retro

here is a picture of the first garment i ever knitted. a retro tunic it is called on the online yarn store that sells it. it is made out of unspun icelandic and mine was red and navy blue. the yarn was brushed up after knitting and i was proud as a pope after knitting it at the tender age of twelve. i also remember knitting another sweater in garter stitch from cuff to cuff for my sister in two brown shades. i even remember the model wearing it. her name was pia tryde and she was the model at that time. now she must be about 63 and hopefully she has kept her lovely ingrid bergman looks.

i have been thinking so much about my childhood and my parents these past few weeks and what they gave me. it was quite a lot. good mostly. but my mother (whose initials were ez) certainly gave me the joy of knitting. we spent hours watching table and she had a drawer in her coffee table where she kept her knitting. it was quite big and made for the purpose. i don't think my mother stopped knitting until 2 weeks before she died. i kept the yarn and her knitting for years but must have thrown it away somewhere along the line. it doesn't really matter.

and i realise that i am related to so many avid knitters. my maternal grandmother knitted, my fraternal grandmother knitted norwegian mittens and socks and had such an ez take on knitting. my aunt on my mothers side knitted a little but was a very talented brodeuse. and my father's two sisters knit. i hope to get the chance once to go to knitting camp with my father's youngest sister in colorado. or just join her in her knitting group for a wee moment.

a few days ago i got an email from her granddaughter in illinois. and she has a flickr page.... mystery shawl, hedera, socks that rock.... a small world isn't it?????

finally

i have threated with showing my saddle shoulder aran for a long time now. and here it finally is. i am very pleased with the sweater and love the place the photo shoot took place. it is denmark at it's best.
stats:

13 balls of classic elite skye tweed, upland green
needles 3½, 4 and 4½ mm.
pattern: meg swansen's saddle shoulder aran

i did as meg said in the pattern and like so often before with the zimmermann family patterns i figured out what to do as i went. i knit on with confidence. well this maybe applies more for the first saddle shoulder i knit for my nephew and which was so terribly wrong-sized.

the yarn is beautiful beyond belief, and like many other bloggers i pester myself for not having bought a little bit more before it went out of the market. some find this yarn very scratchy and it is definitely not malabrigo but i love the texture and feel.

the cables are ribbed cable, fishbone, sheepfold, and staghorn. the arrangement of staghorn and ribbed cable is stolen from alice starmore's inishmore.

all i can say is, if you haven't knitted it yet, do sometime in the future. it is genius.

thank you

first of all. thank you for all your nice words regarding my father's death. it warmed me very much. now we have the funeral over and done with and a home that needs to be closed down. it is now the family home but a place where he went to live around 10 years ago.
it was a beautiful funeral. we had chosen roses in all colours for the coffin and it looked lovely. the priest made a lovely speak and he was such a good choice since he knew my mom and dad when they were young and hence it became very personal.

and there has been knitting. the fishtrap is proceeding wonderfully. i have always been in lovely with this pattern that reminds me of woodcarvings or something like that. it is not very difficult and the canadian regal makes the cables stand out very well. it is quite scratchy though. but i like this kind of scratchy yarn much more than soft processed yarn. i think it will last a lifetime.

after this project i plan to knit na craga in cascade heathers. i bought the yarn for a sweater for my dad but now i am going to knit it for andrés, the hubby of my niece, and alba's dad. he is such an aran man to look at.

and look at my turkish socks. they were bought in turkey some 50 years ago. my grandparents lived there and my parents and siblings were invited there on holiday. it was so unusual to go somewhere like that in that time. they made an article about it in the local newspaper.

i think they are beautiful stockings knitted on ultra small needles on an ultra tight gauge. the colours really stand out and they can serve as inspiration for something.

a sad time

i have been having a lot of heartache and problems lately. my 83 year old father fell in his home and was taken to hospital where everything went rapidly downhill. he passed away tuesday morning and i have been busy informing friends and family and getting a priest (his cousin) and things like that. tomorrow my siblings and i are going to his house to see what needs to be done. the funeral is scheduled to wednesday.

in a time like this i cannot begin to say how much i enjoy knitting. there is something that doesn't ask anything or demand anything. i have started a fishtrap cardi for my nephew. the yarn is briggs little: canadian regal. i enjoy the roughness of this yarn enormously and it actually blooms and softens up when washed. as elizabeth says: knit on with confidence and hope through all crises.