Done & dusted with something I’ve been working on for a few weeks !
Category: knitting design
Knitting Linen
I woke this morning with a vivid realization that a new experience awaits, blossomed from an epic love relationship of linen. As I ponder this, it would just have to be, as my love of knitting, and the fact that living in a climate where dryness and heat are a way of life half of the year, and well, even when it is cool and damp, I love to wear linen.
Since posting about this yarn ages ago, originally I was intending it to be a lace thing, but I let it hibernate so long that it now wants to be something else. I think. Maybe. I am ambivalently thinking about making it into an actual shirt. I really don’t want to call it a ‘sweater’ as that evokes cold weather & sheepy cozy wooliness, which this is most definitely not. It will be a highly breathy creature, billowing in the breeze hanging dry on the clothes line after being washed in the washer with a load of jeans . . . something one could not dream of doing to wool . . . something one could toss on and wear into the town on a balmy day.
Oh, but first, it is understood that knitted linen fabric is nothing like woven linen fabric, and as I am a knitter, and not a weaver, the obvious task at hand is to master the fiber with knitting needles, wrestling it into submission as the flax was to make the linen strands. Interestingly, linen made from flax, a vegan sustainable resource which is in itself a hardy most beautiful plant. Just look at it’s pure light blue delicate flower ! How can something so delicate come from a plant that is so incredibly strong and tough and enduring? I love the metaphor of the delicate and enduring hardiness all in one , I really identify.
Autumnal Equinox Sneak Preview
Autumn Sweater Sneak Preview
One down, the most colorful for youngest Niece of Eleven, which is now finished. I basically knit this critter twice! This Autumn’s sweaters will be a relative of Penny Candy Tee. It is in worsted-weight yarn and construction is altogether different enough to warrant a whole different design . Backstory: I knit this one up to the underarms somewhere in the first week of August, thinking I was ahead of the game, to have two Autumn sweaters designed and knit for the traditional Autumnal Equinox sweater photo shoot. Way ahead. Um… small detail… youngest niece grew like a rampant ninja weed all spring & summer, and when they came for a mid-summer visit a few weeks back, I slipped it over her to try on and to my horror it was already way too fitted, with not much room for this Slipover to be slipped over anything.
I just couldn’t carry on with it, so ripped that out, knit over to underarms. Knit one sleeve half-way, but didn’t like the cuff and knit over, and finished two sleeves finally. Joined at the yoke and was going to go entirely circular, knit all the way up to the lace yoke section, decided it was going to be floppy as heck, ripped back to armholes. Decided to do raglan , and a wide decreasing lace neckline, but it was too wide and lacy (therefore see-thru), and also discovered where I missed a decrease on one corner down near the armhole… ripped out the whole yoke back to the mistake, and reknit the raglan decreases, though higher. Finally, the lace neckline! Okay, so too wide, ripped ripped back and knit over narrower, i-cord cast-off too loose, ripped back did over again. There you have it. I knit it twice I figured. I can’t believe I went and showed off one without the other, so uncharacteristic of me, as the two sweaters always make an appearance togethr. However, I just felt like I needed to cheer up Yarnings a bit, and feel some sort of reward in Show & Tell, as I am just in the middle of such a knitting grind.
The good news is that I practically wrote the pattern with that one, so IF & WHEN I ever get around to writing the official pattern, it won’t be such a bear. I am honestly hoping I can get it together by November, but Christmas knitting kind of gets in the way too… so I’ll try my best. Oh, and Eldest Niece of Fourteen’s will only be in two colors , subtle wintery colors, and will rattle off like quick. It will be nothing short of a miracle if I get these done by the Autumnal Equinox, but I am going for it!
Vineyard Rows Tam
Walking along the old mountain vineyards close by, I found inspiration for a design which I have named “Vineyard Rows”. A California Highlands Bonnet if there is to be one ! I chose four natural shades of Jamiesons Of Shetland Spindrift yarn, because I happen to love this black & white photo of the historic vineyard landscape I took a year ago. Near the highest vineyard knoll on the mountain perhaps, rows against an Autumn sky, leaves blowing off of the vines as a storm was brewing… it was a walk to remember ! So I came up with this . . .
Vines of grape leaves wind about the wheel, in borders and peeries, along with interruptions of bold checked dicing. To me this tam brings together California Wine Country with Scottish Highlands. Embroidered grape clusters adorn the rambling vines with French knots in wine tones, creating a spectacular and colorful needlework finish I think!
I really went wild with the notion of the toorie and decided that a tam must have accessory options ! Why not an accessory for the accessory ~~ why not tie one on for the mood you’re in ? Basic black, wine red, & marled toories !!!
But before I embroidered the grape clusters into the vines,
I took the hat out into the woods…
Against the moss . . .
And lastly, against a blush of colorful Autumn leaves, showing how the tam’s outer most rim is traditionally useful in shading from the sun.
Well there you have it, my latest design of a tam named “Vineyard Rows”. I have created this tam for all the lovely walks I’ve enjoyed in the beautiful aesthetic of these old vines ~~ this tam is in tribute to them.
If you haven’t yet read a post I made about Knitting & Wine , it is the prelude to this design, as well as other posts and photographs of nearby vineyards, you may peruse in all vineyard posts .
♣ ♣ ♣
Vineyard Rows pattern may be found here .
((as well as details on Ravelry here ))
Really Red Tam
I am very proud to finally show you the tam I made !!! It goes in a set with my Really Red Cardigan. I had knit the tam before the holiday gift-knitting crunch set in, then put it aside to be photographed after the new year. New year … check. Photographed…. check. I am over the moon about having this particular cardigan & tam ensemble finished because only a couple of months ago, after having hibernated well over a year, the cardigan was doomed to die a tragic death of getting unraveled out of existence! After much persuasion from a friend, I committed & cut the steek, finished the cardigan, then surprisingly soon after, decided to knit up this tam to go with it. Maybe it was meant to have waited until now, as the rains of the season has made the moss so verdant ~~~ and just look at how well the moss sings praise to the red wool !
There is a bit of a coincidence, that the red in the colorway is called “garnet heather”
. . .well, because garnet is my birth-stone .
. . . and today is my birthday !
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Details found on Ravelry here.