Seasonal segue

Christmas came early this year when I was given a handknit jumper, knit and passed on by a friend who claimed it needed a smaller person to wear it. As someone who simply cannot part with the garments I laboriously knit in the glory days of the 80s and 90s, I value the time and work that goes into handknits and was so happy to give this one a new life. I've been wearing it often.

But on Christmas Jumper Day - Friday 13th, this year - which was set up by Save the Children as a fundraiser in 2012 and has raised over £21million, I'll be following the advice to get my xmas jumper from a charity shop. In fact one such is already to hand! This handknit woollen "Nordic" beauty has been in my cupboard for some years now - I love it - and best of all, it's not specifically "xmassy", but it is special...

We should be rethinking our xmas buying practices, says this article (and many more articles) - but why stop at xmas? "Less is more" all year round, and green isn't just for xmas.

Horror statistics are everywhere, and here are the ones that got me writing this post.

Acrylic, a plastic fibre, was found in 95% of 108 garments currently on sale from 11 high street and online retailers

Acrylic releases nearly 730,000 microfibres per wash, five times more than polyester-cotton blends, a recent study found

Two out of five Christmas jumpers are only worn once over the festive period

One in three adults under 35 buys a new Christmas jumper every year

Especially that last one. How many over-60s buy a Christmas jumper ever??

Christmas is, of course, "a time for giving". A time for buying useless stuff for people who have too much already, in my bah-humbug view. Then comes the post-xmas letdown and the darkest, coldest weather sets in and thousands of kids go to school without breakfast, not to mention all the other evils brought about by lack of, or poor distribution of, resources.

If you've got financial security, how lucky you are. This article, about someone who gives away a huge proportion of his substantial income, was a wake-up call for me. I know I can now afford to be more generous, though this is very different from the decades of frugality growing up in an immigrant (post-war to Canada) family, and then as student, wife of a student, and single mother; you get in the habit of holding on to what you've earned.

But which charities use their donations most effectively?

This article pointed out that charities with less than £5000 of income don't need to be registered - news to me! It has good information about how to assess the effectiveness of a charity, and how to find local charities.

It also points out that if you're a higher rate taxpayer, you can claim back tax on part of the gift aid added to your donation ... ah yes that's the rich taking care of the rich, bah-humbug...

Drawing Tuesday - V&A, medieval galleries

There's always too much to choose from in the medieval galleries - probably my favourite part of the V&A. I was very tempted by the goofy horses in a huge tapestry p

 and by some lively textile fragments 0

1370-1430, Italy, probably Venice

1270-1330, Italy or Spain

but it was the availability of not just a seat but a surface that settled me down in front of the roof bosses -

 The magic of the camera allows "awkward" views -

Top right is where better observation was needed...

Winged bull and winged lion

The staff in the members' room were very helpful in finding a table for seven. I have been very grumpy about the flash new members' room, and wouldn't bother using it on my own, but in company it does have redeeming features!

Going round the table -

Judith's large wood statues

Carol's St Margaret

Joyce's misericord

Jo's demons

Drawing stained glass is rather time-consuming - the colouring-in needed to be finished at home -

Janet K

Sue

 Extra-curricular activities

Carol went to the Isle of Wight

Joyce met up with Urban Sketchers

Joyce and Sue had been to a kantha workshop

Janet K made a dinosaur jumper for a family teddybear

 And from that ill-fated outing to the Natural History Museum - Carol persevered, with these results -

Daily this and daily that

Inevitably January is a time of new starts and often these are tied up with (imho) the silliest of all things, New Year's Resolutions. 

But how else do you decided when to start something that you hope to continue, or make a habit? Apart from the convenience factor of the start of a year or first day of the month, probably you just decide, on the day, and you might set some sort of time frame - a week or a year or whatever - and see how it goes.

I quite like the idea of 90 days, but have never managed it! (yet...)

So, at the moment I'm engaged in some "daily" things. 

First, the 10K steps, which my fitbit has been instrumental in supporting. In the past couple of weeks I've not been hitting the heights of 2018 and have slipped up on daily targets because of being at home - being creative! - which involves sitting (or standing) still. It takes about two hours to fulfill the daily walking target and I've become a bit lazy and idsorganised. Getting out in the air and sun and light yesterday, though, reminded me of how good it is to Keep Moving.

With the purchase of the Art of the Fold book I dreamed of making one of the structures each day, working through the book. Well, first of all I started in the middle of the book, and made three the first day, and none since. But a home-day stretches ahead and the paper is laid out and waiting....

Some daily things consist of burdens that need shifting. These may be with us for shorter or longer times. For instance, the past couple of weeks have contained this thought, at one or more times in the day: "Must write that article today; goodness how long would it take; oh for heaven's sake, just do it, eh?" ... and then something appears that's more urgent. (This is why we love deadlines: suddenly the avoidable thing becomes the only priority!)

Having despatched that article First Thing this morning, I had a moment to reflect on how important it is to "do the most important thing at your best time". Gosh isn't it difficult to sort out what that most important thing is, though! Maybe it's the new "daily" task that needs to be slotted into the daily routine; maybe it's something that you rashly agreed to do and now regret. Maybe it's getting out of the house and escaping it all for a while!

Which brings me to Daily Clutter Removal. This is a task I'm sharing with a distant friend - the idea is that we each work on (or in) one or other room and get rid of "some" (quantity unspecified) clutter every day, and report progress to each other. I'm very pleased to have gone from this -

 through this -

 to this -

leaving the knitting and sewing baskets, 'cos that's where they get used.

Most of this DCR consisted of removing (unread) magazines and resolving to "read" (thumb through?) them, over breakfast, and pass them on -

Hmm, where next? But first, a reward - choosing the colours for the next pair of socks -

Top rib will be paleish and darker turquois, with a little stripe in lime before the purple rib of the main sock, with (nylon reinforced) heels and toes in turquoise.

Actually that's another daily activity, the knitting - one that is somewhat automatic and thus not regarded as a daily chore. 

Walk in woollyness

After experiencing the delicious comfort of alpaca hiking socks, I have a yen to knit some woolly socks, and indeed my stash contains rather a lot of 4-ply.

Enough for half a dozen pairs in jolly colour combinations, you'd think.

But an imp is driving the sock idea round and round in my head. I've looked up techniques and methods - magic loop or double-pointed needles? Start at the toe or start at the top? Knit both socks at once?

So it was off to the nearest wool shop - Knit With Attitude in Stoke Newington, which involves a stroll through two parks and along streets lined with vivid autumnal trees, all very pleasant.

Then came decisions - 4ply or DK? hand-dyed? solids? And the small matter of the price point... can't have them all ...

And whatever happened to my plan to "use what you have"??

Xmas is fast a-coming, and like my mother before me I get pleasure from making, rather than buying, gifts, be they ever so humble. Quite possibly the first of the socks will be stepped out in by feet other than mine.

Here's a basic pattern on double-pointed needles for various sizes of feet, knit from the top down. This pattern has a little ribbing at the sides ... or I might rib throughout. Step by step tutorial about the basics of sock knitting; others are available!

Dishcloth!

Several years on the needles and finished this week the leftovers of yarn brought back from Canada years ago. Looks a lot like one of these, in a blog post from March 2008 -

       Favourite pattern             

This makes a dishcloth from 1.5 oz (45 g) of cotton, using 4mm needles.

Cast on 4.
Knit 2, yarn over needle, knit to end of row.
Repeat till you have 44 stitches.
Knit 1, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.
Repeat till you have 4 stitches.
Cast off.

Poetry Thursday - a knitting poem by Emily Dickinson

Just as I was thinking it strange that no poem has "accidentally" come to my notice during the entire week, a Christmas card arrived - thank you Jane! -

The image is called Knit One, Purl One and it's by Jan Brewerton, from Ten Poems about Knitting, published by Candlestick Press. In fact it's the cover of the pamphlet, and the ten poems are:

‘Untitled’, Emily Dickinson‘Dropped Stitches’, Jane Duran‘Janet’s’, Sue Dymoke‘Neighbours We’ll Not Part Tonight’, Roy Fisher‘The Manly Art of Knitting’, Christopher James‘The Knitter’, Jackie Kay‘The Symbolism of Ancient Sweaters’, Gwyneth Lewis‘For My Grandmother Knitting’, Liz Lochhead‘Needle Work’, Allison McVety‘The Knitting Song’, Jessie Pope‘Wool’, Lydia Towsey

Perhaps the Emily Dickinson poem is this one -

Autumn—overlooked my Knitting

Autumn—overlooked my Knitting—
Dyes—said He—have I—
Could disparage a Flamingo—
Show Me them—said I—

Cochineal—I chose—for deeming
It resemble Thee—
And the little Border—Dusker—
For resembling Me—

The card also contains mention of a charity called Knit for Peace: www.knitforpeace.org.uk, which matches knitters with good causes. "Send us your knitting and leftover yarn" they say, "and we'll find it a good home." 

Do you remember the giant knitted poem, made to mark the centenary of the Poetry Society in 2009?
Each square a letter, over a thousand were needed - and the final work measured 13 metres by 8 metres.

(via)

The poem chosen (and kept secret till the unveiling) was Dylan Thomas's In My Craft and Sullen Art.

When you feel like disappearing...

... try wearing one of these -

Chunky jumper by Alexander McQueen (via)

Will it be done in time?

Drawing on decades of knitting experience, I made up my own pattern, with measurements adapted from an existing jumper. The tricky bit is shaping the neck - and that's done - so it "merely" needs putting together and knitting the neckband. 

Needled

It's good to have some knitting on the go. The wool for this "Aran" jumper is from Jamiesons of Shetland (via the Knitting & Stitching show) - it's for someone who wears out the elbows quickly, and will have leather patches from the outset.

Good cotton socks being the price they are these days, the favourite ones are worth preserving - and I'm loving using bright colours to reinforce the thinning heels and toes -

The darning mushroom is a help, but you can use a suitable light bulb if you don't have a mushroom. Work from the wrong side, and the loose ends will be hidden.

Another darning project is my favourite dishtowel, made in Sweden by Ekelund but purchased in a tiny craft shop in Denmark Hill -

The towel has a complicated weave in four colours, and it reached quite a state of wear and disrepair, front and back both. My repair re-weaves the warp threads, using a variegated cotton. The towel cost about £14 at the time - extravagant? - no, it's had a long life, about 20 years. I'm not sure how long the mending will prolong its life ... perhaps some decorative machine stitching on the worn areas will help too.

Moths again -

Large holes, some of them ... repair will need a very creative approach! At the moment I'm fixing the (many) small holes in this garment - and rotating other silks and woollens through the freezer - three days in, three days out, three days in again. Just in case.

Sadly it is no more

The moths had a field day with this wee jumper that I knit for my son when he was two years old.

The sleeves say ZOO

The inspiration, and perhaps the animal patterns, came from a thin book called "Everyone's Knitting", which originated in Denmark or Sweden in the 1970s - I can't find it either on my shelves or on the internet. This pre-dated the fair isle craze of the early 1980s, and then the intarsia revival...

I remember the excitement of knitting "just one more round" to see the pattern developing, and the pleasure of seeing the child wearing it. And - using odd balls of wool, making it out of what was to hand (those were financially stringent times).

Deer, alligators, lions, elephants - and what are those birds, pterodactyls? quetzalcoatyl?

Thirty-some years later, the moths have had their way ... and into the bin it goes ... oh well, I can re-knit it if needed for another child (exchanging the geometric bands in the body). The measurements are 30cm across the chest, 31 cm neck to hem, 20 cm round the sleeve, and 20 cm length of sleeve. Essentially it's squares, within which you can do whatever you want. What fun it was!

And what fun this poppet was ... terrible two's, anyone?

Knitting & Stitching Show

So much to blog, and so little time! (I'm catching a mid-day train.) K&S was, as usual, a feast for the eyes. My favourite exhibit was the work of Renate Keeping, which deserves writing about on its own.

The only thing on my shopping list was a white cutting mat, but this proved unsuccessful. In the hunt for it, these beautiful scissors, traditionally made in Sheffield, caught my eye -

Made using traditional skills

Demo of buttonhole scissors

Caren Garfen's exhibit was spectacular, with tiny careful witty stitchery -

"She Was Cooking Something Up"

A skeleton in the cupboard?

Embroidered shortbread....

"It will not be possible to open the cupboards or eat anything in this kitchen as, according to research, food is dangerous. One week we can eat dairy, the next we cannot. Carbohydrates are fine, or carbohydrates are harmful. Sugar is deleterious to your teeth and your health, and sweeteners are full of chemicals. We should now eat 10 portions of fruit and vegetables rather than five! We treat ourselves with 'food' foods and feel guilty about 'bead' foods ........ enter this kitchen at your peril!"

In the Prism exhibit, I was drawn to the work of Janine Ayres ... those constellations ...

...and purchased one of Anita Bruce's little sparrows, with the asemic writing of the bare hedges and its stitched sonogram -

Best overheard comment was in the knitting awards section, apropos of this (gorgeous and clever, imho) piece by Georgina Lindsay -

"Look at that, she's used loom bands, just like my grandchildren play with, that just ruins it!"

Also in that section, I picked up cards for Emma Wright and Georgia Farrell. Elsewhere, a resurrgence of  Batsford, whose books were just about the only craft books around in the 1970s (and I still have some of those). Several titles tempted me mightily - Stitch Draw by Rosie James, Reclaimed Textiles by Kim Thittichai, The Text in Textiles by Sara Impey, Mark-Making in Textile Art by Helen Parrott ... and others ... see their textile titles here.

In the graduate showcase, the work of Maria Boyle - and her colour palette - caught my eye (this image is from her website) -

Much of interest in the British Tapestry Group exhibit, especially the work of Cos Ahmet (image from his website) -

"Collecting Gestures" (detail)

At the tail end of the day, crossing the traders' hall to collect a bag of knitting wool (for a cabled(?) jumper for my dearfella), there was Hobbywool's irresistble knitting from Latvia, beautifully presented but hard to photograph -

 Mittens and socks with their roots in folk tradition -

 Hard to choose from the many designs on offer -

In the end, this is what came home with me - potential mittens, a rotary cutting mat, and one spool of linen thread.

The show opened on Wednesday, adding an extra day. Hard work for the exhibitors ... and for traders, the increased cost is such that it could lead to some - the smaller, more interesting ones? - deciding not to bother, which would change the entire character of the show. We'll have to wait and see.