Treasure Post

I received a letter in the mail his summer, which, while delivered in July, only now just made its way to me. It's wonderful beyond words and I just have to share.

I signed a short contract last academic year, and was away from work for most of July through this week. Getting back to the library after a break always involves a flurry of returning calls and going through email. It was halfway through Monday before I tackled the physical mail, and amongst the junk mail and magazines, I found a letter. A proper letter, with a stamp on it. The stamp featured a profile of Her Majesty and was postmarked Glasgow. What could it be?

An envelope of awesomeness, that's what! A Glaswegian Ravelry friend, Alison, had attended the Edinburgh Fashion Festival in July and got to meet Arne & Carlos, the Norwegian designers of the 55 Christmas Balls which I made two years ago. Alison thoughtfully printed out a photo of my completed set beforehand, and asked them to autograph it for me:

I can't tell you how wonderful it was to receive this. Alison sent it to me with a warm handwritten note. I'll treasure both, I assure you. And she was very resourceful in finding an address to mail it to. The librarian in me appreciates such skills. That someone I've never met would think of me and go out of her way to do this for me was truly touching. I will be sending her a proper thank you later, you can be sure of that.

If you want to see her great knitting (and yes, you do), Ravelers can find her under the handle banjocool on Ravelry. I especially like the small-gauge knitting she's done for Barbie and her Action Man!

Thank you so much, Alison. You really touched my heart with this gift.

Making Rounds

On my list of things that needed doing during the summer was a trip to visit my Aunt June. She's always had interesting family stories to share and we've always got along well. I think our status as the eldest children in our familes made us simpatico, and her stint as the librarian in her home town was influential in my career choice. Plus, she's an important link to the family needlework and seweing heritage on my mom's side.

Jeff, my sister and our niece headed down yesterday to spend the day. She made us a yummy lunch (with the help of her grandkids), and I got to give her the Squared Away Throw I finished a few months back. As I worked on it, I thought the colors were so Aunt June, and this picture confirms it! It's almost as if she picked this outfit for the occasion. She was really happy to receive it, which, of course, made this knitter's day.

She showed us some quilts while we were there, including a baby quilt with little sheep and a t-shirt quilt she was making for her grandson, Thomas. She also is repairing a fan-patterned quilt that my grandmother made just before June was born. She would have been twenty-two years old. I love all the fabric prints, which probably came from old sugar and flour sacks. Some are really quite cool, although a few panels have disintegrated over the years. It's just so moving to touch these things and make these connections with my past. I'm glad Aunt June is taking care of it so well. She is planning on coming to the biannual quilt show here in Austin in a month or so. It's become a bit of a tradition, and I'm looking forward to it.

Speaking of rounds, I've completed about 60 rounds of the Machrihanish Vest, which is about one-and-a-half chart repeats. I think I like the darker band better than the lighter one, but they're both nice. Whenever I put this in strong light to take a photograph, it makes the colors come off a bit more primary-ish than I think they are in normal light. Also, I like the way this looks from a distance more so than I do close up. I've completed two balls of the Mussel Blue, and haven't finished the first of any of the others. It's looking like I'll have plenty. I still have a ways to go before thinking about steeking and decreases, so for now I'll continue making the rounds.

Scotch Swatch Not Botched

I began my Machrihanish Vest this week. Stranded knitting has its unique challenges and benefits and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy projects like this. Although I have some Scottish background, none of my ancestors came from the Shetlands as far as I know, much less the Orkneys or Fair Isle. But I do so enjoy the rhythm of this style of two-handed knitting with the myriad patterns that can be created. Maybe I'll find a link some day.

I started the swatch right away -- shown here. Did I mention challenges? Since this project is knitted in the round, I needed to make my pattern swatch in the round, too. I had to do this on a very long needle using a magic loop. I worried that the loop gap might cause gauge issues, but it wasn't that bad. You might see a little distortion running through the center of the leftmost "X" motif where the gap was. I steeked across the other gap and later cut it. I didn't reinforce it at all. Love the grabiness of Shetland wool! After steaming, cutting, pinning and drying, the swatch was at 37.5 stitches over 4", just over the called for 36. The lightest of tugs and I was just fine. Oh -- and US knitters take note -- this pattern calls for a 2.75mm US2 needle. Many needles marketed as US2 circulars are actually 3mm. Check the millimeter size! I had to get a new one. It's from Knitter's Pride, and I quite like it, though the dark cord can make the blue stitches hard to see.

The swatching directions call for knitting half the motif on one size needle and half on another, because there is an option for making the lower section narrower. I'm more tube-shaped than v-shaped, so I'm not bothering with the shaping. There's also an option for making the ribbing twice as long and then doubling it under for extra strength. This appealed to me at first, and I bought extra yarn for it, but ultimately decided it would be too bulky for Texas.

I started on the vest proper a few days back and I'm to the point that the swatch left off. I've only dropped stitches a few times, but found them and fixed them easily enough. I'm really liking watching this pattern grow. So far, so good. As is often the case, successful projects start with good planning. And this patterns' detailed instructions for swatching were greatly appreciated.

Vest Laid Plans

Some knitting has occurred in the past few weeks, but mostly planning for a new major project.

We got out of town for much of last week, visiting relatives in northeast Texas and spending some time in the woods hiking and relaxing -- and enjoying unseasonably cool weather, along with the sound of rain. Rain! I worked on a pair of socks that I'm making using a free pattern from Knitty and yarn I bought in Germany last December.

These Inlay Socks are kinda cool. The effect is a woven fabric, but it's all knitting. You do this weird technique that allows you to do two-stitch cables without a cable needle or slipping stitches off temporarily. It's fiddly and a little weird to get used to, since one stitch in each pair is intentionally twisted. I can't manage to memorize the pattern, but I'm liking how these are turning out. Things should go a bit faster when I'm only doing the complicated pattern over the instep rather than around the whole cuff.

While I was gone, some yarn arrived that I'd ordered from the UK. I tried to find a closer source, but just couldn't. It's Jamieson & Smith Shetland Heritage in beautiful, rich colors. Or, rather, colours. They're all solid, with nary a heathered color in the collection, and they're all based on colors found in traditional garments housed in the Shetland Museum and Archives. Nice.

I'm planning to make a vest using a pattern by Kate Davies called Machrihanish, after a village on the Mull of Kintyre. I love the bold designs, and since some of the vests I've made in the past, like the Hillhead and Vaila slipovers, no longer fit me well, I've got a great excuse to start something new. So my days ahead will be filled with careful swatching, two-handed stranded knitting, and steek cutting. Kate's pattern gives very detailed instructions for swatching, which I don't often see for stranded knitting projects, and I'm very appreciative.

Can't wait to get started.