Class Outside

Today I'm working outside on our back deck, enjoying the sort-of thriving plants, the non-growing grass seed, the lovely shade and a book on CD (Maisie Dobbs, Messenger of Truth - excellent for knitting... and yes, that's Myrna Stahman's high school pic stuck onto my namaste needle case - I loved the photo and she let me have it last weekend after she came back from her reunion.)

Boxes arrived for 4 projects last week, so I'm FINALLY opening them up and getting started on them. I'm filled with apprehension that I won't be able to slow down enough to take good notes on these projects, and I have to rein myself in to keep from jumping ahead.

I'm solving this by creating charts and spreadsheets for each project as I begin, which helps me take the notes in a place and manner where I'll find them most useful. We'll see if this really helps, or if I'm in a fools paradise.

James Skirt
This wonderful painting of James I of England (James VI of Scotland) as a boy caught my eye. I love his breeches - very skirt like - so I'm using them as a jumping off place for a gathered dirndle with a ribbed hem.

It calls out for velvet, but it's really important to me that this be WEARABLE. I wanted to use a fiber that would take the punishment of being sat on well, and would wash up well, so after a bit of swatching I settled on Bombay by Trendsetter, which knits up very nicely and creates a wonderful velvet-looking fabric.

This is how much I got done during Hannah's end-of-summer skit presentation, Celebration, at the Breakthrough Program (see, I told you I knitted ribbing in the dark!)

Sutton Hoo
Moving on to a delicious project, I was finally able to connect with Artyarns and secure some beautiful yarn for the Sutton Hoo helmet. The mask part will be in the beaded silk, the sides and crown will be in Ultramerino.

I've simplified the mask so that it's easier to knit and MUCH easier to chart. It's a project that takes FULL concentration, so I only work on it when I'm home alone and can throw myself into the charting (or late in the evening when everyone's gone upstairs)

Anne Boleyn
This is a project I've been anticipating for months! I'm using Tilli Tomas Milan and Beaded Milan in Black and several accent colors. I'm also going to toss in some Marie's Crystals, but only in strategic places.

The Milan is thinner than the Beaded Milan, not quite half as heavy. This presents problems as I don't want the fabric of the body and sleeves to be overwhelmed by the weight of the edging. I'm toying with the idea of doubling it, but I'm not sure that would be the solution - I'll have to work on this and swatch more carefully... Obviously I'm in the early stages with this one.

Pure Physical Fear

I have fear this morning. The kind that wrenches the gut and makes palms sweat. Pure fear.

I am taking a skiing lesson today. My first. I am 47.

Hyland Ski Area, where the kids took their lessons this Christmas, is having a sale (such a deal!) and I cannot turn it down. Lessons are essentially half price, and work out to $15 per lesson. And today is my first of 3.

I've been Wii Skiiing (skwiing?) like a maniac in preparation - it's just about the same, right?

So when the kids are done with Hebrew school we'll pack everyone up and head off to the slopes.

However, here's the crazy portion of our adventure: Gerry is insistent that he wants to try, too.

I have my doubts. But I had my doubts about him on the bike last year. Of course, after a few days of riding he realized that the pain it caused wasn't worth the freedom and he hasn't been back on, but mentally it was a milestone he had to achieve.

I'm thinking if he can just get the skis on and slide out to the bunny hill it will be an immense victory. Neither of us expects to go down a larger hill today. I'm not letting him out of my sight.

I've been fretting over this for days. When I mentioned the 2-for-1 lessons to Gerry we both assumed that I'd ask a local friend to join me.

However, Gerry sat and thought for a while, went outside and shoveled, then came back in and said, "You know, I've always wanted to learn to ski, I never did because I didn't have health insurance. Now I have health insurance and I have cancer. But I want to learn."

So we'll see. I have to trust his sense of what he can do, and I have to trust him. But I'm going to be on him like white on - snow - while we're on the slope.

Add this to the list of things - like traveling outside of North America - that Gerry wants to DO before he can't. And with any luck the day he can't will be far, far in the future.

Skiing UPDATE
We're home, we're great, we did just fine!

We had an older instructor who was good with 'handicapped' and challenged and Gerry did amazingly well. Didn't fall once, and he was able to stop and turn - he was delighted!

I fell three times, wrenched my shoulder (who knew?) and wasn't able to "wedge" and control my speed downhill. Once again, Gerry outshines me in the quietst way. We're supposed to go back next Sunday...

Thanks, everyone, for your moral support!

HoTN
The Sutton Hoo mask has moved to the next phase, the sides! I worked up both sides yesterday, one at a time, so I could revise the chart I'm working off of.

The technique I used to create the horizontal cable across the front is being employed again, this time to create the horizontal join lines. The vertical ones are created by twisting and slipping stitches. The image to the right is from Highfiber.com

The plan is to add embroidery after all is finished to give the impression of the plates on the Sutton Hoo reproductions I've seen.

A very helpful site as I resarch this has been the British Museum, and a really fun site is Highfiber's section on a Sutton Hoo Helmet recreation.

The sides and back of my prototype are being worked in a sock yarn because I don't have enough of the Mohair Splash. Once I get the pattern finalized I'll knit another - or maybe have someone knit one up for me - in the original, inspiring yarn!

In the mean time, I have two more projects I'm getting going on. One is a short sleeved jacket from a painting of Queen Elizabeth (perhaps, maybe it's someone else, opinions differ) and the other is a modern hand-knit version of the garments that adorn the Minoan Snake Goddess statuette.

I'm planning on giving her a surplice top to cover up those girls (memories of giggling at this slide in Art History class...), a shrug and a ruffled skirt. I'm brightening her up a bit more than the sketch would imply - warmer colors, but very earthy. Some beautiful Mango Moon yarn arrived 2 days ago, and I'm chomping to get Sutton Hoo to a stoppable place so I can dive into this!

Sutton Who?

A few years ago I invested in the Simon Schama "A History of Britain" and I've never regretted the expense. The 5 DVD set's been my traveling companion, my best knitting background, a wonderful respite, a safe harbor for Gerry and I when we needed our minds occupied in at the Mayo and even a cure for homesickness when I'm on the road.

I love the DVD's - love Simon - I have no idea if he's a knitter, but I know deep in my soul that he would APPRECIATE good knitting.

I love his voice, his sense of humor, and the fact that he rides that fine line between priggish and drama queen - we should all be so capable.

And I love that when he was on the Colbert Report he was as giddy as a schoolboy. I like it when folks are free enough to be giddy in public.

But I digress...

One of the things I most admire about A History of Britain is that it is A history - not THE history - and doesn't pretend to be a full-out survey from Picts to Princess Di. It's selective.

A stellar point of AHoB is the use of archeological pieces and artworks to press home Schama's point. This DVD's where I first saw the Sutton Hoo helmet, so named because it was recovered from a dig at Sutton Hoo.

When I saw the helmet I was struck by the beauty - the intricacy - of the metal work. The idea of recreating it as a knitted piece has haunted me for years, and today I felt like trying.

Who knows if I'll succeed. If I do, it will be in the book. It gets pretty intricate, and I don't just want to copy it, but I want to find a way to allow OTHERS to copy it in wool, too. That is always the hard nut.

I could sit and knit anything I wanted, but working it up so that it's doable by someone else, that's the hard nut to crack.

So here's my start. The chin.

I think in part I was inspired by some amazing yarn that arrived last week - it's from Artyarns, and it's called Mohair Splash. I'm not sure if it's available yet - I got it after I saw it at TNNA.

The tiny beads and sequins are strewn along the yarn in odd places, not measured, and the unexpectedness of their arrival is a continuous source of pleasure as I knit it up.

A firmer yarn might give a more metal-worked feeling, but in my gut I feel that this yarn is best for this project. I've been wrong before, and may be now, but sometimes working it up is the only way to find out.

I'm working directly off of the photo. I plan to work the front to the temple, then work the back and sides to the temple, then join them and work the top. The heavily tooled areas with images of fighters and horsemen will be worked - or at least at this point I think they'll be worked - as embroidery after the piece is finished.

Wish me luck!