Moth Heaven

Knitting Dorks in Montreal

Clearly Kate has not had enough with the house guests, and is entertaining Ysolda this week, but I am still smiling about my little visit a whole week ago (time sure flies when you have a house to clean) when Kate's bff Irene and I descended upon her fold-out couch and limited power outlets. It's true, we bypassed the bagels, but Irene lives in New York and I have Abraham's in Newburyport.  I grew up in the Maritimes, so I am aware of the national reputation that Montreal bagels have in Canada, but the bagels, they are not so unusual south of the 49th parallel.  They are as common as squirrels here in New England, and usually respectable if not excellent.  It was the croissant that we gorged upon instead.  So forgive me my carb preferences. 
As an aside: I had a high school friend in New Brunswick, son of the local construction mogul, whose much older brother flew a helicopter since he had lost his car license for too many DUI's (seriously).  The family regularly flew up to Montreal for their Canadiens season's tickets, and often there would be bagels dropped off around the neighborhood when they returned, much like in the days before the Napoleonic donut wars, I used to deliver Krispy Kreme donuts to my Yankee friends after my family visits in South Carolina. These are the kind of little things that people remember at your funeral, you know?  But anyway . . .

When you stuff three knitting dorks in a small apartment, before too long you get crumbs, yarn, empty wine bottles and mumbling husbands.  So the knitting dorks went out to  . . .  the yarn store, natch.  Ariadne Knits in St. Henri, a stone's throw from the Atwater Market, and a jewel of a shop: colourful yarns, cute knit critters everywhere, Ozark Mountain Handspun (a first sighting for me, dear chums), two huge chintz couches, and a bottomless teapot. Not to mention croissant on the Sunday morning we were there, and a wheel that Molly Anne was checking out, having spun her first yarn ever the day before. What more could a whack of knitting dorks want more?  Except to hang out with other knitters, who filed in and out all day, including Mona Schmidt (designer of the Embossed Leaves socks Ravelry link), and the good humour of yarn store owners hostesses Molly Anne and Mary.  They know how to make a foreign knit dork feel at home.

It was a long and delightful day on the couch, the one on the right, next to the fireplace, where the slant of the April afternoon sun warms the cushions, and the table is in just the right place for your cup.  If you settle there yourself and find it a bit lumpy, it's because there is now a permanent dent in the exact shape of my arse. 

Swatch Sweater: Neck

It's almost.  Not quite.  Needs more . . . something.  Longer bridge to the shoulder seam.  Maybe?  Garter stitch edging. Not rib.  No, not that.  How about reverse stockinette that curls.  Or not.  But, well? uh.  Thinking . . .

Croissant, Ma Puce?

It's been years since I've been to Montreal.  Like a good Maritimer, my Mom used to take me to the big city for shopping every year or so until I went off to Colby College in these here United States, and Boston became the center of my operations.

So it was a little like a homecoming for me to leave the Boy with the Mister and go sleep on Kate's couch for the weekend. One of the best parts of home is the food, of course.

Croissant for breakfast:

and for snack (she bought a lot of croissant).

and Shreddies! (naturally)

(for you Anglo-Americans, that's French for diamond.  Canadian packaging, you may know, has two sides, one for each official language.)

Chicken pita with heavenly tzatziki:

I couldn't take a picture of the duck confit salad I had at the brasserie we ate in Sunday night, but it wasn't nearly as pretty as it was delicious. However, the desserts we ordered lived up to expectation.

and there was knitting, of course.  And other things, which I will tell you about in another post. A girl can't just tell everything all at once.  It clogs the blog.

I Heart Kate Gilbert

Thanks to all the folks at Knitting Daily who invited me today to have a chat with Kate Gilbert -- one of my favorite designers -- about her design the Sunrise Circle Jacket as part of their week long celebration of the Readers' Favorites Awards. 

So Kate . . . I have to ask you the obligatory when did you learn to knit question. So this is it.  You can lie down first if you want to.

Ha. well.  When I was 16, I was flicking through the channels and passed a movie with Cary Grant knitting.  And I thought, "I want to knit"

Cary Grant knitting?  ::excitement :: I'm going to have to look that one up!  (I did. The movie is Mr. Lucky from 1943)

So one day, I went to one of those big box stores and bought needles and yarn. and I went to the library and got out a couple books (which I now realize were EZ and Maggie Righetti
and I taught myself by mostly ignoring what the books said and being too lazy to read them, which is why I knit with one needle under my arm. It was the only way to knit and read the book at the same time.

That's so funny.  I love that: how you were imprinted to knit like a Shetland Islander.

Yeah. I used to kind of rig the armpit of my shirt into a needle belt sort of thing.
I knit really close to my chest still with dpns and circs because you can't stick them under your arm, so I kind of poke them into my chest.  It's only after I moved to France seven years ago that I finally figured out that I didn't knit "wrong" and that I knew what I was doing and that most of the stuff I had figured out out of necessity were real techniques.

And yet you were already designing?

I always designed.  When I was 16, I didn't even know there were yarn stores.  The only patterns I found (knitting wasn't cool back then) were from the 70s, so I had to just make stuff up.  And I didn't understand gauge or yarn weights so I had to make stuff be the right size by changing it. I wrote a blog entry about my first sweater.  It was pretty horrible.

So you have this background in having to figure things out for yourself. Knitting wise.  Which makes sense, because whenever I look at a new designs of yours, the first thing that occurs to me is “How did she figure that out?”  You really play with what has been possible.

Thank you.

So, can you tell me a little about how Sunrise Circle Jacket came to be, where you got the idea?

I just wanted to make a jacket with pieces of circles for the fronts.  I don't remember why anymore, but I have the sketch in an old sketchbook.  It just seemed logical to either start on the edges and go towards the sleeves or start with the sleeves and go towards the edges. I tried both several times. This pattern had me in tears, partly because the knitting deadline was a week or so before my due date. I was afraid I would have a baby before I would have the sweater.

I've seen it done in so many ways: w/ self striping yarn, ruffles . . .

Ruffles? that's a good idea. I don't think I've seen that one.

ioexception Katherine knit it.  Here it is

wow! She had to have about a billion stitches at the end. I'd love to see it on her!  If you are out there, ioexception Katherine, please send me a photo!

And another one I like is Tomoko's with a contrast colour on the turning row.

That's really beautiful.

I remember seeing Katy’s at Rhinebeck in cotton, which really surprised me.  I was surprised that it worked in cotton because of the drape issue.

I think she chose her yarn well.

That's always the key, isn't it?

Definitely.    That was the first time I had seen someone walking around in something I designed.  I am interested to see that people like it to close in so many different ways too.  One closure (mustaavillaa Terhi's), or three (Hope's), or six (like yours).  And it's funny how some people like a huge overlap and some like it more like a bolero.

Like this one, by Hadley ?

That is awesome. Wow: who knew?  I'm a sucker for color. 

Then you'll really like the felted one that Uta did, and there are some other lovely ones I found on her blog that some of her customers have made: Petra’s version in blue: click here
Regina’s version in red: click here

Those are pretty wonderful.

I wanted to ask you something about the popularity of your work. You’ve had a few of your designs really take off, thanks to the internet.  Blogs and chat rooms really spread the word quickly. I don’t remember any knitting patterns having the wildfire appeal that they do now.  When something takes off like that, when you see someone wearing something you designed, it must be when like a rock band hears their song on the radio for the first time.  What went through your mind the first time?

Seeing the Bird in Hand [mittens] all over has been the most satisfying somehow.  I kind of missed the clapotis thing since I was in France and not terribly plugged into the blog-o-sphere at that point. I'm just happy to see people knitting my stuff. Especially when it's a pattern I'm really proud of.

I've knit several of your designs and  always get a charge out of them.  I remember finding the increases in SCJ to be really entertaining.  They made me smile. 

I'm really glad that you liked the pattern. I just want people to have fun knitting and to play with the possibilities, use their own creativity. I mean, that's what handknitting should be about, right?  If it's something I designed that inspired them, then, well . . . cool.

Judging from how people have run with it, I think you've succeeded.  Thanks, Kate.

Want more Kate Gilbert? Here's her blog, needles on fire, and here are her patterns.

…and be sure to check out the other stops on the blog tour!

Monday April 14: Sandi Wiseheart interview on Smoking Hot Needles

Tuesday April 15: Norah Gaughan interview on Lolly

Thursday April 17: Stefanie Japel interview on Chez Aristote

Friday April 18: Evelyn Clark interview on The Panopticon

Of Cables and Chiondoxa

Oh my lord, you people have read some amazing books.  I am so glad I asked.  I have enough chapter books for the boy on the list now that I'll still be reading them when he goes off to college.  I don't think I have ever had so many comments without free yarn being involved.  Thanks ever so much for your smart and generous suggestions. I have only more scenes from the knitting to offer as your reward.

I've reached that point on the front of the swatch sweater.

You know: that point. The point of the stitch marker I stuck in the back to indicate where the favorite t-shirt neck opening begins (which I am hoping to reproduce).  How, oh how Saint Barbara Walker, do I resolve this cable pleasingly into a neckline?  And don't say make it a V-neck (although I know a few people will, having stopped their  reading already, so glutted are they by pictures of green cables, and really, who can blame them?). I want anything but a v-neck on this sweater because I. am. difficult.

I've knit and ripped once.  I am thinking about a picked up garter edge at the moment.   The first attempt was to make the center cable-split outline the opening, but it ended up looking like a v-neck.  And now you know how I feel about that.

Here. Look at this instead:

I've had a poor show of the witch hazels this year, but the Chionodoxa has been out in force (sounds a little like something contagious, doesn't it?).  They are only about 6 inches tall, and difficult to appreciate for anything but their  enthusiasm unless you think like a pollinator and get up close enough to see the blush of mauve at their petal tips.  I regret how fragile they are, because I would love to bring some inside.  But they are best enjoyed where they grow, like so many of the earliest flowers.  A girl can get her jeans soggy trying to admire nature at this time of year, but . . . you know.  It's worth the extra effort, and the neighbors understand. 

"Animals may talk, but they have to be sensible about it."

I love to read to my kids.  I love the snuggle on the couch, I do the voices, I have even been known to make meals for them like the ones the characters eat in the stories we're reading.  The oldest, now 18 and bound for NYU next year, liked the Redwall series when he was young enough to be read to, and Joan Aiken.  The middle child lived for Oz, Lemony Snickett, and Harry Potter.  The youngest? Well, let's just say at 6, he's a non-fiction sort who reads a lot on his own.  And stories have to hit him just right.
I have some trouble finding books to read to him because he hates the usual child-heroes-on-their-own handle-an-impossible-situation scenarios (What kind of parents leave their kids to go off to India? he asks), and he is unwilling to suspend disbelief for the sake of talking woodland animals with swords (the talk is fine; it's the armour he finds incredible).  WItches, monsters, something of uncertain origins hiding in the closet . . . all unbearably scary.  I can't even imagine what the idea of HeWhoMustNotBeNamed would do to his psyche.  Meanwhile: the very sweet books of long ago, like the Bobbsey Twins and Old Mother West WInd?  Flat out boring.

He does like silly, he has no tolerance for violence, and animals may talk, but they have to be sensible about it.

So far, I've managed to find some books in our library that he enjoys: A Crickett in Times Square, Winnie the Pooh, the My Father's Dragon and Paddington books, Owls in the Family, The Penderwicks, Mrs Frisby, and one Raold Dahl book carefully edited,  Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Many nights I just let him read to me from the dinosaur book of the week, or we make origami, because I've run out of options for him.  I thought I knew a lot about what's out there for kids, but I am at a bit of a loss until he gets a handle on fantasy and I can introduce him to the kinds of books most kids enjoy, with  conspiracy, sword play, magic and mystery.

So I am asking you, knowing that your kids -- like mine-- are brilliant and have probably come across, in their reading, some books that might pass through the needle's eye of my 6 year old's preferences. Given the list of books that work, do you have any others I might try? Please, help me out if you can. I can only take a few more evenings of life in the Jurassic.

Rocking My World, This Week

1. You may have run into a few bloggers lauding the new colourway of fiber and yarn that Heather is peddling to benefit Can-Do, but I actually have some.

2. John Hammond, who I saw with friends Saturday night at Tupelo Hall.  The guy has serious mojo and a jaw-dropping 50 years worth of musician-on-the road patter.  And if you believe the half of it, it appears that any a bluesman with any kind of chops doesn't count as a real legend until he is baptised as such by John Hammond covering his song. 

3. The Knitting Book of the Year,  (aka A Fine Fleece) by Lisa Lloyd.  Suddenly what to do with the Irish Aran yarn that I bought at SPA

isn't such a mystery. You won't believe your cable-lovin' eyes, this book is so gorgeous.  Get you one, right now: thank me later.

4. Low Rider by War. 

Stuck in my head since Monday, and now thanks to youtube, on my blog.  Man, I love the internet.

5. And speaking of the Internet: My new favorite blogger, Antonia, who writes Whoopie.  It's been a long time since I've loved a new-to-me blog so much that I've gone back and read through blog archives.  I didn't have to go to the gym last week for the workout all the laughing gave me.  I may be a stalker fan girl after all.  I want to be her neighbor. 

What is it About This Cable?

I finished the back, with the revised dimensions. I took a number of people's advice and just knit it straight up, living with a half repeat at the edges, not minding it much after all. I spent most of yesterday doing the math for the front and sides, trying to include all variables: underarm shaping for the set-in sleeve; rib repeats; cable repeats. It doesn't behave, no matter the amount of paper and numbers and the coffee spent in pursuit of the magic multiple that will line up all the stitch counts in harmonic convergence. Right now, I'm just winging it, which is where I may have ended up even if I had an MIT degree in knitter's math.

To Brattleboro and Back Again: Part the Second

The other delight of  Saturday's NEH meeting in Brattleboro wasn't so much in Brattleboro after all, but just seven minutes up the highway in Putney.

And what is in Putney?

(pause also for a moment to admire Kelly's fabulous Kristin Nicholas cardigan masterpiece that she finished a few weeks ago.  Man o man, the embroidery and the colourwork: but wow, what a thing of beauty)

The charm of the shop at Green Mountain Spinnery is that it is about as big as a closet. No one believes me until they've been there themselves and then they all make the little pinch with their finger and thumb and say: "oh my gawd, the shop is only. this. big." like I hadn't been clear enough.  Through doors on both sides of the shop, which you could almost open simultaneously without moving your feet, it is possible to glimpse things such as this:

A whole whack of Mountain Mohair just hanging out, ready for tagging and shipping.

David Ritchie (an utter sweetie, and so cute in his wool hat) was about the premises, and was happy to chat about the state of wool, and to let me and Kelly admire the carders (this is just one of many),

I guess it must happen a lot, knitters wandering past the shop, into the office, not knowing for a moment or two that they've stepped behind the wizard's curtain and are looking directly at the mechanisms that make the magic, which is just wool, after all.  But what wool it is:  local, honest, much of it organic.  I love this place, not just on principle, but because of Mountain Mohair, which is one of my all time favorite worsted weight yarns.  And it was a hoot to show Kelly how small a yarn shop can be. 

Only. This. Big.

and yet, not at all.