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The Praise of the Needle

To all dispersed sorts of ARTS and TRADES,
I writ the needles prayse (that never fades)
So long as children shall be got or borne,
So long as garments shall be made or worne,
So long as Hemp or flax or Sheep shall bear
their linnen woollen fleeces yeare by yeare:
So long as Silk-wormes, with exhausted spoile,
Of their own Entrailes for man’s gaine shall toyle:
yea till the world be quite dissolv’d and past;
So long at least, the Needles use shall last.

JOHN TAYLOR, London 1640

Rest in peace, John. It’s been a long 30 years.

But this takes spool knitting to a whole new level. I would have loved to have seen this in person!

I often wonder about the last person to walk out of one of these buildings. Why did he decide to give up? Why did she walk away instead of selling the building to someone else? What happened to make someone decide that it was better to give up this building to the elements than to try to keep it together?

Most of the abandoned structures I pass are wooden structures that diminish with every passing winter. But there is one I pass on Route 227 that is made of stone. It looks like it was once built to be a solid structure to last more than a lifetime. Now it’s open to the elements, home only to the vines and the wildlife.

In summer, you can hardly see it for all the vines covering it. But now that we’re on the cusp of winter, and we’ve had our first snowfall, you can see the ruins. I wonder about the story behind this house.

This soft and easy scarf combines knitting and simple weaving. The foundation of the scarf is knit from worsted weight Knit One, Crochet Too Second Time Cotton (75% recycled cotton/25% acrylic). Then woven through the eyelets of the foundation is the very soft Knit One, Crochet Too Linus (47% wool/30% acrylic/23% alpaca). Fringes are added to either end.

Imagine all the fun ways you could adapt this scarf to make it your own. Weave the softest cashmere through the eyelets for a luxurious winter treat. Or try a soft cotton or bamboo for  a lighter scarf for transitional seasons. The pattern is easy to adapt, so you can make the scarf wider or narrower to suit your own unique style.

The Clarendon scarf pattern is available in Simple Hip Knit Scarves: 14 Easy Everyday Knits, published by House of White Birches and available through Annie’s Attic and Amazon.

I hope you enjoy it!

I know you love luxury yarns, such as hand-dyed Malabrigo or Smooshy Dream in Color. I know you appreciate fine knitting needles, such as Signature needles and Brittany needles.

What about your other tools? What about the scissors you use (and frequently misplace)? What about the tools you may use when you sew, such as seam rippers or pin cushions? Do you buy yours at the big box stores? Or are you looking for something a little more interesting?

I have discovered a line of silver sewing accessories that I believe knitters may love, too. And I may have an opportunity to represent this line of products in the US. I would like to find out if they would appeal to knitters as much as they appeal to those who sew. Here is a sampling of what the line includes:

Beautiful silver chatelaine-style scissors (on a chain to be worn around the neck or–more traditionally–around the waist)…

Thimble cages to be worn as a pendant or suspended from a chatelaine…

..All sorts of pin cushions and needle tidies….

…As well as other useful and beautiful tools such as seam rippers and tweezers.

What do you think? Would something like these items appeal to you?

Thanks for your input!

Early 1980s in a north Texas high school. My French teacher, knowing I had an aptitude for language and a longing to see the world, suggested I become an exchange student. I knew it would be an interesting year. But I wasn’t prepared for how much it would change me.

Before I left the United States, I received a packet of information, including pictures of the family I would be living with. The Plotenys looked like such a jolly, lively family. Gisela, the mother, had a smile that would light up a room. Paul, the father, with his long white beard, looked as genial as Santa Claus. And all the brothers and sisters—Gisi, Agnes, Pauli, Elisabeth, Peter, and Veronika—looked wonderfully sophisticated and intelligent, just as I had imagined young Europeans to be.

I was nervous about living with such a large family, because I’d never really been part of a big family before. That may sound strange, given my three siblings and five nieces and nephews. But I was the youngest by far—my closest sibling, my sister, is 11 years older than me, so as soon as I was old enough to know much, my brothers and my sister were already grown and living outside the house. In my daily life, I was the only child of a single mother—who just happened to have a house full of relatives from time to time.

So it was with great trepidation that I came to live with the Plotenys. But they were all wonderfully welcoming, and very patient with this painfully shy girl who knew about 10 words of German when she first arrived. Gisi and Agnes were already living on their own—Gisi lived and worked in the Salzburg area, while Agnes was studying at the Sorbonne. But they came back for visits, and on a daily basis the house was lively with Pauli, Elisabeth, Peter, and Veronika—and their friends—filling the house with activity and love. The love that each one of them had for the others was so strong it was palpable. And they made room in their hearts for me.

One of my fondest memories of my life with the Plotenys was the lively conversation. The whole family (and often several friends as well) would gather for meals in the Bauernstube, a cozy room warmed by a massive ceramic heater in the corner, with a table big enough for everyone. Conversations over meals (and after meals) often went on for hours. Serious topics would be delved into deeply—world politics, the environment, history—and suddenly laughter would erupt over some absurd comment, lightening the mood and bringing us all back to earth again. Conversations over cups of coffee, a few cigarettes, and sometimes a little guitar music made that room, this family, my life there so very, very gemütlich.

Their curiosity about the world helped deepen my own. The intelligence of the conversation helped sharpen my intellect. Their questions about American life, culture, and politics helped challenge my understanding of my own culture, my nation, and even myself. Their experiences and understanding of history moved me deeply. They all helped me open my eyes to different ways of viewing the world. They taught me to challenge my assumptions and to question, always question, and to be open to new ideas. They helped me cross the bridge from awkward teen to confident adulthood. They helped me become the person I am today, and for that I am forever grateful.

In memory of Paul Ploteny, 1964-2010. Ich werde mich an Dir immer erinnern, Pauli.

The pattern I chose was a free DROPS design for felted slippers. In hindsight, this is a good example of “you get what you pay for.” The photo in the pattern looks like the slippers fit all the curves of a human foot very well. The knitter of those slippers must not have followed this pattern, though, because after I followed the pattern, the end result (pre-fulling) was this flat and angular thing:

But as anyone who has ever felted/fulled before knows, you can’t go by the “before” picture at all. So here is the “after” shot:

Yes, just as flat and angular as the “before” shot, only denser. (I do like the way the yarn felted, though, with the curls of white fiber making a halo over the denser natural brown.)

Even when the slippers are  made 3-D to fit the foot, they still aren’t right. This picture makes them look much better than they really are:

The top of the toe curls up a bit, in a cute, sort of elfin way. Unfortunately, the opposite side of that elfin curl-up is an awkward point underneath the ball of the foot. That is also matched by an awkward point underneath the heel.

Clearly, these slippers were not designed by anyone who had any familiarity with the human foot. Now Frankenstein’s monster, on the other hand, may just love these….

As soon as it’s dry, I’ll post better pictures.

This sweater proved to be a delightful challenge, but I had a year-long angst-fest over the bottom band, button bands, and cuffs. I had the sweater completely finished, except for BB&C, and I hemmed, and I hawed, and I dithered, and I delayed. After all the decisions I’d made on stitch patterns, I was absolutely and utterly indecisive when it came to a stitch pattern for the BB&C. I wanted something unique and different than the usual 2×2 rib, but I couldn’t figure out which stitch would be interesting enough without competing against the rest of the pattern.

Then, in a fit of complete decisiveness, I started knitting…in 2×2 rib.

The results are good, and frankly, I think the plain bordering is much better than anything more intricate. The cables and stitches of the main body of the sweater have so much detail that anything more interesting than 2×2 rib would have competed against it.

Now, if only this would dry faster so I can wear it a little bit before the end of winter!