Knitting

I rarely post about knitting, but it has really become an obsession.

My grandma (mom's mom) knit. (My other grandma crocheted and tatted). Grandma knit the most amazing things. She made sweaters with all these cables. She made me a red poncho when I was in elementary school. She made me a white one when I was younger. When she and Grandpa lived on the farm they raised sheep so she could spin her own wool. I even have one of her spinning wheels. I've never learned how to use it, though. I hope to someday. When I was in Germany in '86 my host mom taught me how to knit, she even gave me a skein of home-spun, hand-died wool. But I never went anywhere with it. Mom tried to teach me a few years later, but it didn't stick.

Fast forward twenty years, and I finally learned to knit. Earlier this year ME, LS, and a few others took a knitting class through University Outreach. It was rather amusing. We entertained ourselves to no end when we thought we'd invented the word "lapghan".... until we realized it was a real word. ME, LS, and I continued on with the advanced class. And then our instructor let us all keep meeting in the conference room in the business school. A few of use kept meeting every other week. That group has shrunk to four of us: LS, ME, MT, and me. We eat, we watch crappy reality TV, and we knit.

Last May when I was at Mom's she showed me Grandma's knitting scrapbook. She told me I could take it but I didn't have room in my suitcase. This time I do. After a quick round of shopping in the IC, Mom got out Grandma's knitting book and a few other things. I've looked through it a little. I can't wait to take the time to really look through it.

I love what I have seen so far. It's an old-school three-ring binder. It contains handwritten patterns, her swatches, mimeographed patterns, ads, instructions, etc. It is so very cool in so many ways.

A snapshot of the scrapbook. See the ads? The patterns? The swatches? That little red stocking? She made those for us when we were kids. We'd hang them on the tree and put candy canes in them. I just love this.


Some of the patterns are kind of frightening. Like this one. These people look like crafty bank robbers. I know this is the midwest and it gets cold. But, seriously, this is too much.


This, on the other hand, I love. Love the hair, love the headband, love the idea. I may have found something to do with some of that dollar yarn I bought in Chicago.


Then there were these: the K-tel Knitter. Two of them. A little Googling let me know these were from K-Tel, yes, that K-Tel. The K-Tel of the K-Tel albums. Seems that these things were made in the 1970s as a way to knit one-handed. The instructions make it seem a little more complicated, but it looks like a cross between knitting and crocheting. A quick eBay search led me to a K-Tel Knitter instruction book... which I promptly ordered, of course. I have no clue if I will ever use them since I am not that crazy about crocheting. (I'm one of those odd ones who thinks knitting is easier.)

So, now I will go back to the orange/poppy scarf I am making for K. Even though I think it may look better on his girlfriend. But whatever. The yarn is awesome and after five years of marathon phone calls, emails, life changes, etc., K (or Kevin as he insists on being called) and I will finally be able to have that drink that he owes me when I am in town for a conference next month. It's about damn time. He also owes me a snowglobe.