Bobbles (popcorn stitch)

"AGRES" wrote in message
news:LocYa.54501$cF.19484@rwcrnsc53...
Els,
Maybe she is just growing faster than you can knit!g

My wife's mother (Mrs. Fong) never went to school, but was a wonderful
knitter. She would go into a shop and see a knit garment, look at it very
carefully, then go home and knit one for her kids. (Always red, and as the
smallest child outgrew the garment, it was unraveled and the yarn reused.)
She never wrote anything down. How did she work out the sizing? My wife
tells me that there were rarely trial fittings and that her mother did not
even own a measuring tape! ( My guess is that Mrs. Fong measured
everything
in terms of her own hand & finger width.) I read about the fishermen's
girlfriend/wife knitting elaborate sweaters with minimal education. I'm
sure
that they had "minimum math" ways of knitting to fit. Think of a Irish
lass
getting the measurements to make an "engagement" sweater for her future
husband by playfully running her hands across his chest. Then, she can
have
the sweater knitted with "a heart on his sleeve" to take him off the
marriage market almost before he even knows he is engaged to be married.
Everyone wants a wife that can knit that fast!g There had to be secrets
of
knitting to fit without math passed down from generation to generation.

One of our master knitters should pull together a bunch of techniques on
how
to knit to size without math. Two examples would be "knit to fit" raglan
sweaters, and the hat that I am making for my wife which where the main
stitch pattern is simply knit until it is long enough to go around the
head
and seamed up the back. Then, stitches are picked up along each side of
the
fancy stitch panel to make the "brim" and top of the hat. Very attractive
and no math, but that is not an approach that I see in modern books on
knitting.


I wish I could do such things. I need to follow a pattern very carefully
or it would fail. I used to live in Malta and every year I had one lady
come to make my summer dresses. I always had a lot of different fabrics
for her to work with. She never measured me and quickly cut out many
dresses from these fabrics. At the end of the day I had around 8 dresses
for a fixed price

I do miss her

Ophelia
Scotland

"Ophelia" wrote

I wish I could do such things. I need to follow a pattern very carefully
or it would fail. I used to live in Malta and every year I had one lady
come to make my summer dresses. I always had a lot of different fabrics
for her to work with. She never measured me and quickly cut out many
dresses from these fabrics. At the end of the day I had around 8 dresses
for a fixed price

I do miss her

Hmmm, never considered going back to Malta? g
Katherine

I wish I could do such things. I need to follow a pattern very carefully
or it would fail.

I felt the same way, til one day it dawned on me that someone had "tried and
failed" in order to write that pattern. So now when I see something I like, I
just take off and do it. Frogging is my friend -- as mentioned in my post
about socknitting. G

I used to live in Malta and every year I had one lady
come to make my summer dresses. I always had a lot of different fabrics
for her to work with. She never measured me and quickly cut out many
dresses from these fabrics. At the end of the day I had around 8 dresses
for a fixed price

Now fabric is a different matter altogether! Once you cut the fabric, that's
it. No frogging. I would quickly have pieces for a crazy quilt! LOL

Still stitchin' and smilin' (and froggin')
Carol in SC

Me too! I never met my wife's mother - she died 20 years before I met may
wife. But, my wife has worked for high tech engineering firms for years
and years, and still, often measures things with her fingers and hands. So,
I am pretty sure that is how her mother measured things.

On topic, I think there is a whole school of knitting without math that we
are losing. And, in doing that we make it harder for people who do not like
math to knit. Those people maybe more graphically oriented and likely to do
some of the best textile design !

Actually, I think art should be as much a part of school as math. I think
the world would be a much better place if George W. Bush (and the rest of
his ilk) had been required to demonstrate a proficiency in art, music, and
history before he was allowed to run for office.

Aaron

"Katherine Burgess" wrote in message
...
Wow! Aaron, the Mrs. Fong mush have been incredible. I wish I had known
her!
Katherine

"AGRES" wrote
Actually, I think art should be as much a part of school as math. I think
the world would be a much better place if George W. Bush (and the rest of
his ilk) had been required to demonstrate a proficiency in art, music, and
history before he was allowed to run for office.

I would like to agree with you, but, sadly that does not necessarily follow.
I just think that George Bush should not have been allowed to run - PERIOD!
But then, I feel like that about many world leaders. Unfortunately, politics
attracts megalomaniacs, no matter what their artistic merits may be.
Now, if you had suggested that GB should have learned how to knit before
running - THAT I could have agreed with. g
Katherine

In article ,
says...

"AGRES" wrote
Actually, I think art should be as much a part of school as math. I think
the world would be a much better place if George W. Bush (and the rest of
his ilk) had been required to demonstrate a proficiency in art, music, and
history before he was allowed to run for office.

I would like to agree with you, but, sadly that does not necessarily follow.
I just think that George Bush should not have been allowed to run - PERIOD!
But then, I feel like that about many world leaders. Unfortunately, politics
attracts megalomaniacs, no matter what their artistic merits may be.
Now, if you had suggested that GB should have learned how to knit before
running - THAT I could have agreed with. g
Katherine



Not to start a politic's nightmare, but I just HAVE to say.... I like Joe
Lieberman's quote:
Al Gore, 2004; and THIS time the man with the most votes WILL win!
JM2C,
Noreen

--
Noreen's Knit*che
(Knitting, Crocheting, Tatting & BobbinLace are my NICHE in life...)
NATA #447
(my family tree is FULL of 'nuts')