Blues and Greens

I have been meaning to post some photos of the Anemoi Head, Heart, and Hands Ensemble. I actually took these pictures of Mary Kay, the winning bidder, about a month ago; I just have been distracted and haven't posted them! Here they are!



I have also finished the BackBou's Spartan (I even blocked it!). I should have some pix soon ... but meanwhile, I am using all the extra Spartan yarn for Dulaan hats. Here's dear R modeling one (Coronet) for us. I should call this picture a study in greens ...

Anemoi Vest Almost Done

We went from this yesterday ...

N skiing with Grandpa at Sugarbush

to this today ...

Epimedium flowers

I had a great trip to Vermont with the family to see my in-laws, cousins, nephews, second cousins, etc. The girls took to skiing like true Norwegians, the BackBou got some fun, slushy downhill time, and I spent some quality time knitting and doing sudoku. Successful all around!

The Anemoi Vest is almost done, it just needs the clasps, but I thought I'd post about it now.

Pattern: Felted Vest from Felted Knits by Beverly Galeskas.
Needles: US10s and 7s, Knit Picks Options
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted Blue Boy and White Frost
Notes: This is a great pattern. Once I accepted how freakin' long it would take me to felt a vest, I really began to appreciate the well-written pattern. It is not for the faint of heart. The instructions use row counts not measurements, so make sure you have a row counter (which I unfortunately found out is impossible for a child to walk by without punching a few times ... errr). First you spend forever knitting the body. Then you have to knit all the provisional borders in cotton and baste the armholes and the front. Then you felt it. After a brief moment of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment, you start picking up stitches, taking out the cotton borders, and reknitting the borders. In the end though, these borders are beautiful.

They are knit in reverse stockinette (1x1 ribbing for the collar using short rows) and then folded over in a 3-needle bind-off with the loops from the picked up stitches. It is so neat and clean -- it makes up for the awkwardness. This was my first time using my Knit Picks Options. I am a big fan. However, the sharp points did give me a sore left index finger. I had to use a bandage when I was executing the 3-needle bind-off after I developed a cut. Ouch. They are wonderful needles.

The Triskele pattern on the back is needle-felted. This was my first try at needle-felting and it was just magical. I became obsessed with this symbol after a vist to Newgrange 2 years ago. It is considered a symbol for fertility (a spiral represents a cycle of a season, 3 seasons to a pregnancy), but could also represent land, sea, and sky or the eternal. I didn't want to knit this in the garment to be felted, but wanted the spirals to link the vest with the swirls on the hat and mittens. So I had to learn to needle-felt.


Here are some close-ups of the needle-felting. I'm going to experiment some more with it and then maybe do a post about my various results! Lots of Waldorf people use this method to create dolls and animals for the classrooms.

I'll post a picture of the ensemble before the auction on Friday! If you are in the Richmond area and would like to attend the Richmond Waldorf School Auction (Friday, March 30th from 6-11pm), check out the website and COME! There will be tickets sold at the door -- for $25 you get dinner, music, and an open bar. Plus, you get to party with lots of knitters!

A Felted Vest and Some Samba

Anemoi Vest
I kept the faith, despite the absurd size.



The vest, she will be a beauty. In 25 minutes (taking it out every 5 minutes to check on it), the vest went from a 40in length to 24in length. I stretched it a bit after this picture to even things out a bit. It is almost dry, it's been two days of drying.

Tonight I will knit the borders, tomorrow needle-felt the triskele design on the upper back, and then hand it over to one of my unsuspecting sewing friends for the Dale of Norway pewter clasps. I'm very excited about how the vest will look at this time next week!

Music
The BackBou and I travelled to DC Sunday to see the incomparable Gilberto Gil perform at the Lisner. He is truly one of the most incredible singer/poets alive today. He reminds me of the artistic beauty that exists in this world and how political the arts can be (he was named the Minister of Culture of Brazil in 2003, 30+ years after he was exiled from Brazil for his resistance work through music and performance). Don't let your musical tastes be "American-Idolized" people -- explore the rich, deep, nourishing, meaningful world of music beyond what the dominant American culture shoves into our ears.

If you are anywhere close to DC, try to catch the March 31st show at the Lisner with Toumani Diabate. I wish I could be there.

Swimming in Stockinette

So months ago I decided to knit a felted vest to match the Anemoi Hat and Mittens (btw, how 'bout that Eunny Jang? Huzzah!). I thought, "I'll knit the mittens first to get a feel for the pattern. Then the hat since coming up with the pattern will be the hardest part of it all. Then I'll just need a few weeks for the vest -- I mean, c'mon, it's a sweater without sleeves! Easy schmeasy."

Back up to the first sentence in this post. Do you see the word "felted" next to the word "vest?" Yup. It's there. But unfortunately, it did not really lodge in my brain. You have to knit a HUGE vest to get it to felt to a medium size. That's a lot of stockinette stitch. Right now I'm past the armhole divide and working on the back (the sides are done) and this beast is the biggest honkin' thing I have ever knit. It stretches from one side of my Queen bed to the other and is at least 2 1/2 feet in length.

And now it's warmed up. So I'm knitting on the patio, with 80 degree weather, with a heavy pile of wool on my lap. Ugh. I am planning to felt it on Saturday. I cannot wait.



Meanwhile, I finished up a mistake rib scarf in Malabrigo Stonechat. It is the most fantastic yarn! I can't believe that Liz is lucky enough to have a sweater made with Malabrigo -- how simply wonderful!