The Knit and Kvetch - Victorian Style

"Gossip" by George Agnew Reid, 1888

I love this painting. I finally managed to get to the newly re-jigged AGO.... Frank Gehry, you did a fine job! I had heard there was a fantastic installation of a giant knitted piece, but alas... "This area is currently blocked off for a new installation" Darn...But, yay, my favorite George A Reid painting "Gossip" has been reinstalled in all its glory. I'm not a massive fan of late 19th century Academic Painting, although the odd Paul Peel & A Bougereau can make me smile... but this one is so plainly intimate and real... I just love it.... Wooly... Guerilla... I recognize us, how bout you? Swap the aprons for some LuluLemon lycra and I'd say... YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, Guerilla! And me? well I've been know to drop my yarn on the floor, much to the dismay of many my fellow fibre-floozies! Doesn't this look vaguely reminiscent of a last thursday of the month on Seaton Street? I'll say!Gotta Love it.

KNITTISHISMS on sale now

To purchase your copy of

KNITTISHISMS: The Zen of Jewish Knitting
e-mail me at rebelknitter@gmail.com

If you live in Toronto, you can purchase them at
Romni Wools
658 Queen Street West T: 416-703-0202
http://www.romniwools.com/

Copies are $20 per book with 10% of sale price going directly to Lilah's Fund at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto Canada.

Hurry, Hurry Chanukah & Xmas are upon us shortly!

The Emma Goldman Dress

Some of you have asked what the front of the Emma Dress looks like.... here it is as modelled by the premiere 'Tween Diva herself! And, yes, the 'how to' for both the 'Emma' and the 'Righteous Lid' kippah is in the book.

KNITTISHISMS has gone to print!!!!!

KNITTISHISMS has gone to print!!!!!

After months - nay, years - of humming, hawing, perspiring and kvetching... I have sent the oeuvre off to the printer for publication.

MORE TO FOLLOW when availability/readiness etc. is known....

What have I gotten myself into, Guerilla?
Gevalt...

Shana Tova (Happy New Year) to all my friends, even the ones that aren't Knittish by birth.

Funky Monkey Sockies

I never did show anyone my newbie socks... so here they are..
Yup... those are my feet....

#1 - my calves are big, but NOT that big... let's just say that faced with the option of shaving my legs at 11:45 pm at night, or exaggerating the extreme peasant-like shape of my calves with heavy duty photographic perspective... I chose the latter.

Addendum: My cherished friend FIBRE FLOOZIE says that I actually have 'Klondike hooker calves' -- oh boy, do I feel better about my self image now...

#2 - the pattern used is Monkey ... gorgeous leafy lace patterning with a lovely variegated yarn.. Designed by a very inspiring knit designer named Cookie A.

http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter06/PATTmonkey.html

Cookie A. used a variegated yarn. So did I.... I used a lovely yarn called Opal, whom my buddette, fibre floozie, a.k.a. Guerrilla Knitter, assures me is the crack-cocaine of sock yarn.... However, look at my colours - oooomigosh - my Monkey Socks look like Monkey with mumps socks... you can't even see the lacy patterning...

But then again, you can't see that I didn't shave my legs either!

Kid Lit Inspired Knits

So, she says to me, she says:

"So... whatcha doing this year?"

"Huh?" I reply in my brain-blasted it's after 5pm and you expect me to speak coherently kind of way...

Sue, the administrator at Ziggy's daycare is smiling at me with that 'you didn't read my newsletter last week did you?' look in her eyes.

Every year I knit something for the daycare's United Way fundraiser. Sue has caught me out... I meant to read it... I'm going to... if I can find it in the backseat of my car.

Um -- when is the fundraiser?
November 30th?
Okee Doekee..
Don't you worry!
I'M ON THE CASE!!!
You betcha! On the case!

Oy...
What to do? What to do?

And thus Kid-Lit Inspired Knits was born.

The 3 books & their related knitwear:

The Missing Mitten Mystery. Story & illustrations by Steven Kellogg
One pair of Red Mittens --if you read the story, you can see why they have to be Red-- complete with an 'idiot string', as we call them in my family - to ensure that there are no missing/lost mittens.

Cookie's Week. Cindy Ward & illustrated by Tomie dePaola
A story about a naughty little kitten... (one of Ziggy's faves)
A Pussy Cat Balaclava/Hat

There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
A very Seuss-ish hat & pair of mittens, based on a pattern from my mother's extremely limited knitting library, circa late 1950s early 1960s.

Funny story: my brother, remembers NOTHING... and I mean NOTHING about our experiences growing up. I brought the pattern book along to my niece's 4th birthday party a week ago, brother-dearest took one look at the pattern book and says:

I remember that book! That's Mum's... She bought it at Woolworth's on Van Horne near the Brown Derby! I remember that! Oh, oh, oh... and I remember the little sombrero thing-a-ma-jiggies that she used to put at the end of her needles too!

So what's up with that? Can't remember ANYTHING about our youth but this he remembers clear as a bell? Is it a Woolworth's induced yarn trauma moment? Is it loving memories of mummy's scratchy knits? Or is it just that the yarn aisle was next to the chocolate bunny aisle in Woolworth's and he accidentally associates the two together in the 'this I can remember with great fondness' section of his hippocampus?

His eldest daughter (who is 16) and I just giggled!

So, here is the kicker...

The Red Mitts are an Acrylic/Wool mix, the balaclava and Dr. Seuss knitwear are 100% not natural fibres. When it comes to most kiddy things, I used natural fibres like cotton... but this is the kind of kid-stuff that needs to be highly industrial.... They will be washed and often... these need to be machine washable... and let's face it... we are talking a lot of bodily fluids here... these are kids...

Teething drool, nose goop and all sorts of food items will get shmeared and ground into these little knits on a daily basis... plus at a daycare, I can tell you, the sandbox NEVER EVER closes on the playground... not even in winter... so figure in a little Bondi Beach inspired residue amongst the fibres to boot!

Nose goop is the substance that binds everything together... nose goop requires trayf yarn... Dr. Seuss demands trayf yarn... 100% not natural fibres... I mean, really... this is Dr. Seuss after all!

Sweaters that cry out 'I'm not from a big-box store'

After Ziggy's Mama's Little Rebel sweater we travelled to Australia to hang with the other half of our extended family. Amongst the crew are 2 amazing (now 10 year old) boys. I knew I had to make them sweaters as well... I'm a Butterfly, Cotton, Super 10 DK fan (the Che sweater is Super 10) so here's what I came up with....

Now, first, I should mention that there aren't very many plain and simple patterns for 12 year olds that I could use as my basis (never make a size 10 for a 10 year old.... It's a waste of time, my friends....) So I used the same basic pattern that I use for all my kids' sweaters -- Kate Buller's Style your own Kids' Knits is an excellent source for patterns & motifs... but I needed more 'grown up' iconography for my 2 amazing surfin'/sk8tr boy nephews... note the super cool flames & stars on Dylan's jumper (British/South African/Aussie for sweater) from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation.. Josh's Skull and Bones are from the Buller's Motif Library....

JOSH'S SURFER DUDE JUMPER

DYLAN'S SK8TR BOY JUMPER

Who says sweaters from your knit-addicted Canadian aunty have to be boring?