[linkspam] briefly, on knitting

[kaberett]

• Lucy Hague's designs various (for which I glower at lireavue in particular), feat. lots of Celtic knotwork
  
• the Endpaper Mitts, which I flung at a cousin I was also taunting with Lucy Hague's stuff, who hadn't previously seen them (and which are still on my todo list...)

(As an aside: it is slowly dawning on me that my desire for PATTERNS and GOOD COLOURS, which is largely incompatible with my allergy to animal fibres in the context of knitting, might yet drag me into Learning To Quilt. I am probably going to be saved from this by the simple fact that quilts are beautiful pieces of art but there's a limit to how many of them a single person, even a single me[1], can reasonably used, such that obviously if I quilt it'll have to be to use up fabric offcuts from making Something More Useful, which... in turn makes me go "the entire concept of clothes is still Difficult" and then I nope off into the sunset without acquiring an additional hobby, which is probably all to the good, really.)

[1] I am currently routinely sleeping under: one (1) summer-weight duvet, one (1) weighted blanket, and one (1) superking winter-weight duvet folded in half because Adam doesn't want it, with occasional addition of fleece blankets and hot water bottles when I still wind up too cold to go to sleep. On memory foam, which is Known To Be Warm. In a house that we keep at a minimum of 20°C. With a self-heating body pillow that runs its own testosterone-dominant endocrine system for Greater Production Of Warms.

Comments

[recessional]

Your body really is TERRIBLE at homeostasis.

[niqaeli]

^ What M said. Like. 'Good lord,' was a thing I actually said under my breath as I read that paragraph.

[kaberett]

My total failure to learn to sleep as a child is in no small part because my parents -- not totally unreasonably -- didn't manage to spot the difference between "my feet are too cold" and "one more story/drink/etc"...

[recessional]

Also people love quilted things as gifts and they make great pillow covers, table runners, cat pads and wall hangings

[lebannen]

My friend C has discovered a charity that gives quilts as christmas presents to young people leaving care, who are less likely to have their own relatives who are in a position to give them hand-made things. This has not entirely stopped her from deciding that particular items are too nice to be given to someone else, but it has helped!

[contrarywise]

Ooh, thanks for the link to Lucy Hague's stuff, those cables are wonderful! And for reminding me about the Endpaper Mitts. It's one of my fave Eunny Jang patterns.

Have you seen/read Amy Singer's book "No Sheep for You"? Amy is famously allergic to animal fiber, and she's also a knitwear designer and the editor and publisher of knitty.com, so she's clearly found her way around that particular barrier.

I don't know how accessible unmercerized cotton yarn is in your area (Lily Sugar 'n Cream is the major brand in the States), but it's fairly cheap and comes in many colors, and knitted dishcloths or washcloths are totally a thing. They're among my favorite things to knit because they're small and interesting, practical projects that wear out after some time, so there's eventually an excuse to make more of them.

[niqaeli]

ooooh, ta! ty for the link, I need to look at all the patterns for the celtic knotwork. I have a ciruclar celtic knot I designed that I desperately want to turn into a knitting pattern, and having some extant examples of the form would be v helpful in deciding how I wish to do so!

[gumbie_cat]

I love Lucy's patterns! I've made several and have the yarn waiting for more once my brain can cope with charts again.

Lucy is doing an online talk on the 6th May which might be of interest: Translating Pictish Key Patterns into Cable-Knitting

[kaberett]

Many thanks for this link! I have passed it on to a friend who is V ENTHUSED by the Pictish cables specifically, and we have now booked tickets to Attend Together (virtually, obv) :)

[gumbie_cat]

Excellent! I'll (virtually) see you there!

[vass]

*is not helping* Tote bags and wheelchair bags and pencilcases and shirts and pillowcases and cushions and oven mitts and covers for paper journals can also be patchwork.

Re footnote: how is your thyroid these days?

[sporky_rat]

I can't get the Husbandthing to understand that if I'm cold, I can't sleep. I suspect it has something to do with my body producing plenty of heat to radiate out so he feels me as a heater.

[hydrangea]

Oh, I WANT one of those knotwork blankets! And the gloves... But for some reason it's easier to make a lace blanket than two identical gloves...

Sandnes Yarn from Norway sells a lot glorious cotton yarn in wonderful colours that are soft soft and heavy with good stitch definition. I'm making a lace sweater in a 100% cotton from them right now and it's wonnnnderful - it's going to be like walking around in a soft weight blanket.

[silveradept]

That is quite the apparatus for providing sufficient warms.

[frith_in_thorns]

I made Lucy Hague's Ishneich shawl a while ago, it was good fun, very well-written clear pattern (and I didn't even much enjoy cables as a general rule at that time!) https://www.ravelry.com/projects/frith/ishneich