(thanks mr. bonnet for modeling)
Recently I was rummaging around in the black hole closet, and ran across an historical artifact - the first (and second) sweater I ever knit. Not only was it the first sweater, it was the first item of any type I had ever knit. I was an exchange student in Denmark and I was terribly impressed by the skill of the Danish girls who were somehow able to knit socks and learn at the same time in class. I decided I needed to learn how to knit so I could be as sophisticated as those Danish girls. Unfortunately, I was also gawky, awkward and self conscious (we're talking 16 yrs old here) and instead of asking someone to show me how to knit, I just watched them and tried to learn from a Danish pattern.
The yarn I picked for this adventure was purchased from a very touristy shop in the heart of Copenhagen. I bought icelandic wool and an icelandic pattern, and even in those days the whole kit cost me $100! That was shocking, it was an entire month's allowance for me as an exchange student, meant to cover food and other necessities. Whatever. I wanted yarn and I bought yarn.
I watched the Danish girls casting on, and copied them. Ha! what I really did was invent my own cast on because whatever they were doing I was doing wrong. Now that I know several ways of casting on, I still love that first way the best. Then I proceeded to mangle knit the yarn up to the armpits. I wasn't sure exactly how to do the colorwork part, and my sweater was looking pretty bedraggled at this point, but I knew that magic occurred when you remove it from that circular needle and suddenly it looks like a sweater, so I continued on. When I finally got to that magic moment, I removed the sweater and discovered I had knit a ruffled raisin. The bottom of the sweater flared out from the colorwork yoke where I had conscientiously pulled every float tight and created a wrinkly raisin.
Luckily I had spent $100 on this yarn! I wanted to fling it in the trash and never knit again, but that was a lot of eating and necessities I had given up for that yarn. So I did the right thing and frogged the entire sweater and started again, knitting my second ever sweater - same as the first. This time around I managed a little better and got something sweater shaped. I was so proud, I sent it to my dad for Christmas.
My dad sent me back a picture of himself wearing it and I imagined him wearing it every weekend. However, when I came home from Denmark, I discovered that he wasn't wearing it. For years he carefully preserved it, keeping the moths out, but he didn't wear it. Then a few years ago he gave it back to me when I started designing in earnest. Now I see why he didn't wear it! One sleeve is longer than the other. The cuffs are big enough for an elephant, and I must have been in a very bad mood one day, because one row of knitting has a gauge twice as tight as all the other rows! Plus, all the stitches are knit through the back loop. LOL. I love that my dad kept and cherished this sweater, and I love that I now have it back. Our first projects are rarely perfect, but they do symbolize our determination, progress and adventurous spirit.
In other news, I've been adventuring in a whole new direction... breadmaking! I made my first loaf in years a few weeks ago, and since then I've been experimenting with whole grains, nuts, flax seeds and all kinds of flours.
And most recently I sent away for this... sourdough yeast cultures! To make a sourdough, you can capture wild yeast in the air by leaving out a jar of flour and water. However, you don't really know what you'll catch, and how long it will take to ferment. A good sourdough culture is actually a symbiosis between a yeast strain and a bacterial strain. The bacteria produce acid in the culture giving it that sour flavor, and the yeast provide the leavening. I decided I didn't want to wait with goopy stuff in a jar on my sink forever so I sent away for the actual strains from Sourdoughs International.
It's still quite an involved process of activating and proofing the yeast and I've been fooling around with the San Francisco culture for 4 days now. I think it's finally ready to produce my first loaf - so that's what I'll be doing later this afternoon... I'll make the dough today and bake it tomorrow. Just in time for the spinners coming over to be my first guinea pigs tasters! I'm planning a wild mushroom soup to go along with it - if it comes out good I'll post the recipe.
I've also been playing a lot with color these days. I got a shipment of gorgeous yarns in - oooh pretty!
And speaking of yarn, the sweater I started with the Sanguine Gryphon
Codex yarn is progressing nicely. I had to stop and start a few times but
actual progress can be seen. Since the weather is cooperating and
giving me my favorite climate (cool and plenty of rain), I anticipate
snuggling up on the couch and making some serious progress tonight -
what could be better than the smell of simmering soup, the sound of the
rain and beautiful silk/BFL yarn sliding through your hands?
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