Flagel Knitting Files

Canada is celebrating 150 years of existence and as a part of the celebration it is sharing with the country tidbits about its history including this story  regarding the Cowichan sweater.  The article covers five little known facts about this unique sweater and is worth a read. I have written about this First Nations sweater in the past here and here .  The history of the Cowichan sweater is a story told often about peoples who have crafting skills that become financially viable.  The wool and the techniques used in knitting the Cowichan sweater fascinates me but having the story written up in the Globe and Mail, a nationally distributed paper, gives a tribute to both the Cowichan nation and to Sylvia Olsen, the author quoted in the piece. Image from sa-cinn.com Photo from shortlist.com The first photo is of an actual Cowichan sweater.  One can see the quality of the wool and the hand made look of it.  The B ig Lebowski referred to in the article is featured in the se

Dragon Tail was last written about on August 20, 2016.  It looked like this then: It was cleverly hung on the railing in just a way to show off  the work that had been done so far, but there was so much more to be done.  This 100% garter stitch pattern is so zen-like to knit.  It did give me plenty of time to perfect my flicking style of doing the knit stitch. Dragon Tail was finished last October but not without a certain twist.  In my eagerness to get this project started I didn't completely calculate how much yarn would be needed for the main colour and in the end I was short a few hundred yards.  The dark charcoal British wool compilation ran out and I decided to use a lighter gray to finish off the piece.  Here's a couple of shots of it in the backyard of one of my son's on a perfectly sunny day in early November. This shows how much more light gray yarn was needed Just hanging around on the fence One can get a sense of its overall size, which is

Having kittens around means I have had to make a few changes.  Blogging and knitting have to take place when they sleep.  I saved a bit of yesterday's blog to show you what happens when a kitten walks across the keyboard of my laptop as I write: Arne and Carlo2e4s are a pair of Norwegian knitters, designerl,mks and most importantly, textile artists creating self-patterning or 09oi7striping yarn.  ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppDuring the two hours we spent together they taught how to purl in the Norwegian way, 52er4something that you too can learn by watching minutes 7-8 of  this video . This is caused by just four paws.  They have disconnected the laptop from the internet and messed up other settings as they step on the F keys. As for knitting, the circular needles and lace weight yarn are oh so intriguing.  So rather than fighting it I just stop knitting; it is simpler to knit when they are resting.  I am choosing when to pick my battles with them and trying to fight an inst

So as I have returned to knitting this fall I decided to use bigger needles.  The smaller ones used to knit socks were part of the problem making; so with socks off the table and I moved on to toques. S9844 Hat The first one is simply called S9844 Hat designed by Arne and Carlos using Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine.  Knitting this was part of a class Arne and Carlose taught at StevenB's in Minneapolis.  (BTW SteveB's was listed as one of the top 10 knitting shops in the US by USA Today in October 2016.) Arne and Carlos are a pair of Norwegian knitters, designers and most importantly, textile artists creating self-patterning or striping yarn.  During the two hours we spent together they taught how to purl in the Norwegian way, something that you too can learn by watching minutes 7-8 of this video . If you watch any part of that video you can see what talkers they are.  We learned about their newest book called Arne and Carlos´ Field Guide to Knitted Birds , due out

Photo credit Color Palettes Each of the past several years I have shared the Pantone colour of the year.  I do this largely for myself so I better understand why certain colours are easier to find in retail stores, yarn shops and everywhere else. For 2017 this colour is Greenery, a colour according to Pantone that can be used through all four seasons of the year.  Here's the description of the colour by the head of Pantone: And if you are curious how well this colour pairs with other colours, pop over here  to see what Pantone suggests. Knowing this colour is "in" for 2017 I knit a scarf as a Xmas gift in it.  The pattern is Birch Trees by Julia Marsh, found here . The pattern is relatively clear to see You can see my iPad underneath the scarf on the left side A discontinued 70% merino and 30% baby alpaca cabled yarn from Cascade called Cloud was used.   The photo below, although not in the Greenery colour, shows the texture of the yarn better than

2016 was the Year of the Sock and indeed I made several pairs.  During the last half of the year, however, the focus had to be changed to knitting items using bigger needles, spinning or beading to give my thumbs a break.  The revised focus lead to not meeting a goal of 12 pairs of socks, but it did allow for less thumb discomfort. For 2017 I want to use Staci Perry's comment in a recent podcast as a motivator.  Staci, aka, VeryPink with all the knitting she does, has no stash.  She purchases only when she has a specific pattern in mind.  She loves wool yarn as much as anyone else, but she controls her impulse to purchase. Very Pink will fondle it, love it and then leave it in her LYS; I want to be more like that.  So 2017 will be the Year of Stash Busting.  No new purchases unless I have a project selected with which to use it. My current stash is large; I could knit for years with what I have here in greater Vancouver and there is a smaller amount in Minneapolis.  I have purc

The last four months of 2016 were full of family and friends and fun.  There were trips to the farm to see Mom and my brothers; a meeting of extended family to see Miss A in Minneapolis; a birthday party for Miss M; a family Octoberfest with homemade pretzels and all the other German fixings; the U.S. Thanksgiving and a whole lot of family dinners.  Then there were meals and outings with friends and a few knitting adventures.  I loved it all, so much so that I didn't write about it but instead savored it.  When I returned home there were two kittens who needed to be trained, to be "fixed" and who needed lots and lots of human time. But now 2017 is here and I am ready to dive back into sharing.  There are new knitting classes in my future, more shawls to knit and a couple of Xmas stockings that simply have to be completed this year.  But before I get into 2017, let me give you a photo retrospective of the months missed in 2016.  I promise there will be details to follo