Monday, July 21, 2008

Judith, thank you for Youknitwhattwo. It's what we all need on a Monday morning.

I thought about the Liesl some more yesterday. I hadn’t even grasped at the beginning that it’s an Edinburgh pattern. I wandered around looking at different versions on Ravelry – that’s the single feature which will keep us coming back to that program.

You’re right, Tamar, that the model’s hand is concealing some button-gap. On the other hand, lots of people do it with a single button or brooch or tie at the neck. Or with no fastening at all. In my case, it would just fall off. Maybe button-gap isn’t so bad up there at the top, as long as it doesn’t extend down over the bosom. I like the way Ysolda herself shows the sweater on a wide variety of ages and shapes.

So I bought it. Which is not to say I’ll knit it. But I’ll at least browse the stash and think about it.

Suzanne, have a great time in Edinburgh, and bundle up warm. (Yesterday’s weather forecast on the BBC mentioned the possibility of frost last night in some Highland glens. This is supposed to be the one month of the year without frost. My poor vegetables are in something of a frost pocket down there by the burn in their highland glen.) Don’t miss K1 Yarns in the West Bow – I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that.

(In looking up the website for that link, I discover she’s now got Noro sock yarn. The last time I was there – it’s been a while – she wasn’t sure about it. I feel the need for another visit.)

Meanwhile, great excitement, I finished the second tier of dinosaurs on the front of the sweater and started the dividing pattern. Maybe today I’ll get as far as establishing some of the final feet. At row 30 of the final pattern repeat, I get to divide for the neck. And I’m part way through row 2 right now.

Titbits from my husband’s reading:

An exhibition called “Get Knitted” is on at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, until 26 October. The curator says, “The exhibition looks at knitting primarily as s social activity. It acknowledges its heritage and traditions, and reinvents it as a contemporary medium.” The heart sinks, somewhat. The exhibition includes a knitted hand-grenade cover by Rachael Matthews.

Reading a biography of Picasso, he found a discussion of Diaghilev’s ballet, Le Train Bleu, 1924, scenario by Cocteau, costumes by Chanel, drop curtain by Picasso. There is a delicious picture of the cast, some in knitted costumes: two women in bathing costumes, you’d call them flappers if they had been American, and “the Golfer” splendid in Fair Isle sweater and striped stockings. “When doing lifts, partners had difficulty getting a grip on the knitted bathing suits.”

2 comments:

  1. Jean, Bishop Rutt has a brief note about the knitted costumes for Le train bleu, with photos. I don't have the book in front of me to give page numbers, but it's part of his discussion of twentieth-century knitting.

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  2. I looked at the way the Liesl yoke sites at the front and though that it would look like a curtain parting at my breast line. Not one for me and my size DDs, I'm afraid But I've a niece that Liesl and Briar Rose would look stunning on. Food for thought for another day

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