For those of you who have contacted me seeking information about Giovanna’s Shawl patterns and yarns, here you go:
Pattern: WRAP IT REAL GOOD by Ambah O’Brien Yarn : Sunshine yarns FEELING GROOVY advent set
Pattern: Sherbert Fizz by Ambah O’Brien. This one I made two and joined them together. Yarn: SUNSHINE YARNS, Fade into you advent set
Giovanna added the following:
“Just in case people ask. Advent sets a.k.a Festive sets come in twenty-four or twenty-five mini skeins and could be fingering or DK weight. Every year designers come up with new patterns that many people will knit during the first 24 days of December.”
Many of my blog readers liked seeing master knitter Giovanna’s recent work. She just sent me pics of two shawls she just finished and that are now blocked and ready to wear. Giovanna is one of my Camden, Maine, friends.
Giovanna is very generous with her work–so these two pieces will likely be gifts for lucky people.
This one below may be the piece I last sent to you–all blocked now.
I can’t even…
…imagine trying a knitting project like these.
I do ok with fairly plain knitting and have a whole drawer of wool socks I made, but I decided long ago that to get better I had to knit a lot and that that would limit my sewing time. Also, I left all the hats and scarves I made in Maine as they would be way too warm for South Carolina. I also left my really heavy coats.
So, I leave this knitting to Giovanna and admire from a distance.
Two events started this knitting project: (1) I mailed to Charleston the EPP hand-sewing project I had put together to work on until I can move into my Charleston house as it would take up too much room in my car AND (2) when sorting “stuff” for the move I found a bag of cotton yarns I had purchased so grandchildren could learn to knit. But, the three covid years didn’t deliver grandchildren to my house in Maine who wanted to learn to knit.
I really love to have hand work to do at night–so I started knitting these cloths for the kitchen. It is a good project as my stack of these cloths, which I use to dry my wet hands, was growing low and some cloths were getting worn and shabby looking.
I’ve finished the top three cloths now and am working on the fourth one.
The 4th cloth is being knitted in a moss stitch, which I’ve never made before now. I like the seed stitch (see the aqua/purple cloth), and the moss is the same except one starts with even stitches (seed with an odd number of stitches) and in moss one knits TWO rows that are identical and then two rows that start by knitting a purl into a knit and a knit into a purl, as with the seed stitch.
You can see the moss stitch creates wonderful texture.
The other two completed cloths are just a garter stitch (all knitting all the time)–and all of these choices (garter, seed, moss) give a heavier texture to these cloths, which I think is needed.
I have four more cotton balls, and they are all solids, so I will have fun with both the seed and moss stitches that create so much texture.
A Nor’Easter, and it is arriving tonight and will hang until Thursday morning. If we are lucky.
When I woke up this morning I made my bed and dressed—and then realized that it was Tuesday, which is the day I do laundry.
After I had my morning coffee, I unmade the bed and washed things as I would not be able to hang my sheets on the line tomorrow. I love my clothes line. And I love sheets that have dried in the sun.
I FINISHED the LONG, LONG, LONG red wool scarf I’ve been knitting here and there. It’s all ready for winter, and I won’t be fussing about a too-short scarf this year. It’s at least 6 feet long and so yummy.
If you buy things in packages, it would be best now to reread all the labels.
Crickets! As in there are crickets in this package.
I’ve been reading about the “push” to include insects in our food, but I didn’t think it would happen this fast.
Note that the “cheddar cheese” is a “flavored” powder. That’s a fake food with a chemical tasting like cheese. I would argue that grains and too many beans mean too many carbohydrates—all of which turn into sugar in your body. I can’t eat beans, sadly. And I love grains of all kinds. But I now treat them like treats. These “puffs” may taste good, but that’s it nutritionally. This food will do you no favors. None.
Here’s today’s dinner, which I eat at noon.
I grilled a package of drumsticks—it doesn’t take long and they cook while I cooked the rice and the carrots. The rice only takes 10 minutes—and yes it is not an especially good food choice, but this basmanti rice is so fragrant and rich with a buttery flavor. It’s a treat. The okra is from the frozen okra packets I found at the Belfast coop. The cukes and carrots are organic. I so love our local cucumbers in the summer—just cold and sliced with a little salt and dill and a scant drizzle of olive oil. If I could, I’d add a splash of vinegar.
Last night I watched the Dutch movie THE FORGOTTEN BATTLE—a World War II battle that did not include Americans, but did include the Brits and Canadians who, like the Americans, are pushing the Nazis north. The battle takes place in the Netherlands after the Normandy landing and covers three characters who rub up against each other tangentially in the course of the story. It’s really well done—a complex, sensitive story. It is a war movie though—and you know what that means. Battle wounds and some Nazi evil. It’s on Netflix.
It is a really ICKY day here today—raw and wet and icy.
It’s a great day to stay home and sew. And I have that lovely and healthy soup to eat. I added in some cooked broccoli yesterday. Today maybe I’ll add some cream or cheese.
Northeast Wildlife came yesterday and closed and wired all the places up high on the roof where the flying squirrels got in—along with any place where they might try to enter. There may be some bat entries too, but we’ll deal with that in the spring as that requires caulking entry places. The squirrel solution is elegant—there are traps places in the entry holes that allow egress but not entry. Meanwhile, all my bird feeders went home with Northeast Wildlife.
Margaret-Elaine, a local quilty friend here, commented on yesterday’s post by noting the placemat upon which my bowl of soup sat. She thought I had woven it with, I think, the old-fashioned hand-weaving looms I have—and I have made a lot of rugs and placemats with the two sizes I have. The frame is rectangular and has nails at the top and the bottom where one strings the ”woof” base.
But these placemats have been made by knitting (garter stitch) the selvages from quilting fabrics.
When I get a long enough strand, I just add it into the ongoing project. The pieces are linked together by making slits in each end one wants to attach and looping them through the ”mother” ongoing strip. You can see the linking knot in the picture. It works better to keep the ongoing strand length to 2-3 feet as it twists as one works. And it is easy to add a new strand when needed. If it is short, it just takes a little time to ”update” the project.
I like using selvages as they don’t shed like cut fabric would. I have wondered about using the looms to make something with these selvages, but that requires A LOT of strips AND one has to lay in a base on the hand loom around which one plaits the added strips—so one has both the woof and weave parts. This knitting method is already pretty thick.
I have saved my “warm” selvages (orange, red, pink, etc.) as I think I have one more selvage quilt in me. I do like them. I gave away all the cool and black/white/grey selvages. After I make the ”warm” selvage quilt, I’ll be done I think.
For this current selvage-knitting project, when I get a big enough central piece, I’m going to stop there, pick up stitches along one side, and create another “patch” or ”block.” And then, when I’m done there, I’ll stop and move to another side. It might take…years. LOL.
Here are some of my selvage quilts: a ”cool” one and a star one.
And I had not covered the grill and stored it for the winter.
But the first snow is always so beautiful—and means the arrival of real winter.
Here’s a picture from ”Coffee on the Porch,” a local business that publishes beautiful local pictures on Facebook. This one was taken at dawn from across the harbor. The lights are inside our beautiful library. And the town will slowly come awake now to find this first snow.
Here’s a picture taken by gifted photographer Judy Berk, also on Facebook, of her farm field covered by snow. I love the soft colors of the sky and snow-covered field. This picture heralds the peaceful quiet of a winter morning.
Before I wrapped and stored the grill, I cooked one last steak on it.
Delicious—and there are leftovers for another salad lunch.
The placemat is made from the non-printed selvages of quilting fabrics. I just knit them with a garter stitch when I get enough strips to make more rows. It’s kind of an ongoing project.
I love these funky placemats. They wash well and are super sturdy. Whatever bright colored napkin I choose seems to resonate with them.
I have enough placemats now, so maybe I’ll try knitting some sort of small rug for the kitchen or a doorway or, even, a bathroom…
She stopped by the other day to bring me this beautiful shawl/scarf, which I will treasure forever.
She said the pattern is meant to embody ocean water rolling out over the beach sand at its edge.
The outer darker edge is deeper water, with a curvy wave line reflected in the work. The water color fades to a lighter blue as it grows more shallow, and, then, there is the foamy water at the edge where the wave spreads out over the sand.
This piece is a work of art from an artist! Wonderful!
A dear friend hung a very pretty bag on my outside door handle the other day. Inside was a very sweet card, a beautiful pin, and this gorgeous cowl made in the green colors I so love.
I already adore it and wear it every chance I get.
The kindness of my friends and family are what are getting me through the isolation of the pandemic. And I do try to play this kind of kindness forward as well.
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