Sophia learns something new...

There is something I have always wanted to know but was afraid to ask. Yesterday, I finally found out! I went to my LYS and had a private lesson on my lunch hour. For a very nominal fee, I learned how to cable!!



At first, it was very confusing, with C6F and T2B and crazy chart symbols. Kelly, the manager at the Elegant Ewe, was quite patient with me and explained things in a step by step manner. It reminded me of when I learned to tie my shoes. I was in tears one morning because everyone else seemed to know how to tie their shoes and I just didn't. My mother sat beside on the bed and said, "this is how." She demonstrated once: "This is the bird's wing, straight and tall. This is the bird's beak, grooming around the base of his wing in a circle. Then he tucks his other wing up beside the first, just as tall. When he flies, he pulls them out like this and they stand out straight!" Then I did it myself, her words recited in my head... I never needed another lesson, from then on. I was suddenly a shoe-lace tie-er, just like everybody else! I just needed to be shown, and to try it out in the presence of someone who knew how. I guess that makes me a kinesthetic learner. It's convenient, because it means I learn by doing. I just have to have the courage to try, and almost anything is possible...

Here is my first cable, a little tight, but my own!



The yarn is Sublime Extra Fine Merino, which I love. This is the yarn I bought, in a dusky green, for the IK Tilted Duster, which is still barely begun. So many projects, so little time!

I mean Bob!

I won a "Bobby" on Ravelry!! Hooray!

This is so exciting. The last time I won a contest was back in 8th grade when I won the State Latin Exam. I got a book called All Roads Lead to Rome, which I'm sorry to say I never read and is now probably on the shelves of some remote second-hand bookshop...

This award is just so much more cool. I'm not one of the prominent or popular people in the Ravelry community, just a semi-quiet participant who likes a laugh here and there... I responded to Yarnvista's, another Raveler's, funny post with my own take on the resident Ravelry dog, Bob. She nominated me for the award. At least 230 people thought it was funny...(at least thats the number who had voted when I checked yesterday afternoon) I confess, I laughed too when I wrote it. Is that bad?

Bob is so cute. He's definitely a Good Dog, deserving of bones...
Here's Bob --->

How I feel about Ravelry

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons

Make My Day Award!

I've been given a Make My Day Blog Award by the wonderful Briley, a fellow Raveler!



This is how it works:
Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about Blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!

I definitely have blogs that I read every day and that never fail to bring a smile to my face when I'm having a tough time. I'm only going to mention a couple here, because the ones that everyone knows about have already received this award.

Blogs that Make My Day:

Nadine's Knitting Basket - I've known Nad for some time because we met on a group about another mutual obession - Tea! It was only in the last couple of years that we realized we were both avid knitters. Her adventures with her beautiful goats and chickens has been a joy to watch. And her yarn! and her socks! amazing....

Canary Knits - A most creative designer and knitter whose gentle artistic life and words never fails to inspire me. I love the photos of her canaries! I just wish she would post more often because I get inspired by her knitting style!

Carrieoki - I've read Carrieoke's blog every day for a couple years now and its like getting to know a friend, except that I rarely post so she doesn't know me in return. Since her recent wedding, she hasn't posted much, but I'm hoping she'll be back in full swing soon! (me and a million other readers). What? Having a job, a new house, a graduate school prgram, and a new marriage takes up all your time from blogging???

There are certainly others that I love and read and some new to me (listed in my blog sidebar) that I'm just getting to know... This is one of the wonderful parts of the internets - the opportunity to get to know and make friends with similar interests who are far from you in geography.

the next knit

It's not been easy to find time to post to my journal, with getting my classes ready for the Spring semester and fending off the evil Catherine, who pounces on my fingers every time I try to type on the laptop!

I have just a small offering for you, to help you survive this long and cold winter... FERRYHALIM games! These are cute and gentle games (though some involved boats that crash and burn on iceburgs!) and I like the ones with the jumping hedgehogs and the little mouse that bumps butterflies into flight! I hear that there is one with ladybugs, but I haven't found it yet...

Right now I'm watching the rerun of Masterpiece Theater's new production of Persuasion by Jane Austen (a really terrible adaptation). They have cut large parts of it, to make the 1.5 hour show fit into tonight's time slot, and that has made it even worse! Though its dreadful, I did notice one exciting screen shot: as Anne is playing a sad air on the pianoforte, the camera moves to her hands and show a pair of very long fingerless gloves in knit (or crochet) lace!

I'm starting a new knitted project: this "Zelda" slip from the book Naughty Needles. It's a little lacy slip with garters to hold up your stockings. Very fun!



At first, I was going to use some Fiesta 100% silk yarn that I have in the colours shown in the picture. But I don't think that silk will wear well for this pattern, as silk has no "memory" or elasticity, and I've heard it pills terribly. So now I have a seagreen silk, linen and nylon yarn for it.

This yarn, in this very colour:


Don't you think that will be lovely? And the yarn's name is perfect!

Now Catherine has pounced and bloodied my hand again, so I must go and put some Bacitracin on it. Evil kitty!

The Peace Dale Yarn Books

Among the treasures in my vintage needlework book collection, are my Peace Dale Yarn books. I have 5, spanning 1920 through 1924, plus two yarn sample books with dozens Peace Dale yarn samples in each one. These sample books are helpful when gauging the weight of vintage yarns and when you want to reproduce the patern in the original colours and fiber content!

The earliest that I have is 1920. This book has the layout appearance of earler books - say, 1910 - rather than the usual flapper look that I'm used to from companies like Fleisher. But the styles are adorable! Most are crochet, again more like early 1900's Fleisher Company yarn books.



My next edition is the 1922 Spring, and here we see the expected "marceled" hairstyle, the crocheted resort hat and flapper fashion, as well as the very cute pen & ink illustrations:





As we move to 1922 winter, we finally see a cloche hat, in crochet (leaf brown and apricot):


a crocheted slip-on in Sicilian Floss (a rayon blend) in Camel, Periwinkle, Jade:


and a knitted U-neck sweater with an interesting stitch pattern again in Sicilian Floss "in the new Mirabelle shade", which is plum colour...


In the 1923 winter edition, coat sweaters dominate. The frontispiece shows the
Coat and Cap combination (pattern on pg 30) using 9 skeins of Sicilian Worsted in Tan & White Mixture with 2 skeins of solid golden brown. It is knitted, with edging in crochet.



The Coat Sweater trimmed in cross stitch is a particular favorite of mine because of its flared sleeves and embroidered pockets. It uses 10 skeins of Sicilian Worsted in grey & white mixture and 2 skeins of solid golden brown as well as cross stitch embroidery done in Sicilian floss of black, orange, and jade. Embroidery embellished knits of this type were common styles of the 1920's.



My last Peace Dale book is 1924 spring, with its beautiful line drawing: "New Sweaters for Spring":



One of my favorite designs from this booklet is the knitted and crocheted Slip-on with Novelty Sash made from Aolian floss in tan, tangerine and delft blue. This shows another fine example of the sweater with embroidered, rather than worked, design.
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So there you have it - all the reasons I need to keep knitting and crocheting for years and years!

Spoiled (but not a brat)

Well, I have been spoiled! Canarysanctuary sent me a big package that arrived yesterday! I came home from work in the freezing rain, tired and (frankly) miserable from a tough day at this educational edifice and as I drove into the driveway I spied a package waiting demurely on the doorstep... How exciting!

The labels on it revealed that it was actually from another country. More excitement! Then I saw Canarysanctuary's name - how intriguing! What could she be sending me????
THIS:



See how many things? There were beautiful cards and vintage patterns and teas and yarns and a new knitting journal!! Now for the specifics..... These two skeins are Lorna's Laces in a bright Coral and soft Coral stripe - how cute is that?? These will be perfect for a summery seashell sock design I have in mind! And this seagreen yarn - Oh how I love that colour!!! - is a big skein of wool and ANGORA blend!! I have wanted a yarn like this all winter for a neck cowl - it's perfect.

Now the teas are sitting beside me on my desk right now! There are Twinings Darjeeling (which is in my tummy), Twinings Celebration (celebrating 300 years of expereince with an Assan and Kenyan blend!), Twinings Indian Spiced Chai, Stash Pumpkin Spice, Bigelow Apple Cider Tea, Madura Peppermint Cooler, and Teekanne Heibe Liebe Fruchtee mit Himbeer-Vanille (this has a picture of raspberries and Vanilla flowers on it)!!! Now, I must tell you that the Twinings that is exported to Canada and the European countries from England is not the same tea that is exported from Twinings of London to the US!! Twinings openly states that they don't send their high-quality teas and tea bags to the Americans because they don't believe we appreciate the finer teas (ahem). I am a member of a big online Tea newsgroup and when we once wrote to Twinings about this, they actually said this! So you can imagine how happy I am to get some samples of this elusive actual high quality Twinings tea to test out for myself. I can tell you that the Darjeeling was excellent - not astringent at all.

So there you have it, gentle readers. I am so very blessed by such generous and kind friends who gift me with treasures. It has made me very enthused to get deep into the knitting and designing in this new year!!