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#11
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"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 |
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#12
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"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 |
#13
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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 |
#14
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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 |
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"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 |
#16
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