Wednesday, April 22, 2015

S is for...

Steampunk shawlette, star-shaped stitch markers, and Silver Skates.




I just finished reading the unabridged "Hans Brinker" for the first time, though I've read the pictured Great Illustrated Classic copy many times since my grandmother sent it to me when I was nine, and I have to say . . . I almost prefer the abridged version. It captures the essence of the story and the setting very succinctly by dropping most of the purple prose and cutting long chapters worth of material that, while educational and interesting, almost derails the plot. Imagine if the Hogsmeade visit in The Prisoner of Azkaban consisted of several chapters of the Weasley twins, Cedric Diggory, Neville Longbottom, and Draco Malfoy visiting museums and discussing the culture and history of the Wizarding world. I grant you, that would be amazing, but I think JRR Tolkien did it better by putting that kind of thing in the appendices. On the other hand, if I hadn't read the abridged version first, would the detour into the art, architecture, and history of the Netherlands have been as distracting?

Brass Needles has been doing monthly knit-alongs this year on the Ravelry board, and I absurdly optimistically cast on the Age of Brass and Steam for April's Steampunk Shawlette theme. I'm not going to finish by the end of the month, obviously.

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, one of the victims of the month (carpet beetle?) attack, so there will be many slippery ends to weave in.

The origami lucky star stitch markers are from TheSexyKnitter.

Patterns I love that start with S:

Sally the Eco Fairy - simple knitted doll that would be easy to modify to look like anyone (free!)
Saxon the City - cabled thigh-high stockings
Slipstream - cabled normal length socks (free!)
Southern Skies - circular shawl that uses beads and eyelets to create an accurate star map of the constellations as seen from the Southern hemisphere
Sourwood Mountain - leaf-motif fingerless gloves (free!)
Sylvi - gorgeous cabled coat
Susie Rogers Reading Mitts - (free!)




2 comments:

  1. My that Southern Skies shawl is very cool. And those Susie Rogers mitt look like the perfect little knit for a hoarded special yarn.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The shawlette looks great though and the colour is gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete