The Group of Seven still lives!!!!

Look!!!! UFOs (the ones with aliens, not the ones with yarn and sometimes needles attached which you might find stuffed into the back of the closet if you're like me) have descended upon Toronto!!! The Group of Seven just came in on those, I swear to you (the large one must be the Mother Ship).



Er... I'm jesting, really. This is my (extremely lame, even worse than usual!) attempt to photograph the buttons I bought yesterday for JJ's cardigan in progress. I won't show you the photo taken without the flash because it looks like mouse dung (and, having lived in 15 apartments in Toronto since I moved here 16 years ago, I have a really good sense of what that looks like!).

Now for some (slightly) better photos: my Mason-Dixon Knitting Miniature Series. (a.k.a. the Group of Seven. I really hope I don't get visited by seven irate male paint stained ghosts during my sleep...).


It was originally supposed to be the Group of Nine but my ADHD kicked in even sooner than usual.

All of the below were knitted using Svale Stork fingering cotton (lovely stuff, highly recommended!) and 2.5 mm doublepointed bamboo needles (no casualties - yippee!). They were then mounted on little 4"x4" canvases. JJ will be earning his dinner tomorrow evening by putting them up during the day while I'm at work.

And here they are in clockwise order from the top right corner (how organized am I?!?)

1. Baby Nina Shawl
This is the my original modification of it - my mother's Christmas present last year.

2. Baby Baby Moderne

Here is my full-size version of this blankie (knitted with Bernat Handicrafter yarn sometime in mid-late 2006):

I'm not big on the colours (aside from the red) but they were what were plentiful (at Zellers) and cheap. This was my first blanket and I didn't know if I'd go the whole distance, so didn't want to shell out big cash.

3. Baby Curve of Pursuit

This is an absolutely wonderful pattern by Pat Ashforth of Woolly Thoughts. I truly believe that everyone should try knitting one of her afghan patterns at least once. There are dozens to choose from!

This is my Baby Curve right smack dab in the centre of my large Curve.
4. Ballband Warshcloth

I have never knitted a real warshcloth. Until I knit this one, I had been firm that I never, ever would (never say never!) However, as you may recall I've done two high-falutin' artistic versions: A Woman's Work no. 1 and A Woman's Work... #2.

5. Baby Baby Kimono

Again, I've never knit the full-sized version. I'm not around babies all that much - well, never. Probably a very lucky thing for them.

6. Circle of Fun

Here is the mini-version of this lovely rug.
I haven't made it full size - although one day I think I will (I would use Brown Sheep Burly spun or Bulky rather than anything else doubled). However, I did adapt the centre pattern for my Pinwheel Blankie.
This poor blankie was cut down (or bleached) in the prime of its life by some chickenhead who lives in this building and believes it's a good idea to put an entire bottle of Javex in during the wash cycle. I got that washing machine immediately after (and there were quite a few more casulaties, trust me). A pox on his/her head!!!

And, finally (in my inimitable "couldn't take a good photo to save my life" fashion - this time I'm blaming the fact that it is dark these days both when I leave work and when I come home):

7. A baby log cabin square

The true colours are something between this:
...and this:



This was my first stab at this concept:


(It has been gifted to Holly Ogre together with some Smarties and Terry's chocolate orange. Maybe if Holly's feeling nice today she'll post a comment linking you to the photo of the full-size version on her blog...)

... and this was my second stab at it (with Fleece Artist Curlilocks and wool slub from one of their afghan kits. I got sick of the yarnovers.)

So, that's all, folks!!!

Oh, not quite (you didn't think I was going to let you off the hook that easily, did you?) I know you'll be shocked, but I did end up going back to the LYS today and acquiring the lemon yellow Super 10...

... and some in a lovely fuschia/purply colour besides. It was on deep discount, so I actually saved money!!! (yes, keep talking, Evil Kristina...).

And, in parting, I'm sure you'll all be thrilled to learn that today marks the 17th anniversary of the resignation of the Iron Lady (now Baroness Thatcher) as Prime Minister of Britain. I've decided that when I grow up, I want to be a Baroness too..."Baroness Brouhaha" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

good things come in small packages...

... and I guess I just struck upon the title for my next art installation - part of the cliche series! Who knew?

I have a confession to make up front. A couple of years back, I had occasion to meet a friend's mother-in-law. From what I had already gathered, the mother-in-law was the one that all those jokes have been written about - and I can't honestly say I was disabused of this notion when I met her.

The only positive thing that I learned about her was that she did crafts. Specifically, she tsked when I took out my knitting (I was working on something with 4.5 mm needles if I remember correctly and said "I don't know how anyone can work with those huge knitting needles."

Huh?

Turned out that she, too, was a knitter. Only, her knitting took one very specific form. She made doll clothes with needles fashioned out of ... piano wire!!!

JJ was present at the gathering, and nearly lost half a pint of Keith's through his nose at this statement. This was good for little inside jokes for the next week between the two of us - speculating on mothers-in-law and garottes, for the most part. Example: one day I came home from work to find my WIP missing. In its place, I located two long strips of the wire JJ uses to tie up plants, stuck through a swatch with a note reading: "Don't mention the war".


The worst part of it is, I actually got this joke!

But I digress. What is the confession? That I made fun of this woman for making miniature clothing for her dolls.

And now what am I doing? Making nine miniatures (not one, mark you, not two... nine!) derived from the Mason-Dixon knitting book.

But not with piano wire! (although it might as well be - 2.5mm doublepointed bamboo needles).

The photo shown right at the top of this post is a picture of the Baby Baby Moderne I just made, together with his grandparent, the Baby Moderne. I'd like to be able to tell you that the blurriness in the photo was intentional... but that would be lying to you.
Here is it, by itself and it is 3.75" x 3".

Next up: the Circle of Fun rug.
This one is approx. 4.25" diametre. And I'm here to tell you that the Circle is not so "fun" when one is trying to knit with two strands of yarn on skinny bamboo needles - especially when one has a history of breaking them. How I suffer for my art!

This is the first modified version of this pattern I made last year sometime:

And, last but not least: the Nina shawl.


It is 4" x 2". This was my original version I made last year for my mother (I had doubled the pattern width to make a blanket.

And actually, knitting the baby Nina reminded me that I actually want to knit a full-sized Nina shawl for myself. Maybe if I start this week I can finish it by the time we leave for England. I'm always looking for an excuse to buy more Super 10 mercerised cotton...

Um, er... well, maybe I'd best hit the stash first.

I've put my freeform project on hold for the time being. I figure that doing freeform fragments will make an excellent travel project. JJ has forbidden me to bring knitting on our overseas Christmas/New Year's trip but he said nothing about a crochet hook. Nor yarn, for that matter.

And, on the topic of crochet, I'm going to be trying out the pageboy cap from here soon, I think (having located the yarn I bought for it mixed in with the Super 10 stash - it's right at the front of the photo).

So, no silly walking to the LYS for me, I guess!

Back to my minatures (three to go). In parting, I'll note that four years ago today, the Concorde made its last trip. I wish it hadn't. I'm not certain yet how I am going to cross the Atlantic without smoking. Hmm... perhaps that's why JJ didn't want me to take knitting needles - he might reasonably fear getting stabbed by me in a nicotine-deprived pique!!