Cowl is the new scarf ~

Tamarind Cowl PDF by The Knitting Kninja

Purl's Cashmere Cowl from the Purl Bee

Two ways to make socks -

This pair took a couple of years to complete. I knitted them individually on two circular needles. Size 0 needles. This created a very nice fabric, but it took time (of course I did set this project aside repeatedly).

This pair took a week to complete. No doubt fueled by my enthusiasm over learning to knit two socks at the same time on one circular needle. This is the way.

Online Knitting Magazines

Meta Postmodern Knitting defines itself as 'a celebration of fashion-forward and avant-garde knitting'. I really admire the apparent thoughtfulness in their designs & the attention given to detail. The site includes periodic pattern collections, trend analysis, & news on recent artistic & unconventional applications for knitting. Patterns are available at no cost.

Twist Collective is a beautifully photographed online publication featuring designs by well-known independent designers. Articles of interest to knitters are interspersed with the patterns. Patterns are available for purchase.


Knotions is the revamped Magknits. Pattern collections, articles on technique, book reviews, & blog. Patterns are available at no cost.

Stash? or Stockpile?

For the last several days I've been working on my yarn stash. As I've organized, tossed, wound & otherwise reprocessed my yarn, I've tried to think of a new name for the stash. The term 'stash' seems at this point, rather light.

Some stash revisions:

1. I'm getting rid of any yarn that has already been a sweater twice. A friend gently pointed out that this practice of knitting & re-knitting the same wool more than twice might fall under the heading 'pathological thriftiness', & that I should not take my mental health for granted.
2. I'm also getting rid of any scraps that make a ball smaller than a ping pong ball.

The majority of my yarn has also been photographed & stored in my virtual stash on Ravelry. It would be hard to overstate the revolutionary impact Ravelry has had & will have on knitting everywhere! I can search for more yarn like mine, patterns to suit my yarn, others' projects made with yarn like mine, others' comments on that yarn....I can look at all completed examples of all designs in most of my pattern books...this doesn't really scratch the surface, but my explanation is confusing already.

Synonyms for stash listed in order from most liked to least liked: Stockpile, Inventory, Store, Reserve (another euphemism), Backlog (kind of negative)

Maud & Miska Petersham

Maud & Miska Petersham were an illustrating husband & wife team who are most famous for writing & illustrating The Rooster Crows, which won the 1946 Caldecott Medal. Their first book was called Miki (published 1929), about their son.

Over their career they illustrated nearly one hundred books, some for other authors, some written by themselves. Like the D'Aulaires, they frequently used stone lithography to illustrate their books.

My collection includes a few titles from their Story Book Series, which

encompasses twenty-five books published between 1933 and 1939 explaining different subjects such as coal, corn, cotton, food, gold, houses, iron & steel, oil, rayon, rice, ships, silk, sugar, things we wear, things we use, trains, transportation, wheat, wheels, and wool.

(from The Story Book of Wool)

links:

Illustration Station - Twentieth Century Illustrators of Young People's Literature

de Grummond Collection - Maud & Miska Petersham Papers

Northwestern Digital Archives - Maud & Miska Petersham Illustrations 1930 - 1958

kid project from the past ~

Do-It-Yourself Knitting Accessories Part II

Knitting project or sock bag

There are lots of tutorials available online for creating these small lined project bags. I took ideas from a few & created my own.
Just as before, my respect for quilters, careful straight-stitchers & precise bias strip appliers has grown. Constructing this little bag requires some care...

Tutorials or helpful ideas:

Wrist Strap bag

Buttoned bag

Cashmere bag

Detailed tutorial

Box-shaped drawstring bag tutorial

Box-shaped zippered bag with handle tutorial (must try!)

Play on words sock bug

Ghostpatrol

Austrailian graffiti writer who also draws, sculpts, sews & paints ~

Found at Lino Forest.

I'm always intrigued when someone approaches sewing from an angle other than 'dressmaking' (technique). It helps to get a new perspective. There is more than one way to do things. link

vintage Japan

Beaded kiltpins for handknits...

New Homes Guide, Winter - Spring 1963

Cover Home -

'A detailed study of 72 plans you can buy...'

(however, there are detailed schematics included with dimensions for each room)

Dozens of great modern home plans.

Might this interest my bi-coastal friends?

Vintage Cooking: The Congressional Cookbook 1965

copyright 1965.

Forward by Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson

'At the turn of the century, when this book was in its infancy, it might have contained a basic recipe on how to can and preserve orchard fruits and garden vegetables (family requirement about 125 quarts per person!). Today the housewife hurries through instant coffee and minute rice. Neither the drudgery of yesterday not the frozen efficiency of today is, in my opinion, "the way to a man's heart." But if you leaf through these pages, and try a few not-too-complicated but unusual and delectable recipes you will have found the right road. '

Today's News

• October 15th marks 10 years in our home; we're so glad to be here.
• We grew 12 apples this year. The dog ate 4, the people get the rest.

Arkansas Black Apple
The Arkansas Black Apple is recognized as having been first produced in 1870. The fruit, a variety of Winesap, is usually round and of medium size. It ripens in October or November, and the fruit keeps well though the storage season of two to four months. It is a true native apple grown in the Ozarks of both Arkansas and Missouri.

Circa Ceramics

link

Knitting Bookshelf: No Idle Hands by Anne L. Macdonald

No Idle Hands is the best book I've read on any type of needlework history; it's a page-turner! It is also one of a few select books which has a permanent spot on my knitting bookshelf. It contains 512 pages of engaging, humorous, & detailed knitting history. Used copies are available at Amazon for as little as $5.

No Idle Hands - The Social History of American Knitting

by Anne L. Macdonald

Originally published in 1990, No Idle Hands is now available as an abridged audiobook available from

Knitting Out Loud - An Audiobook Publishing Company

From Knitting Out Loud:

'Drawn from diaries, letters and personal reminiscences, No Idle Hands tells an intimate and sometimes hair-raising story of hand knitting in America from Colonial times onward. Women knit through the hardships of covered wagon travel across the West. They knit to save their husbands and sons from freezing to death on battlefields. Shell-shocked men knit to save their sanity in hospitals during both world wars. No Idle Hands documents the importance knitting has had in American life.'

macro lens

Vintage Magazine: House Beautiful, June 1969

I've decided to resurrect an unfortunate but short-lived trend; indoor / outdoor carpeting. Envision it on a grey, rainy day with all of the patio furniture put away. The interference with the landscape was extreme. Plus, the 'carpet' was squishy & soggy. If God had intended the ground to be turquoise, etc.

Don't they look plastic?