thumb gusset

ninety year old dress

My grandmother's dress (she died in 1918)

(coincidentally, the clock belonged to her father)

A little more Kisiizi

Liz Marley sent a delightful Baby Surprise Jacket knitted in Trekking

which I think is a brilliant use of this yarn. I wondered if she used two strands together, but she assures me not. (It has made quite a small jacket.) Liz also sent a nice hat:

I phoned the charity that ships out to Uganda. They don't set dates - once the container is full it goes - but they're still aiming for October some time. I don't want to miss the boat, so I'm going to start packing everything up and will probably take it to Essex next Monday. If anything is hanging loose on your needles, now's the time to get it finished off! My problem now is to find 'banana' boxes. I don't think supermarkets have proper cardboard boxes with lids any more. It seems that this particular size (about a metre long) is the best for filling the container sensibly. Any ideas?

We all have stashes

We are in the process of selling my Mother's house because she is now in a nursing home (and in the last couple of weeks seems to have really settled in and to have started to enjoy things a lot more). On Saturday we cleared out one large built-in wardrobe - mostly clothes, but there was also a bag of my father's bits and pieces (he died some years ago). He was a great collector of string, shoe laces, scraps of leather, bits of rope, bits of canvas and LINEN THREAD.

I wonder if Barbour's is the same firm that makes the jackets? My father loved making canvas duffle bags (and paddling pools!) and mending anything and everything. He loved knotting and netting (but not knitting). Here is one of his 'palms' (for pushing sailmaker's needles through tough fabrics) and a needle case he made and decorated with some of his knots:

He would wax the linen thread with beeswax (got lots of that too) and would often thread two needles, so in effect he did two lines of running stitches touching each other (rather than backstitch). Anything he made lasts forever. Of course as a child I wanted anything but homemade stuff, but had to put up with it!

I have had a fair isle idea cooking for a while and once I'd got the colours to my liking I realised they reminded me of some Persian bowls my father brought back from Tehran. I have brought them home with me.

There are nine altogether, with six different insides:

 

Socks

I don't think I ever posted a picture of my finished brown Trekking socks (no. 101). I was doubtful about these in progress, but I'm really pleased with them now:

I like the gusset!

I have also finished my Monkey socks. I love the colour and the effect of the stitch pattern with the slightly variegated yarn. I just wish I'd used my usual 2.25 mm needles instead of the 2.5 mm specified in the pattern. I wore them last night and I could feel the stitches under my feet. If they'd been knitted more tightly they'd have been smoother. Still, they're pretty:

And now I'm knitting a pair to my own design using Smooshy by Dream in Color (bought at Stash on Saturday). It is lovely, lovely yarn - fully deserves its name! The colour changes are subtle but deep:

There are lots of different pinks in there, with some orange and purple, but no one colour sticks out. This colourway is Lipstick Lava and it's probably even brighter in person.

I went to Liberty's only to find the cafe closed for a private party. Don't they know we have a private party there every Thursday?! Sue and I ended up downstairs in the Champagne and Oyster Bar (but we had coffee etc.) and had a great time until it started smelling a bit fishy. We walked to Charing X via Trafalgar Square and saw a lomowall, part of the London Design Festival. Here's a bit more about lomography. Apparently the images are taken with rather wonky Russian cameras which give not very good pictures, and then these are repeated and arranged in patterns. It was very effective - a sort of mosaic effect.

More lovely things

for Kisiizi Hospital.

Tina's (aka Misplacedpom) collection of hats and socks together with a pretty, star-shaped blanket (sent from New York):

Erin's very effective jacket and slippers (all the way from Singapore!):

and more slippers:

Ingrid's judiciously sized (it's perfect) beanie, locally grown:

Thank you, thank you to you three and all the other knitters for your wonderful contributions. Next news will be the packing up and shipping...

Sally's mittens

And why did I have all my mitten books out? I'm knitting some more Latvian mittens, of course!

I'm using Satakieli yarn and 2 mm needles. Sally has quite narrow hands, so 80 stitches round should be OK, I hope. Sally's been very unwell and these are just a little token of good wishes.

Favourite books

Inspired by a Ravelry friend's mitten book picture, I thought I would go through my favourite mitten books.

The Baltic states are well represented. First, Estonia:

Eesti rahvaroivad is a book about the national costume of Estonia. I can't understand any of it, of course, but it has hidden treasure. It comes with a folder of the most wonderul and colourful sheets of patterns. They're lovely to look at, even if I never 'use' them!

Latvia:

Lativesu Rakstainie Cimdi has hundreds of pattern charts and an overview of the tradition in several languages including English. I was interested to see that many of the mittens knitted for the NATO conference in Riga were taken from this book. Lizbeth Upitis's book is the one to get for instructions on how to make the mittens. It is now in a new and slightly enlarged 2nd edition.

Lithuania:

The text is in English and Lithuanian. It is of some interest but many of the patterns are similar to Lithuan and Estonian ones (except for the 'brooch' patterns). It doesn't give knitting instructions.

Scandinavia:

I have to confess I've forgotten which language Strikk deg varm is in, but Selbuvotter is in English. Both have lovely patterns to knit.

Lastly, a little oddity from Japan:

This does have English translations of the instructions, but they're a little bit enigmatic. The charts are fine, though.

autumn draws on ...

and that means it's nearly time to send off the baby things to Kisiizi in Uganda. Tonight a few of us are meeting at Stash in Putney to finish off some of our knitting and eat cake (family fruit cake fresh out of my oven). I'm packing all the stuff up at the end of the month so that it can be shipped out to Uganda in October. So, if you have anything waiting for that last darned-in end, or little button, you know what to do!

Again, thank you to everyone who has knitted for this appeal. Here are a few new pics: Nic has done some lovely hats and jackets, despite having her own Peanut Peter to knit for.

A mystery knitter left these excellent hats and a cardigan at Stash. Thank you, mystery knitter!

The blue bowl

I'm calling this project 'blue bowl' after some lovely Persian pottery bowls that my mother has. The turquoise glaze is a bit uneven and the black designs delightfully hand drawn. I'm basing the design on 'Fair Isle Long Line Slipover' in Traditional Knitting from the Scottish and Irish Isles edited by Debbie Bliss.

The second photo gives a better idea of the colours and is knitted in my final selection. The yarn selection is rather eclectic because I swatched with what I have got stashed away. I collect Shetland yarns from different sources because they nearly all go together. The deepest peacock colour is Harrisville New England Shetland in Bluegrass. Most of the other yarns are Jamieson's or Jamieson's and Smith. The third blue-green is, however, Rowanspun 4 ply in Eeu de Nil and of course this is now unavailable. I think I have found a J&S substitute - Eucalyptus. The second darkest brown is Rowan Scottish Tweed 4 ply.

Well, I have yarns on order and so I am forced to knit other things. I'm working my way up the front of my Perfect Sweater a la Mason Dixon blog. Then I just have to sew it together! I have finished my Conwy socks bar the final grafting of the toe. I'm on the second of my Monkey socks. I'm trying to clear the decks for some obsessive stranded knitting - can't wait!