Plans
I had great plans for today. Plans involving putting a zipper on the sweater I knit for Julian (which has been sitting in its unzippered and unfinished state for months) and blocking and sewing the miniskirt (and deciding what I wanted to do regarding lining it and making a waistband), and finally finishing the fingerless gloves (which have remained in their almost completed state for so many weeks now.) Alas, it is not to be, for I have a sore throat and will be seeing the doctor instead.
On a somewhat related note, I have been reading up on the history of knitting in Vogue Knitting and the exclusively male knitting guilds which spread throughout Europe during the 17th century:
The training process for a guild knitter was long and elaborate. It took six years to become a master knitter, three as an apprentice and three as a journeyman. After this service the aspiring master knitter was required to produce a felted cap, a pair of stockings or gloves with embroidered decoration, a shirt or waistcoat, and a knitted carpet about six feet by five feet with flowers, foliage, and animals-all in the space of 13 weeks.
13 Weeks?!? At first, I marvel at that. Then I think that if all I did was knit and I didn't have the distractions of a child, a husband, books, the internet, the need to exercise, etc., then I could get more accomplished knittingwise.
Another thing I found fascinating was the fact that all these knitting traditions which we perceive as so very old and longstanding have not been around that long:
The most famous types of traditional knitting, such as Fair Isle, Aran, Shetland lace and Scandinavian "lice" patterns, are not ancient, but date from the 19th century.
So the consitution is older than the tradition of fishermen's sweaters. I don't know how I feel about that. I mean, all these years I have been making fishermen's sweaters, I have had this romantic notion that I am tapping into something far older than myself. And while the tradition predates my birth by at least a century, I guess I am a little disappointed to realize it is only a century or two older than I. I know, I am being so very silly.
On a somewhat related note, I have been reading up on the history of knitting in Vogue Knitting and the exclusively male knitting guilds which spread throughout Europe during the 17th century:
The training process for a guild knitter was long and elaborate. It took six years to become a master knitter, three as an apprentice and three as a journeyman. After this service the aspiring master knitter was required to produce a felted cap, a pair of stockings or gloves with embroidered decoration, a shirt or waistcoat, and a knitted carpet about six feet by five feet with flowers, foliage, and animals-all in the space of 13 weeks.
13 Weeks?!? At first, I marvel at that. Then I think that if all I did was knit and I didn't have the distractions of a child, a husband, books, the internet, the need to exercise, etc., then I could get more accomplished knittingwise.
Another thing I found fascinating was the fact that all these knitting traditions which we perceive as so very old and longstanding have not been around that long:
The most famous types of traditional knitting, such as Fair Isle, Aran, Shetland lace and Scandinavian "lice" patterns, are not ancient, but date from the 19th century.
So the consitution is older than the tradition of fishermen's sweaters. I don't know how I feel about that. I mean, all these years I have been making fishermen's sweaters, I have had this romantic notion that I am tapping into something far older than myself. And while the tradition predates my birth by at least a century, I guess I am a little disappointed to realize it is only a century or two older than I. I know, I am being so very silly.
posted by alimum at 8:43 AM
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