New Acquisitions

Friday's mail brought 2 great books: Oma’s Strickgeheimnisse (Grandma's Knitting Secrets) by Eichenseer, Grill and Krön, and Poems of Color by Wendy Keele.

My two new books

Poems of Color describes the history of the beautiful, colorful Bohus sweaters, the techniques, and includes some patterns, with colored charts. A great resource and interesting reading.

Oma’s Strickgeheimnisse is a German book of patterns, most of which date back to the years 1815 to 1870. Each pattern is charted only (with German chart symbols, of course – clearly explained in the front of the book), and – this is very helpful – provides separate charts for knitting it in the round and back-and-forth.

This pattern is called Perlmutter-Fächer (Mother-of-Pearl Fan)

The photos are clear, and in some cases variations are shown:

This pattern is called Floras Gaben (= Flora’s Bounty)

The top version was knitted in the round, the bottom version was knit back-and-forth.

The patterns are grouped into Strips, Ladders, Flowers and Leaves, Bugs and Beetles and so on, obviously named after things encountered in everyday life on the farms and in the villages, where most of the patterns evolved.

So far I’ve knitted 4 Orenburg Sample shawls, here is the latest:

This is the Fish Eyes pattern, plus Border 1 from the book

The Gossamer Webs Design Collection by Galina Khmeleva

I also finished my Something Teal cardigan:

Something Dark Teal cardigan

The sleeves are 3/4 sleeves. I might re-do the border again, because it looks rather stretched, but for now I'm declaring it done. The pattern is Something Red by Wendy Barnard. More details are on my Ravelry page (gjabouri).

The bad news is that the Lacis Museum’s “A Week of Lacemaking” Urban Retreat might not take place. Apparently they are still short a few people (some who signed up canceled due to the bad economy) – so if you were thinking about joining (and can still afford it), please sign up.

Take care.