Labyrinth Knitting

 Last year, I took 2 classes at SAFF with Jolie Elder,  here is her blog.   One of her classes was "Liberating the Labyrinth." Knitting in a labyrinth was advanced by Debbie New in her book "Unexpected Knitting." I like knitting that doesn't bore me, and this qualifies!

If you look up "labyrinth" on Ravelry, it shows you knitting resulting in  patterns that look like labyrinths, not necessarily knit with this labyrinth techinique. So, while this technique needs a new name, I'm not the one to do it!

Here is a dishcloth or maybe it's a washcloth.  I'm not giving directions here, but if you might be able to figure it out!  Peaches an Creme from Walmart.

Here's another one, same yarn, same Walmart...

After these, I decided that I wanted to do some stash busting with some of my larger yarn stash, and decided to try a larger piece, with the goal of making a wooly afghan. Someday I will finish it!

Hooded Gansey for my nephew

I am not a big fan of the traditional gansey sweater...too many purls, too many plain old knit stitches, just a bit boring.

I did however grow into deep like with this Debbie Bliss design, called "Hooded Guernsey," for a little boy.  The hood made it.  

 I searched out the source, and got a used copy from a seller at Amazon. 

 VERY ironically about 2 weeks later I saw copies for sale on the magazine stand at Publix...ahhh, the lengths they go to sell stuff that won't sell.  Is there a name for that?  "Downmarketing" or some such??

I suppose I could have found a traditional gansey sweater and added a hood but ya know, buying a new-to-me book is just too much fun...really...

Anyway, this is actually nephew D's Christmas gift, less than a month late (just)...yay!  The yarn is completely untraditional....Berocco Touche from stash. 

Here is a little gansey I made for son B when he was tiny, passed down to R and then to nephew D.  This is from a Dale Baby Collection, Nr. 60, knit from Dale Baby Ull.  Multiple rounds through washer and dryer...hope the Berocco stuff holds up this well.  This little gem is now in the well mothballed trunk of knitwear for prospective grandchildren or great nieces/nephews. 

A bit of Gansey history, courtesy of this nice link.  Ganseys, as we know, took their name from the island of Guernsey, one of the channel islands.  The traditional yarn used for ganseys was a high twist  5 ply, which was likely sourced in the neighboring island of Jersey, a center of worsted yarn spinning. Classic Elite used to produce or at least sell under their own name a 5 ply called "Guernsey." The sweaters were fisherman's sweaters, tightly knit, warm, waterproof, and knit with a straight neck so that they could be reversed.  

According to this fellow's very nice blog there are knit/purl pattern combinations typical of one's town or region up and down the coasts of the British Isles.  The isolated communities up and down the coastline were likely better connected by boat then by land, and the fisherman passed the useful knitwear style around (as has happened with countless other knitting traditions...I just love that...) .  Wikipedia also has a nice article as well.

There is so much history here and I have English roots;  I really should knit a real one. Perhaps when I retire...

If you want to look at lovely photos of the fishing villages and life in rural England in the late Victorian and early 20th century, check out the work of Francis Meadown Sutcliff, discovered during the research for today's post!

Another former UFO!

One of my goals this year has been to complete some long unfinished objects.  Here is one, finished a couple of months ago.

This month, I completed an item that was supposed to be a felted backpack. I bought a kit for long ago, then decided that I didn't like the colors, and used the yarn for something else.  Then, I decided to use some more colorful yarn that was in my stash. (All this was seven years ago). Here it is, in progress

I just finished it, had to tweak the size and also altered the bottom a little, it's a cute little flowery mandala

  Had the glorious exploratory fun of the washing machine felting experience.  Once it was out, I decided that it would make a too small backpack. 

 I am toying with the idea of just adding handles for a shopping bag.  Opinions, please??

Baby Hoodie and some thoughts

 Completed a baby gift

The pattern is here, done in Cotton Comfort from Green Mountain Spinnery, knit from stash, oh yeah!  I ran out of the natural and did the button bands in green, saving some natural for the last row.  I like it. This yarn is not springy and due to the cotton it's stiff to work with.  I did put it in the washer and dryer, both for short periods, and it softened up nicely. It still needs buttons..in a plain natural mother of pearl, I think.

This last week marks the passing of Levon Helm.  Levon was the drummer for The Band, who kept on sharing his music through his life.

Here he is with friends at the Ryman (that's in Nashville, y'all) three years ago, smiling and singing well  following radiation to his vocal cords for cancer (never let cancer co-opt your smile or your attitude...).

A fan of The Band since college, I listened to their albums relentlessly.  I am a fan of live albums, The Last Waltz (1976) on disc or DVD is not to be missed.  For me, their music exudes American roots and gives me a sense of nostalgia and, somehow, patriotism. 

My hands down favorite album of theirs, also a live one, is Rock of Ages, recorded in 1971.  It got a full listen this last weekend. 

An interesting note:   if you saw Elizabeth Zimmerman's obituary in the New York Times, December 12, 1999, then you will recall (well, I might be the only one to recall this...) that Levon's band member Rick Danko's obituary appeared on the same page.  His was above EZ's.

Other people whose passing this week one might ponder:

Dick Clark (never let a stroke co-opt your smile or your attitude, or your business sense, either...)

Jonathan Frid (on Friday the 13th, you KNOW he did that on purpose; despite my ambivalence to Tim Burton's extreme gory visuals, I'll look forward to seeing the new Dark Shadows movie to see Jonathan Frid's cameo, if nothing else...)