A Bluestocking Knits

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    Chemo Caps

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    I have a dear friend who will be starting chemotherapy for breast cancer in a couple of weeks, and so naturally my thoughts quickly turned to knitted comforts.  Fortunately, in a way, my experience with chemo is limited to one person in my family — also breast cancer, like my friend — but since it was high summer in Southern California during her worst weeks, she felt most comfortable without anything atal on her head, and so doesn’t have much advice about patterns or yarns.  If anyone has suggestions, I would be most grateful!

    I’ve been admiring Grumperina’s lovely Odessa for some time, in and of itself, and so that was the first thing that came to my mind.  Grumperina used RYC Cashsoft DK, and I even happen to have some on hand, in a beautiful thundery grey, very "Scottish autumn," as per the request.  But I’ve read in a couple of places that wool is not recommended for chemo caps, and so I hesitate — Cashsoft being a merino/microfiber/cashmere blend.  There is also Shedir in Knitty’s Breast Cancer Awareness issue from a few years back, and I think that Rowan’s Calmer would be a wonderful cloud-soft choice.  My friend thinks that perhaps something close-fitting, as these both are, would be uncomfortable, but I wonder if something loose wouldn’t stay on very well, once the hair isn’t there to help hold it on.

    There is definitely a consensus on the internet about seamlessness — understandable in the circumstances.  But what about the wool? and washability?  Does the luxuriousness of Calmer and Cashsoft outweigh the dreariness of handwashing things when one is not up to it?

    There are, by the way, lots of free knit and crochet patterns for chemo caps at Head Huggers (which also accepts donated caps for distributing to patients of all ages), and links to patterns here from Dallas/Fort Worth Fiber Fest — I’ve also found a fancier hat at KnitPicks (which might work in Calmer…) and a rather fetching toque here, too.

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    Knitting the “Knitter’s Almanac”: A Shawl, Good Travel Knitting

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    July is not, I’m afraid, Travel-Month for us — but I can see, as Elizabeth makes a point of telling us in this month’s Knitter’s Almanac chapter, that shawls make good travel knitting.  "First of all, fine wool takes up little space, but affords plenty of actual knitting.  Secondly, a circular needle can hardly get lost unless you pull it out by main force and cast if from you."  You can even store the current ball of yarn in the little "bag" made by the growing shawl on a circular needle!

    The Pi Shawl is possibly Elizabeth Zimmermann’s most well-known design — a quick internet search yields 47,500 hits, from projects on individual knitting blogs to knitalongs to kits from dozens of vendors.  Based, of course, on the geometric relationship of the circumference of a circle to its radius, the Pi Shawl is one of those things that seems so obvious that you wonder why no-one had ever done it before.  The circumference of a circle doubles as its radius doubles — thus, doubling both the number of stitches and the number of rows between increase rounds will get you a shawl that shapes itself neatly and efficiently into an ever-larger circle.  Brilliant, and brilliantly simple.

    "Need it be said that the first and most important step is to choose the best material available?"

    Pi_1

    Mine is Koigu KPPPM in shade P305, a rather sedate (for Koigu) blend of lavendars, purples, and greys.  It was a coincidence that it matches this month’s Project Spectrum palette, but a happy one, to be sure!  I ordered it late last summer, when I first thought of doing the Almanac — it’s the month I’ve most looked forward to, in fact.  I like both of Elizabeth’s versions, but although the one in the top picture is pretty (for those, like me, to whom it would matter, there is a slightly different version in Knitter’s Magazine Shawls and Scarves, in which the diamond and petal patterns are straightened out to align symmetrically), I thought that the concentric-circles would be more interesting with this Koigu colorway.

    One of the nice things about working from the center outwards is that in gratifyingly short order, you’ve really gotten somewhere!

    Pi_2

  • Gone Day-Camping

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    Since I didn’t do much more for Laura’s first year of Brownies other than drive her to and from meetings — and work on a few Try-Its, the Brownie equivalent of merit badges — I thought I’d jump in at the deep end and volunteer for Girl Scout Day Camp this summer.  We start tomorrow — the theme this year is Hawaii, hence the lei — and the girls are beside themselves with excitement.  (Julia gets to go too, as the Scouts have cleverly come up with "Pixies" to accommodate those moms with younger children who would otherwise be unable to volunteer.)  As it is all day, every day this week, I’m going to take a break from blogging during the event!

    Nice that some of our stuff is Project Spectrum blue, too!

  • The Blue Gallery, Scandinavian Room

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    Because there seem to be so many blues in Scandiavian art, I thought I’d devote a "room" in my imaginary museum to Scandinavian blues —

    Carllarsson_suzanne

    Carl Larsson, "Suzanne and Another" (1901), private collection.  This really speaks to me for some reason, perhaps the blue of Suzanne’s dress and her long braid, and her standing on a chair to decorate her new bedroom, the fact that she’s probably getting paint on her dress but she’s concentrating so much that she doesn’t notice.  Apparently the frieze is still there in the Larsson home in Sundborn.  ("Another" refers to the worker on the ladder outside, Carl Oscar Persson, a Sundborn local and the Larssons’ house-painter, who appears in a number of Larsson’s paintings.)

    Summereveningsouthbeachofskagen_1893

    Peder Severin Krøyer, "Summer Afternoon on the South Beach of Skagen" (1893), Skagen Museum, Denmark.  This painting is so iconic that it is almost too much so, and becomes perhaps more than a bit of a stereotype and like much of Larsson’s work quite sentimental.  But it is lovely, so filled with light and blue, that I can’t help admiring it.

    Kobke_portraitoffrederiksodring1832_hirs

    Christen Købke, "The Landscape Painter Frederik Sødring" (1832), Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen.  I adore this fellow, adore everything about this portrait, from the rather weedy little ivy plant and the pink and white striped cushion cover, the jumble of stuff on the table and wall, to his casual pose and the twinkle in his eye.

    Pskroyer_eftermiddagssologhavblik_1899_j

    Peder Severin Krøyer, "Ettermiddagssol og Havblik (Late-Afternoon Sun and Calm Sea)" (1899), Johannes Larsen Museum, Kerteminde, Denmark.  I can hardly get enough of Krøyer’s beach scenes, the light shining on the waves in this one, and the even more intense blues than usual.

    Kroyer_stenbjerg_med_marie_malende_1889

    Peder Severin Krøyer, "Stenbjerg med Marie Malende (Stenbjerg with Marie Painting)" (1889).  It’s easy to see why Skagen captivated so many artists, with its marvellous light and the spare beauty of the sand and the waves.  I can hardly wait to go there myself.

  • “Sabrina”

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    In honor of what would have been Billy Wilder‘s hundredth birthday today, I watched one of my favorite of his movies tonight, "Sabrina" with the ever-lovely Audrey Hepburn.

    Apparently, Cary Grant was the original choice for Linus Larrabee, played in the movie by Humphrey Bogart — I can’t help wishing that this had come off, as I personally would feel more likely to be torn between the two brothers, the dashing William Holden and the straight-laced (as if!) Cary Grant.  Still, it’s a charming movie, full of wit and romance, and Audrey is exquisite!

  • Some Luggage

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    Blackbird, in honor of her eagerly-awaited holiday, would like to see our luggage.  This, I must admit, is not my travel luggage, a random collection which is since our last jaunt packed away in the far reaches of the garage.  I bought this case in London, years ago when I was young and carefree.  I cannot now remember which shop — there were so many! — and it has no maker’s mark, other than a discreet "Made in Italy" tucked inside. 

    St2

    I loved its boxy lines, its way of standing open at attention, the fact that even though it is rather awkward to carry (being so wide, with the handle in the middle, causing it to bump inelegantly against my leg), it is perfect for strapping onto the back of the roadster.

    St3

    St1

    It in fact holds a part of my wool stash, and I’d gotten it down from a shelf in the closet recently to weed out the stuff that no longer speaks to me.  I’m tempted to make the case a project bag now, but it would have to be something special …

    Rycclassicgarden

  • Peacock

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    Supersock from Cherry Tree Hill, in "Peacock", to be a pair of socks for a gift.  Nothing fancy, just a 3×1 rib to enjoy the colors, which are fabulous —

    Peacockstart

  • Swing Jacket Monday (on Tuesday)

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    Welcome to new members of the knitalong, Sarah of Lieblingsgarn, and Little Jenny Wren!

    Bec writes, "I’m going to try to finish my left front later today – thanks to Suse helping me with the ‘wrap’ instruction!  That’s all I’ve done so far but it went together faster than I thought.  I will send in updates as I go too.  I’ll say thanks again for the toothpick tip as I would never have got the back pleat right without it!  Cheers –"  (I had mentioned to Bec that I use a toothpick as a cable needle, as it does the job perfectly well, stays stuck in one’s knitting, and can be lost on the bus without much financial damage.)

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    Booking Through Thursday: Characters

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    Booking Through Thursday‘s questions this week were suggested by Mary.

    Which book character(s) would you…

    1. Like to have dinner with? Captain and Mrs. Wentworth (as they would be after the end of Persuasion).
    2. Believe would be the best to help you out in a crisis? Well, an obvious choice for a good person to be stuck on a desert island with would be Robinson Crusoe!  I remember being fascinated with this book when I first read it years ago, how resourceful he was.
    3. Like to ask for an autograph?  Lucy Pevensie, perhaps?
    4. Most identify with personally? This one is difficult — there are so many!

  • A Houseplant, and a Hat

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    Pealerembrandt_rubenspealewithageranium

    This — which is Rembrandt Peale’s "Rubens Peale with a Geranium" (1801), from National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC — was supposed to be my Show and Tell a houseplant last week, since I had been so busy watering my family during the brief but blistering heatwave a few weeks ago that I forgot to water my houseplants, and they are both looking more than a little peaky at the moment.  The Peale boys’ father hoped that they would all be great artists, hence the names like Rembrandt, Raphael, Titian, and Rubens — from what I’ve seen of dad, I suspect they hardly dared not to.  I like Rubens — he has a sweet Hugh-Grant-ish look to him, and I warm to the fact that he needs two pairs of glasses.

    But hats, something we wear in the summer, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing — I have a rather disreputable straw thing which I wear in the garden when necessary, but to be honest, I rarely go out in the sun.  I can’t find my hat at the moment — hence the photo for last week’s — a few days ago it was being used as a kind of boat/hot-air balloon basket to carry Little People from one side of the living room to another, and I haven’t seen it since….

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