blank">Squam Art Workshops</a>, and a bunch of other gigs that'll be added to the calendar as they're confirmed in full. We'll learn the technique, of course; but we'll also learn to make new motifs, and ponder larger philosophical questions like the merits of mystery, opacity, surprise, and subterfuge in design.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489575213/" title="griffin-06 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-06" height="308" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/11489575213_34bb7a10e0_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Precisely.<br />
<br />
That may seem dreadfully ambitious for one knitting class, but if you've taken classes with me before you know I'm not kidding.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489459215/" title="griffin-05 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-05" height="308" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5524/11489459215_2e12889c1b_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Yes. Thank you, Merv.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11489458945/" title="griffin-07 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="griffin-07" height="308" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7457/11489458945_d57de14653_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
<br />
Yes. That's quite enough, thank you. Goodnight, folks. More soon.Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-6328821741159583012013-12-19T14:55:00.000-05:002013-12-19T15:20:54.219-05:00As I Was SayingSeventeen weeks in a row on the road, kids. Seventeen weeks.<br />
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It all went well, I am pleased to report. But I confess to being a smidge tired. <br />
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I started in Florida (with a private engagement in Key West) and ended in Florida (sailing to Central America with Melissa Leapman and a jolly crew of knitters). There were multiple trips north, south, east, and west in between. Looking at the calendar, my longest unbroken stretch of at-home time since September was four days.<br />
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It's nice to be needed, but it's also nice to put the suitcases in the storage room and firmly shut the door.<br />
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Meanwhile, blog topics have stacked up on the worktable until they've blocked out the sun. I could dump the whole lot in the trash and pretend I never saw them, like I do with the annual I-still-love-you Christmas card from my ex; but I don't want to start 2014 feeling like I'm in arrears.<br />
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Better to see what I can do about lowering the stack over the next few days.<br />
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Mind you, it's going to be messy. I'm just going to pull items off the list at random and do a couple a day until I run out of the new year arrives, whichever comes first.<br />
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<b>Thing One.</b><br />
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When you saw my <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2013/06/tour-de-fears-2013.html">Tour de Fleece 2013</a> challenge I had sleepily increased and increased on the intended improvised hat until I wound up with this.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/10144557674/" title="experimental-hat-ruffled by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="experimental-hat-ruffled" height="528" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7390/10144557674_1b9677d6ca_o.jpg" width="396" /></a>
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That got ripped out, and re-knit into this.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11454491075/" title="tdf-hat by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="tdf-hat" height="530" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3691/11454491075_f98fbafa1e_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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The hat's not for me. It'll go to somebody, I dunno who, with a slightly larger head than mine and who looks well in these colors. (I do not.) I'm also not much of one for novelty shapes like that pixie point in my own hats. I am insufficiently whimsical to carry them off.<br />
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Looking at the finished piece, I am astounded at how easy the <a href="http://www.lunabudknits.com/smoothies.html" target="_blank">Smoothie Batt from Lunabudknits</a> made it for me–who had no previous experience of this sort of thing–to make an acceptable color-change yarn. I enjoyed it so much that at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival, between classes, I bought another Smoothie Batt. This time around maybe I'll detail the process, since I now I know what I did. Which is not be confused with knowing what I'm doing. <br />
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The yarn itself is distressingly imperfect. Yet it turned into a hat. I suppose I need to keep that in mind. Imperfect yarn is yarn nonetheless. If nothing else, you can tie up wrapped gifts with it.<br />
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Speaking of gifts.<br />
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<b>Thing Two.</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11454713764/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="houseofmusic by panopticon, on Flickr"><img align="" alt="houseofmusic" height="234" left="" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7294/11454713764_aa0c74d617_o.jpg" width="200" /></a>
My niece is growing up and developing opinions. She will no longer always agree to wear whatever you shove her into, even if it's made by hand. I was warned this day would come.<br />
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So I was hunting around for other gifts she might enjoy, and found a hidden gem on the Schoolhouse Press Web site. Among the <a href="http://schoolhousepress.com/childrens.htm" target="_blank">offerings for children</a> is a sweet book-and-CD set called <i>A House Filled with Music</i>,
by Margret and Rolf Rettich. It's a lighthearted introduction to the
instruments of the symphony orchestra, originally published in German.
The fluid English-language edition retains the lively original illustrations, and includes Meg's
new narration on the companion CD.<br />
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If you're a fan of Meg Swansen's knitting videos–the ones she did with her mother, Elizabeth Zimmermann, or her solo output–you know Meg's got a notably musical speaking voice. She does such a superb job with this book that I'd enjoy hearing her do more audio books. I wouldn't mind a few for grown-ups. Are you listening, Meg? Please?<br />
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Quite aside from that, I recommend the book as being simple enough for kids to enjoy without being simple-minded, sweet without being goopy, and cute without being sticky. It'll entertain a child on her own, but adults who listen along won't be tempted to rip off their own ears. It's especially useful if you want to instill a love of good music, but know that if you have to listen to <i>Peter and the Wolf</i> one more time you will develop a syncopated twitch over one eye.<br />
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<b>Thing Three.</b><br />
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Travel or not, I had promised to contribute new designs to a potpourri of projects and here is one of them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/11454544054/" title="meliorus-hat by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="meliorus-hat" height="465" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3816/11454544054_fa708dd77d_o.jpg" width="344" /></a><br />
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Yeah. Another hat. I'm in a hat phase or something.<br />
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It's called Meliorus. It's very simple. It's also very colorful, because nothing lifts me out of gloom like vivid color and I figure you can't fight cancer if you're full of gloom. The <a href="http://www.kylewilliam.com/3/post/2013/10/good-deeds-volume-one-hats.html">e-book in which it appears</a> benefits Breast Cancer Connections of Palo Alto, California. Here's a link to their <a href="http://bcconnections.org/">Web site</a>, in case you'd like to learn more about them. <br />
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While I'm on the subject, I'd also like to mention <a href="http://www.fitterknitter.com/" target="_blank"><i>Calendar of Hope</i></a>, a knitting and crochet calendar (available both electronically and in print) also supporting the fight against breast cancer. I didn't contributed to this one and I'm not part of the group<i>; </i>but I heard from the publishers last year because the 2013 edition featured designs based on antique patterns. It was too late for me to mention them then, so here they are now. This year's edition is a selection of original designs, and benefits <a href="http://bcconnections.org/">Army of Women</a>. <br />
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That's all for today. More things tomorrow. And yes, one of these updates is going to include the reveal of the knitted bathing drawers.<br />
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<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10901468.post-364566699803939662013-10-14T20:06:00.000-04:002013-10-15T07:48:29.947-04:00This Is Not Your Grandma's Knitting. This Is Your Great-Grandma's Knitting, and It's Utterly Fabulous.My friend Jane is in town from London, acting (in part) as chief cheerleader for her fetching sweetheart–he being one of the 40,000 or so who ran in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.<br />
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The sweetheart acquitted himself marvelously; and is satisfied to have broken his personal record with several minutes to spare. We went out to the sidewalk to cheer him as he dashed through our neighborhood, which made us feel connected to the marathon in a meaningful way without actually having to run. For this, we are grateful.<br />
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I'm also grateful to Jane for having arrived with gifts. Among them was a fantastic folio of fashion drawings by Erté, a man who was an idol to me growing up even though (especially because?) he was not supposed to have been. Young American males were not supposed to idolize fashion designers, we were supposed to idolize the various drug addicts, philanderers, dog fighters, and wife beaters who populate professional sports and popular music.<br />
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But I loved Erté, whose wild imagination and flowing line were so of-the-moment in the late teens and early twenties of the last century that they became emblematic of it. Erté was still actively cranking out work in the 1980s<i>. </i>By that time, of course, his style had become a caricature of itself; but the demand never flagged and he died (so I have read) with pen in hand, at work. I can only hope to face a similar fate.<br />
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The folio from Jane covers Erté's years as a fashion illustrator for <i>Harper's Bazar</i> (this was before they added the third "a" in "Bazaar"), 1918-1932. It's a book to fall into. This was the period during which the artist hit his stride for the first time, and you can sense him struggling to rein in his creativity. The sketches for <i>Harper's</i> were supposed to be practical–in the very broad sense that you could conceivably take one to your dressmaker and have her make a dress from the sketch–but some of them...<br />
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Well, I'll put it this way. There's one page titled, "Novel and Unusual Designs in Fur and Chiffon." Get the picture?<br />
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Here, I'll give you a picture.<br />
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This is an evening gown from December 1920.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/10280703235/" title="erte-gown-02 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="erte-gown-02" height="795" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3813/10280703235_07e822fec3_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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The original caption read,<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Erté wraps a long scarf of black satin about this lovely lady's shoulders and it forms the draped corsage, allowing one end to escape as a train. The skirt is of ermine.</i><br />
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Here's another, from March 1918.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/10280587864/" title="erte-gown-01 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="erte-gown-01" height="887" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7363/10280587864_c28d6be7b1_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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This is described thus,<br />
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<i>A suit of black satin that is easy of construction and very wearable is this Erté model. A cord, drawn through rings, makes a surplice closing and defines the waistline of the straight coat.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
So, you know–practical. But not practical in the sense of, "What can I throw on to go down to the shops and pick up shoe polish and carrots?"<br />
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These are two of the more restrained designs.<br />
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But imagine my screaming joy–I mean it, I screamed–to find out as I pored over Jane's gift that along with "Novelties of Eastern Inspiration" and "Gowns Made to Do the Unexpected," Erté threw in designs for...<br />
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knitting bags.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Knitting bags.</i><br />
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And I do not mean bags that could contain knitting, I mean he intended them in no uncertain terms to carry around works in progress. They all appeared in 1918–the tail end of the first World War, when women of all stations were urged to knit their bit, so that may have had something to do with it.<br />
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Wanna see? Yeah, I bet you do. Here we go. (The captions, by the way, are the originals–verbatim.)<br />
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Design One, June 1918.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/10280589174/" title="erte-bag-00 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="erte-bag-00" height="662" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7353/10280589174_c9cde6e8fe_o.jpg" width="288" /></a><br />
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<i>As knitting goes to every party, it is important that the bag that takes it be appropriate for the occasion. So with a summer frock, carry Erté's bag of silk tricot that is trimmed with straw.</i><br />
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Design Two, May 1918.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/10280807493/" title="erte-bag-01 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="erte-bag-01" height="618" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5458/10280807493_18706f9f30_o.jpg" width="288" /></a><br />
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<i>Erté was indeed inspired when he laced black and white ribbons into a knitting-bag and then pulled one black ribbon to serve as a handle.</i><br />
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Design Three, May 1918.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/10280704255/" title="erte-bag-02 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="erte-bag-02" height="715" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5348/10280704255_0e588c26cb_o.jpg" width="288" /></a><br />
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<i>Again he gives a practical suggestion in the lantern bag, for plaited silk is caught upon rings that slip up and down on silken cords and stretches like an accordion, making it equally simple to accommodate either a bulky sweater or diminutive wristlet.</i><br />
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Design Four, October 1918.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85452151@N00/10280588164/" title="erte-bag-03 by panopticon, on Flickr"><img alt="erte-bag-03" height="1111" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7368/10280588164_999d447945_o.jpg" width="396" /></a><br />
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<i>A sock will begin its life in luxurious surroundings when it is kept within a suede bag effectively embroidered with black silken threads and those of dull Indian red. The frame and beads are of ebony inlaid with ivory.</i><br />
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I didn't begin life in luxurious surroundings–but my socks might. Can somebody <i>please</i> rush these into production? Thanks ever so.<br />
<br />Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03670441931649806878noreply@blogger.com71