New Year Fogginess .... and Sock Etymology

Hello!

It's been quite a while. ... In January, my husband graduated from AnimationMentor  - now he is looking to put his skills to use. It was quite a party, and it was nice to see the "buddies" I've only heard of until now!

During my company's traditional 2-week holiday shutdown over Christmas and New Year, I had fond dreams of finishing my Louis Shawl, which of course, did not happen. But I made some progress and am now knitting the border onto the third side. Here is a photo after I turned the second corner. The Lily-of-the-Valleys are now making an impact, and the shawl begins to actually look nice.

Louis Shawl

Once this is done, and after I'm finished with the Moguls Moebius scarf according to Cat Bordhi's book A Treasury of Magical Knitting, I want to knit another Orenburg shawl. And then ... then ... I think I will try my hand at some Shetland knitting, working up my courage to try The Queen Susan Shawl. This shawl is not only beautiful - it is a collaborative effort of the Heirloom Knitting group on Ravelry. It represents the best of just what is possible with the Internet. Several knitters from distant parts of the country (indeed different countries!) re-created (!) a lace shawl from a photograph (!), courtesy of the Shetland Museum! An astounding effort! The background, instructions and charts cover more than 70 pages. Not only is the volunteer work involved in this amazing, but in the spirit of advancing the craft the group is making this pattern available free to everyone. Read some of the background on Fleegle's blog (who put in countless hours on this project) and download the free pattern here. Keep in mind that this shawl has yet to be knitted in its entirety - at least in this day and age. Apparently, the pattern is too large to be made available on Ravelry (but they're working on it), so for now, use the location above. A HUGE thanks to everyone involved - it is a beautiful pattern brought back to life. I heartily agree with the motto stated on the first page of the pattern: Tradition means not to enshrine the ashes, but to pass on the fire (Thomas More) - something that many groups should have engraved on their foreheads! The Knitter magazine is apparently planning to print an article about this project, too!

On the lighter side: I'm subscribed to the A.Word.A.Day email list -very educational - and one word in January was ... Sock!

MEANING:noun: A light, low-heeled shoe worn by ancient Greek comic actors, and by extension a comedy.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin soccus (slipper). Compare with buskin. The term "sock and buskin" refers to the theatrical profession collectively.

The Sock and Buskin masks are probably known to almost everyone ... Interesting ... so a sock indicated something funny in old Greece. Someone wearing a sock was a comic. As opposed to someone wearing a buskin. Wearing heavy boots is tragic, wearing socks is fun. Still true today!
 

This is the time for foggy mornings in the Bay Area, and this morning (17 Feb) I wanted to photograph it. The flash produced an interesting effect:

Impressionist Morning

Of course the boss cat had to check out what I was doing:

Take care!

Spinning around

Hello,

On Dec 12th I took the first of two "Spinning with a Drop Spindle" classes at A Verb for Keeping Warm in Berkeley with WonderMike (Ravelry name) as our instructor. It was a fun class. I took it, because I have a few yarns I would like to ply together - so I was mostly interested in plying. I bought one of their student spindles (an $18 Schacht top-whorl spindle), and we were supplied with 2 oz of combed Blue Face Leicester fiber - Wonderfully soft - and you can still smell the sheep! I was able to spin a yarn, mostly approximately fingering weight, but overall ranging from worsted weight to lace weight. It was fairly consistent in thickness when I pre-drafted, but when I tried over-the-fold the yarn became rather chunky.

Just takes practice. It's rather fun, one step closer to the source so to speak, but I don't think I'll be taking it up seriously as a hobby - I'd rather knit something. We got homework, too: we had to spin 1/2 oz and wind it off onto a cone, and another 1/2 oz and leave it on the spindle, so we are ready to ply during the next class.

In yesterday's class I was able to improve my over-the-fold drafting. Then we learned how to handy-ply (instructions here at Knitty) and from a cone (basically the same technique as for handy-plying, with the cone taking the place of your hand). Here is the result:

2 small skeins of Blue-Faced Leicester wool

Now the twist still needs to be set, then I can actually use them for something. It was a great class - Thank you, Mike!

Recently I also got Cat Bordhi's book A Treasury of Magical Knitting in which she teaches how to knit Möbius shawls and scarfs. It's a great book - I really like her style - and I've been practicing with my "dishcloth" cotton yarn as a break from my Louis shawl.

Test Möbius with applied I-cord

It's great mindless knitting - I can use up some of my alpaca for the Merging Stripes or Honey Lane Alpaca patterns in the book. I've also ordered some Moguls yarn for her Moguls Möbius scarf - I love the way it looks!

Till next time!