inspired by Anthropology...

First up, a wonderful addition to the stash from Japan!


My friend Julie in Seattle sent this (along with some fantastic Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab oils) yesterday. I can't read the Japanese on the label, but it is definitely sock yarn DongBao colour 286, and feels like superwash merino, incredibly soft. Interestingly, the symbols on the side say it is 100% something and 10% something else! So it is 110% something. The universal washing symbols indicate that its superwash. The colour, that ocean teal, will be perfect for the socks I have in mind, with a wave's crest of white around the edge using the handspun she sent...

Also in the mail was the latest Anthropology catalogue. I make no apology for being inspired by Anthropology...many and better knitters have gone before me, adapting these imaginative but horribly expensive knits (some of them are almost $400) for general consumption (just Google "Anthropology-inspired capelet" to see what I mean!)...

There are several sweaters in the new catalogue that make my knitting needles itch:

This one seems fairly easy to adapt; a V-neck empire-waist cardigan with a ribbed high waist. Kfb every other stitch after the ribbing to create the slightly gathered peplum. Add ribbing on the 3/4 length sleeves... 100% alpaca for that soft glow. I'd use A Touch of Twist natural alpaca.



This one is also a pretty straightforward cardigan with a low scooped neckline and elbow-length sleeves. I'd lose the ruffles on neck and sleeves, and substitute a simple, loose K2P2 ribbing. It looks like it would work up well in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran....



And finally, my favorite, a bed-jackety-looking sweater, almost like a shrug/capelet thingy... very vintage-looking. This one would take a bit of time to work out the construction: perhaps start with the circular yoke/collar, top-down, and then add the lace bodice, increasing stitches for an A-line and keeping the sleeve stitches on holders. Then go back to those sleeves, those wonderful bell sleeves, picking up the stitches seamlessly and creating the lace pattern while increasing frequntly enough to make the big bell. The picot edge I might crochet on afterwards around the whole sweater and sleeve edges.... Rowan Soft Baby for this one - I think they even make this very vintage powder blue!



{{sigh}} So many ideas, so little time...

morning tea and reading

This morning I began reading Socrates in Love by Kyoichi Katayama, the all-time best-selling novel in Japan. It is about a young man, Sakutaro - Socrates - who is remembering his few years with someone he loved...

(excerpt:)

"Four months. Everything had happened in the time for one season to change to the next. In that time, one girl had disappeared from this world. If you thought of it as one person out of six billion, it didn't mean a thing. But I wasn't there with the six billion. I was in a place where one death had wiped every emotion. That was where I was. I didn't see anything, hear anything, or feel anything. But was that where I really was? If not, then where was I?

...I glanced at the small urn in Aki's mother's hands. That urn, nestled in its beutiful brocade bag...was Aki truly in there?

After the plane took off, I fell asleep and had a dream. It was about Aki when she was still healthy, and in the dream she was smiling, with that slightly embarrassed smile of hers. She called out to me - "Saku-chan." Her voice lingered in my ears. I wished the dream were real, and this reality a dream. But that wasn't the case. And that was why,whenever I woke up, I'd be crying. It wasn't because I was sad. When you return from a happy dream to sad reality, there's a chasm you have to step across, and you can't cross it without shedding tears. It doesn't matter how many times you do it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m eager to get on with my knit designs because yesterday, i finally found the yarn i want to use for Marky's fingerless gloves! yes, it's Koigu, in a nice colourway similar to those he pointed out as his favorites: deep reds, burgundys, blues, and yellows. there was only one skein and nothing else even came close in colour, so I’m seriously hoping this will be enough. I think I should do a 3x3 rib all the way to make sure its stretchy enough for his hand.

and all of this reading of Japanese novels makes me more inspired to design new knitted and crocheted pieces! i went to Borders and poured through two books on Japanese fashion: Fruits and Fresh Fruits. these are basically thick paperbacks filled with full-page photos of street fashion from Japan. The handmade pieces are so imaginative! someday, when my college loans are paid off, I’m going to work part-time and devote myself to design...

Holly sent me a present!! The History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931499373/104-5327618-7650332?v=glance&n=283155

needless to say, I am now obsessed with historical knitting patterns, and especially historical SOCK patterns! I have in my mind a design for an adaptation of an ancient pattern that goes over the knee and has embroidery on the ankle. I had thought that the first knitted hose was from Queen Elizabeth's time, when she was given a pair of hand knitted black silk stockings made by her maid and based on Spanish knitting (24 stitches and 36 rows per inch!!!), but I’ve found out that remnants of knitted socks have been found in Egyptian tombs and one of the first examples is housed in the library collection at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. I must visit! of course, some people would think it was crazy to want with all your heart to take a train trip across several states to gaze at three indeterminate shreds of soiled and deteriorated knitted cloth that may or may not have once been a sock...but I know that many of you will completely understand.



This image is from the German Hosiery Museum...lucky Nad, who lives in Germany!
http://www.german-hosiery-museum.de/hosiery-museum.htm

Knit Haiku

Ooooo Knit love!

I found this great Japanese knitting site while looking for language translators for my japanese knitting books...

http://www.tata-tatao.to/knit/e-index.html

http://www.tata-tatao.to/knit/e-index.html

It has patterns (some in English) and really beautiful and funny photos...and.... Knitting Haiku!


The full wool yarn skeins
in the shops
tell the autumn has come.


One more stitch...
One more row...
Ah..! It's dawn!


How many people have touched
with their cheeks
on this soft yarn skein?


I hate all these
15 rows
over the mistake.


Praising her work,
I mumble to myself
"I can do it, too."

Autumn winds
always drift me
into yarn shops.


and Not-Haiku:


Didn't you praise
the botchy scarf
knitted by the young girl?
How can you
give the cold
to my paramount sweater?


Secretly, I turned over
your new hand knitted scarf.
Did you know how I was happy
when I found a brand-label on it?