Start Them Early

I usually have small stack of fresh books around for pleasure and inspiration. Recently I checked out Morehouse Farm Merino Knits from our local library's commendable collection of fiber arts books. The author, Margrit Lohre, talks about growing "up in Switzerland where knitting was part of the school curriculum". In our world of mass production we have lost many valuable skills. We can no longer pass them down because we never learned them. Parent's have lost something that greatly affects how they and their children spend time together. This seems a tragedy and I believe that it has had undesirable effects on society. I can't change the world but I can change my world.

Our 14 year old daughter and I have spent the last decade learning some of these 'lost' skills together. She has learned knitting, crocheting (better than me), spinning, weaving, sewing, quilting and many other skills along with me. Actually, she has been knitting longer than I. She can knit a pair of socks and darn them too! I thought I would share her current project with you. She is learning to knit two socks at once on one circular needle using 2-at-a-time socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.

I am working very hard at finishing my husband's sweater, but alas, he also is in desperate need of a new pair of socks. And of course since receiving his first pair of hand knit socks he is loathe to wear a store bought pair. So our industrious daughter graciously offered to knit a pair of socks for her dad as she was anxious to learn this new technique.

Though I prefer to work exclusively with natural fibers, my husband needs a more durable blend so that we're not darning his socks within a month of coming off the needles. I ordered Yarn for Sox from WEBS. Our daughter patiently followed the author's suggestion to knit a mismatched pair of toddler socks while we waited for our sock yarn to arrive. She will need to knit another pair of mismatched socks so that we will have two matching pair.

Our yarn arrived quickly and she started knitting her Dad's socks. Having a preference for finer wools this blend felt rough to her. Hopefully the socks will last a lot longer and be worth the sore fingers in the end.

We have enjoyed the time spent learning these skills and using them together. I know I can trust her with projects that I don't have enough time for or to come up with a quick handmade gift in a pinch. She is learning skills that she will hopefully use for the rest of her life and pass on. Though she is very capable, she shows her excitement and respect for my skills by trying to lay claim to just about everything I make! Knitting has been an invaluable part of our relationship and I hope that it will continue to be.

Teach a young person to knit. A lot more than a pair of socks may come of it!

Knitting as Cognative Excercise

Just ran across an interesting article on how knitting and other activities may delay memory loss. I'm sure that this is common sense for most of us. Exercise your body and it will probably last longer. Exercise your mind and it will probably work better for longer too. Nevertheless I suppose it is good for a doctor to do a study so that those who have not considered this will.

Here's the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7896441.stm

Interestingly the study suggested to me that if you knit and watch TV at the same time or maybe in somewhat equal amounts, that these activities (one active, one passive) cancel each other out. Maybe.

What could one take away from this? Consider tossing the tube. Our family did this years ago and it has not been missed. I spent more time reading, painting, drawing and eventually took up knitting and hand felting.

I know that most people would probably consider this extreme but consider this. While they are sitting around later in life trying to remember what they're supposed to be doing, I'll be teaching my grandchildren how to knit.

Small Felted Box with Lid

I'm into containers lately. Places to store things. Baskets and boxes made from natural materials are the preferred choice (no plastic please). It is best if the container has a lid so you don't have to see what's in there all the time.

I was looking for a quick project and thought to knit and felt a small container for myself. (I needed a break from my husband's black sweater.)

A quick look at some of my favorite knitting sites did not yield any patterns for a lidded container so I decided to write one. Here it is for you to try. Let me know what you think.

Small Felted Box with Lid

Note about yarn: I used Lamb's Pride because I had some in my stash but a less hairy yarn would be preferable for this project.

Materials:
Bulky wool yarn (about 40yds)
Small amount of heavy worsted or bulky wool yarn in contrasting or toning color for trim
Three buttons about 5/8” in diameter and thread to match main color

Sewing needle

Needles:
Size 11 or 13 double pointed needles
Size M or N crochet hook
(Note: Gauge is not especially important since the piece will be felted in the washer.)

Finished measurements after felting:
Approximately 5”long x 5”wide x 2”deep

Box:
Using double pointed needles CO 14.
Knit 18 rows in Stst.
Leaving stitches on the needle pick up 14 from other three sides.
Knit 10 rounds.
BO all stitches. Weave in ends.

Lid:
Using double pointed needles CO 15.
Knit 19 rows.
BO all stitches. Weave in ends.

Trim:

Using crochet hook and contrasting/toning yarn single crochet around the top edge of box and edge of the lid (about 3 chain stitches for every 4 knitted stitches). Next crochet a loop of 10 chain stitches in the center front of the lid and two loops of the same size on the back of the lid about 3sts from each corner. (You could also crochet loops at the same time as the trim. Just be sure the loop begins and ends in the same stitch.) Weave in ends.

Felting (or fulling):

Put the box and lid in the washer (preferably front-loading) and run for the full wash cycle. Check the size and pull into shape. You may need to run it through another cycle or part of a cycle checking the size periodically. When the box reaches the desired size, put it back in the washer for one rinse and then spin.

Pull the box and lid into shape and lay flat to dry.

Sew on the buttons and your box is finished.

Men's Cambridge Jacket

This is currently the biggest project I have going. I have been working on it for months now (mostly because I have not really been working on it). However, my husband is a good husband and deserves a hand knit sweater so I am working on it in earnest now.

This project began because my husband needed a replacement for a favorite sweater. He wore this sweater to rags, really. It was a fine knit boiled wool jacket with a front zipper that was purchased as a Christmas present at a name brand discount store. He wore it every single day. We could not find another at any store or online. So began the search for a knitting pattern.

I looked at my favorite websites, all my knitting books, every book at the library that seemed promising. Two or three weeks later I finally found the Cambridge Jacket by Ann Budd in the 2006 Summer issue of Interweave Knits.

After receiving my husband's approval of the pattern, I began to look for yarn. The winner was Eco-wool+ by Cascade. It comes in huge skeins of 478yds for about $15 and comes in dyed or natural colors. I probably would've chosen the darkest natural color which is a really dark brown but my husband really wanted black so we went with the dyed black. I usually do not like the smell of black dye and was happy to find that this yarn did not have that (toxic) odor.

I have finished the back, front left and am presently working on the front right. It knits up quickly at less than 5sts per inch on size 9 needles.

In the end I will have spent about 3-4 weeks on this long awaited gift for a deserving and patient recipient.