Harem Scene

ourtesy of the wonderful website, The Orientalist Gallery, here is a 19th Century painting by Rudolph Ernst, featuring spinners:

Knitting Funny - Don't Try This Yourself

ajor spew alert!


A hilarious post from the Panopticon, courtesy of Pam.

I'm still laughing.

Almost Complete...

issing only the crochet round the collar! On to the second one, in green...

New Pattern and Promised Photos

have started a new pattern! The only UFO I have at the moment is the kilt hose - I'm halfway up the calf - but it's too hot to be knitting in alpaca, so I've chosen a cotton pattern to make for my niece's and goddaughter's upcoming birthdays.

The pattern is here, but I've reproduced one of the images below:

Also, as promised, here are two beautiful photographs of Hortense, taken by Ani:

Another Diana Gabaldon Knitting Reference

iana's posted a new excerpt on her blog that features knitting!

Alpacas!

iven the photos of Sam at the bottom of this blog, I think it's obvious how much he loves alpaca wool. While travelling through Pennsylvania recently, I saw an advert for an alpaca farm! Turns out there are over a hundred such farms in PA alone.

We visited one near Punxsutawney called Flocks by Knight. Unfortunately, they didn't have any wool, but I came away with some wonderfully soft fibre to try - once again - to spin, courtesy of Lucky Pierre (he's the tall black guy if I remember right), and a bag of short bits (un-spinnable), which I'm planning to sew into a pillow for Sam.

Thanks to Tracy for taking the time to show us around!

Also, being a city person, I was just as impressed by the hay and the tractors and the chickens.

Truckers Who Knit

ow awesome is the news in this article from the Wall Street Journal? Truckers who knit! And quilt and sew and... Like shepherds and fishermen of old, a new generation of men are finding ways to keep their fingers busy during their downtime. I've always loved truck stops - someday, I hope to run into one of these guys, like Kevin Abraham-Banks, "a 37-year-old trucker with a shaved head and dragon tattoos, [who] passes time at truck stops with his cocoa and knitting... 'The fact that you can take strands of thread and basically make something out of it, that's awesome I think,' he said."
I agree!

World-wide Knit in Public Day!

h yes, today's the day! Time to take your knitting to the streets!




If you're in Montreal, WWKIPD as hosted by the MontrealKnits Yahoo Group, is taking place at Portugal Park, on St-Laurent, corner Marie-Anne, and there's also one at Effiloche. If you're in London, there's one at the Natural History Museum and one in Parliament Square, among others. Edinburgh, St Andrew's Square. New York, Coney Island. The list is endless - go forth and knit!

Beatrix Potter's Knitting Animals II

his post and the previous post are in memory of my friend's bunny Hortense, who passed away a little while ago.

Cat knitting:

Buying wool from Mrs Flock:

Beatrix Potter's Knitting Animals

uch adorable drawings, I had to share.

Here's a knitting mouse, from Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes:

And here's a knitting rabbit from the Tale of Benjamin Bunny, with a little description of what she knits.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines muffetee as:

"[Apparently irregularly < MUFF n.1 + -EE suffix2, with insertion of -et- (perhaps compare -ET suffix1). Perhaps compare NECKATEE n.] 1. A kind of mitten. Also: a kind of muff worn on the wrist for warmth or to protect the cuff; a wristlet. Now hist. {quotes cut out} 2. A muffler worn round the neck. Brit. regional.rare. a1890 E. WAUGH Tufts of Heather (1892) I. 25 He'd a thick, red wool muffatee reawnd his neck."