Thursday, December 06, 2012


Not much was accomplished around here yesterday.

However, the scarf now has but eight inches to go. A couple more evenings should do it. Zite came up this morning with Lorna Watt’s Chunky Turban Headband (Ravelry link). I’m not thinking Christmas-present. I’m thinking leftover-yarn – from both scarves – and I’m also thinking baby-it’s-cold-outside. The pattern wants super chunky and I don’t think either yarn qualifies as that, but I also think adjustment would be within my capacities.

So I bought the pattern. Someone commented recently that she always prints out a pattern right away, after downloading it: so do I. So that one is ready to roll.

I’ve also been thinking about what sweaters to knit for the Little Boys on the shores of Loch Fyne, if Scotland win the Catcutta Cup next year. It’s good fantasy knitting, because Scotland won’t win. Quite apart from the fact that we are rubbish at the moment, and England really rather good, the match is played in London in odd-numbered years. Scotland never win there.

The 2012 celebratory sweaters (not needed, in the event) were going to be Norwegian. This time, I’m thinking of carrying on from Ed’s Gardening Sweater and knitting smaller EPS Seamless Saddle Shoulders (KWT) in beautiful madelinetosh.

QueerJoe in his post for December 3 says without explanation that he has “started getting regularly scheduled deliveries of madelinetosh yarns” – I want in on that one! He illustrates a wonderful colorway called Bitterroot, not far off Firewood with which I am soon to begin knitting.

“Knit Your Own Scotland” turned up yesterday, and it’s delightful – but, oh! Kristie! There’s no haggis!

Comments

I had the same idea – that it would be worth my while to pay EasyJet to let Archie take another suitcase. Helen’s husband David did the work, and reported that it would cost £14 for a physical extra bag plus £69 for up to 9 kilos. That’s booking-in-advance. So I’ll squeeze anything I can into his suitcase – and his mother has told him to wear as many clothes as possible – and face up to posting the rest.

Dawn, when I was in China I saw, like you, museum attendants knitting, and others with jobs that left time on their hands. One day James took us out in the country to visit places where bits of the Great Wall exist (as well as the famous site near Beijing where princes go).  In one village, there was a group of women sitting on the pavement in the afternoon. One of them was knitting a one-piece baby garment into which it looked as if a small child could usefully be sewn in November. She didn’t want to be photographed, even when James asked her politely in Mandarin.

The only Chinese patterns I’ve seen are western spin-offs. But on the strength of that one baby-gro I’d like Kirsty to probe more deeply. If people in the cities knit, there could be a country tradition behind them.

9 comments:

  1. Jean
    Shame that the knitter didnt want to be photographed. My experience was that the Chinese were perfectly willing to be photographed. Not to mention the people who were photographing me (not so) stealthily and the ones who asked me to be photographed along with them (my blonde hair I suspect).

    My husband speaks a bit of Chinese and is an expert googler, I will ask him to investigate the topic.

    Dawn

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  2. Jean
    This comment is for Kristie. It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a pattern for haggis. Knit a tube with a dark heathered yarn, a with perhaps a bit of shaping at the two ends, stuff and tie off the ends like a wrapped sweet, silver yarn would mimic the metal staples used in modern haggises.

    All the best
    Dawn

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    Replies
    1. That's a great idea Dawn! Thanks for the suggestion. I will have to Google some images of haggis and see what I can come up with. I am usually a blind follower type of knitter, but just might be able to manage a shaped tube on my own.

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    2. Kristie
      See what I just found: http://jejunesplace.blogspot.nl/2006/04/knit-haggis.html

      Dawn

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  3. rosesmama12:08 PM

    The ravelry pattern Turban(d) is an aran weight version of that turban, in case you don't want to reinvent the headgear.

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  4. Too bad about the bags. When I was in China I saw lots of women knitting. I had mine along (of course) and did a bit of knitting in public, which was good for connecting with people even though we didn't speak the same language. There was a book about 30 years ago - Patterns from China, I vaguely remembered it, found it on Library thing, and there are lots of used copies, it seems. http://www.librarything.com/work/1486194

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  5. I am shocked and disappointed. A Knit Scotland book without a haggis pattern? I will have to scour its pages for something else to knit for Kath. :-)

    When I was in China I saw several women knitting. The most memorable encounter was a woman in a park in Beijing. She was knitting a sweater on very long, thin double pointed needles. It was the most beautiful shade of blue I have ever seen. It was cashmere, and I would say probably a fingering weight yarn. I was with Diana's mom, and she was translating madly as this woman and I talked about knitting. I love how knitters, no matter where they live or what language they speak, seem to share a common bond.

    I also saw hanks of yarn hanging to dry on poles sticking out form homes. Diana and I were pretty sure it was reclaimed wool from old garments.

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  6. I too was searching for some kind of hat/earwarmer/turban and came across this one, Turband: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/turband
    It's free, quite easy, adaptable to any size yarn and I used leftovers from a lovely gift skein of Aran weight called "Beastie" from Cephalopod Yarns
    http://cephalopodyarns.com/products/beastie

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  7. Clare, Torridon is lovely. I have some beautiful photos from years ago with perfect reflections in Loch Clair I think. You will love it.

    Dawn

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