Webigail

And the obsession continues…

I promised myself that I would NOT buy anymore books.

Luckily, I had my fingers crossed when I made the promise, because I also promised the dear, patient hubby that I would not let the book fetish get out of control…again.

As you can imagine…that promise didn’t last long. So, here we are drooling over Nicky Epstein’s delectable trilogy: Knitting On, Over and Beyond The Edge.

Knitting on the Edge, is the first of the series and everything about the book from the hardcover, to the clear, color photos made me want to buy it. I bought it last year and have not even really used it (yet), but was perusing the second and third book in the series and could not resist.

Nicky Epstein has joined been added to my list of knitting gurus, along side with Barbara G. Walker and Elizabeth Zimmerman. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I am somewhat bored of knitting from patterns and just duplicating someone else’s creative idea row-for-row, not that there’s anything wrong with that. However, I have been trying to break free from feeling stagnant, with regards to knitting.

Some of the designs may seem a little daunting to the beginner, but they are very well written and easy to follow. Ironically, some of the more intricate looking patterns, happen to be some of the simplest, as far as repeats go.

The Nicky Epstein trilogy is just what I needed to get away from the hum-drum ribbing I’ve been doing lately. I’ll be picking out a nice pattern to add to the sleeves and bottom of a sweater I’m currently working on. Stay tuned…if I ever finish this project, I’ll post pics!

Knitting, I have recently discovered, is much like cooking.

For instance, there are those of us who can make a mean pepper steak and the family thinks we’re ready to rival Emeril. Then there are those who make steak au poivre and say, “I just whipped up a little something.” There are distinct differences between being a pretty good cook and being a culinary genius. Needless to say, my name will never be uttered in the same sentence as the Wolfgang Pucks of knitting, however I strive to be a little better than chef-boy-ardee.

I learned to knit last November and credit an incredible instructor with giving me the ability to tackle any project. Her style in teaching is effortless, but more importantly, she’s adaptable. If there’s more than one way to accomplish something, you can believe that Carla K, knows how to do it and If she doesn’t, she knows which direction to point the young grasshopper.

Alas, I decided, that after a long hiatus from knitting classes, that I wanted to take a private lesson. Although, I own countless books from the masters: Barbara Walker, EZ (Elizabeth Zimmerman), et al, I could not figure out how to match a pattern stitch in my sweaters, particularly raglans.

One woman’s name stuck out in my head, but I couldn’t recall why. I decided to schedule a private lesson with her, as the LYS is close and her name kept swishing around my head like fine wine in a crystal glass.

Anxious and excited, I broke a few speed limits to ensure that I would make it to my lesson on time. I did not want to miss a moment. I was kicking myself because:

1. In my haste, I forgot to bring my stitch pattern, and
2. I was so busy over the past week or so, that I failed to knit a swatch.

I consider myself a quick learner, so I’d make lemonade of the situation. In all actuality, I didn’t want to know how to knit, but rather how to keep the pattern aligned. Nonetheless, I picked out a stitch pattern from the book on hand and commenced to knit a swatch. In the back of my head, I thought, “Well, why exactly do I need a swatch? I had already told her several times that the size and pattern were immaterial.”

I simply wanted to know HOW to maintain the pattern across the increases/decreases of the raglan. *sigh*

Ok, so the swatch was done; we determined the gauge and we were ready…for what, I wasn’t sure, but we were - ready. At this point, we discuss graph paper *insert perplexed emoticon here*. This is where the journey became bumpy.

I knit from the top. Carla taught me to knit sweaters from the top. Barbara Walker knits from the top. I wanted to knit my sweater FROM THE TOP! *Breath. Relax. Release.* Did I mention that Barbara Walker knits from the top?

So, why was this woman discouraging me from starting from the top? Oh wait! If I wanted to make a drop-shoulder sweater, that would be a piece of cake, but rather than knitting a cardigan, I “should steek it,” because “that’s the Norwegian way.”

It occurred to me at that very moment.. that I was not going to get what I sought from this woman. There’s no pliability. She’s not flexible and although she studied with Elizabeth Zimmerman, she fell very short of my expectations, with regards to the ability teaching.

Remember, there are Todd Englishes and then there are the short order cooks.

Ironically after my knitting infidelity, I found the answer to the question I was looking for the very same evening. On pages 110-114 of Knitting from the Top by none other than Barbara G. Walker, she explains how you keep a pattern matched as your working your garment from the top.

The best thing about my lesson was walking away with 2 gorgeous skeins of Noro at 30% off. I guess the visit wasn’t a total bust, huh?

Saturday we all went to the arts and crafts show at ExpoMart. I was very excited, as it would be my first time going. I have heard so many things about this show.

There were so many interesting things to see, from the moment we entered. The first vendor that caught my attention was a man selling incredible hand-crafted quilts. They were absolutely gorgeous. He told us how his wife’s church assisted in making each quilt, which also had matching pillow shams. They were beautiful, beyond words.

In my search for fellow knitters, I came across a woman selling crocheted handbags. She had every color, size and shape you could think of. They were really well done and she even worked on a bag as she sat there. Very talented woman.

Finally! I came across a vendor, who had knitted items. Although, her main focus was quilts, she had a number of knitted baby items: sweaters, blankets, bonnets. They were all knitted with fingering weight yarn and were very intricate. After close inspection, I asked, “Are these handmade?”

“Why, yes they are!” She replied, all too eager to show the detailed work.

I didn’t want to let on, but I knew better than anyone that nothing there had been handmade. In fact, not even her quilts were handmade. I don’t know why, but it seemed to bother me a great deal that she was “misleading” buyers. The seams were all machine sewn and even the hems were sewn. Perhaps they were knitted on a machine that someone hand cranked, but does that equate being handmade?

I don’t know.

There just seems to be something sacrilegious about it. Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with using a machine, but can you really say that it’s handmade?

I left ExpoMart with an even greater appreciation for all of the hand crafters out there, whether they be a knitter, crocheter, seamstress, or anything in betwixt.