mindful knitting
01/21/2007
Lenten Rose Socks by Sundara Yarn
Just knitting another sock and taking in the comfort, inspiration, moment of meditation and mindfulness that I get from knitting. Enjoying the process of creating something by hand over days and months, a pace that is at odds with much of life. I started knitting this sock weeks ago and have enjoyed watching the lace pattern take shape, round by round. I’m not sure why, because I know it’s coming, but turning the heel is always surprising and exciting.
I’ve been reading Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. To be honest, there’s information in the Updating Weldon’s Techniques chapter that I didn’t know before reading this book! Do you have a favorite Nancy Bush sock pattern?
growing
01/20/2007
back to lace
01/10/2007
French printed Barège shawls (two yards square and named after a village in the Pyrenees) were very popular. It is possible that Miss Lambert’s Barège pattern had come from France but just as likely that she was trying to emulate a current fashion as knitting.1
I’ve been knitting late each evening, working on Miss Lambert’s Spider’s-web shawl in the half hexagon size from Victorian Lace Today.
I added this book to my knitting library after reading Grumperina’s preview. I was sure I’d knit the Myrtle Leaf Shawl as my first lace project from the book, but I couldn’t stop looking at the Barège pattern by Miss Lambert. Shown in three different sizes (full hexagon, half hexagon and fichu) and three different yarns, I couldn’t resist the beauty of this stitch. I tend to overlook things like, say, knitting 117 rows of simple ray shaping to actually get to the pattern. I’ll finish Chart B tonight and should be ready to start knitting the Barège pattern tomorrow evening using size 5.5 mm needles. (The half hexagon pattern requires multiple needles sizes, going up a needle size for each chart.) The yarn is silk merino hand painted lace from Yarnahoy in color Chocolate Cinnamon.
Cross-posted at the Victorian Lace Today kal.
1 Victorian Lace Today, pg. 45
