Newsprint Madonnas

While I did manage one post on our trip, I couldn't seem to justify spending our precious vacation time searching out an Internet connection. I was too busy searching out yarn, and paintings of breastfeeding women in Catholic churches. The last one is a little odd. I'll cop to that. I was a wee bit obsessed with all of these breastfeeding virgin mothers, and their chubby-fisted counterparts. You almost never see women in France breastfeeding in public. I don't remember seeing many women in America doing it, and I only saw one mother in Italy doing it. Inside the churches is a different story. There are portraits of suckling Jeesi everywhere. Almost every other church we went into had at least one.


I'm still breastfeeding our son, and he's taken to letting me know he wants a feed, by cramming his hand down my shirt, giving me the worlds meanest titty twister, and then trying to yank the tit up and over my collar. There's nothing like walking around the Vatican with a baby's hand making one of your breasts look like it's hatching out of your clothes. I was a little embarrassed by the situation until I found this painting.


I love the look on her face, one part amused, one part annoyed and a lot of love. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who's been felt up by a toddler in a church.

The yarn search was equally comforting, comforting and soft. I found five different shops. Some of them I knew about before hand, and some of them were discoveries. There was Mirko Filati in Florence, Sheep Shop in Pisa, Lovilane and Filo et Filo in Lucca, and a shop I can't remember the name of in Massa Maritima. I bought a lot of cashmere, some cotton, some wool and a little bit of linen. There was even some mystery yarn. I'll post pictures of the newest additions to the stash soon, but for now, I'll finish up with a little bit of swatching.


This is a pure cotton yarn that I found at Filo et Filo. The lovely lady who owns the store is having a fire sale, and going into retirement. Or at least, that's what my limited grasp of Italian led me to believe. She was selling yarn at shockingly good prices, and I scooped up every ball of this stuff. I don't normally go in for worsted weight variegated yarns. I don't like heavy weight cottons, or tape yarns, but this yarn is a glorious exception. It's very Issey Miyake. It's stiff and soft at the same time. The yarn is knitted out of many very fine strands, and then pressed into a tape. The dye is painted on, and reminds me of newsprint.


It's nice to knit with and despite the fact that it looks like it would be a splitty nightmare, it's relatively hard to catch a needle on it. Because of the construction it doesn't have that chalky dead weight sort of feel that most other thick cottons have. I'm stalled on what pattern to choose. Right now it's between two patterns in Norah Gaughan vol. 2. There are several other contenders, but these both seem appropriate for the yarn. I'm leaning towards "Mobius", that's the one on the left.


Variegated yarns are tricky, and the last thing I want is something that looks like wet newsprint wrapped around my shoulders. I'm looking for something that will bring out the Issey Miyake in me. There's a fine line between origami and a fish and chips wrapper.

Yarnstores, Italian Style

Going on vacations requires a lot of planning. Even when you try not to plan, you end up planning. The eating, the where to sleep, the what to see, the what the heck is that building over there?, demands some planning. Adding a baby, and a car to the mix, requires a wedding planner like demeanor, frost in the face of flames. One might think that with all of this planning, I might have forgotten about yarn. I did. That is, I did until I missed an opportunity to visit a cashmere goat farm. It would have been beautiful, goats for the baby and husband, cashmere for me. I not quite over it. That small planning failure ensured yarn vigilance for the rest of the trip. I managed to hit up five yarn stores. Here's the line up.


I put an example of each yarn in this bowl just to take photos, but I'm thinking of leaving it out on the dinner table. We'll see how long it takes the man of the house to notice that the fruit has been replaced. He has a very high tolerance for fiber. I'm guessing it will take a week or so. Looking at this lovely bowl of yarn has given me many ideas. I've already dreamed up new lives for all of my lovelies. Here, I'll show you.


This is a softy cabled cashmere tam, possible "Rose Red" or "Gretel".



This is a sturdy hemp and cotton shopping bag with a garter stitch bottom.



This is a breezy summer lace scarf, something vaguely nautical in a very simple lace pattern. This yarn is without a tag, but I'm sure it's navy and white cotton with two different strands in green viscose.


This is a soft wool and cashmere sweater with 3/4 length sleeves and a leaf motif, possibly "Eastlake", possibly "Climbing Vines Pullover".



This is an alpaca and wool blend. It's a little shy at the moment. I think it wants to be something with aran cables.


This yarn knows exactly what it wants to be. It is a moorit sort of brown. There's a hint of red in it. The halo is saintly. It will be "Mary Jane" from the "Twist Collective" winter 2008. The yarn and the pattern are soul mates, destined to meet on my needles.

Sockus Maximus

We're rampaging around Italy like our barbarian ancestors, eating, checking out the nekid' statuary and eating deadly amounts of gelato. There has been a fair amount of car time, and that has allowed for some sock knitting. In between gaping at this.



and this.....



I have been knitting these. The Yarn is made by "A Swell Yarn Shop" and is called Duet, because there's one mini skein of a matching color for heels, toes or whatever strikes your fancy.



I am trying to finish this pair before Father's day. I should be able to do this. They aren't a perfect match. They're more like fraternal twins, which is nice. It's the first plain pair of socks I've ever knit. The knitting is pretty boring, but it's fast, and it allows for the ogling of more nekid' statues.

One of the real highlights of our trip has been a stay at an agritourismo called Il Cortile, in Cicciano. You can Google them to find the website. The courtyard was vast,



and the rooms were furnished with family antiques. There were several acres of gardens, which we had all to ourselves. Every night we ate a four or five course meal prepared by the family. There was even some homemade booze. This is a glass of a limoncello like liquor made from what looks like a giant lemon.


It was excellent. It think you could have guessed that by the fact that I took the trouble to photograph it like it was a holy relic. I would have photographed the burnt orange ice cream with candied orange zest......but I ate it too fast.

When my parents met up with us in Rome, they came bearing gifts. This was probably because they'd heard we're barbarians. There was a sea colored skein of Malabrigo Sock.



There was another skein of Madeline Tosh sock yarn in a variegated shade of grey called "Tern".



There was even a copy of Cookie A.'s new book "Sock Innovation".



The gifts were very very good, and so we let them join the rampage.

Shame Has a Name

We are leaving for a month in Italy, this coming Monday. There is a code orange level of stress humming a cicada like hole in my head right now. To give you an idea of just how desperate things are around the house, I caught myself doing something really unforgivable this morning. I was tidying up the living room, and I saw three pieces of sweetened puffed rice stuck to the seat of the couch. They were from yesterday's breakfast, and had hitched a ride to the couch on my toddler. I looked at them. I weighed my options, and then I ate them. The distance to the bin was too great. It would have required too much effort. I am officially a human compost bin. I am officially pathetic. You can thank me later, for not including pictures in this post.

Tipple Cat Hat

I'll begin with the tipple. Today we bottled 17 bottles of elderflower champagne.



This is a real science experiment. It's my first brewing project, and the first time I've ever tasted elderflower anything. It took four days to get a good ferment going, recipe here. We're a little scared of exploding bottles. We've secured the champagne in a plastic trashcan with blankets. Our other security measure is to leave for Italy, and let our house sitters deal with it. I have no business making elderflower champagne one week before we leave on vacation. I certainly have no business leaving a possibly explosive sugary alcohol bomb for our unsuspecting house sitters. I know this, but I don't care.
Here are the cats.


I found these while going through some unopened boxes from our move. Our move was three years ago, don't laugh. I had completely forgotten about these beauties.



I think they were a gift from my mother. They are hilarious. The open mouthed cat is my favorite.


They remind me of Charles Dickens characters. They should have names like Cornelius Bruggs, Constance Fellander and Mellie Whithers. I'll have to keep my eyes out for worthy project.
Last, and probably least, is the summer sky hat.



I finally found some buttons for it. I had been looking for bird buttons, but the only birds I could find were perching or very very plastic. The ladybugs were languishing on the bottom of my sewing basket.



I got them out on a whim, and was really pleased with how they looked. They are made out of glass, and are completely inappropriate for a baby hat, but then the whole hat is totally impractical. It's not machine washable, it's got little wisps of mohair trailing off of it, and now it's got baby chokers sewn all over it. I don't care. I like it.



I think my brain left for Italy without me.

T & A & a Pattern

After a shocking dry spell, my mailbox finally decided to deliver. In one day, I received the summer 09 copy of Interweave Knits and "A Stitch in Time vol. 1". This is a book I ordered from Amazon a while ago. It was ordered in some sort of "The Three Faces of Eve" moment, because for the life of me, I can't actually remember ordering it.



This book is fantastic. It's a new version of a book published in the 1972. The original was a compilation of over 100 patterns printed in the UK between 1920 and 1949. The new version includes 60 of the original patterns with rewritten versions in larger sizes and new yarns. It's wonderful to see the two patterns side by side. I love the old sales pitches. "The young girl looks her sweetest in a butterfly collar." This collar is the size of a large hawk.
While vintage patterns are fun to peruse, I often find it a little hard to see myself knitting them. I can't imagine knitting a floor length gown on size 4 needles. I don't think I'd make it through the 600 stitch cast on. Despite a few costume pieces, This book has a surprising number of really wearable garments. There are at least 5 things I'd love to knit, and probably another 10 that I'd knit if knitting was all I did, and I had an unlimited supply of yarn. There's another reason I love this book. In my grandma's heyday, before very tall teenagers dominated the runways, clothing was all about T&A. I've spent a number of years hating my Ts and ignoring my A. Clothing that's meant for flat chested runway models does not do my figure justice. Patterns from the 30's, 40's, 50's and some of the 60's are much more flattering for me.
Interweave Knits also has some good summer knits. I like this issue. There's a pretty little cardigan form Connie Chang Chinchio (winner of the most alliteration in a knitwear designer's name award), and an incredible entrelac lace skirt by Annie Modesitt. The other thing that caught my eye was a baby cardigan from the staff projects section. I was very excited about knitting this for my little man until Nicole, from "Stash and Burn", referred to this sweater as the "Loppem for babies." On second glance, she's right. Maybe there's a small part of me that wants to be matchy matchy with my son, but there's a bigger part that doesn't want to leave emotional scars. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to change the pattern. I wanted a different cable pattern, long sleeves, a bigger size, different yarn, more buttons, a different yoke....... and so I present to you the ( in progress) "Mathless Cardigan". I gave up on knitting from a pattern, and hit the drawing board.


I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'll save the description and pattern for another post. I will tell you that it's the easiest pattern ever. All of the major numbers in the pattern are divisible by 5. I have a rather antagonistic relationship numbers. I'll leave it at that.

Ye Olde Photoshoot

I roped my husband into taking some pictures of me in my "Loppem". I still haven't found the right buttons, but I'm sure that won't take long. It's a little on the big side, but it's still wearable.



I went with the bed jacket feel of the sweater, but it looks just as good with jeans.



The photoshoot may have gotten a little out of control. They always do.



I blame this on the old French nether garment. Just look at these seams.



Who sews like this? This woman must have started her first sampler in utero. I'm awe struck. I'm sure I could sew a seam like this, but could I do it for yard after yard, by candlelight, after making three hot meals, looking after five kids, slaughtering a chicken, and taking forty pounds of laundry to the local lavoir? This kind of craftwomanship is truly commendable. Here's one of her buttonholes.


To give you an idea of scale, that button is about the size of one of those tiny little buttons used to secure the corner of a man's collar. You know, those buttons that are impossible for anyone over the age of 14 to button. The most shocking thing about this masterpiece of everyday life, is the price. I paid ten euros for it. Every seam is hand sewn, all of edges are finished with a hand sewn scalloped lace, every tiny button hole is perfection, and it cost me ten euros.



It hurts a little to see something so beautiful, so undervalued. There are racks of these things at every antique show, and most of them are just like this. Now that I knit, when I look at these, I see hours of a woman's life.



Thanks H.C., I promise I'll wear it with you in mind.