As the weeks get closer towards Hallowe’en the days seem to get busier and busier. During the past week I had the joy of receiving three wonderful books two of which were knitting related. Every spare moment I have had my nose in one of them seeking inspiration, or simply to improve my practice as a craftsperson.
One of the books, Projects for Each Month of the Year, is a small one by Elizabeth Zimmerman and was first published in 1974. It is such fun. She wrote this book in a very matter of fact way and to read it is like sitting down and having a chat about knitting with your favourite aunty. I find such pearls of wisdom jumping off the page e.g. if you want to do a patterned swatch for a jumper why not elongate your swatch and just turn it into a hat. There is also a section about aran jumpers which I rather like. There are ‘patterns’ within the book but not as we expect to see patterns nowadays as they are embedded within the text and accompanied by rudimentary graphwork. The most comical pattern though is for ‘nether garments’ and you have to see them to believe them. I guess they are basically knitted long johns but they resemble the leg wear of the gents you’d see prancing about in a Bruegel painting. All in all it’s a lovely lovely book that I really have enjoyed.
The next book that I had the privilege of acquiring this week is Wild Color by Jenny Dean. I could quite happily pore over this book for hours. I have to say that I no longer look at plants and trees in the same way. I just keep asking the question “I wonder what possibilities there are if I were to use that to dye with?” I realise now that while I was sitting around all summer trying to locate alum as a mordant I could have used the many rhubarb leaves in the garden instead. I am delighted that I have so many plants all around my house that should be perfect for dyeing use and so I can’t wait to get started.
This is where my hectic schedule and my lack of undyed wool gets in the way. I have two alpaca fleeces yet to spin. I really need to spin them so that I can knit them. Those of you who know about spinning will be aware that this is weeks/months worth of work. I’m also mad to get some more dyeing done (and the more that I read the Jenny Dean book the more enthusiastic I become). Both of my animal fleeces are dark coloured and no use whatsoever in a dye bath so that leaves me with the dregs of Bert’s fleece which is white. Yes, I’m afraid that’s what it has come to until I send off to the UK for more undyed wool. I have spent a couple of evenings carding and spinning Bert’s leftovers into singles. It’s not been too easy as it’s fairly short and has lots of noils. I want a 3 ply yarn so I need to do one more bobbin’s worth and then I can dye away…. My new problem will be that I can’t decide what plant to use as a dye. How spoiled am I?
Albie’s ulcer
Poor lovely Albie has been recovering quite well this week but, understandably, he does not enjoy getting penicillin being shot into his eye. The job of aiming and firing was mine until this week when I decided to have a go at catching and holding instead. I am much better cut out for this activity. As you can see from the pictures Albie is quite resistant to being caught. It involves placing food in a ‘pen’ constructed from sheep wire and when he enters the wire is enclosed behind him so that he is contained. That’s my cue to go in and ‘grab.’ Once caught one arm needs to go around the neck while the other is on the alpaca’s back. He’s usually okay after this although I have received a few head butts this week as the drops were being applied. It’s all worth it though as thankfully his eye is on the mend.
Autumnal Furrows
Last night I needed to knit and I realise that I am a frugal knitter. I don’t buy wool on spec without having a plan so I had to go to my left over pile which doesn’t really contain that much. I opted for the end of a ball of wool that I knitted a baby hat with recently (for Liam) and I cast on a 100 stitches to make another hat with but this time for an adult..(yes Christmas is definitely coming). At 8cm I started casting off in equal 10 sections every fourth row until there were 10 stitches left.
Et voila..Autumnal Furrows.
It fits really well and is incredibly soft. I’m so pleased with how it’s turned out.
