For the Love of a Saroyan . . . or is it a Stellaria

Contributed by Doreen Lewis

In the world of Base 10, I am a rising (ok, so I have completed the rise) Senior Citizen.  In Ancient Babylon, I would be a mere teenager (Base 60, for the math geeks in our midst).  And everyone knows that teenagers are fickle.

Move over Saroyan; make way for my new BFF – Stellaria.  After 9 Saroyan’s, I have found a new love.

Saroyan without beads

Don’t get me wrong – Saroyan (be it Camille or William) is still one of the most versatile knitting patterns I have encountered.  A free pattern by Liz Abinante on Ravelry, Saroyan is knit side-to-side (each row is short) with an engaging knit-on (no pesky picking up stitches here) leaf border.  It is a quick knit that is eminently portable (you can knock out a few rows waiting in the dentist’s office or even in line at the drive-though at the bank).  Saroyan can be knit in a variety of shapes and in a wide range of yarns.  I have seen examples in my LYS in everything from Fingering – my own personal goddess (or demon – depending on who is minding the checkbook that day) to Worsted Weight. 

I have made Saroyan’s with beads and without beads, with solid color yarn and with variegated yarn.  I even made one with a worsted weight yarn (that baby llama and silk was just impossible to resist).  I have, after all, made 9 Saroyan’s.

But move over Saroyan; Stellaria has moved to town. So what if the rows are long (the cast on is 172 stitches and the top-down piece grows from that) and the bind-off is heck (681 stitches that bind off like 1000)!  Stellaria’s garter stitch body, a graceful easy-to-wear crescent, is shaped with short rows and the lace border (also knit on – I really hate picking up stitches) is a piece of cake. 

Stellaria made with Fiber Charmer Galadriel (55% superwash BFL and 45% silk)

This pattern by Susanna IC ($7.00 on Ravelry) is worth every penny. It is challenging enough to hold your interest but not so complicated that you can only knit in a hermetically sealed chamber, away from the distractions of daily life.  It blocks easily and the finished product is very showy.  Stellaria is written for DK yarn and calls for US 7 and 9 needles.  I use Fingering weight yarn and US 6 and 8 needles. It knits up (even with beads) with near blinding speed.  I have just finished my third Stellaria and have plenty of time to make 2 more by the Holidays.

Red Stellaria with gold beads is a Knit Witch sock yarn 

Both Saroyan and Stellaria take 1 skein of Fingering weight yarn.  Saroyan can be knit to use the amount of yarn you have on hand while Stellaria as written takes approx. 430 yards.

In a pinch, I would be hard pressed to give up either one of these great patterns.  I guess I can always have more than 1 BFF…

Stellaria is Dream in Color Starry

A Holiday Use for Yarn

A wreath made of balls of yarn by Two Junk Chix is featured in the current issue of Ladies Home Journal. The original post on how to make the wreath is here. The updated post with some new ideas is here. Either way, this is a fun crafty blog that might give you some ideas of how to use those high-quality scraps that you know you just won't throw out.

(Thank you to Jolie's Mom for the link!)

Sweaters on Parade

Loes Veenstra, a knitter in Rotterdam, Netherlands, has been honored with a parade of people wearing the more than 500 sweaters she has knit over her lifetime. Link to video.

A Year of the Bears: AKG December 2013 meeting recap

This month’s meeting was our annual bear donation to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy.  The Atlanta Knitting Guild started out knitting trauma bears for police officers to take with them and over the years developed the relationship with the GCCA.  The GCCA sees between 650 to 700 children who are victims of abuse or witnesses to such abuse each year, and our bears provide a small measure of comfort to those children.

Last year we collected 311 bears, and I thought we could meet and beat that goal this year.  When I challenged the AKG at the July meeting where we distributed copies of the Beary Easy Sweater by Diana Rishel, I never knew how quickly and fervently our knitters would accept that challenge.

Last year also inspired one members’ granddaughter to collect bears with her Daisy troop, and this year that same girl’s Brownie troop carried on that tradition.  All year long the same group of girls collected bears.  We invited them to come before the actual meeting to see the dressed bears ready to go for this year, and they brought bags of bears with them again.  I loved seeing their delight when they saw all the dressed bears.  Not only have they been learning the joys of community service in a way that doesn’t involve a DUI and a judge, but I think we’re planting the seeds of a new generation of handcrafters.

I’d been told there was another young lady collecting bears, and that she would be attending with a friend.  What I didn’t know is that this had been her service project to graduate from elementary school.  She attended with two friends, as well as two younger brothers in tow, and they brought bags of bears and non-bears.  She and her friend had set up collection boxes at her school, made posters and written articles for the school paper.  The five of them dove right into dressing and labeling the bears with enthusiasm, even forgoing cake and snacks until their job was completed.

In the meantime, the members of the AKG had stepped up and been knitting bear clothes at an astonishing rate.  Earlier this fall, our longtime bear coordinator, Jean G., had let us know that she would have to give up her position due to exciting new opportunities in her life.  She said she could help through the December meeting, and in the meantime, we found not one, but two wonderful members to step into her shoes.  Jeanne K.  and Joyce O. came in with all sorts of new ideas about how to reach out to the community to collect bears and spread word of our mission.  They took in bears, washed the ones that needed a good bath, dressed them in donated clothing, and tagged them.

Joyce, an amazing quilter, even made an Atlanta Knitting Guild Bears tablecloth.  I was astounded to see it that night!

Jeanne was told of a charity luncheon held by the …, which she attended.  She came from that luncheon with another 80+ bears!  She and Joyce got them dressed and labeled before coming to the meeting.

Whit also had the opportunity to get some bears from the Atlanta Mart, and she donated 50 bears to our efforts.

As usual, the bears kept coming in all during the night.  Thank goodness we had a stack of sweaters waiting for them.  We also received a pile of bear scarves that Arlene of Needle Nook brought.  She had encouraged the attendees of the first Wine and Wool retreat to knit scarves from mini skeins she had received from one of her yarn reps.  Needle Nook’s customers contributed about 170 knitted and crocheted items to our bear this year.

What’s our goal for next year?  That’s a great question.  While I jokingly said that we should aim for 450 bears, I know that’s a lot to ask.  However, Brenda from the Georgia Center of Child Advocacy told us a story of a 16 year old boy who had been beaten nearly to death by his father.  After his interview, he was taken to the room where the bears are, and the counselor who was working with him invited him to take a bear if he wanted to.  After all, he’s a 16 year old boy.  This young man did take one of the bears.   This is why it’s so important to dress and donate these bears.  The GCCA works with children as young as 3 up to teenagers.  They are why we collect and dress the bears.  It’s a small kindness to let these children know the world has kind and caring people in it.  For that, I thank everyone who has participated in making this year so amazing and bountiful.  As an aside, it took 2 SUV’s to get all the bears packed last night.  As for the non-bears, we sent them to the Atlanta Women’s Day Shelter for the children there to enjoy.

- Blog Post by Eve B., our faithful leader

A Knit & Crochet Museum?

Your humble former blogger has returned from the museum symposium in Madison, Wisconsin. There is much to report.

Karen Kendrick-Hands has done a wonderful job of shepherding the idea of starting a museum of knit and crochet. The gathering last weekend in Madison was a big step forward, as it was an opportunity for interested parties to meet. About fifty people attended, including one from Canada and one from the United Kingdom. We were able to share our hopes and concerns. We were able to hammer out a name and tag line: "The Center for Knit and Crochet: Preserving and promoting art, craft and scholarship." We were able to form a seven-member board whose immediate job is to write articles of incorporation and file for 501(c)(3) status. There will be much more discussion about the goals and scope of the museum. We will want to start small and grow sustainably. This means we will need to be patient. This also means the museum will probably start with activities other than outright collecting. We aren't yet sure when we will meet again, nor where nor how often. There is an enormous amount of planning work to be done behind the scenes. Yet we also have an incredible range of talent within our group -- museum people, academics, authors, teachers, and enthusiastic practitioners. I left the weekend with confidence that this is going to happen.

A huge thank you goes out to the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Yarn Group of TNNA. Together they provided logistical and financial support that went a long way towards not just making the symposium possible, but making it successful.

The Wisconsin Historical Society also staged a small exhibit of knit and crochet objects. It was exciting to see such work under glass in cases with museum labels. Some of the work was quite fine on tiny needles at a gauge most of us would consider masochistic. My apologies for the image quality -- no flash in low light under glass. Here are some of the items on display:

International Treasures

A very fine knit and beaded hat.

Crochet? Mittens in an unusual pattern.

A fancy bib(?) with unusual shaping.

There were other object including a pair of knitting needles that looked as if they had been whittled from tree branches. They were gently curved, perhaps due to the bend in the initial wood? And there was a long, narrow, fine sampler of lace. I'm not sure which was more impressive, the number of lace patterns or the border that had been worked separately and sewn on. I can't imagine finding the fortitude to slog away on perhaps 10 or 12 feet of fine gauge lace edging.