A Different January

January, for me, is normally a month to knit hats. I think I fell into this knitting habit years ago when we used to take a month-long, January ski vacation. It was easiest to pack and to knit small projects when away from home for the month.

The fun, when the vacation was over, was giving away a big box of hats. One year I sent the box to my Grand kids in Hearst. Their Mom told me it was like Christmas all over again . One year I gave the box to the 'Sally Ann' and shortly after saw a young girl walking home from school, wearing one of my hats. That made my day. But, since moving here to ski country, I leave the box on a shelf in the 'mud' room and offer hats to all our skiing visitors.

2010, however is different. I am committed to knitting only Elizabeth Zimmermann for the year. Mind you, EZ does have hat patterns and probably, eventually, I will do a few. But hats weren't my January EZ choice. First choice of course was my interpretation of the Waterloo County Fairisle (which by the way now has 72 rows done.) done EZ style.

Next up, in February, is the Meaford Knitting Olympics and I'll be knitting another EZ pattern. The Green Sweater. All of which means, no hats.

But since this is what is currently in the box,

perhaps, my stockpile is sufficient. It doesn't hurt to be different once in a while.

Have a great snowy, knitting weekend everyone.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group

Lois, Joanne and Pat all missed knitting today, due to the cold, snow and unplowed roads. Nell, on the other hand, was back with us for the first time after six weeks in North Carolina where she said she froze. Snow on a vacation that you expect to be warm is no fun.

Olympic knitting was the topic today. Sharon has decided to do lace. The exact pattern has not been selected, but she knows it will be lace and it will be red.

These are Wilma and Doreen's Olympic knitting choices.

Wilma is doing the seed stitch, cabled, child's sweater and Doreen the vest.

Gail is still mulling over what she wants to knit. I imagine she is choosing her project by quantity of yarn to be used. The more the better for our 'ball-a-day' knitter.

Considering that Survivor starts the day before the Olympics, the week of Feb 11th/12th, promises to be an exciting time of couch potato TV watching, knitting time. Can't wait.

Off the needles today, Sharon's little baby coat.

A beautiful little kimono coat with only the icord ties left to do. Sharon said the sleeves, picked up at the shoulders and knit down, gave her some grief, but the finished product is wonderful. A luxurious baby garment.

Wilma finished another little sweater. She's a machine, I tell you. But still, she is disappointed today. She thought this project would be ready to be sent off in the mail this afternoon. Not quite.

There are glorious buttons for this sweater, but my camera did them no justice.

Ingrid in the background above, is still working on her Koigu, mitered square piece. Her nightmare piece, she calls it.

Off now to turn on the TV and revel in the perfect winter knitting weather.

Happy Happy

64 rows. Done. Two entire motifs. Done.

Knitting the Waterloo County Fairisle is making me happy. Very happy. The rounds are flying by.

Even the inside with the floats makes me happy.

I have the repeats separated from one another with a marker, making any necessary frogging shorter and quicker than might otherwise be. I even have an easily distinguished marker telling me that I am at the last repeat prior to the end of the round. That would be, (I have always wanted to use this word) in EZ's language, the penultimate repeat. Knowing that I am close to the end of the round enables me to pick up the new contrast colour every third round and start to weave it end before the end of the round. That means - no tails to be woven when I'm done. That makes me happy.

My notes - chart, cheat sheets - are helping tremendously. I learned that the contrast colour changes every three rounds . Demonstrating great brilliance, I have written that down, in large letters, on the bottom of the cheat sheet. It tips me off so my easily distinguished marker doesn't fly by in a blur. That makes me happy.

I have settled into a state of cautious confidence regarding gauge. Gauge is the inviolate rule of every pattern, by every designer and knitting guru. Some knitters do teeny, tiny gauge swatches. Nothing that has enough width or depth to represent an accurate count. Me, I'm a conscientious gauge swatcher. I swatch at least a 6x6 piece. Big enought to measure easily and big enough - or so I always thought - to be accurate.

But, with Waterloo, I went one step further. My swatch was 100 stitches and knit in the round. Still it was off. Then I used the sweater itself to check gauge. Still it is not 100% accurate. So, my question is " Do I know any more now, having swatched well, than I would have known if I had just started knitting? I can't say that I do. That makes me not so happy.

The sweater is moving along faster than anticipated . All credit to Elizabeth Zimmermann. Her circular, no purl method makes for much faster, not to mention neater knitting. That makes me happy.

So overall, I am happy. I just wonder how much I can get done before I have to lay it down to participate in the Knitting Olympics. Or before my arms give out.

No Cabin Fever

'Cabin Fever', the dreaded winter malaise of the great white north, is strongly being held at bay this winter, in my neck of the frozen Canadian landscape. At least in the local knitting world.

We are now up to six Olympians from the Meaford Knit Group. as Doreen has now taken up the challenge.

The Southampton Group

has been notified of our plans and some of them are going for the gold as well. You might have to push away from that table, knitters. That means that a party of sorts is required following the Olympics. A get-together of Meaford and Southampton knitters for a 'show & tell' and Medal Ceremony. Knitted medals, of course.

Then late last week, I learned that Colleen of Riverside Yarns is holding her own Knitting Olympics. Except, she is going one step further - swifter, higher stronger- so to speak, awarding gift certificates by means of a random draw for those that finish on time. Now that's incentive.

My only problem is that I am so excited about the Waterloo County Fairisle - 13 1/2 inches now done and looking good - that I keep stalling on my Olympic gauge swatch. Knowing my problems with gauge, that is perhaps not a good idea.

Knitting Olympics, parties, gift certificates - describe Cabin Fever. Ooops, can't remember.

A Near Miss

The weekend knitting almost had me in a state of disbelief. A state of hysteria. A state of questioning why I ever took up knitting in the first place.

It is that enemy of mine - gauge. Again.

Remember how I did my first gauge swatch for EZ's version of Waterloo County Fairisle as a cap? A swatch cap, Elizabeth calls it. Elizabeth says repeatedly in her books that knitters often achieve a different gauge with purl stitches compared to knit stitches. Her solution? If the sweater is to be knit in the round with no purl stitches, knit the gauge swatch in the round. Hence my swatch hat. I got A gauge, MY gauge, did the math and started the sweater.

After a few inches of fairisle work - six inches to be exact - I spotted, two rounds below, a mistake. To rip back, I removed the knitting from the needles and with the sweater lying flat, decided I might as well check gauge one more time. Had gauge worked out? Was the sweater-in-progress the size it was supposed to be? Heck no. That would have made life just too easy. The sweater was w a a a a y too big.

For my second, sweater start, I now had a 44 by 6 inch gauge swatch. Starting over felt awful, but it felt good. I was confident now about gauge. Filled with confidence . Perhaps overly confident. Because as you all probably know, gauge lies.

The gauge you get when knitting a little four- inch, square swatch is different from the gauge you might get when you knit a swatch cap. And I am knitting proof that the gauge you get when you knit a swatch cap is different than the gauge you get when knitting a sweater.

Knowing this made me anxious. With the first 32 row repeat completed, anxiety made me want to check one more time. Was size finally working out? Once again, I took the sweater off the needles. Guess what? Well, I'm sure you can guess - it won't be a surprise to know - the sweater isn't exactly working out to my final, 'I'm-not-doing-this- again' gauge. Twelve inches were done and ripping back was just too heartbreaking to think about. In fact, Saturday night, with ripping on my subconscious, nightmares ruined my sleep. Sunday, instead of ripping, I decided to try it on.

I like it! It will be fine! Here it is on the bed, where the colours are the most accurate.

Here it is around the hips. The 'mismatched' motif you see is the centre front, with four extra stitches done in seed stitch, where the steeking will happen.

And here it is around the bust.

Not overly roomy. But once button bands are applied, I think it will be fine.

We Believe

Last week at knit group, I asked if anyone was interested in doing a Meaford Knit Group Knitting Olympics.

Following the same rules as Stephanie created during the 2006 winter Olympics, we would choose a project that aims to achieve the knitting equivalent of the Olympic motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius. (Swifter, Higher Stronger) We would cast on during the opening ceremonies, knit during the Olympics and consider ourselves gold medalists only if we finished before the end of the closing ceremonies.

Yesterday the verdict was in. At least five of us are going for the gold. Wilma, Gail, Nicki, Sharon and myself.

Although the other four have not yet absolutely decided for sure what they will knit, I know. My 2010 Olympic project will be Elizabeth Zimmermann's Green Sweater. The pattern recently developed by Sunday Holm for this next generation of knitters to enjoy. Meaford rules allow us to wind wool, get gauge, etc before the opening ceremonies.

Let The Games Begin. I'm off to wind some green wool.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group

I should have taken a picture of Pat's latest knitted toy today, but I neglected to do so. Perhaps I was too caught up in her story. She told me of taking her knitted toys to a local women's shelter before Christmas. In the lobby there was a small boy being watched over by a policeman. Pat reached into her bag and gave the boy a knitted toy. She said he looked at the toy, then at her. He turned to the policeman and said "She must be an angel". Warms the heart, doesn't it?

Doreen will be warm enough when she finishes this large scarf.

She seems to be quite surprised by it growing size. This is a great stash buster, Doreen.

Gail has started another little girl's sweater.

A simple cardigan with a great edging that she thinks she will get out of her one ball of green yarn. Another ball gone, Gail.

Ingrid is knitting with lots of concentration.

No wonder. Look at what she's doing.

She calls it her dream garment that is giving her nightmares.

Several of the knitters, me included, went straight from knitting to Meaford Hall. The film club there was screening Julie and Julia. It was not the first time I had seen the film, but it is such a fun movie, it was great to see it again. One has to make do until Survivor starts.

Trend Setting

It seems I have moved from my usual position of trend lagger to one of trend setter. Take a look here at Toronto's LYS The Purple Purl's January newsletter. Scroll down to the 'Miko Challenge'. Recognize the Julie and Juia reference? I wonder if my year with EZ admits me to this group?

The goal of My Year With EZ was not to knit all the patterns in one book. But I could. Certainly any one of her books contains a year's worth of knitting.

Neither was my goal to stick to only one book. But I could. My goal had been to knit EZ patterns using EZ methods and using only one book still accomplishes that goal.

To join the group or not to join. To be a spectator or participant. To work at my own pace or to feel to peer pressure of other knitters. I have until January 31 to decide.

Right now, it's enough to know a trend has been set.

Sadly,...

Sadly, I have to rip out my six - yes, weep, weep - six inches of Waterloo Fairisle. It is gauge. Or rather not gauge.

Last night, I made the mistake (or maybe saved my completed but ill-fitting sweater bacon) of ripping back two rounds.

The sweater has one round or bright orange in every 32 row motif. With only that one round, the orange stands out quite dramatically. In my stash, I had three different shades of orange yarn to choose from. After completing the orange round and then another round so I could see the orange round better, I wasn't pleased with my orange selection.

So I picked back those two rounds, carefully, stitch by stitch, and chose a different orange. All went well until I got to the last 28 stitch repeat. There were only 27 stitches. I counted again and again. Then I searched and searched for a dropped stitch. One too few stitches and not a dropped stitch anywhere.

Well, nothing to do but to rip again. This time, impatience and the late hour made the decision to take the sweater off the needle and rip back quickly. Once off the needles, I thought, "Holy Giant Sweater, Batman!" It was huge! A quick measure showed it to be 44 inches around. Much bigger than I want.

Well. Well. Well. Another look at gauge, this time on the 6 by 44 inch sweater swatch, and gauge is nowhere near my 'swatch cap' gauge.

But, at least, it makes sense now. The yarn is Briggs & Little Heritage - 17 sts/4". The pattern states gauge at 20 sts/4". It did make me wonder how that could be possible. But I thought - and this is after 35 or so years of knitting - maybe the fairisle tightens things up. (New knitters, don't let this bit of slow learning discourage you. It's just me)

Guess what my new and FINAL! I TELL YOU, FINAL!! gauge is? 17 sts/4".

By the time I had all this figured out last night, it was bed time. Well, that is, I took to my bed in deep, knitterly despair.

The good news is, it is only six inches. Weep Weep.

Progress

My year of knitting with Elizabeth might mean some less than stellar blog posts. Project number one, the Waterloo Fairisle, is a good example. Progress is akin to watching paint dry, or TV poker. Too bad for me, I actually know what both those are like.

To try to speed up my progress, I came up with a couple of tips. Placing a marker at stitch number one of each of the 28 stitch repeats was my first ingenious idea.

Should I ever When I end up with more motif than stitches, or vice versa, I only have to go back as far as the previous marker. Much speedier.

Tip number two stems from my 'over-the-hill' eyesight. Even thought I scanned and enlarged the chart to make it easier to read, the 'ping-ponginess' of turning from knitting to chart a
k zillion times in each long round frustrated me. So, I wrote out a shorthand version of each repeat, one per page, in my little knitting notebook.

Probably, I am the last knitter in the western hemisphere to think of these things, but hey, I'm here now.
With those two 'speed' tips, last night I finished row 16. Paint drying I tell you.

Working With Elizabeth

I am off to a great start. The 'swatch cap' is done- well at least up to the top section where decreases would make gauge hard to measure.

Gauge, or as EZ says, GAUGE has been measured.

Does anyone else have trouble measuring gauge? The cloth tape measure gave one number. But the little aluminum ruler gave another. Close to the ribbing, gauge is one thing. Close to the top it was another.

Elizabeth said to measure over three inches and I guess, since it is her year, that's what I should have done. But if three is good, four is better. Right? And if four is better, six is best. Right?

The risk of a boring, blog post doesn't permit me to list all the different gauge readings I got. Between the top and the bottom. Between the cloth tape and the little aluminum ruler. Between the three inch reading and the four. Or the six. So in the end. I said. What the heck? The reading I like best is ...and went with that. Perhaps not exactly what Elizabeth meant when she said "Don't even be 1/4 stitch off."

But given I have a 28 stitch chart to deal with and need to divide those 28 stitches evenly into the circumference of my sweater, I figured it was good enough. And given Elizabeth's primary goal of encouraging knitters to be thinking knitters, I think 'good enough is good enough'.

However, despite now being pleased with the stitch gauge, I think I might have to rip out what I have done so far.

Last night, a niggling, little, knitters thought occurred to me. Row gauge. Oh yea. The other half of the equation.

In a normal fairlisle-patterned sweater, with a three or four row fairisle pattern, it maybe doesn't matter much. But I have a 32 row high pattern. If I want (and I do) the completed motif to end just below the ribbing for the centre front neck, I need to know how many rows it will take to get there for the length of sweater I'm knitting. The picture in the pattern book shows the sweater knit with that perfectly placed motif. But their sweater is 25 inches long. Mine, is being done EZ style. To fit me, not the designer's idea of what I should wear. Mine will not be 25 inches long. Therefore .... I don't even need to finish that sentence.

As my sister-in-law would ask - "Having fun yet?"

Thursdays Are For Knit Group

Today, the gathering began with yarn goodies. Donated by Mona of the 'bad shoulder'. Her knitting activities are restricted for the time being so she donated yarn and patterns to the group. Always a great way to start the day.

Gail, of course, took no yarn.

You might remember that Gail is trying to knit a ball a day so as to have her stash appropriately diminished by next fall's Knitters Fair. She had a bit of a set back, when over the holidays, visitors gave her yarn. Smiling outwardly, groaning inwardly, Gail set about to crochet afghans to give back to the yarn gifters. Since Christmas, she tells us she has used 1000 grams of yarn. Holy Needles, Gail. Don't ruin your shoulder too.

Ingrid, of course, was beautifully dressed in another of her amazingly creative creations.

Ingrid, so brilliant with her knitting, told us today that she finally and just now has learned how to operate her DVD player. We all do what we do best, eh Ingrid?

Pat wore a very furry, fuzzy hat and mitten set.

I expect these types of knitted items will soon become 'antiques' as it is nearly impossible to find that fun fur yarn these days.

Wilma, knit this lovely baby set.

The pattern is from Cabin Fever's Baby Vee book. An easy knit with no sewing, Wilma told us. It is headed to Calgary for her daughter's friend's soon-to-come baby.

And, it seemed appropriate, given all the talk today about bad shoulders, that Joanne and Doreen

both showed off shoulder wraps/capelets. Mona and Gail should think about wearing one. Protect those shoulders, knitters.

My First EZ

The decision has been made. My first project of 'My Year With Elizabeth', will be the Waterloo Fairisle Sweater from Knits From The North Country.

Huh?? Not an EZ design or even an EZ book you say. Correct. But I intend to borrow only the fairisle chart from the pattern. "You may of course use designs from any source,or, best of all, invent your own." (EZ)

Everything else will be done EZ style.

I will start by using the sweater chart to knit a 'swatch cap' in the round. "Count the number of stitches to 3" and divide by 3. The result is your GAUGE; don't even be 1/4 stitch off! (EZ)

I will not choose one of the sizes listed in the pattern, but rather, make my own size. "Decide how wide you want your sweater by measuring your favourite old one, or yourself at your widest. Multiply this width by your GAUGE..." (EZ)

I will knit the sweater in the round rather than in flat pieces as the designer suggests. -- Pure EZ.

With steeks, the sweater will become a cardigan, not the designed pullover. -- Pure EZ

I will hold one colour in one hand, the other colour in the other hand and yank the finished colour to the right before starting the next colour. -- Pure EZ.

I will employ a "number of tricks Elizabeth devised..." Phoney Seams, Short Rows across the back of the body, Mirror-image sleeve increases each side of three centre underarm stitches...

I am ready. Let the year begin.

2010

With 2009 tucked nicely away and even with the disappointment of my flickr flub, I am ready to move into 2010 knitting.

Most bloggers are a step ahead of me. They've already posted about their 2010 knitting goals and aspirations. Deb Gemmell says she intends to 'prioritize and organize'. Sorry, Deb. Let's talk knitting, not housework.

Ysolda intends to 'clear out clutter'. Again, it smacks of housework, to me.

Isa intends to knit from her queue. A goal with a specific end. Management would approve.

a-black-pepper says she has no specific plans but intends to go with the flow. Aaaah. This sounds better.

Knitting To Stay Sane intends to carry on with skills started in 2009. Pattern design and spinning. Only part of that appeals to me.

My problem, I think, is having spent too many years in the corporate world where life revolves around goal setting, goal achieving (or not) and goal reviewing. In my mind, all corporate activities.

Now retired and free from such drivle pressure, part of me resists and resents goals. But, I am, most naturally, a goal-setting kind of girl. Most days, before bed, I make a list of what I want to accomplish the next day. While total completion is not always achieved, and in fact, most days isn't even the goal, the list at least helps my ageing memory and keeps me from too much daydreaming.

And so, I cringe to say it, but I have set a knitting goal for 2010.

I am going to spend the year with Elizabeth Zimmermann. It will be, I hope, a sort of 'Julie and Julia' experience without the late night dinners and pounds of butter. I will knit my way through Elizabeth's patterns. And, when the stash fails to meet the yarn needs, I intend to use her wool.

Having publicly declared this goal, I now expect to
A) be kept on track by my readers. Please! Please! Keep me on track.
B) be diverted by the rich and plentiful supply of patterns on the net and ravelry.

Off, now, to scour my EZ books for project number one.

2009

Having been too long delayed by stomach flu, my 2009 knitting review is now ready. I must say, having a flickr side bar on the blog made this re-cap much easier.

Before the accuracy that flickr revealed, I would have told anyone who asked that I am a sweater knitter. But, flickr shows that I knit way more hats in 2009 than sweaters. Eleven hats versus eight sweaters. And of the eight sweaters, there were two that got ripped for seriously flawed fashion sense. And one that I don't particularly like. So five successful sweaters. Whereas all hats were a hit.

Apparently, I am not much of a scarf knitter. Just one knit in /09. But I'm big on neckies. I knit 6 of them. Along with three pairs of socks, and three pairs of mittens. A vest - the sadly felted Shalom - and Abi's Bolero. A few dishcloths and a couple of bobbles and 2009 was done.

This little post has just now taken hours and hours of my time. Before hitting 'publish' I decided to update flickr by creating a new and separate album for the finished objects to come in 2010. Big mistake. Whatever I learned in the realm of knitting in 2009 - I learned NOTHING!!! about computers.

It seemed to go well in the beginning, but in trying to just tweak it a little bit more, I deleted all the photos from 2009. That took &^%$*# a lot of time to find and reload them. I'm sure I'm missing some.

I hope someday to be one of those computer users I see on TV ads. You know - they say " I asked for a 'such & such' feature on the computer and they flew me to Japan to introduce it.

The feature I want? Voice activated.

"Good morning flickr. Please create a new set for all my 2010 finished objects. Label it as such and put it beside my 2009 FO set. Thank you."

Until then, if I don't use the computer too much, knitting will keep me sane.

Olympic Knitting

The week between Christmas and New Years saw the Olympic Flame pass though our local communities. My knitting friend, Wilma, was prepared.

Before her family arrived for the holiday visit, Wilma knit an Olympic hat.

Modelled here by her lovely daughter.

Catching the Olympic Knitting spirit, her grandson requested mittens with the Olympic circles on them. Wilma a great knitter with limited drafting skills mentioned the need for a graph. Her grandson, as it turns, out has a great future as a drafter of knitting designs. A piece of graph paper, Grandma's caution to use only 13 squares, a bit of time and he handed Wilma the pattern for Olympic circles.

Great drafting, great knitting, great Olympic wear, great fun.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group

The New Year is now official. The first knit group meet-up of 2010. Let the year begin.

Wilma wasn't long in the room before she 'stole' Sharon's holiday weaving.

Teal is Wilma's colour, so of course she had to 'steal' the scarf for a try-on.

Doreen knit fingerless mitts - flat fingerless mitts - that are ready to be sewn up.

Think what a set of double pointed needles could have done for you here, Doreen. Doreen is a breast cancer survivor and the disease has left her with an arm that swells and feels the cold. These very long mitts should keep the arm warm and still let her knit.

And to show off, Doreen brought her hat with the perfect, crocheted flower. Before Christmas, Ingrid had helped Doreen crochet a flower to decorate her hat. But Ingrid wasn't pleased with Doreen's rose-making efforts and suggested Doreen try again. Here is the re-do.

A perfect rose.

Sharon knit a pair of felted slippers for hubby.

His second pair. Lucky hubby, I say.

Joanne, our master mitten maker knit another pair of mittens.

She says she gave away five pairs of her glorious mittens over the holidays. Today, reminiscing, Joanne told us that the very first thing she ever knit was a pair of mitts when she was about ten years old. And here she is, years later, still knitting mittens. I'm not sure if she thought that a good thing or not.

Today's main conversation revolved around spousal Christmas gifts that missed the mark, and the universal - well, universal around our table at the Meaford library - dislike of housework. Funny what can make an entire room of knitters howl with laughter. Let the year begin, indeed!

The Flu

By now, you all know that both Fred and I, not to mention a few other family members, have been sick with the stomach flu over the holidays. Days after the onslaught, my stomach still sloshes from time to time.

Personally, I make a really terrible patient. I blame it on my normally excellent health. Having had such limited experience with sickness, I have no benchmark for good - or even appropriate- patient behaviour.

But it has occurred to me over the last few days that perhaps a better attitude might help.

SO in the spirit of less whining, less thinking only of self, less b----ing, here is my

'New & Improved Attitude Towards The Stomach Flu' list.

1. I haven't had to meal plan or cook for days.
2. Our grocery bill this past week was $0.00

3. My bathrooms haven't been so sanitized in a long time.
4. I have already lost all my holiday-season weight gain.
5. We haven't had to put gas in the car for days.

Lastly, Fred and I slept in separate bedrooms during the flu so as to spare each other the passing and re-passing of germs, and -

6.Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Glad To Be A Knitter

Before Christmas, I mentioned receiving my copy of Sunday Holm's pattern for EZ's Green Sweater. Mine arrived minus the yarn, as it was on back order.

One day, during the flu-induced haze that was my post-Christmas week, I dragged myself to
the drugstore for meds. And since the post office is right across from the drug store, dragged myself there as well. I am so glad I did.

A parcel was waiting for me.

Remember how in an earlier post I commented on what a wonderful knitterly experience knitting EZ's Green Sweater would be? Never did I imagine that simply the arrival of the wool would also be a great knitterly experience too. But look.

It arrived, having been sent from one of the most well-known yarn companies in North America - if not the world; a company owned by the daughter of the world's most famous knitting mentor of all time, packed in this.

I find that heartwarming.

Now, look at the yarn.

For me, the colour couldn't be more perfect. Green. Not a solid green, but rather a prettier, I think, heathered green. And what yarn is it? For a world-famous sweater, originally knit by a world-famous knitter and now, 50 years later, enjoying a world-famous renaissance, one would perhaps expect something -well, world famous.

Something luxurious. Mmmm, Malabrigo?
Something with a name-dropping label. Rowan? Alchemy? Prism?
Something fabulously hand-spun, hand-dyed? Fleece Artist? Handmaiden?

Not our Elizabeth. She knit the original Green Sweater with this.

How wonderful is that? For me, being Canadian, superbly wonderful. This historic sweater, originally designed and knit by an Englishwoman, married to a German, living in the USA, was knit with yarn from Canada's oldest, continually-operating mill. Fifty years later, this little Canadian knitter, ordered the 'kit' from EZ's daughter in Wisconsin. She, in turn, ordered the yarn from New Brunswick and shipped it, in a re-cycled, Grey Poupon box, to me, living in Ontario. I'm so glad I knit.