Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Bio-mom suggested visiting Door County, and even made reservations for us all at a sweet little motel in Fish Creek. The screen shot above from the Garmin illustrates how Door County is the peninsula that separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan. It is a popular summer vacation spot for people who live in Wisconsin or Chicago. It is full of charming little towns, interesting shops, seasonal artist galleries, locally-owned restaurants, farms, and natural beauty. On the drive up we stopped at Renard's cheese shop. (See picture of Cuddly Hubby and me with the giant mouse.) This was an opportunity to acquire some local cuisine. After all, Wisconsin is known for cheese! Later on the trip we found another place that had smoked salmon. I should also mention that there was lots of fresh corn on the cob during our trip. And beer -- I think I've already mentioned the good beer. So all in all, Wisconsin is respectable when it comes to food. We stopped at a place along the Lake Mic...

Cuddly Hubby and Bio-mom are both football fans. I thoroughly enjoy football, too. So that first full day in Green Bay, we took a tour of Lambeau Field . I have not yet had the pleasure of touring St. Peter's basilica in Rome, so I can't be sure how they compare. Make no mistake, Lambeau Field is football sacred ground. Large bronze statues of Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi tower above visitors. The hour-long tour includes a look inside a luxury box, a walk through the home team tunnel, and a visit inside the stadium where 72,928 people endure Wisconsin winters for the pleasure of watching great football. We were fortunate that Paul Hornung's Heisman Trophy was on loan at the time and, therefore, also part of the tour. At left is a rather fuzzy picture of me touching the sacred concrete. A few years ago, Lambeau Field was renovated and updated. The changes included relocating the home team tunnel. Thus, concrete from the old tunnel was removed, preserved, and ins...

The Cuddly Hubby and I took a two-week vacation to Wisconsin. Yes, that Wisconsin. The one at the top of the map of the United States. I know Wisconsin does not sound like the most interesting or exciting place to visit, but it turned out to be a really grand time. Also, major kudos to the Cuddly Hubby who did all the planning for this trip. He made all the reservations, printed the maps, and researched what might be interesting to see. He rocks! We left on Saturday the 25th, the day after Bruce's funeral. We packed a picnic lunch and found a fine rest area on an island in Nickajack lake off I-24 in Tennessee. Credit to Tennessee's Department of Transportation or tourism or whoever is in charge of rest areas. This was a lovely location with picnic benches and shade trees. We drove to Columbus, Indiana that first night. We had initially planned to get a room closer to Indianapolis, but the Brickyard 400 was that weekend. Columbus was a good stopping point, anyway....

Photo credit to XRX, Inc. from Tracy Petersen's 100 favorite images of STITCHES South 2009. I know it is quickly getting out across Ravelry and the local knitting community that we have lost a shining star. Or as I described him -- Bruce was a stellated dodecahedron in a world populated mostly with circles and squares. I met him last year, probably in March or April when I first started teaching at The Whole Nine Yarns and attending the Tuesday knit nights. I don't recall clearly how we initially met. At some point, I noticed his car with bumper stickers about dragons and magic and fantasy. I must have said something at knit night about the Cuddly Hubby being busy or away on a trip or something. The next thing I knew, Bruce invited me to join him, his sister, and his niece on their outing to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. At the time, Bruce had a dog named Lee who was fighting cancer. I had Copernicus, who was fighting extreme old age. Lee took a bad turn and had...

This net stitch, which can be worked in one color or two, is the sort of stitch pattern that makes you want to drop whatever you are already knitting just so you can try it. That is, until you attempt to read the instructions. Merike Saarniit did provide Estonian-style directions in the Estonian Patent stitch class at STITCHES South 2009. She called the stitch "Net Patent." A little quick research in my home knitting library uncovered what I think is the same stitch in several other resources. Katharina Buss Big Book of Knitting (New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Co. 2001) page 129 calls it "Brioche Stitch" and includes it in a section on "Shaker Knitting." Thérèse de Dillmont The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework , third edition (Philadelphia PA: Running Press 1996) page 248 calls it "Double English Knitting." Barbara G. Walker A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (Pittsville, WI: Schoolhouse Press 1998) page 157 calls it "Double ...

In the gap since my last post, I have been catching up around the house and around my life. I've found some time to get back to the projects and classes I took in April at STITCHES South. One of the classes was Merike Saarniit's Estonian Patent stitch class. Of course, you also remember that my Think Outside the Sox contest socks were in the column pattern from Elise Duvekot's Knit One Below book. So I've been playing around with both ways of making stitches. What I have noticed is that both Knit One Below and Estonian Patent stitches make the same structural change to the fabric. They cause the yarn in a row of knitting to be carried and interlocked across more than one row. When you work these stitches, you'll discover that many stitches are linking two rows of knitting instead of just one. These changes tend to produce fabrics that are thick and warm and sometimes also very elastic. But what's been really interesting for me is discovering that the...

Margaret Wertheim talks about knitting coral reefs over at TED . I was struck by her presentation on several levels. Firstly, the interest in math and hyberbolic space. I stumbled upon fractals and Mandelbrot's classic work The Fractal Geometry of Nature about 15 years ago in graduate school. I wasn't taking a class in it. I don't even recall clearly how I came upon it. But it opened my eyes. I believe I may need to go spend some time exploring hyperbolic space. Secondly, the group art project. The variety of forms and the coming together of many people on one project reminds me very much of Atlanta Knitting Guild's recent flower project. Thirdly, the participation by women in a craft that is seen as "women's work." The feminist in me is pleased to see this work being accepted as art and being taken so seriously. Finally, I am encouraged by the political nature of the work. Some art is meant to transform by being beautiful. This transforms though...