So, it has been a few months, and I apologize.
But, How is your knitting coming along? I hope it is going well.
Recently, I was with my knitting group and I was asked how I came into my knitting; my response was "By knitting through the Almanac".
Knitting through Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac, has been such a great experience. I know the year is not over yet, but I am confident that I will be finishing it.
I left off in February, which included baby leggings, a matching jacket and bonnet, a pot holder, and a square shawl. The pot holder is a chunky double acrylic wool blend yarn from Lion Brand, and let me say, it gets used. I wear the square shawl, and with this project came a happy mistake. Elizabeth tells you to increase at each corner by doing a yarn over, knit one, yarn over. I performed my yarn overs, not above the knit one but over the previous yarn over. This creates a parabola! More recently, I have been playing with the idea and making complex curved increases. Then the baby set was adorable. The leggings came out for a toddler while the jacket and bonnet were perfect for a true baby. The leggings were given to one young mother, while the jacket and bonnet were given to a first time grandmother friend of mine.
March is the only month I did not complete, which is ok because I love the pattern.
April was the afghan month and boy what an afghan. A friend of mine gave me two bags of lopi yarn, all in different colors and all beautiful. So with the lopi and some other chunky yarn that I had in my stock, I knit 24 squares, from the center. Then I grafted all the squares together, and finished it by knitting a sideways border all around it. Our summer was warm, so it was quietly packed under my bed till the fall. Only a short time into the fall now and already some nice naps have been had under the fine blanket. This was also the final project my grandmother saw completed.
It was in May that she passed away. Memorial Day 2015, my 93 year old grandmother passed away. Now, she did not teach me to knit, but she did teach me to crochet, and to appreciate the things we have. Growing up during the depression she did not have a lot, but it was more than my grandfather had. She told me that her family never went hungry, but that my grandfathers' did. As for knitting, it was the month of mittens, in which I only got one pair done. I think Elizabeth would have understood the circumstances though.
June was hat month, and boy did I knit hats! I knit all the patterns she had in the Almanac, and then I worked on some patterns from Knitting Without Tears. Now, I realize I have forgotten another pivotal moment to this year: When I Started Spinning!
I began spinning a few months prior to that on a drop spindle. I spun wool, and silk, and linen, and cotton, and, well, anything I could twist. In June, I visited relatives in New Hampshire and on the way there I stopped at the beautiful Harrisville Studios. I bought some wool there and also mohair, both of which I began to spin. By this time I have a heavy weight spindle, a medium weight, and a super light weight one. The heavy one I attempted flax on, but moved to the medium weight. Wool, I like on my heavy weighted one, and cotton and silk are perfect on my home made super light weighted one.
July was pi shawl month. I was excited. This pattern was why I bought the book in the first place. I had bought a silk and mohair blend yarn and found it an excellent suit for the project. I cast on and knitted, then increased, then knitted, then increase, and so on until I got to the end of three skeins and said enough. Then I began knitting a sideways border around the whole thing in hand spun mohair. Next came the blocking of the shawl, and my gosh, I love it. At the same time, I knitted a wedding veil out of a silk linen blend, which was a wedding gift to a dear friend of mine. This pattern I virtually made up, but it was based on the concept of a Pharoese shawl.
August came and went with more hats, I'm sorry Elizabeth, but I didn't get that chapter at all.
September came with no nether garments and ended with nether garments. Knitted Long Johns were the project for September. I loved this project. I know the idea seems rather odd but, knit them and you will love them.
Now it is October and I am knitting an in-between-season sweater, again not one of Elizabeth's, but I think she would approve. Details with pictures to come.
Happy Knitting!
ONO