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Who was - is? - Mary Thomas?

This is her first book - published in England in 1938

 The Book of Knitting Patterns came out in 1943.

On the flyleaf of the first book.

A wealth of information, history, patterns,  techniques.

Double knitting,  Shetland knitting, spiral knitting,  embroidered knitting,  beaded knitting,   frame/rake knitting,  thick and thin knitting (varying the yarn),  thick and thin knitting (varying the needle size),  medallion knitting,  lace knitting,  etc.!!!

If I could only have two books on knitting......

Several attempts over the years since I 'chanced' on her (at a church book sale) to find out more about Mary Thomas have not met with much success. 

Who was she?  Why does she seem to be so unknown or undiscovered? 

Her knitting books have been re-issued and are more than worthy of consideration.

Mary Thomas, who are you when you are at home?

Clothing hangers with old ties and cashmere sweaters

These make me feel good - to see and use and make.

Whether Dad's old ties or a memory of retirement or finds at a garage sale,  the 'raw material' is usually quite splendid and worthwhile.

A hanger and a tie.....

 

Push the narrow end of the tie over the hook on the hanger and ...

......cut a slit in the seam where the tie meets the end of the hook.

Now push the hanger through that slit.

Begin to wrap the tie around the hanger.

Keep wrapping.

Stop wrapping when the tie covers across like this - to show off the pattern - or keep wrapping; whatever suits.

Turn over and secure where needed with a few stitches.

 

And a few more stitches.

The finished products.  Ready to hang up/out with an article of clothing and gladden the event.

 

This pair is covered with the sleeves of  a cashmere  sweater that was rescued from the dollar rack at a thrift store and whose body was turned into hats.  The soft wool fabric was simply stretched over the hanger, starting from an end, and sewn by hand to fit where necessary.

The top one has some needle felting added to it .

The other,  a flower  was formed at one end from where the cuff was cut (to make a wrist warmer) and a fold was left in which to put some sprigs of fragrant plants;  rosemary and bushmint in this case.

The Milkweed Project

Check  this   out. 

More about spunny and freefrom spinning

Here is what the pile of the small,  "what if.....?" balls of spunny (the products of the process of fun spinning)  look like;  their overlooking the front garden seems appropriate, somehow.

The yellow material with wisps of fluffy fleece is what happened when I ripped strips of nylon and spun it with fluffy fleece;  that's when I learned about 'grip'.

  These are the first two of enough yarn spun to actually form a skein.  The one on the right has a core of linen thread with fluffy fleece wrapped around it.  Using that base of linen thread gave me a lesson in spinning with 'fluff' while having a dependable, strong, supportive 'guide'.

The one still on the niddy-noddy (isn't that a descriptive term - you do sort of niddy....noddy the yarn onto it)  is simply 'fluff' gripping onto itself, now thick, now thin. 

After the photo shoot I hung the 'still loaded' niddy- noddy in a window.  I enjoy looking at it, having it catch my eye unexpectedly when I come into the room and I suspect I will be able to see it when I come home.  Makes me think hanging the skeins and balls of spunny on a wall or in a window might be soul nourishment. 

This is the piece I was knitting from a ball of spunny;  finished.

It looked nice hanging out on the deck but I think it would keep the birds from the feeders.

Maybe hanging from a tree.......

 

Playful spinning ; freeform

Small balls of yarn have been piling up, the 'products' of my 'process' with the wheel.  I intend to use them as the weft in some weaving but in the meantime I wondered how it would knit.

I used a double wrap drop stitch in this piece so that the character of the spunny (fibre spun in fun) would be  as visible and evident as possible. 

It comes more into its own when in a 'working', not 'resting' state and I haven't yet decided what form this will take.  A stretch of some sort to reveal the serendipitous pattern seems likely and an open frame the most obvious.  Hung in a window, perhaps.  But I also like the idea of a panel inset in a solid piece of fabric of clothing.  A bodice, perhaps.  Or epaulette.  For some reason I have epaulettes on the shoulders of my mind lately. 

What it will become will eventually evolve.  For the moment I am delighting in knitting with what  was initially the covering of a sheep and which came to me washed but silky and which I drum carded into fluffy masses and then played along with that wheel so the wheel spun round and round and made a twist happen and those fluffy bits and pieces spiralled into that twist in bunches and lengths and provided me with something with which I can gladly knit. 

Pet yarn balls ; serious fun

The comment I made about carrying such an item around in pocket or purse back in the  post where how to make a center-pull ball  was given has expanded to the point where it has focus here.

Choose your fibre.  Wind it into a center-pull ball of a size to fit into pocket or purse or under a pillow or on the counter or by the phone or in a desk drawer.....

Next time you are cheerful or tearful or fearful, or bored or busy or sleepless,  or distracted or contented or day-dreaming,  or brain-storming or smiling or worried ..........  take the pet yarn ball by its center-pull end and  wrap it around your thumb again.  And maybe again.  You can do it fast or slow or in between.  You can do it neat and tidy or not.  You can wind at the base of the thumb or start under the thumb nail.  You can watch it happen or do it without looking.  

Church sale finds

I lean my ear against this lovely handmade outfit and listen for its 'story'.  What I think I hear is that it was made many years ago for a wedding to be worn by someone taking part in the ceremony, perhaps a flower girl,  not a very young flower girl but maybe a pre-teen sister of the bride or groom.  It is crocheted with pearl buttons;  the flowered bodice motif is repeated at the hem.

 The blouse is hand done also.

Look at the details of the stitching!

It seems to whisper that it was stored carefully for many years until that no longer made sense.

I feel  a catalyst, waiting on where it is meant to go next.

A year or so ago - maybe longer! - I bought this jar of Marmite because I kept reading about it in English mystery stories and wondered what on earth they were on about.  There is a teaspoon - or less! - dent in the contents of that jar.  Yech!
But I could not resist the cookbook when I came upon it. 

Maybe I will find a recipe that appeals and have the major ingredient on hand.  Maybe not......

Things knitters - fail to! - talk about

One aspect of  'knitting being far beyond the sum of its parts'  is that which does get talked about when people come together and knit.  All levels of life get discussed.  On all levels.

Knitting, of course, is one of these topics;  who and where and what and why and how are covered.  I have learned so much!

But the following I have never heard mentioned and when I discovered a nifty solution on my own, I thought to fill the gap.

The problem: How to turn a ball of yarn which contains two strands of yarn back into a ball with only one strand of yarn.  I had wound two balls of  yarn into a double stranded one to make a sturdy string bag for books and groceries and then discovered I needed single strands again to complete a pair of socks.  I frogged the just-started string bag.

The solution:  Avoid the mess that happens (experience speaking) when you try to hold the double-standed ball on your lap and separate it into two piles of yarn by pulling and piling.  Hah!  What I did was walk through the house unwinding the ball with the double yarn so that I had a long trail.  When I got to the end I wrapped one yarn around a finger on my hand and rolled it up a bit, then did the same on another finger with the other yarn.  Then walked the trail of yarn through the house doing this same thing;  bit on one finger, bit on the other.  It worked!  I then rolled the two balls into one single stranded ball. 

Next time I decide to double strand for some reason I am going to talk myself into winding a centre-pull ball and knitting from the outside and inside!  That we do talk about at knitting.

Bean bag door stop ; pyramid on a square

The bathroom door occasionally swings closed for some reason so a doorstop was needed.  The rock I used was effective but heavy and a bit noisy and not gentle on unshod toes.

A bean bag doorstop seemed better.  And I wanted a use for the wool I dyed with Kool Aid in the microwave.

The proper word for the shape of this escapes me;  it is a pyramid on a square.

You knit the base square first.  I did it in garter stitch because I like how the shape shows off texture.

Then, with the stitches still on the needle, pick up the same number of stitches along the corresponding side.  For instance, in this photo (it isn't quite a square yet but imagine it is and that I have 22 stitches on that needle)  I would now pick up 22 stitches along the left hand side of the square using the same needle and would now have 44 stitches on the needle.  I've 'rounded the corner', so to speak.

Changing to stockingette stitch (knit one row, purl one row) again because of the contrast in texture,  I knit on those 44 stitches until I had the same number of inches as the base of the square.  So, say the base was 4 inches - I would knit until the sides were 4 inches high.  I am over explaining because I tend to need things over explained to me!

Now cast off the 44 stitches.  Fold that edge together and sew up:  22 stitches to 22 stitches.  Sew up the remaining two edges, leaving an inch or two opening with which to fill the bag.  You can sew up these seams on the wrong side and then turn the bag inside out leaving only the opening to seam up once the bag is filled.  I did a casual stitch on the right side to keep the edges nicely butting. 

Fill with beans or rice or macaroni or whatever.  This doorstop is actually filled with some sort of plastic pellets which I came across in my stash and which are meant to be used to stuff dolls so they can be posed.
I guess I didn't read the package when I scooped these up at a garage sale.  I never know where I am going to learn something new!  If I decide to make a doll with poseable features I hope I remember where I used the poseable filling.

That pyramid on a square shape is great for juggling bags.  And juggling bags make nifty paperweights.  They also can be used to display and store knitting needles - small sized ones.

The shape would also translate into a chair beanbag ......  wouldn't that be fun to make.
Old bean bag chairs come up at garage sales and would supply the filling........   Hmmmmm.....

Spinning......with a wheel!

This has come into my life and we are getting to know one another.  I never thought spinning could be quite so wonderful.

I want to 'reinvent the wheel':  I find this method of learning very satisfying.  But I do want some information  and  guidance.  So, as soon as I bought the spinning wheel at a church sale, I took it down to Ryan and Stephanie at KBN who said it was all there but needed a new part, advised where to get it,  looked like proud parents whose child has discovered  something worthwhile.

 While I waited for the part  to come (ordered online from a very nice Adrian at Hello Yarn) I watched people spinning at KBN.  Was invited (welcomed! - it's that kind of place - they are that kind of people) to sit down and try out the wheels there.  But I needed then to just watch.

Once my wheel had the part and I started to 'play' with it I would ask a question now and then while continuing to watch people spinning at KBN.  And in this way learned about the tension and how to adjust it.  Learned to let the wheel do its thing and to focus on my part.  Became aware, once again, that the 'learning' was more some ancient 'remembering.' 

Today I had a wonder about what would happen if I took black cotton and some wire ......

Yes!  I got some yarn that will hold its shape and the plan is to spin enough and then knit something like epaulets for the shoulders or elbows of a jacket;  or a loose necklet/scarf with a sculpted drape.

The idea to combine yarn with wire came from learning about the Japanese yarn that has stainless steel in it.  It seems it knits into a fabric that flows but can be formed as well.  The wire I used was not fine enough but I know I have a spool somewhere.....

Next I took some gray tundra wool and some handsful of Easter basket nesting material.....

This was fun!  I need bigger cup hooks on my wheel!  Easter 'confetti' went everywhere!

And I learned you have to have some drag or resistance in whatever you want to chum up to the base fibre being spun unless they both have grip properties. 

I have done this before and I had to do it again.

There must be a name for it but I don't yet know what it is - fleece that is fluffy but not in any roving shape.  Fluffy fleece.....

It does have a grip and as I pat down bits and pieces of the fluffy fleece onto the line of fleece-becoming-yarn and watch it/feel it being drawn into and onto and around - well,  I find myself smiling.