Fiber Raven Soiree

Bach to Another Week

Monday again-- my how fast the time goes! I am looking forward to a couple of knitting events today. My first visit with the Eastside Knitters Guild will be today, and this evening I am looking forward to meeting Janine Bajus and others at a Fair Isle knitting group in north Seattle.

Meanwhile, I have finished the back of Charlotte (a terrible picture, the color doesn't really show),

and to rest my hands from the larger needles, progressed another few inches on the beaded scarf.

I have decided to look upon each part of a garment as a complete object in itself, and therefore derive more satisfaction from having completed the back, for example.

The lace knitters list is starting a Rose of England knitalong in January, and I'm looking forward to joining in. The knitting life will be busy, for sure!

My latest thought-- knitted shutters and French doors. As you may know, Madame's Parlor has been without window coverings, forever. At one time I was considering putting in wooden shutters. I have made more than my share of curtains in my day, and was not looking forward to making more, and the lengths are not standard, so I would be forced to either make my own or alter special-order curtains.

As I sat sipping my Sunday morning coffee, stoked by inspiration from Debbie New, I pondered the possibility of knitted shutters. Why not? They could hang from cup hooks in the top frame of the window by small I-cord tabs. The slats could be firmly knit in a non-curling pattern with buttonholes in the middle through which an I-cord could be strung, and knotted on either side of the slat. The slats could be attached to the frame (knitted, of course) by a short length of I-cord. To open the shutters, one would pull up on the I-cord and button it onto a button located at the top of the frame. To close them, you would unbutton the top, pull the slats shut, and button at the bottom.

This led to more musings-- what about the sliding glass door? Shutters would not be appropriate, but curtains would be too boring after knitted shutters on the other windows. Then I had it-- knitted French doors!! These could hang underneath a cornice, and sheers could be hung between them and the window for the final touch. They could be weighted at the bottom. I'll have to confer with Felina Schwartz, the engineering whiz, or Roi.

Well, just to show that I do sometimes put action behind thought, I graphed out half of Bach's Invention #13 in Stitch Painter just to see what it would look like.

The spots above and below at regular intervals represent measures and beats. The shortest note in the piece is a sixteenth note, and when notes are held for more than a sixteenth the line representing the note is longer. It's quite pretty, I think (the pattern, not the colors). I'm still pondering its use in knitting. Fair Isle would look sparse, and maybe Bach isn't the best candidate. Chopin or Rachmaninoff or Liszt would provide charts that are much more dense. But the simplicity and counterpoint of Bach is quite nice. Maybe it would look better in a purl texture on a gansey?