Inside of diamonds.

Its the end of January,  and that means the coldest barest month of the winter is over.  But I’ll take a thousand Januaries, for the rain and cold means the watershed is potent on the mountain, promising a verdant landscape in spring and water trickling through into the heat of summer, pushed down and flowing somewhere deep beneath the forest.  The days are warming up a little, and in a week the fields will be solid yellow with mustard flowers, which are already beginning to bloom!

I am in need of a break, feeling quite assaulted with lace knitting & difficult chart writing, but in the nick of time I’ve recalled the quote from Elizabeth Zimmerman,  and remembered it being a revelation a few years ago in  in this post .   To me this quote of EZ’s is a diamond jewel for staying out of the mindset of crazy perfectionist thinking, reminds me there are no knitting police,  and even though my lace may sometimes be riddled with mistakes,  I can surely hope from my forthcoming pattern, yours will be a flawless veil of heirloom-worthy stitches that you can be proud of,   for that is my first desire,  truly.

In closing, I hope you enjoy this incredibly masterful, energetic, and artful performance film of Mahan Esfahani and his harpsichord.  I’ve got a few more Variations queued up for you, so as long as you don’t mind listening, I don’t mind posting them, until at some point there will be a logical destination for all of them.

Its Only Knitting

I’ve been busy as a bee working away on my designs, coming up with new ones and further test-knitting my existing ones.  Add now tutorials.  I have gotten to the point in the whole knitting Thing where I really don’t have time or energy to put into anything which is not my own design.  I really can’t regret this , because whether or not I endeavor to write the design into a pattern, I’ve just come to face the fact that I have to make up for lost time.  I’ve embraced Indie Design, and am committed to wear ‘all of the hats’ in the job, and I’m ready for a lot of hard work ahead. The more I tell myself this the more I want to work like an ox towards succeeding. However, the elusive truth often escapes me, and that is ” Its only knitting. ”   A quote of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s used by over-zealous knitters everywhere.  Although it is ‘only knitting’ ,  I am practically ‘only knitting’. I have little chalkboards I’ve made which I’ve placed in prominent places of my work space ,  with lists or sage messages to give me perspective, and I use them to keep my focus clear wherever I turn.  Today’s brilliant message . . .

Michigan Winter

The His & Hers Michigan Winter Pullovers are finished !

Interesting improvisations I’ve done, with ‘His’ v-neck.  I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to do it, never having done it before.  But now I think it looks very unique ~ steeked on the body, then after shirt-yoke was finished up to the steek in front, I transfered the live stitches on to waste yarn while I continued the yoke across back to be grafted together. Finally I cut the steek, and then picked up the steek stitches , back edge, and live stitches all around for a K2/P2 rib.

‘Hers’ crew style neck was a cake walk !  I really love the tweedy look for these, sparkling with flecks of buff, browns, black, ivory, and occasional bright-colored Donegal nebs.   I wonder do they do look a little long in the arms?  Yeah, I guess, partly because they are sagging a bit off of the hangers (I know, not the ideal way to display a handknit garment such as these) however, I assure you these sweaters were custom measured, and I stayed true to the wearers’ measurements, but I believe I added an inch (or two) to the sleeves to ensure they weren’t too short, and the end result is, well, much longer sleeves. But we’ll see when they are slipped on Him & Her.

Here is the back !

Just look at that spectacular design of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s,

the seamless shirt-yoke . . .

A close-up detail of how the decreases go into the yoke. . .

Another (rather fuzzy) close-up of moi’s wild improvisational work. . .

And I just love, love, love the two-stitch cord bind-off on the rib. . .

Lastly,  my mark !

I like to sew on the label just above the rib, in the back . . .

Now these his & hers pullovers get shipped to Michigan, to keep warm two very dear young homesteaders,  Rosanna & Felix , in their first year of settling & farming,  undoubtedly shivering in their yurt, in the soon-to-be snowy winter landscape.  Not without a herd of goats, flock of chickens, geese, and a manic farm dog to chase after !

Rosanna & Felix

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Yarn : Knit Picks Wool Of the Andes Tweed ( 80% Peruvian Highand wool, 20% Donegal Tweed) . Worsted weight.

Needles: size US#8 circular.

Pattern :  Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Seamless Shirt Yoke sweater,  in “Knitting Without Tears” ~  somewhat modified throughout.

 Details on Ravelry here

All posts about this project here

The Genius of Elizabeth Zimmermann

Here is Michigan Winter ‘Hers’ in the home stretch, about to be washed & blocked.

Just look at that lovely switching of direction of the grain in the knitted fabric !  All knitted in, seamlessly, and very tidy.  Isnt’ it just so exquisitely clever ? Just wonderful is the Elizabeth Zimmermann Shirt Yoke seamless sweater design ! I have done things a bit differently overall, but stayed true through the shirted yoke section at least, because that is the element of design I’ve wanted to learn. And learn I did. And I love, love, love the EZ Seamless Shirt Yoke !!!!

Am finishing off the neck with something different for me, as edge for a K2/P2 rib, I’m trying a 2-stitch i-cord bind-off ! Yes, the highly esteemed and beloved Elizabeth Zimmermann  ~ Mother of Modern Knitting ~ is responsible for this knit-trick of the “i-cord” , and brought it into the limelight with so many of her designs, as applied, cast-on, bind-off, and anything in between. I don’t know why people just don’t refer to it as the ‘ EZ cord’ , or even the E-cord (for Elizabeth). I think I shall for fun. (call it the e-cord). I’m going to just ‘toss one on’ each of these neck finishes as a bit of an afterthought,  because quite frankly… Everybody’s Doing It !

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Edit in :  Both His & Hers sweaters are all done, washed, blocked. Need to just sew on the “hand-knit by Jennifer” labels,  photograph & post final pictures of them…. then send them off to Mr & Mrs  Homesteaders in Michigan.  Yay… done & dusted !  I am off for a celebratory walk in the cold post-rainy mossy green woods, and I’ll be bringing my knitting of course.   C’mon Emma, lets go stir up them giant salamanders !

Nora’s Birthday Sweater

Is Finished! After carrying on about i-cord, and deliberating over buttons, then giving the last finishing touches…

At long last this little sweater can go to it’s wee little child.  In fact, her birthday is just three days before Easter this year, and it *does* happen to look very much like a painted Easter egg!