Random project thoughts

When I was home (briefly) over the lunch hour, doing my day's piano practice (because I am too tired when I get home at 7 after my late class lets out), I took a few minutes and did the "20 evenly spaced decreases" at the end of Potter's ribbing, and started the stockinette section.

I think the color was a good choice for it. A photo will come later of the back of the sweater in progress. But right now it really pleases me.

("Potter" is called Potter because I believe it's named after Beatrix Potter. It's in one of Norah Gaughan's pattern books she wrote for Berroco. The "story" (all the current Berroco pattern books have "stories" associated with them) is called "Bright Women.")

There's also a sweater named Goodall (Jane Goodall, I am sure), and another sweater I really like called Faber, which I believe is named for the astrophysicist Sandra Faber.

(How cool would it be to have a sweater pattern named after you?)

All the women I can identify from Bright Women seem to have been scientists. (Yes, Beatrix Potter* was best known as a children's book author, but she also did some fairly detailed and serious research into mycology - she is credited with being the first person to figure out that lichens were a fungus and an alga living together)

Actually, Faber features brioche stitch, something I've never done but would like to learn. It may go on the "someday" list.

(Incidentally: here's a big list of female scientists. Interesting. And oh hey, Hypatia (another person for whom a sweater design is named) is listed on there. Actually, all the women for whom sweaters are named in that booklet are: Giliani was the first woman anatomist (in the 1300s). And Morveau (actually Guyton de Morveau) was a "natural philosopher")

(*Beatrix Potter is sort of one of my personal heroes. For a lot of reasons: first, she did something she wanted to do - wrote and did natural history studies. Even though she didn't have a lot of formal post-secondary education, she knew a lot about botany and nature. She didn't marry for money/convenience/because it was what was "done" (she actually married later than a lot of women in her era, and from all accounts, it was for love). She seems to have been quite a countrywoman, quite capable at a lot of things. She helped promote the Herdwick breed of sheep, a local heirloom breed. She seems to have been someone who followed her own path, who sought out her own happiness, even if it meant she was viewed as a bit of an eccentric or (in some cases) may even have upset her family a little.)

So I like Potter, not just as a design for a sweater, but because of the association with the well-known woman.

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I'm also thinking about the Silk Garden more. Now that I consider it, I think I bought it because it was on a tremendously good sale, and not so much because I saw a project I wanted it for. I'm considering either (a) choosing a simple lace pattern from one of my many stitch libraries and making a simple rectangular lace shawl or (b) just doing a simple rectangular shawl, maybe with an occasional eyelet row for interest, and let the stripiness of the yarn be its main feature.

Lots of people on Ravelry did Clapotis (Clapotises? Clapoti?) with it, but meh, I'm not ready to knit another Clapotis.

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I have yarn put aside for some of the gift mitts. I'm looking forward to starting on these sometime - I like the idea of doing x iterations of mitts, all different patterns, for gifts. (Oh, there will be other gifts along with them - the mitts will just be a "small gift." But I like the thought of giving handmade things).

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I've been looking at my "Knitter's Book Of..." (Yarn and Wool). These are the Clara Parkes books. I find them very inspirational - lots of patterns that are just nice basic patterns. And I found a simple cardigan that I have enough of a bamboo-colored Brown Sheep yarn (originally bought thinking, "I might get a t-shirt type sweater out of this) for.