Saturday, August 26, 2017

Blast From The Past

When my daughter was little in the 1980s I knit a lot of sweaters for her.  There was a design company which produced the cutest patterns under the name "Knit-o-Graf".  I think that the company had been around since the 1950s and I don't believe that it exists anymore.  

The patterns weren't expensive and I had many of them.  I knit for her and for her friends. There were pictures on the sweaters and it's where I developed my love of intarsia.  All were made in fingering weight yarn and I would mostly buy the acrylic yarns from Patons and the house brand at Eaton's ior Sears department stores.  There were lots of colors available and they held up well to washing and wearing.  A few years later I did a couple more sweaters using superwash wool and I have to admit that they didn't look as fresh as the acrylic ones after a while.  Acrylic has it's place in children's knitting, in my opinion.

If you Google the words Knit-o-Graf and look at images, you can see why I was so drawn to the designs.  There was Humpty Dumpty, ducks, trains, Little Red Riding Hood, cowboys, dogs and so much more.  I knit most of the designs that they had.  They even had a small catalog.

One of my favorites was a brightly colored cardigan with a clown holding balloons.  I made size 4.  Today I received a picture from my now-grown-up daughter.  It's showed my almost-2 year old granddaughter, Alyssa, wearing the clown sweater.  I'm still smiling at the photo.  Alyssa is adorable and the sweater looks cute on her and it keeps her warm during the family's camping trip.


The patterns were on one large sheet of paper in the size of the sweater.  You could lay your knitting on it and see if you matched the size for the design.  Great idea.  It was fun to pick out little matching buttons with balloons on them.


I'd love to know more about the company.  Who created it?  Who was the designer?  How long was it around?  

Monday, August 21, 2017

Eclipse

Did you see the eclipse today?  With safety glasses, I hope.  In Calgary there was about 90% coverage, it got dark as in the early evening and the temperature dropped quite a bit for a few minutes.

(c) G. Yamashita

I actually saw two eclipses today.  Here's the other one:


I wonder what records are pictured above ~
Dark Side of the Moon?
That Lucky Old Sun?  
Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying?  
Moondance?  
I'll Follow The Sun?
Total Eclipse of the Heart?

I could go on.....  ☺

Sunday, August 20, 2017

July Socks Are Finished

I think I've become the world's slowest packer.  Moving and packing isn't fun, but I'm getting close to being ready for the movers on the 28th.  I can't wait to get to the new condo with the unpacking finished and then sit on the balcony and just knit without thinking that I should be doing something else.  I'm hoping that a knitting friend or two or three will join me.

I did manage to finish my July socks with the monthly yarn from The Loopy Ewe from 2016.  So far I've managed to keep up.  Who knows if I'll finish my August socks before the end of the month.  One sock is finished and the cuff of the second sock is done, so maybe I'll make my self-inflicted deadline.

Here is what the yarn looked like in the skein.  It's based on the colors found in the picture, "Vintage Bike."


THE DETAILS


Pattern:  Cast on 60 sts, 2x2 ribbing,
stocking stitch leg and foot,
short row heel, shaped toe.

Needles:  US #0 / 2.0 mm

Size:  Medium

Color exclusive to The Loopy Ewe:
"Summer Afternoon Escape"

Each month The Loopy Ewe offers an exclusive colorway.  This one is from July, 2016.

Ravelry Link:  Summer Afternoon Escape

More socks are coming up in the next few weeks, and then I'll be getting back to sweater knitting and more.  I'm also looking forward to a fairly local event coming up on September 24th, the Prairie Fiber Festival in Lacombe, Alberta.  You can find them on Ravelry, here.  The lineup of vendors looks very good and I'm looking forward to checking them out.  I'll blog about the Festival next month.  

Sunday, August 13, 2017

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - The Finale

 I'm glad you've come back to visit my blog, especially since it's been so long since I last wrote.  Working full time and preparing for a move is time consuming.  I found a condo that I like a lot and the closing is in a few days, moving is in two weeks.  My yarn is almost all packed up, which is the biggest part of the preparations.  If all goes as planned, it will be housed in my new yarn room/office/den/whatever, that I've named The Makkin Room.  It sounds like 'making' and is the word for knitting in the Shetland dialect.

For tonight, I'll round up my trip to Denver with pictures from the last concert that I went to.  For me, a concert at Red Rocks is the best possible venue to hear music - and the Doobie Brothers and Chicago put on great shows.  I had a wonderful seat, front row center, and got to meet the Doobie Brothers.  What a huge thrill for a fan like me.

So....here are a few shots from that night. First up, the Doobies.  I'll be back to writing about knitting again as soon as I can.

Tom Johnston

Patrick Simmons

John McFee

John Cowan (bass) & Ed Toth (drums)

Marc Russo

It was over too soon.

Chicago filled the night air with their big and brassy sound.

Ray Herrmann

James Pankow

Keith Howland
(love the turquoise shoes & shirt combo!)

Pankow (left), Herrmann and Lee Loughnane (right)

I hope to be back at Red Rocks again before too long.