The August chapter of the Knitter’s Almanac describes some "fiddle-faddle" that Elizabeth came up with while camping, Christmas ornaments "based on the principle that knitting will hump itself up when it is consistently decreased at the same spot."
This will, in fact, be a knitted Christmas tree! All of this chapter’s projects — a tree, a star, and an angel — are indeed small and portable enough to take on an outing, whether camping or merely picnicking. Very economical, too — bits and bobs of wool left over from another project, just about anything, really, because who says that your Christmas tree has to be green?!
"The more you do a thing, the more ways you find of doing it — if you keep an open mind, that is. Quite often the new ways are improvements." Elizabeth found that the usual slip-knot at the beginning of a cast-on was just niggly enough for her to look for a different way of doing it: "Simply lay the wool over the righthand needle where it will form the first stitch. Grasp the wool-ends with the left hand, spread thumb and forefinger between them, and proceed as usual. The knot is done away with and the join much neater." A while ago, not long after I started using the long-tail cast-on instead of the cable cast-on I’d used for years, I modified this to something that was a bit easier for me to work with: make a U-shape at the point where the tail end is long enough, hold this in your left hand, stick the needle down through the loop, and twist the end of the needle upwards. This will cross the yarn around the needle, holding it firmly enough to start the cast-on stitches.
And a nice little bit of August, for these last few days of summer before school starts next week: "Last night, the moon — three-quarters full — reflected herself in the water behind the triple twisted cedar as in a Japanese print. This morning, the print has changed; all the further shores have disappeared, the sun is seen only as a pale radiance, and sky and water have merged and mingled. Tall rushes next to the fireplace mirror themselves unwaveringly in the glassy lake, making one perfect circle, some pointed eggs, and some funny triangles. Slowly, to the scent of coffee, the radiance turns to a silver sun doubled by its own reflection, and the opposite shore appears through the haze. Clearly, another perfect day is coming up."
