This is supposed to be a blog about sewing.
But here at pixelated stitches there's been a bit af an enforced vacation from such activities. Instead I have taken up knitting. Two sorts, simultaneously, just for fun, with several parallel projects. I'm creating a thnead based on some instructions from an book I found at the library on top down knitting. And, on the other hand, I'm trying to pull together two parts of a spirally fractured right humerus. (which, to quote the old joke, is less fun than it sounds). But lets not dwell on that. Except to say you won't be seeing a trace of me on this blog until I can HAVE A PROPER SHOWER!!!
The book in question is "Knitting from the Top" by Barbara G Walker. I would love to see her write a book on brain surgery, because I'm pretty sure she would have us all merrily carving into our own frontal lobes, with her matter of fact approach :" people have been self trepanning for thousands of years without detailed pattern instructions, and so can you.. " Or maybe not.
But I do love her approach to knitting. Start at the top. Go round and round. Avoid sewn seams. Measure as you go. Do a few basic calculations to work out increases and decreases. The only other thing that would make it perfect would be if I could avoid rows of purl. Which I dislike. (Or large amounts of garter stitch, which I also dislike, as nothing says "knitted with love" like unbroken garter stitch. Except bulky frankenstein seams.) My list of reservations caused me once to flirt with the perennial pinwheel cardigan, which presumably was designed with this list of phobias in mind. But I realised in time that there is a very limited number of these items that can be fiited into the modern woman's wardrobe, and in fact for my body shape that number is zero. And I didn't like the wool. So that toad was frogged.
All of which probably explains why, up until this little sewing break, my knitted output has been patchy and small, limited to beanies for the family. But I'm taking this opportunity, with time on my hands, and a need for OT to stop one of 'em from bloating like a long dead turtle to master continental knitting and produce a garment. Hence the thnead. Ok, poncho. It's a poncho. I'll post it when it's finished.
