The Devil Wears Mohair

So Vogue Knitting Magazine is turning 25. I sometimes get the impression that this magazine frustrates some knitters who don't see things they can relate to in the pages of each issue. I must admit - the Koigu Cover skirt is the first thing I've ever knitted from Vogue Knitting but my lack of Vogue inspired FOs doesn't reflect the admiration I feel for the magazine. After all, this was the publication that showed the world yes - knitting is worthy of its own magazine. This silver anniversary issue looks to be every bit as wonderful as the 20th anniversary issue was. The 20th Anniversary issue featured an ad by the yarn store Colorful Stitches. This ad displayed a piece of art so funky and perfect for me that when I found out the artist had run a limited number of the prints for sale - I purchased one and had it framed. It sits proudly in my kitchen. Hey - it's a red head knitting. Need I say more?

Vogue really knows how to celebrate a milestone. They've published a book filled with the best of their articles over the last 25 years and it's a keeper. They've also re vamped their website as well and it features a variety of cover shots. Each cover features a silver/grey design created by a well-known designer and the best part is that the patterns are available for free to download. This one by Debbie Bliss has stolen my heart. I have some ivory Blue Faced Leicester by Fleece Artist that may just be perfect for this.

This sweater is also amazing. It's by Veronik Avery and I can't wait to get a close up view of it. I'll have to see if that In Vino Veritas by Dream in Color has enough yardage to make this.

The website seems to be quite well designed and robust and they've introduced a VK podcast. On the Webs podcast, the editor mentioned that this issue will feature an interview with the "old guard" Kaffe, Meg and yes even Alice as well as the "new guard" including the Yarn Harlot, Vicki Howell and Debbie Stoller. Vogue will always be the magazine that helps me see my knitting in a new light. It's there to push the envelope - no apologies. Happy 25th! Well done.

Sound the bell for the FO alert. I'm finished with the knitting on the Bonsai Tunic from the IK Spring 2007 issue. I blocked the back first by placing the piece face down with a wet heavy towel on top. I do this on all designs with a relief pattern to them like lace knitting or cables. This way, the pattern is pushed out the bottom by the weight of the wet towels I put on top rather than being flattened. I wasn't sure how well the bamboo yarn would take the blocking but it's turned out beautifully. The stitch definition is very uniform and the lace shows nicely.

It's hard to believe that the appearance of Vogue Knitting Fall issue and even Rowan 42 for Fall are imminent. It's a sign that August is almost here and summer is nearing the half-way mark. I'm not ready to give up the lazy sunny days of summer yet but I'm always ready to dream about those beautiful fall designs.

Alchemy

I've just been away for a few days on a business trip. Actually, this one falls under the heading "it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it". Our division attended a two day meeting at our Estate wineries. Sunday was the jazz festival in the vineyard. Although it rained, the music was amazing and we lauched the new renovations to our Hillebrand property. This is the new Winemaker's Loft. On the lower level there is an outdoor room complete with fireplace for dining Al Fresco. Just add Johnny Depp and you've got yourself a night to remember! We enjoyed some beautiful sparkling wine - our award-winning Trius Brut and the new Trius Red 2005 vintage was served as well. This will be in short supply because the '05 harvest was small due to weather but oh boy is it amazing!

I've often pondered the similarities between wine making and fibre arts. As we toured our Peller property on Monday our head winemaker spoke about the vineyards and how they're doing (so far so good this year). We also learned about barrel aging. Some of the wine is aged in American Oak and some in French Oak. The nature of the wood imparts different qualities to the wine. American Oak gives the vanilla, buttery toasty tones and the French oak apparently imparts a stronger flavour profile. The barrels themselves are "toasted" and can have a light, medium or dark toasting which will in turn be transferred to the wine. Before I knew much about wine, I would read the labels and wonder if they actually added "tobacco, smoke, chocolate etc" to the wine. I have since learned that these terms are metaphors to help the consumer match the wine to the food. A wine maker will taste the juice and decide what kind of wine they wish to create. A crisp white to be enjoyed with patio foods will be aged in stainless steel while a bold, jammie red to pair with grilled meats needs some barrel-aging.


I find myself following a similar thought process with my spinning. I have been trying to work with different fibres to learn how the breeds and materials behave and translate into yarn. This roving by Pippi Kneesocks was marked simply 100% wool so I'm not sure what breed it was. This colourway was then spun into singles on my Schacht and then Navajo plied into a 3 ply. I decided to try and keep the colour progressions together by doing this. If I'd wanted a barber-pole effect, I would have double plied. The colour is called Strange Days and I highly recommend her roving. It's a dream to spin.


I also tried my hand at spinning some Alpaca. I will be making the Nagano Sakura Scarf from Knitty to enter into the 5 counties display this September. Our theme is Japan. I will not be felting this scarf but rather leaving it knit with the cherry blossoms applied. The pink yarn to make the blossoms is next. I spun this on my Kromski Sonata and it was my first time spinning to gauge. I wanted a worsted to chunky weight so we'll see how this works out. Hopefully I have enough.


In other news, I found my Rowan cotton 4 ply for Maritime. I had taken a gift box that had been designed to look like a leather-bound book and stored the yarn in it and put it back on my book shelf. Note to self: Nothing good comes from any sentence that starts with the phrase "Gee this will be a good hiding place for...".












I'm in the home stretch on Bonsai Tunic. I just have to finish the other side and then block. I hear bamboo really soaks up the water so I'll probably block using wet towels.








I'm also just in the first clue stages of the Mystery Stole pattern. This is shaping up to be a very pretty design. I guess there are a bizillion people who've joined. There may even be some press on USA Today. Hey - whatever promotes the craft!



In choosing a wine to pair with the MSK3 I decided on good old Yellow Tail Shiraz. Dark, delicious and extremely popular! Gee, could all of this wine consumption be partly to blame for misplacing my stash?

I Can Knit for Miles and Miles

The prospect of a 9 hour road trip may seem daunting to some people but those of us who knit often look forward to these situations with glee. All of that time on the wide open highway, zooming along with nothing to do but book some major time with your front-burner projects. At least this seemed to be the plan for my recent family trip to Quebec to visit my mother in law. Highway 401 is the only main route connecting the Toronto area to Eastern Canada - specifically Montreal. Our plan was simple: rise early (4:00 am), make it through Toronto by 6:00 am and through Montreal just after lunch arriving in the mid afternoon. The evening before my husband said to me "I have a bad feeling about this trip". He didn't have any feelings of danger, just something wasn't right. Our first set-back occurred when the alarm clock failed to go off and we awoke at 5:00 am. OK, no biggie - we're an hour behind. As we entered Toronto, the news announced that the 401 was "closed from Belleville to Napanea due to a protest". This little glitch forced us onto a two lane highway for the next 3 hours along with about 5,000 of our nearest and dearest friends all fighting their way around the blockade as well. Bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic doesn't bode well for knitting so it wasn't until we got back on track that I actually had a chance to embrace the needles. After landing in Montreal at 3:30 pm (on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend) we staggered into my MIL's house 5 hours late. Here is my MIL with Butch and Sundance and moi.

I took about 50 projects with me which was a good move because at one point or another each one of them pissed me off enough to warrant a time out. Having plan B and C and D and F allowed me to move onto something else. Without further ado, here are my vacation knitting projects and their current state of completion.

I wanted to take Maritime with me since the stockinette, two-colour pattern is perfect for travel knitting but I'll be damned if I can find the rest of the yarn! I've clearly tucked it somewhere but heaven knows where. This really frosted my cookies and I vow tonight to find the rest of that yarn. Send a search party if I don't come back from the yarn closet.

The third Rockin Sock club shipment has arrived and I'm still on the first pattern (Inside Out in shade Monsoon). I'm not a seasoned sock knitter so, things take a bit longer for me. I was so pleased when I turned the heel and started on the leg portion...until I got to the cables. I ripped this baby back about 3 times. The 5 x 5 cross cables are a bit too meaty in my opinion for a sock. I'm not sure how it'll feel on the leg. I'll make these according to the pattern but I'm not totally sold on it yet.

I had a few glitches with the Bonsai tunic. The pattern tells you to decrease for the v-neck every 4 rows a prescribed number of times and then every fourth row one last time or not depending on the size. From there it's every 6 rows. My size dictated that the last 4th row decrease be ignored and from there decrease every 6 rows. What they meant was, pretend you did a decrease but don't... do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. Then, do 6 rows and decrease again (10 rows total). What I read was, dig in to the 6th row decreases after the last completed 4th row decrease. This meant I was running out of side stitches faster than I should have as I did the binding off for the arm hole. After a few hours of scratching my head and looking at the photos in IK (which are quite detailed for this pattern), the light bulb went on. I'm back in the game and even managed to work on the I-cord belt on the trip home. Some knitters who've made Bonsai have left the belt off but I love how it looks.

The Roundabout Leaf Tank is also the perfect low-maintenance traveling project. I got a bit done on this and I'm onto the third front strip after which I begin to decrease. Roundabout and I are still fast friends having had no arguments this trip.

I've also joined the Mystery Stole Knit Along. This is an on line group run by the author of the Pink lemon twist blog. She designs a shawl and posts clues once per week which direct participants to the next piece of the pattern. You don't get to see the finished product until you or someone else has completed the shawl. I love the unknown aspect of this knit along. I find it more exciting to be led with an element of surprise and it doesn't concern me at all that the end product won't be beautiful. This designer turns out great stuff and in my opinion if it's a shawl and lace, it's pretty hard to really screw up so I'm sure I'll love it. The suggested colours are black or white. I'm using black Zephyr silk and wool with #8 beads that are smoky grey with flecks of copper and gold.

I'll leave you with this picture. My MIL is also a knitter. A very different kind of knitter. Her projects are small and very functional. Her claim to fame are these two tone slippers. She churns them out and has an inventory to give to people to wear when they visit, protecting her hard wood floors that gleam. She let us take these with us when we go home. In true Quebec fashion, they are brightly coloured but boy do they wear like iron.

So in the end, I did get some quality time with my projects but it is good to be home. Now, where the hell did I put that Rowan 4 ply cotton for Maritime......

An Apple a Day

Every now and then we knitters assemble the materials to make a "dream project". These are the kits that are so stunningly beautiful that you feel sorry for all of the non-knitters in the world because they don't know what they're missing. Today was one of those days for me...my Bohus Wild Apple pullover kit arrived by post.

Now I'm the first to admit that I was late to the Bohus party. My knitting friends were rabbiting on about grey mist this and forest darkness that and I looked at the websites and for the life of me couldn't see what the fuss was about. Then last fall at Rhinebeck, one of my buddies brought her Bohus kits so we could see the yarn and the colours. The light went on. I finally got it. While Bohus kits don't have the "over the top" colour imprint that a Kaffe Fassett or Starmore design does - they do shine in a very regal way. These designs typically display a large collar of colourwork set against a solid background. The eye goes directly to the yoke and it sparkles like a beautiful necklace. The effect is aided by the fact that the yarns in this particular kit are a decadent blend of 50% angora and 50% merino. The colours don't pop - they glow through the angora haze.

Wild Apple called to me from the start because it uses all my "A team" colours: Moss green, chartreuse, gold, copper, clover and teal. It's a similar colour story to Rheingold which I'm currently knitting. This however is much richer and brighter at the same time.

I don't know much about the history of the Bohus sweaters. I know they originate in Sweden and were a cottage industry from the late thirties to the late sixties. The book Poems of Color details the exact history of these designs. There is a lovely summary here detailing how in 1999 the idea to make these couture designs available for a new generation of knitters was born. Solveig Gustafsson is a master dyer who is lovingly re-creating these works of art by matching the colours of the original sweaters and dyeing them herself. I emailed her in February about Wild Apple and was told it would be a few months so this has been in the works for a while.

Wild Apple has about 14 colours and the kit included a colour chart complete with snippets of the yarns on a colour key to help identify the proper shades. It's done on very tiny needles (2.5mm I believe) with a gauge of about 34 stitches per 10cm. If this project were an exam question it would be a 3 page essay but it's one of those special sweaters so, it will be savoured and lovingly knit when I start my cold weather projects this fall.

What wine did I open to celebrate the arrival of la belle pomme? Thirty Bench Chardonnay. It's elegant, very rare, beautiful and has a hint of caramel apple on the palate.

Bamboozled


I'm bamboo-obsessed. I don't know why but all of a sudden I want to knit it and spin it all of the time. I've even been researching how to dye it. I'm also intrigued by this chitin (pronounced Kite-in) that's been added to Southwest Trading Company's sock yarn Tofutsies. Wow - kitchen waste in my yarn. Tres cool. I suspect that the fact that bamboo and shrimp shells can become beautiful yarn appeals to my fantasy that everything in this world if given half a chance can in fact - turn into luxury yarn. I'll never look at another shrimp cocktail the same way again. Overheard at a restaurant: "Excuse me sir, were you going to finish that?"





My spinning guild will be preparing a display this fall and the theme is Japan. I'd love to spin and knit something for the display and what fiber screams Japan more than bamboo? I found a lovely vendor in Florida called Oceans of Fiber who hand dyes beautiful fibres - including bamboo. I purchased 4.8 oz of 100% bamboo roving from her hand painted selection in a colourway called Sunflower. It's the most amazing mix of pale blue, sage and gold. As you can see, Holly presents her roving in such a lovely way with a co-ordinating ribbon. Now I circled this new acquisition for a while wondering if I had the skills to tackle this different breed. I'd love to make enough lace/fingering weight yarn to make the Hanami Shawl from Pink Lemon Twist. The motif is pure Japanese and it would look stunning in this yarn. In the end I fired up the Schacht, took a big sip of Chardonnay and went to town. I gotta tell you, spinning this stuff is like walking across a wet floor in stiletto heels. It's so silky that there's no grab as the spun yarn is pulled onto the bobbin so it goes like stink. I've had to back off of the tension quite a bit. I am developing a rhythm and the Woolee Winder is a must have for me here because I don't have to stop and fiddle with hooks - this puppy just flows on like chocolate fudge on a sundae. Here's a shot of what I've spun so far. I'm not sure if I'm under-spinning it. When I have to pull some off the bobbin if I get a break, it's tending the shred on me fairly easily. I know silks are often used single ply and I'd love to use this single ply but I think a double ply will hedge my bets and give a bit more balance. If there's anyone out there who's a spinning maven on bamboo or silk - I'd welcome some advice. The spun yarn just glows with the gold distributed though the strands.


Bonsai tunic - she plugs along. I had to rip back a few times about 3 inches. Missing bobbles and incorrect row counts - Oy! (permission to invoke an Oy requested Hope?). Life is really busy this week with the boys writing final exams. If there's a god/goddess of exams - please let me know and we'll arrange a live sacrifice (I'll decide who later on).



My Tulip Baby sweater kit arrived. Oh the joys of Dream in Colour yarn! Here are the colours clustered around the pattern. A lilac shade has been subbed for the pale pink but I think it'll look very nice so I'm cool with it.











Oh, and if anyone is wondering why Chardonnay pairs best with bamboo - here's my rationale: It's gold in colour, smooth and creamy and aged in wood.

Tickled Pink

I've been waiting patiently for my Dream in Colour Tulip Kit to arrive from Lettuce Knit. Apparently, they were swamped after the Yarn Harlot posted them on her blog. As I sat tapping my foot peering down the street waiting for the mail man to deliver the squishy goodness - I had a horrible thought. What if the baby was a boy? This little sweater had pink at the collar. I first tried to reason to myself that "Heck, a little pink didn't matter. After all, this was the new millennium - gender neutral is in". I then checked with the mom to be. "Weeelllll...she said hesitantly, if it weren't pale pink and if it were just a bit". I then became furious that society put so much emphasis on one little colour. After all, a girl can wear blue without nary a batting of an eye. In the end, I did what any determined knitter would do, I went to "Plan B". I was lucky enough to be in Toronto on business recently and stopped at Lettuce Knit between meetings. Megan was very helpful as we looked at the pattern and pondered my quandary. In the end, we decided that the nice ruby colour may just prove to be a worthy substitute for the pink and if I bought two of the ruby - I could have enough left after the Tulip cardi for this beautiful little Dream in Colour shrug. They had a sample in the store done in emerald green. Yummmm. Done Deal.

Of course, since then the Yarn Harlot has done a few other colour ways that are perfect for boys and Threadbear in the US has done a gazillion colourways too. There's just something about this original design that begs me to knit it. My SIL called me today to say the ultrasound has indicated the baby is a girl so we're good to go.

In other knitting news; I'm finally up to the front of the Bonsai Tunic from Interweave Knits. I'm falling in love with this design all over again. This part has a whole lot going on with decreases for neck shaping and increases happening all at the same time on different rows (along with lace and bobbles) but the bamboo is a joy. I rarely run out and buy the same yarn over again but with my LYS and their "never ending farewell 40% off tour" I got some more Bonsai at 40% off in the gold colour (Bamboo) to make this charming little number. It's a free pattern on the Berroco website. Watch out if you head on over there. Norah Gaughan (cue the organ music) has some new books coming out that I already want to make things out of.

And what wine does one pair with the girly Tulip Baby Sweater? Why a rose of course. Hillebrand Artist Series Gamay Rose with the amazing portrait on the label called "Lady". After all- a little pink never hurt anyone.

Ooops I Knit it Again

Are you a fussy knitter? When you make a mistake do you always rip - or never rip? I've been pondering these questions lately. Mistakes - making them and fixing them have been top of mind for two reasons: because of a wonderful essay written by Meg Swanson in the new "The Best of Vogue Knitting Magazine 25" book (amazing book by the way) and because I messed up the front of my Bonsai Tunic.

In her essay "Fussy Knitting" Meg Swanson provides a few technical tips targeted to those little details that often bother fussy knitters while pointing out that if you want perfection, maybe a mass-produced or machine knit item would be the less stressful route to accomplish that objective. I know some knitters who would rather crawl over hot coals than rip and some who can't stand the thought of fudging it. I tend to be a ripper...gee, that didn't sound good...when it comes to my knitting.

I've also discovered why I prefer cabled or colour knitting over lace knitting. I love the look of lace but the stitches disappear and reappear as you work them and this means stitch count is variable. With colour or cables - the number of stitches is the number of stitches - no slight of hand. Here's the section on the tunic where I went off track. I had been knitting visually - simply working to one before the previous yarn over and creating the next yarn over. I didn't stop to check that I had the 7 stitches in each section needed. When I realized that in this section I had only 6 stitches, I knew it was one of three reasons:

I forgot a yarn over

I knit an extra k2together

I dropped a stitch

I checked the work and couldn't see a dropped stitch so, I decided to simply make one and carry on. Here's the section after I created a new stitch to get the number back on track. You can't really see the fudge but I was bothered by it. If it was a dropped stitch - the whole section could unzip after it was done - with my luck, right in the middle of a presentation to the Executive Team at work. I decided to put it down for a day and think about the right path to take.

I really had to examine how I felt about mistakes and what level of perfection I was demanding of myself. If I ripped out, I could easily be tossing several nights of work down the drain. Was that worth the comfort of knowing it was perfect? Why did I care?

In the end, I decided that I was the type of person who was OK with making a mistake but that I needed to at least know where I went wrong. If you don't know what the mistake is, how can you decide if you can live with it or not? I needed to know to deal.

I ripped back. It was about 8 rows worth before I found the problem. I had forgotten a yarn over. I needn't have worried about unraveling but that missing yarn over did mean the lace design was out of whack so, I was pleased that I did choose to rip. I'm now nearing completion of the lace panel on the bottom of the front and will start the waist ribbing soon. I'll spare you the photo because it's exactly like the back.

I've also finished the first sleeve of Maritime. Now here's a nice easy, breezy project which lends itself nicely to ripping out.

To rip or not to rip - that is the question. Knitting is one activity that does lend itself to Mulligan shots. Most things don't - if your screw up...a "do over" isn't even an option. It's actually a privilege to be able to rip. It may depend on the nature of the mistake and at what point of the project said mistake is discovered. The answer will however always teach you something about yourself.

Micro Managing


Knitting for children is quite the crap shoot. You may over shoot or under shoot the size or the child may grow out of it after the first wearing. It was actually a couple of hand knit baby Icelandic sweaters with matching caps that a family friend made for my identical twin boys when they were small that gave me the push to start knitting for my kids. Why mess around? If you're going to make your kids a sweater - make it a Starmore! Since I wasn't bright enough to get pictures of the boys wearing their Starmore Fair isles when they were small, I made them pose earlier tonight.





Meet Butch and Sundance.







Butch (right) is holding the first Starmore I ever made. It's called Sqaredance from Alice Starmore's book Stillwater. When the sweater was done - I couldn't believe how great it had turned out. He looked so cute in it (you'll have to take my word for it). That's the magic of a Starmore pattern. Just do what she says and you'll be fine.

Sundance (to the left) is holding a pullover version of Reef from the Starmore book "In the Hebrides". The original pattern was for a cardigan made for a much smaller child. I wanted something to fit a 9 or 10 year old so, I found a pullover pattern from the Starmore book "Celtic Collection" in the size I wanted to use as a schematic. Then, I simply dropped the pattern onto the schematic and followed the instructions for the pullover. Once again, the results made the small needles and fine yarn all worth while. I've made three other Starmore designs since then but nothing else for the boys. They're growing too fast these days and seem to have a propensity to lose things. A $90 pair of Nike runners gives me heart burn. Losing a hand knit Starmore design would make me commit Seppuku.











I'm probably reminiscing about kiddie knits so much because I'm going to be an auntie again at the end of October. There are so many great baby designs and this one, I had to have. It's the baby cardigan by Dream in Color yarns. I've ordered the kit from Lettuce Knit in Toronto. The Yarn Harlot is making one and this is one stunning little item. It's not a Starmore - those I reserve for children and probably someday grand kids.

I tell myself that I'm just being a good Aunt but let's be honest here; I just want to make the damn sweater. The fact that there happens to be a baby on the way is just a convenient bonus to make it look respectable. Will I stoop to anything to enhance my stash?

Testing one, two, three


I've come to truly appreciate the power of the swatch. I used to see swatching as the activity that came between me and finally diving in to a new project. Now, I see them as a sort of prelude or "fibre first date". Finishing a swatch is a bit of a milestone and if all the stars are in alignment, important clues to ensure a successful knitting project are there for the plucking.


I'm thinking that the Indigo Ripples skirt will be the perfect "take-along" vacation knitting. We're planning a road trip to Quebec to see my MIL at the end of June and it's 10 hours by car. Kat Coyle, the designer of this garment has a way with pretty skirts for sure. Her lovely skirt shown in Greetings from the Knit Cafe is stunning. Julia from Mind of Winter has made a lovely version of it. Kat Coyle has also designed the skirt in Lace Style. It didn't catch my eye at first but after seeing a denim version of it here, I realized the skirt was suffering from lousy styling. Honestly, that poor model should get hazard pay for having to wear two layers of mis-matched underpinnings tucked into a knit skirt!


My LYS is unfortunately going out of business because the owners are retiring up North. The good news is...everything is 40% off. I picked up some Twilley's Freedom Denim in the darkest blue for a song - a song I say! I'm told many of these denims are made at the same factory - I've never worked with denim before so, this is my first brand to handle. I'm planning to use Eunny's trick of using a slightly smaller needle to get a fabric that won't sag. I swatched on 3.5mm and got about a 20.5 stitch gauge pre washing and post blocking. I was a bit concerned by some twizzling of the yarn I noted while knitting. I was afraid the fabric might bias but once washed and pressed, all seems to be nice and square. My swatch shrunk the requisite 20% in length and down to 22 stitches per 4 inches gauge. I will also lengthen this skirt so the ruffles begin about 2 - 3 inches above the knee cap instead of mid thigh.




I'm also working on Maritime which is a very straight forward knit perfect for taking along. I love the indigo and white together - so summery! I often use sleeves as swatches if I'm using a straight forward yarn such as the Cotton Glace used here. I also adore the colour striping on the cuff - here's a close up of what can't be seen in Rowan 41.






I've also completed the back to the Bonsai tunic. Now onto the front and hopefully this will be an FO before long. My swatch for this one was a big fat liar but it worked out in the end.



Swatches and I have at last come to a place of mutual respect. This last exercise has taught me the importance of washing the swatch as well. I can't promise I'll always follow the "swatching protocol" to the letter but at least now I'll know what I'm missing.

Influential People

This past mother's day, I thought a lot about the people responsible for "leading" us to knitting. They aren't necessarily the same people who taught us how to make the stitches themselves. My paternal grandmother taught me to knit and purl when I was seven. I never continued to make things after that first sad garter stitch square. My mother sewed but I like to believe she understood how therapeutic it is to create something. When I was in 4th year University I came home during February mid term exams. Sick with a wicked cold and sleep-deprived from studying - I had a bad case of the February blahs. "You need a project" my mother announced and we visited our local craft store on the way home. Our mission- to pick up a project to save my mortal soul from the depths of melancholy. I found some beautiful yarn and a pattern that caught my eye. It was an intarsia mohair sweater. Gee, there's a great project for someone who's only knit a Lopi Icelandic sweater before! It was 1985 and sweaters were baggy and images were geometric. I still have a few of the balls left over, the brand name is Georges Picaud Tricheuse and I remember the project cost about $78 - a huge expense. Mom paid for it without commenting on my usual champagne tastes (some things never change). I cast on and picked away at the project over the course of my final year. Thursdays were for Knot's Landing and knitting! My room mates often asked if they were going to get to see it finished before we all graduated. Not a chance.

I worked on this sweater off and on over the next 10 years. I'd think about the project when I came across it from time to time but never picked it up again. During this time, my mother became ill and our last summer together we went to a cottage in Northern Ontario. The weather was incredibly horrid forcing us to stay inside and read those ancient Reader's Digest issues that seem to be a standard feature of every cottage. An article entitled "Mr. Knitting" caught my eye and for the first time I got to see some of Kaffe Fasset's designs. I was smitten.

When I got the call the following March that it was time to fly to Vancouver Island and be with my mother, I impulsively reached for the mohair sweater. Long hours sitting vigil in a quiet house and then a quiet hospital room were spent picking up where I'd left off ten years prior. The nurses would come in to check on mom and take a look at my work. It was a welcome "normal" conversation in the midst of craziness. After the funeral, I kept at the knitting until finally, it was done. I've never stopped casting on since. My assembly is very primitive (it's still not my forte) but it fits and it's an FO. I've never really worn it. Mostly because fashions have changed and this feels so "eighties". I'll never part with it though because it was such a key part of delivering me to this hobby ( no), pastime, (not quite), obsession (yes) called knitting. I'll also never part with it because there's a bit of my mom in every stitch.