A Bluestocking Knits

The Knitter’s Almanac projects for February are snuggly babies’ things, a simple blanket, a mat or sleeping bag, a jacket and matching hat, and footed leggings.  I made a throw/shawl to Elizabeth’s baby blanket pattern here a few years ago, for my sister, in one of those fortunate coincidences where I had a lot of yarn and Christmas was coming up and I saw the photo and put one and one and one together.  I used a plain black wool I’d had stashed in a box under the bed for far too long, and I tried the Gull Stitch Elizabeth recommends, which is very pretty indeed.  It made a very handsome throw, if I may say so myself.  And another shawl that I made (ostensibly for Laura when she was born, but to be honest, I kept it for myself) was inspired by this, too, although using the Old Shale charted out by Martha Waterman.

I definitely approve of Elizabeth’s views on colors for babies.  Soft heather-grey — "especially if you incorporate some white around the edge of the bonnet" — navy blue, greenish-blue Shetland.  "And what’s wrong with scarlet?"!  (I seem to recall making one of these double-knit mats in a dashing peacock blue.  This was, as it happens, my first introduction to double knitting.)  The traditional pastel pinks and blues are all right in their way, but I’m always impressed by the less-traditional things that folks come up with for babies.

"Our favorite longies are those on which we used up odd remnants of wool.  A green pair has a cute grey color-pattern at the calf, and then becomes steel-grey for the feet.  A navy pair has a white pattern at the knees and scarlet calves and feet.  They must actually be seen on young legs for their true charm to become apparent." ("Thrift and conservation are in the wind: how delightful to find that using up wool-remains improves the appearance of our finished product"!)

New technique for this month: knitting from the top down.  Frankly, I’m a bit surprised that I’ve never done this; there must be dozens of patterns in my collection alone.  But I’ve always been a bit leery — like with cutting — that it just looks upside-down.  Well … I will let Elizabeth take me by my lily-white hand and lead me over the water.  The Gull pattern does look nice upside-down, too, I’ll say that.  And personally, I am always grateful to those designers who, like Elizabeth, arrange things so that the fiddly bits of a pattern stitch are on one round and the other round is the "mindless and relaxing one" of knitting all the way!

This is the merino left over from Ene’s Scarf.  I also appreciate what Elizabeth has to say about wool.  While I understand that some people really do have an allergy to certain fibers, others object to wool simple because they’ve succumbed to the notion that wool is hard to wash, and so I find very amusing Elizabeth’s underhanded methods for dealing with those stubbornly ignorant of the "warmth and comfort of wool": "If I were stuck with a child allergic to wool I would become very sneaky: I would make it a sweater of orlon or whatever, into which I would knit one color-pattern of wool. If this were received and worn without carping comment, I would increase the dose — next sweater, two patterns, next one, three.  After twenty sweaters — in theory, at least — I would have a nice normal wool-wearing child.  At least I would have tried.  If caught at my fell deed, I could always say that the particular color I wanted was only available in wool."  "Pass by the synthetic yarn department, then, with your nose in the air."  Synthetics have come a long way since 1974, it must be admitted, and I am not so much a snob that I refuse to work with synthetics on principle, but I do love natural fibers the best, by far.

And this just makes me laugh: "My special technique for car-cat-naps is to sit bolt upright, and let the chin drop down as far as it can on the chest, relaxing all neck-muscles.  My reflexes are now so conditioned that this pose sends me to sleep almost immediately; the head doesn’t loll, the mouth doesn’t open degradingly, and I like to think that there is no snoring, although the family is in a conspiracy to tell me that I always snore, which is plain nonsense."