Episode 51 Estonian Lace

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Quince & Co is a sponsor of this podcast.  I love their yarns!  Right now I am knitting Stripe Study Shawl in Tern in Stonington and Oyster.  It is almost finished!

 

Pipeliner Notes 

Happy Anniversary to all Pipeliners!  Knitting Pipeline was one year old on July 3!

Your notes, comments on the show blog, and participation on our Knitting Pipeline group on Ravelry keep the show going.   I appreciate each one of you!

A warm welcome to new Pipeliners! I heard from Lacey, Jenny, Penny, Wendy, and Lu.  We had two new 5 star reviews on iTunes thanks to Laurie Starr and Julie Bonello.  And if you are just out there clapping or cheering me on, that is great too. 

For those of you going to Sock Summit, keep your eyes on the board for meet ups.  There is a meet up scheduled for the lunch hour on Saturday at the Bar Maid's booth #400.  I will be there.  Also, I will try to meet up with you as best I can.  Please stop me to say hello if you see me at Sock Summit...or anywhere else.

Nature Notes

I wanted to carry Lily of the Valley in my wedding bouquet.  My Tante Grete in Denmark asked all her friends to gather their Lily of the Valley in their gardens.  They dropped off their flowers at her house on the morning of the wedding. 

Outside the church after the wedding

Bob wore his hiking boots...the only shoes he had with him for our trip to Norway and Sweden.

See that shawl?  I had totally forgotten that I wore a shawl.  My friend, Vibeke, loaned it to me that day as it was a little bit chilly in the morning.  In this photo we are standing in Onkel Orla's garden in Aarhus before going to the church.  We had ridden a city bus to the City Hall to get our marriage license.

I’ve always loved Lily of the Valley.  My grandmother had them in her garden.  When the first flowers bloomed in the spring she put a small bouquet in a little vase that had been her grandmothers.  This black vase, which I have now, has lily of the valley painted on it.  (Photo coming soon)

Kate Middleton carried Lily of the Valley in her wedding bouquet. Did she copy me?
Queen Victoria popularized The Language of Flowers where flowers each had their meaning. Lily of the Valley meant "return to happiness" or "trustworthy".
Other names are Our Lady's Tears, May Lily, May Bells, Lily constancy, Ladder-to-heaven, male lily, Muguet (French)
Became national flower of Finland in 1967

Lily of the Valley became the National Flower of Finland in 1967.

All parts including the berries and highly poisonous.  It has some of the same effects that foxglove might have, another one of my favorite flowers.

By all those token flowers, that tell

What words can never speak so well.    ~~Byron

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Needle Notes

Triangular Summer Shawl by Helve Poska from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush.

Probably the best seaming I've ever done!

Nupps!

My first foray into nupps was the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark.  I found nupps to be tricky and sometimes I didn’t secure all the loops properly.

Here are some tips.

• When they say to knit loosely into the loop, they mean very loose.  Pull the stitches out as you make them and hold them with another finger to keep them nice and big.
• After you have the required number of loops in your nupp put your free needle tip (the one that would be in your left hand) inside them and pull towards you to neaten them up.
• On the WS when you come to a nupp and all those loops have to be purled into one:  This is a trick that I do that I didn’t see anywhere else.  I hold the loops at the base of the nupp and pull straight down before putting the right needle tip in.  Then I slide the right needle tip alongside the bottom of the left needle tip as it goes in.  Once I started doing all three of these precautions, the nupps improved and got easier.

The first clip are my tips for the right side and the second clip shows tips for the wrong side of the work.

I knitted this shawl for my nephew's fiancee, Susan. Isn't she lovely? Does she look a bit like a knitwear designer we know and love?

The Blethering Room

Stephen West (Westknits) has a Mystery Shawl KAL that starts on August 1, 2011.  The pattern is $4 now and $6 when released after the KAL.  I jumped right in and bought the pattern.  I can't resist Stephen West.

I need 3 colors for the shawl.  I'm thinking some of this Quince & Co Tern would work nicely.  What about Barnacle, Driftwood, and Boothbay Blue...or Sea Grass?

The wonderful music is from Lydia McCauley, Beauty of the Earth, on the album Beauty of the Earth.  www.magnatune.com

Haste ye back!

Episode 33 Of Lice and Men

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Quince & Co is a sponsor of Knitting Pipeline.  Visit them to find beautiful, natural fiber yarns from American sheep and responsible non-domestic sources.
Thank you for your prayers and greetings for my mom and her recovery.  Her arm is healing and it looks as if she will not need surgery. 

Imagine!  An entire podcast episode revolving around the lowly and despised louse.  Crazy as it sounds  I will link Traditional Norwegian Knitting, a Scottish Poet, and an American Poet.

I give a short background on the Norwegian Setesdal Sweater, also known as Luskofte, literally "Lice Jacket".  The sweater tradition started about 1860 in Setesdal, a region in southern Norway.  The Luskofte is somewhat of a Norwegian national costume and the hallmark of Norwegian knitting.

To a Louse by Robert Burns is read by Alan Wood, friend of Louise Hunt of the Caithness Craft Collective Podcast.  You can find Louise's delightful podcast on iTunes or Podbean.  Thank you, Louise and Alan.

If you want to read more about the poem, check it out here.
To a Louse Interpretation

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American Poet with Scottish and English ancestry.  This is one of his lesser known poems.

A Considerable Speck by Robert Frost

My Book Recommendations for Norwegian Knitting

If you want to knit a Norwegian Drop Shoulder Sweater you can get the design information and charts from Elizabeth's Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears, Knitting Workshop, or Knitting Around.  All are available from Schoolhouse Press and other booksellers.  Any one of these books will give you all the information you need.

For more background in Scandinavian Knitting I recommend Sheila McGregor's The Complete Book of Scandinavian Knitting.  The reprint by Dover is called Traditional Scandinavian Knitting.

Norwegian Knitting Designs by Annichen Sibbern Bohn is no longer in print.  If you can get your hands  on a copy, it is a little gem of a book.

The newest addition to my Scandinavian knitting book library is, Setesdal Sweaters: The History of the Norwegian Lice Pattern by Annemor Sundbo.  Torridal Tweed.  2001.  Available from Schoolhouse Press.

I found some photos of my first Norwegian Drop Shoulder Sweaters and other Elizabeth Zimmermann designs.

Our Family at home in 1984 with everyone wearing my handknits.  Bob is wearing EZ's Hand to Hand.  I am wearing a Norwegian Luskofte.  Torben is wearing an Aran Vest.  Nils and Peter are wearing raglan sweaters with a texture pattern in the yoke, made using the EPS. (Elizabeth Zimmermann Percentage System.)

In front of our old house where we lived for 25 years.  (Sniff.)

Torben age 9 in his Norwegian Lus Vest. 1987



Torben age 10 in another Norwegian Style Drop Shoulder Sweater. 1988



Stranded Knitting Tutorial

Needle Notes

My finished project turned out lousy (groan).  These are the felted Baby Slippers from Knitting at Home by Leanne Prouse, a book that was reviewed in Episode 29.  Bronwyn helped me with the Bickford method of sewing the pieces together.  They should probably go through the washing machine again but nothing is really going to help that colorwork. Felting is really not my thing but I'm going to attempt the French Press Slippers before throwing in the towel.

After Mom fell my Norwegian Sweater went into hibernation for a week.  I started on a new project (shawl) which I will share next week.  I also picked up a pair of socks that had been in hibernation since June.

In the Piping Circle

Bruce Gandy, World Champion Piper, plays a set from his album My Father's Son.  Order the CD from Bruce's website.  Thank you, Bruce Gandy!

Thank you for listening to the podcast and for visiting the blog!