Sooza's Knitting Stuff

 
This spring I've put five little plants of the lovely herb we call 'Waldmeister' in front of our house in the hopes of having a decorative as well as useful addition to our garden. And to my utter delight so far they are obviously thriving well in the shadowy north facing spot. Today I picked some branches, let them wilt for a bit and then dipped them into a jug of white wine/water mixture for about 30 minutes. The 'Waldmeister' gives off its particular flavour into the wine and makes a lovey 'May vine'.

Galium odoratum is a perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia. A herbaceous plant, it grows to 30-50 cm (12-20 ins.) long, often lying flat on the ground or supported by other plants. Its vernacular names include woodruff, sweet woodruff, and wild baby's breath; master of the woods is probably a translation of the German Waldmeister. It is sometimes confused with Galium triflorum and Galium verum.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_odoratum

 
The scent of lilac in bloom is everywhere right now. It's the most amazing thing. I get home, out of the car and am surrounded by this beautiful spring like scent. And lilac not only grows in gardens but also as hedgerows alongside the street. I love this time of the year.
 

 
Spring has really arrived in our neck in the woods and I am mighty glad for it. It's so lovely to see all those trees in full bloom and the hyacinths, tulips, daffodils and not to forget those pesky dandelions, which are a pain in the neck. Our little vegetable patch seems to do nicely, too. The salad peeks out and we'll hopefully complain about way too many radishes some time in near future.
 

 
Besides spring feeling there is still lots of knitting going on in the house of Sooza. The latest finished shawl I'm mightily proud of. I took the basic construction of Miralda's Triangular Shawl and added in different patterns. The pretty hearts edging is from Nancy Bush's Greta Garbo Shawl which is pictured on page 2 of my copy of "Knitted Lace of Estonia". Unfortunately the shawl pattern isn't included in the book due to space restrictions or something. So I took the photograph and charted the edging by examining it closely. Initially I wanted to fill the inner part of the shawl with the star pattern only. But somehow the Greta Garbo pattern stitch wouldn't leave me alone. So I gave in and took the basic Greta Garbo pattern stitch from Bush's book and incorporated it in the shawl.
 

 
Knitting this shawl has been tremendous fun and a great knitting adventure. Should I ever find the time I actually plan on publishing this pattern. There's been lots of requests on Ravelry. If it just wouldn't be quite as time consuming to make the charts, check the numbers, write some halfway readable instructions and put it all into a nice layout.
 

 
This has been the second time I've worked with this particular yarn and I absolutely love it. It's so different from the over-processed stuff that you can buy in your run of the mill local yarn shop. It has body and loft and blocks so nicely. And the best thing is, the un-dyed heather grey is much, much softer then the dyed yarn I've used for Miralda. Both shawls used only one skein of this light fingering weight yarn. IMO, this is the most fun you can't get out of a measely EUR 6.95.
 

 
Details
Yarn: 1 skein of Filcolana New Zealand Lammeuld, 600 m/100 g, light grey heather
Needles: 4mm
Size: 170 cm wide, 70 cm deep
Pattern: Inspired by Nancy Bush's Greta Garbo Shawl. Construction similar to Miralda's Triangular Shawl. Star pattern for shawl body from Laminaria shawl.
 
More details on the Ravelry project page.

 

Outside of the Gate

From the ice they are freed, the stream and brook,

By the Spring's enlivening, lovely look;

The valley's green with joys of hope;

The Winter old and weak ascends back to the rugged mountain slope.

From there, as he flees, he downward sends an impotent shower of icy hail

Streaking over the verdant vale.

Ah! but the Sun will suffer no white,

Growth and formation stir everywhere,

Twould fain with colours make all things bright,

Though in the landscape are no blossoms fair.

Instead it takes gay-decked humanity.

Now turn around and from this height,

Looking backward, townward see.

Forth from the cave-like, gloomy gate crowds a motley and swarming array.

Everyone suns himself gladly today.

The Risen Lord they celebrate,

For they themselves have now arisen From lowly houses' mustiness,

From handicraft's and factory's prison,

From the roof and gables that oppress,

From the bystreets' crushing narrowness, from the churches' venerable night,

They are all brought out into light.

See, only see, how quickly the masses scatter through gardens and fields remote;

How down and across the river passes so many a merry pleasure-boat.

And over-laden, almost sinking, the last full wherry moves away.

From yonder hill's far pathways blinking, flash to us colours of garments gay.

Hark! Sounds of village joy arise;

Here is the people's paradise,

Contented, great and small shout joyfully:

"Here I am Man, here dare it to be!"

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust I)

Spring is slowly making an appearance in our neck of the woods. Very slowly indeed. After a few days of sunny weather and 8°C we're back in the below zero region but thankfully no more snow on the ground. Still a bit of snow in the air and the occasional sleet shower though. Somehow winter doesn't want to let go this year.


 

 

 
Meanwhile I've discovered Russian Lace Spindles and I've been practicing support spinning for the past month or so. They are a curious thing, these support spindles. Traditionally they were used to spin very fine, short fibers like goat down for example. While in other regions spindles like these were used as hand spindles without a special support device in Russia's Orenburg region they were used with support bowls.


 
Spinning on a supported spindle requires mastery of the long draw technique. Which essentially means one hand twirls the spindle and the other hand lightly grips the fiber supply and gradually draws back from the spindle thus creating a thread. Long draw can also be used on a wheel or a suspended spindle. But this long draw and I we've never gotten along all that well in the past. Somehow it goes against the control freak in me. I've always ended up with lumpy, uneven singles that lost it's integrity halfway through the spinning process. Which was fine by me. I could always use short draw and end up with a lovely, even yarn. I've never had the patience to try long enough to maybe get better at it. But with support spindles there is no excuse. No way around learning long draw. So that's what I did. I sat back on the sofa, spinning bowl in my lap and started to practice long draw.


 
The thing with long draw is: You gotta let go. No gripping the fiber supply too tightly. No anxious concentration on making your yarn. I tend to cramp up and try too hard to force my will onto the fiber. This won't work for support spindling. Just let go and let the spindle and fiber do their thing. So far I still have to constantly remind myself to ease up and let go. But sitting reclined in your favourite lounge chair or comfy sofa helps a lot in this regard.


 
Support spinning is fun. It's kind of addictive and a lot more relaxing and slow going than any other spinning method I've tried so far. But a little tuft of fiber will probably get you the most spinning fun you've ever had. And today there are a few very talented wood workers who make such lovely tools, you will be hard pressed to choose because they are all so pretty.

 
Spindle Makers

Lisa Chan from The Gripping Yarn - Lisa's signature are spindles that are slightly more rounded and bit curvier than the classical Russian style spindle. I love her work. The Walnut spindle I got from her feels gorgeous and is an absolute delight to work with. She does mostly custom orders and will gladly try to accommodate individual wishes for a particular wood or weight. Lisa is super nice to work with.

The Spanish Peacock - Mike's spindles come closer to the look of those traditional Russian spindles. Clean, hard lines and a super polished surface as well as beautiful exotic woods are characteristic for his work. So far I've got two of his Russian spindles and they are wonderful spinners.

Ed Tabachek - Ed's spindles have been available longest from all spindle makers I know. I think his work has done the most for bringing support spinning back into the spinning community. His spindles are available in two sizes, the smaller for spinning and the larger ones for plying in the Russian/Orenburg way. As far as I know his spindles are available through certain dealers only. My Tabachek is a large plying spindle that I got from The Wheel Thing. It can be uses as any other support spindle though and is not restricted to plying.

Tom Forrester - Tom's spindles have been around for a while now. I haven't encountered his Russian spindles all that often though. Gemini Fibers lists Russian spindles as part of his spindle repertoire. They very much look like the traditional Russian spindles.

Grizzly Mountain Arts - I've come across this very talented maker of needle and fiber arts tools only recently via Ravelry and Etsy. His work is equisite and his spindles are very much sought after. If you see a spindle appear in his Etsy shop you can be sure it will gone in the blink of an eye. I placed a custom order for a Tibetan spindle with him and was not disappointed in the least. So I guess if you want to have one of Dave's spindles for your collection placing a custom order is the way to go.
 

 

My favourite videos on support spinning

• Spinning on an Orenburg Spindle by Vereteno


• Russian Spindle Techniques by Beth Smith from the Spinning Loft


• Spinning on a supported spindle by Amanda


• Lhamo spins


• Lhamo spins more


• Tibetan Handcraft

Annotation: Nannette's note in the comments reminded me of one spindle maker that I had forgotten in my little article. She is right of course. A Spinner's Lair can be found on Etsy and their speciality is using reclaimed woods and give them a second life as fiber arts tools. They make different kinds of support spindles, matching bowls and regular drop spindles, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The little hat was inspired by the Binary scarf that had been featured in Kitty.com, issue Winter 2006. It's knitted from 4-ply sock yarn and the binary code actually contains a message. I used the converter provided here to convert ASCII text into ones and zeros. It's a really fun knit. Currently working on another one for best husband of all.

That's what the world in my little corner of the world looked like this morning. Pics were taken on the way back from play school in the little park/playground right behind our street.


 

 

 

Die Weihnachtszeit rückt näher und es wird im Hause Sooza jetzt so langsam das eine oder andere Geschenkprojekt gestrickt, welches bei Fertigstellung natürlich hier nicht gezeigt werden darf. Sonst wäre ja die Überraschung weg. Daher gibt es an diesem furchtbar dunklen und trüben Tag mal ein paar unstrickige Bilder vom vergangenen Wochenende zu sehen. Wir haben das schöne Herbstwetter am 1. November genutzt und sind ins Berliner Umland gefahren, um ein wenig frische Luft zu schnappen und uns die eine oder andere Wertungsprüfung der Havellandrallye 2008 anzuschauen.

The Holiday season is drawing nearer and with it the usual gift knitting. Hard times for a blogger because these finished things can't be shown here of course or it would spoil the surprises. Instead of something knitting related I'm showing some pictures of last weekend's little trip into Berlin's hinterland. As the weather was just fantastic we used the day to catch a bit of fresh air and watch a couple of special stages of Havelland Rally 2008.

So lange es stricktechnisch nichts Neues zu zeigen gibt, bleibe ich beim Zeigen von schönen Blumen. Hunderte von Perlblumen auf einer Obstwiese - gesehen letzte Woche beim Spaziergang im wunderschönen Britzer Garten. Im Moment ein absoluter Traum und wie jedes Jahr sehr sehenswert sind die Tulpenwiesen im Britzer Garten.

As long as there is not much to show knittingwise I'll keep up the eye candy flowers routine. This time I bring you hundreds of lovely grape hyacinths beneath the fruit trees. Seen last week in Berlin's beautiful Britzer Garten. Each and every year an absolute sight are the tulip meadows in the same park.

Da ich die korrekten Ruhezeiten für die Feiertagskateen nie auf die Reihe bekomme, blüht hier schon seit einigen Wochen ein Weihnachtskaktus fröhlich vor sich hin. Die zarttransparenten Blüten mit dem leicht rosa Schimmer und dem auffälligen Staub- und Fruchtblättern sind immer wieder ein Blickfang, egal welcher Monat auf dem Kalender gerade aufgeschlagen ist.

I never seem to be able to manage to keep up with the recommended rest periods for holiday cacti. Well, thanks to my inattentiveness these wonderfully translucent blossoms with just barely a hint of fuchsia have already been adorning my window sill for a couple of weeks now. They are always such an eye-candy no matter what calender sheet we are on.

Von der Strickfront gibt es im Moment nichts Neues zu berichten. Der zweite Ärmel meiner Version von Starmores Irish Moss ist fast fertig und die Berechnungen für Vorder- und Rückteil sind zumindest so weit gediehen, dass ich Anschlagen kann. Der Rest wird wie immer unterwegs erledigt.

Die hübschen rosa Blüten sind mir heute bei einem ausgedehnten Frühlingsspaziergang aufgefallen. Das Wetter hier in Berlin verdiente denn heute auch tatsächlich den Namen "Frühlingswetter".

Not much to tell from the knitting front right now. The second sleeve of my girlie version of Starmore's Irish Moss sweater is about done and calculations for front and back are progressed far enough to at least cast on. The rest I'll wing as I go, as ususal.

The pretty pink blossoms I encountered along the way of today's spring promenade. For once the weather was nice enough to actually warrent the name 'spring'.

Gesehen letztes Wochenende beim Spaziergang. Wenn ich nun auch noch wüsste was für ein Baum das wäre. Vogelkirsche, vielleicht?!

Seen last weekend on a stroll through the park. Now if I only knew what kind of tree this is. Wild cherry, maybe?!

Die Rittersterne (Hippeastrum) sind eine Pflanzengattung aus der Familie der Amaryllisgewächse (Amaryllidaceae). Die Rittersterne umfassen etwa 80 Arten von Zwiebelpflanzen, die in Südamerika in Gebieten mit einer ausgeprägten Trockenzeit wachsen. Die in Europa als Zierpflanzen kultivierten Rittersterne sind überwiegend Hybriden. Die Hippeastrum-Hybriden enthalten, ebenso wie auch die Belladonnalilie das Alkaloid Lycorin.
Umgangssprachlich werden die Arten dieser Gattung oft auch Amaryllis genannt beziehungsweise mit Vertretern der Gattung Amaryllis verwechselt. Ursprünglich war von Carl von Linné die Gattung Amaryllis viel weiter gefasst worden als heute. Später kam es dann zu einer Aufteilung der Großgattung und zur Abspaltung der südamerikanischen Gattung Hippeastrum. Botanisch korrekt klassifiziert umfasst Amaryllis heute ausschließlich die südafrikanische Gattung Amaryllis mit der Belladonnalilie (A. belladonna). Mehr in Wikipedia >

Hippeastrum is a genus of about 70-75 species and 600+ hybrids and cultivars of bulbous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas from Argentina north to Mexico and the Caribbean. Some species are grown for their large showy flowers. These plants are popularly but erroneously known as Amaryllis, an African genus in the same family.
"Hippeastrum" is Greek for "horseman's star" (also known today as "knight's star") and was chosen in 1837 by the Honorable Reverend William Herbert, Dean of Manchester. No one is entirely sure why he picked this name although buds on the verge of opening do look something like a horse's ear and clearly the blossoms do resemble six-pointed stars. It seems likely however, as William Herbert was both a clergyman and something of an expert on early medieval history, that he chose the name because of the plants striking resemblance to the 'morning star', a medieval weapon used by horsemen. A version of the weapon was also called a 'holy water sprinkler', an ecclesiastical object the Dean would have been familiar with. Read more on Wikipedia >