The episode in which Ann and Chris go to an estate sale and much madness ensues.

Look! It's Chris! What's that in front of him? Whatever it is, it's too big to fit in our ancient Volvo named Mulva. We must enlist the help of Dad Bergh and his truck.


While it looks like an organ, it is actually a LeClerc loom that weaves things up to 60 inches in width! And the people running the estate sale are offering it, along with a crate of vintage knitting magazines, a few boxes of mostly-crap but some wool yarn, glass bottles of vintage buttons, vintage ribbons and trim, books on weaving and embroidery, a few random books including a "POCKET GUIDE TO GERMANY" that is actually WHAT WAS GIVEN TO OCCUPYING AMERICAN GIs IN 1945 IN NEARLY PRISTINE CONDITION NO KIDDING!!! for, well, a song.We (okay, they... Chris is a trained mechanic and his dad works as an engineer in a lab at 3M) got it collapsed and into the truck. It is now in our basement where it can be set up.

I have no idea how to use it. Today we went to Barnes and Noble to look at weaving books. There were a few, but they were all about taking a few palm fronds or bamboo shoots and creating home accessories with flair. I told Chris that I couldn't find anything with a title along the lines of "So Now You Have a Loom in Your Basement," and he suggested I check the Impulse Purchases section of the store. No luck. However, there are classes offered at the Textile History Museum, so I'm investigating. Suggestions?

Others knit, too! And wear knits!

This is Lauren, 9 years old and studying knitting with me after completing a class in school, over the course of which she produced several garter-stitch scarves of increasing size and skill. She's holding the beginnings of her first hat, which include her newly-acquired purling skills.

Enlarge the picture and look at that even tension! It's crazy how even it is! No adult could learn more quickly. Needless to say, it's a lot of fun teaching someone who's a quick study! This is my first experience formally teaching (though I've taught informally pretty much since I learned), and I like it! I see more in the future.

In the meantime, I am writing up a pattern that will soon (knock wood) be available for sale through at least one local yarn store and also on this site, for starters. And I'm forging through a mountain of purple garter stitch. On top, you may note, are the beginnings of Mermaid's first sleeve, begun while watching TV last night. Below is a surprise for someone very, very cool in my life, the details of which I can't divulge right now because she may be reading.

Finally, the Doughy Dutch Baby commissioned Tomten went in the mail this morning. We tried it on a model at home as well.

I call this final shot the "demented gnome."

Obtained:

JOB. It's the job I've been doing as a temp for shamefully low wages for the past 7 weeks, only with benefits and time off and actual lower-middle-class pay. Hooray!

The JOB officially begins on April 23. Celebration is in order. A present to myself is in order.

Meanwhile, see this LINK!

#1 Most Shameful Unfinished Purchase

Lest this blog become simply a gallery for finished objects, let me show you some projects in progress. Behold, the swatches!

The one on the left is for a girls' sweater I'm designing. The one on the right is for 300: The Sweater. In the middle? Well, that's a swatch for what is currently my Most Shameful Project.

A year and a half ago I purchased a kit. A Hanne Falkenberg Kit for Mermaid. See right. It was expensive, but I knew that I would wear that sweater multiple times a week for years and years to come. Then I put the kit on a shelf.

It's embarrassing for me to admit that I've sat on this project for so long. The expenditure! The fact that I have outfits just waiting for this sweater! How many sweaters have I made since I purchased that kit? Ten? Twelve? Seriously! It's time to get crack-a-lackin'. I've joined the knitalong. The beautiful photos of finished projects, the spreadsheet for Mermaid... it's the kick in the pants I needed.

But there is a finished object, minus its zipper. Behold a Tomten for Doughy Dutch Baby of Undetermined Sex!

Weaver-Bergh Anniversary #1

Exactly a year ago Chris and I were married in the Emerson Chapel at the Harvard Divinity School. From left to right, that's Amy, Beth, my sister, Me, Chris, and Chris' cousin Eric. Presiding over the 12-person ceremony was Chris' uncle Ernie, the Jewish Shriner clown who got a Justice of the Peace license for the day in order to marry us.

And there was much rejoicing!

Fitted Knit #1

Lookit! I made my first project from Fitted Knits! It's the "Carrie Cropped Flared Sleeve Cardigan," minus the flared sleeves (mine end right at the elbow to make it more "3-Season." Though it may sleet, spring is coming!). I used 2 skeins of Cascade Magnum in color 9407. It is so soft that even when wearing the sleeveless dress in the photo for the last 14 hours I have experienced no itch. It's reasonably priced and beautiful as well! Like a loosely-spun blended batt. Niiice.

Career Opportunities (the ones that never knocked)

Here's me, in all my IRS splendor. In spite of my idiosyncratic nature, I have been cleared to take the step from Temp to actual employee with benefits. My friend at work insisted that I post a picture of this sweater on my blog, though I completed it years ago with thick-and-thin wool I purchased in Iceland while on an interesting solo spring vacation of darkness and spas.

This is one of the first sweaters I made without a pattern; I just swatched, measured myself, and knit the pieces accordingly. From previous pattern knitting, I knew how to shape and insert cap sleeves and pick up stitches to make the cowl neck.

Looking at the cap sleeves now gives me a new appreciation for this construction. Not as simple as the in-the-round options that abound these days, but the result is so well-defined and flattering in the shoulders, a fit that could not be achieved in such a bulky yarn with a one-piece construction.

One of my best friends has found an adjunct professor position in art history for the semester and just administered a midterm exam. While you likely do not know the correct answers to these questions, the responses the students gave are, well, you see. Please note that these answers are representative of the whole and that the class is composed nearly entirely of native English speakers raised on Long Island.

Question: In a few words, sum up what the Narmer Palette represents/what is its main point?
Answer: how do they were dress and how yes express the story and letters, what means of symbols
Question: What is a cylinder seal?
Answer: color stone with carved in tiny tiny cilinder seal was amazing. mabey artist who made that couldn't breath well.

Indeed. Tiny tiny cilinder seal was amazing. Considering my position as an administrative temp with no benefits making less than living wage and her position as a vastly underpaid university instructor at a university that is actually well-known also with no benefits or job security, well, it's hard to see when the whole Harvard graduate school degrees thing is going to start being a benefit rather than a handicap.

Here's a hint at two patterns that will be forthcoming in the next month or so.