Merry Christmas and Thoughts on Bernat's Classic Santa Stockings

Once Upon a Time…

Grandma Helen knit the her three grandchildren Chistmas stockings

here's mine

My sister decided to knit the same pattern for her family.  She knit one for her two children and for her husband, and kept her Grandma Helen original.  Santa's beard on hers had disintegrated.  The beard I believe was knit from an angora blend.  Here's my sister's, pre- repair

(This was very interesting to me as an acquaintance of mine just last month said that she herself had a classic hand knit holiday stocking in which the angora beard had disintegrated.  Must've been a feature from the original pattern with suggested yarns…)

The pattern was apparently published by Bernat in  1950 and re-released in the 70's.  

My sister tracked it down and bought a copy somewhere.  Heaven knows why Bernat isn't still publishing it as it seems that these are lovely vintage knitting that folks might spend money for...

I tried using duplicate stitch to fix the stocking, but holes were too big.  So, I watched a youtube video on darning and tried my best.  The replacement yarn?  That sturdy and rugged addictive Crack
Kid Silk Haze. 

Here's the repair…not great but Santa's beard should stay untact for a couple more years!

Where does your tee shirt come from? or…thoughts on not-local

A bit of diversion from my usual…Where exactly does your tee shirt come from?

I was listening to NPR the other morning and they were airing a Planet Money segment

http://seedtoshirt.tumblr.com

They made their own tee shirt from "scratch." You really should watch this.  Basically the voyage is:  cotton grown in Mississippi, to India for spinning, then either to Bangla Desh or Guatemala for sewing, then back to the US.


Here is some natural cotton from Peru…it grows there too.  I love the green tone

It was a gift when we visited  a cotton packaging operation in Lima, here are some bales

I haven't yet tried to spin it…hopefully I won't need a charka a la Ghandi…they've been spinning cotton in India for a LOOOONG time

but who doesn't need a new spinning tool?  Here's a cute contemporary charka from Ashford

OK, diverted by fiber tools... anyway..

So how do tee shirts and their components get from continent to continent?

Interestingly, I was in Savannah about 2 months ago…on River Street with my sis and her family at Octoberfest.  A big Maersk container ship was cruising out of the port.  My brilliant sister googled the name of the ship on her cell and was able to see that it was going from Savannah to Houston.  Houston?  I though these ships only went overseas?  Did you know that you can track the path of a container ship at the Maersk website?  Did you know that Maersk is a Danish company?  Here's a cool site where you can see where their fleet is. And did you know that the Maersk seven pointed star represents the seven seas?  And did you see Captain Phillips?  I was shocked at the small size of the crew…


So, doesn't all of this international shipping crap
er… stuff make you happy that you can know exactly where your hand knit or crocheted sweater, scarf, shawl, mitts or even "tee shirt" came from?   The alpaca farm up the road?  The sheep farm in Vermont?  The angora in the back yard? The cotton grown down the road? And you know…how many cotton tee shirts do you or I really need?  Could we actually make our "tee shirts" local?

Here's one tee shirt that I really do need (from Wild Fibre in Savannah; I have a pink one too)…but where did it come from, exactly?

Well, the label revealed the final step…"hecho en Guatemala."  The brand is "Bella"…I do like the cap sleeves, won't wear  a tee shirt without a lady-like cut...


Ya know, I could have gotten a degree in textile engineering…..Roseanne Rosannadanna would say that I have alotta questions in this post. Would she say "follow the money"?  

Old School

So an old friend of mine dropped by last week,  that was lovely as he and his wife don't live nearby.


He mentioned that he still had a sweater that I knit for him some years ago (!)  I couldn't  believe that he still had it!   He was most gracious and said that it was one of only two handknit sweaters that he owned.  Of  course, I asked him to send me a photo.  Here it is

I could not recall the pattern or the yarn although I suspected that it was Candide yarn…I knit at least a couple of sweaters from this yarn back in the 70's.

I located the pattern quickly at Ravelry

Umm it's the Candide Raglan Herringbone pullover. 

Apparently, according to Ravelry, this tough, long wearing yarn is no longer available through Reynolds, but is still being produced by Briggs and Little under the name  "Atlantic."  

"Back in the day" as some would say, great yarn would last a while...

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fest

I went to SAFF in Asheville last month.  I don't have alot of this type of event where I live...it's too hot here for anything but hair sheep that shed when the weather turns warm, save Carrie and Kurt in Hampton SC.  (However, someone I know spotted a local alpaca, but I haven't seen it).  So, SAFF was pretty darned fun.  Here are some views:

ALPACAS

LLAMAS?

ANGORAS

Yes, it's true, I want one.  I got to hold one …  puffy soft…I really seriously thought about coming home with one...

And, my friend Tamara…who led me down the garden path to indigo dyeing, which is truly a gateway addiction leading to more home chemistry experiments with natural dyes

I actually got to spin on this fabulous great wheel. An anonymous bystander actually talked me through the process…thank you, who ever you are!  This wheel was made by Lyle Wheeler of LyleWheelerchairmaker.com.  I want one

Vendor mart…serious fun…can't wait till next year!

Dia de los Muertos 2013

It is Dio de los Muertos, the Mexican "Day of the Dead" during which we can more easily commune with our ancestors. Marigolds are a symbol of the holiday, and mine are doing REALLY well now that our weather has moderated, although maybe the composted manure helped too...

Not Quite a Baby Gift

So a few years ago (18 to be exact) I worked with a friend, we'll call her A.  She and I became pregnant at about the same time.

Several months into my pregnancy we moved away and I was busy being pregnant, starting a new job, etc etc.  

Now I usually knit baby gifts for friends but I was so busy that A's baby did not receive a hand knit.

Fast forward 19 years:  A somewhat newer friend, J,  (who also happens to be a knitter) is into Dr. Who.  In trolling about on knitty.com, I discovered Bigger On The Inside. No, this is not an unseemly name (and heaven knows what unseemly traffic I'll get just for typing those words) but more importantly:  it is a shawl/scarf and its name refers to Dr. Who's conveyance called "The Tardis" which was/is/will be ( think that might be some Dr. Who humor)  a blue English police box on the outside  but a larger space ship interior a la 1960 on the inside. 

(Here's the closest thing I could find during my trip to Wales...a telephone box).

So, I posted the knitty page on FB to show J.

Well, A. spied my post and immediately asked me to knit one for her daughter (who is a month younger than my son). Naturally, I obliged.  As it turns out, A's daughter is a lover of green, as am I. 

I used Knitpicks Stroll in the color Peapod.

My favorite Dr. Who is Tom Baker.  TARDIS, as it turn out, stands for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space".  

Northwoods Farm, my "local" alpaca farm

My LYS is 30 minutes away (I think that's a long ride...) and I have no local local sheep or fiber farms, seeing as how I live in a fairly hot climate (that would be gardening zone 8...).


Several months ago my brother moved from western North Carolina to upstate South Carolina.  He called me excitedly and said "Wendy, there are llamas on a farm nearby!"  I assured him that the animals were probably alpacas not llamas.  The name of the place is Northwoods Farm.

On a visit to see him recently I went to see the alpacas.

I think that this is a group of youngsters. 

 I knew that there was a yarn shop there as well, I figured that it was a small shop selling wool from their animals.

WRONG!  Teri's shop is a vast cavelike treasure trove of fibers and equipment.

Teri also offers many classes, check her out on Facebook.


However, I stuck local, and bought some alpaca spun from their flock

Lovely stuff...will find a project soon for this

Another hap

So...someone to whom I'm related doesn't read my blog, so it makes no difference that I post something regarding her Christmas gift...

She travelled in Skye a couple of years ago and bought some yarn.  It is an itchy business...she couldn't tell me where exactly she's gotten it.

She tried to knit something with it, no luck, and "gifted" it to me.

My inclination was to do another hap...as a gift back to her.

I doubled the yarn.  The yarn is cream with some brown.  Makes me think of Scottish Blackface.  Who the heck knows...

I knit a hap square, and added churro handspun from Cassie to do the "traditional"  feather and fan lace border.  Luckily the natural colors look OK together.

You know, on a cold night with no central heating, this would be quite warm!  It's 4" by 4'