Pillar and Web

This is another stitch mentioned in Found Poetry as a stitch with a poetic name. Certainly there is a sense of mystery about the name.  Where are the pillars?  Who is caught in the web? The stitch itself has never really "spoken" to me.  Here it is from Daniela Forconi's site.

But in rethinking it especially with this sense of mystery, I can see some possibilities. Maybe for some simple lace faggotting on under garments or frills on shells.  Here is my photo take.  It's not that lacey.  Well, maybe the branches are, but they are rigid as is the fence (web). I was trying to catch in the photo a woodpecker - hope that you can see him - on a rather cold day in February.

Maybe the stitch would also work for a cowl in chunky yarn for those cold winter days, then the pillars, like the trees, would be strong, yet graceful and the web would keep the warmth in and the cold out, as a fence would protect an area. Now what about the birds? Would you add a feather or two to your design to give it a little mystery, like a Dream Catcher.

Now I could go on about catching the mystery of dreams in lace, with maybe a lovely hand painted yarn - suddenly a rather plain stitch has become amazing.

In case you missed the bird here he is.

Catch a dream today!!

Syncopated Brioche

Here is another pretty knitting stitch with a lovely poetic name - Syncopated Brioche.  Remember the song Syncopated Rhythm, well here it is in yarn.

This stitch has a lot of texture and movement.  Here are my photo takes on Syncopated Brioche. The picture above is from the Barbara Walker site.

Cherry in Spring

Blossoms and leaves give a lot of texture and movement to trees.  Adding a second colour to this brioche stitch or adding beads would give it a floral "feel."  Here is another in blue.

Scilla in Spring

I love blue and green together and the texture here is very inviting. Again adding beads to the Brioche Stitch would really enhance this texture. 

I am working on some lace scarves base on the seasons. This picture of Scilla is my inspiration for one of my two Spring ideas - Showers and Flowers.  I have almost finished Showers and thanks to doing some test knitting for Vogue designer Lynette Meek, I will finish my scarf with a "mock crochet" stitch.

Pictures soon!!!

Have an enhanced day!

All Fool's Welt...

I have been writing up knitting stitches and combining them with photography to show how these stitches relate to "life." Not that knitting has to actually relate to life - it can be an escape from life or a distillation of life.  We can capture a "moment" in knitting - particularly in lace - just as we can capture a moment in photography.

Here is the first one -

All Fools' Welt...
...or Wager Welt.  This is a plain and very simple pattern based on garter stitch and stocking stitch. It's found in Barbara Walker's first treasury of knitting stitches.  Barbara includes an anecdote about the stitch, as well. From looking at the stitch, it's difficult to tell in an 8 row repeat how many rows are purled. The French called it Puzzle Stitch and the Germans called it Dispute Stitch. The English, however, believing that only a fool would not know the answer called it All Fools' Welt.

Here is the stitch from the Barbara Walker site. It looks like 3 rows of garter stitch and 3 rows of stocking stitch. To produce the 3 rows of garter stitch, you would knit 5 rows. For the 3 rows of stocking st, you would, Knit the first row, purl the return row and then knit the next row.  The pattern then goes into garter stitch again and so you would knit the return row.  Got the answer? 1 row is purled.

Here is my photo take on the stitch.

These are Christmas lights in Barcelona.  To me they look a little like rows of garter stitch interspersed with stocking stitch at least for the first and second set of lights. Winter celebrations also include the "Lord of Mis-Rule Day" and slap stick pantomimes - so I guess the name All Fools fits in here too.

Celebrate today!!