So yes, I’m on a bit of an Elizabeth Zimmermann binge at the moment. I have managed to procure two more of her books – Knitting Around and Knitting Workshop. Although there is a lot of overlapping between all of the books, each one has a topic in specific detail that is of interest to me. For example, Knitting Without Tears is excellent if you have never knit a sweater using her percentage system before. Knitting Workshop caters to my current desire for all there is to know about different shoulder shapings. There are seven detailed in KW. Knitting Around is probably my least favourite but there are good details for Moebius knitting, the Bog Jacket, shawls and a hooded Aran coat.
Such weather last night! The dramatic weather of the north-west is what I really miss living on the east coast. There is nothing comparable to curling up with your knitting beside a toasty stove, and later curling up under layers and layers of duvet in some woolly socks. I have been plugging away at my Christmas knitting. It is not nearly as tedious as I sometimes imagine Christmas knitting to be; this is mostly because I have been puzzling away over my Aran jumper, and the rounds just fly by.
I am nearing completion of the pair of Fetchings. If you look closely at the one on the left, there is a little strip of pink wool. This will be pulled out later and the thumb knitted on. I have a feeling this will give a most satisfactory thumb! I knitted mittens around this time last year and I didn’t like the standard thumb I used. It made for some drafty holes that had to be sewn up later. Spurred on by my recent reading and by Cheryl’s first pair, I decided to cast off with an i-cord. It worked very well and you can see I have yet to sew up the ends.
I think I will put an aftethought i-cord edging along the bottoms. They are a bit frilly.
Lastly, the welly socks. I haven’t made much progress on these, mostly because I was waiting for my mother’s opinion about the size.
She is of the mind that they are “good and big” and perfect for wellies. I had already jotted down some adjustments to size them down, so what I might do when writing up the pattern is put in a “man’s welly size” and a “woman’s snuggly sock size”. I’m planning on purling his initials into the feet. The personal touch, you know!
Yesterday, Mum and I went up to the Foxford Woollen Mills. The Mill is still in operation, and they do good business weaving blankets and scarves. The factory shop has a great selection of these, as well as a brilliant stock of all sorts of knitted wear. Most of these are aran knits but there are other more modern-looking knits, as well as shawls, rugs and capes. Bizarrely, the Mill buys in its yarn for weaving from Scotland. The first weekend in December they have a craft fair in the Mill, which co-incides with a big sale in the factory shop. Mum had a voucher so we went to have a look. It was very Christmassy, all jewellery, wooden crafts, potted jams and cranberry sauces. I bought some earrings and Mum got some jams and cranberry sauce. I’m feeling very Christmassy now as a result! I might just have a mulled wine 😀
EZ’s Knitting Without Tears is one of the first books I read after I learned to knit. Her attitude is a lot like mine, and I really appreciated the fact that one of the greatest knitters encourages other knitters to be themselves and not let silly things – like how you hold your needles – get in the way of enjoying your projects. I still would like to get Knitting Around and Knitting Workshop, as well as the Knitter’s Almanac.
I recently read that EZ passed away in Autumn of 1999, which is when I taught myself to knit. I like to think that, upon her passing, her spirit zipped around the Earth and randomly planted a desire to create stuff from yarn in unsuspecting bored people. And no, I haven’t been drinking any mulled wine.
Great work! Glad to read you had a nice trip to the Woollen Mills and enjoyed yourself. I did socks for my daddy too and they became much to baggy. I cast on as much as required for a 43 size but the result is a 45/46! They are even fine for Ron. *sigh* at least daddy still can wear them even if he accidently washes them over 40°C because they are 100% pure new wool. ^_^;