P.S. re Stained Glass Beret

Although at first I had used the convex side of the plate to put pressure on the crown and stretch it into a perfect circle, I then flipped the plate over part way through the drying process to help shape the lower portions of the beret as well. This stratagem seems to have worked out nicely.

Stained Glass Beret

Hooray!! The stained glass beret is done. It was a quick & easy knit. I found the pattern extremely well-written & easy to follow. This is such a clever & elegant design, the way the fan shapes fit together to create the stained glass "rose window" effect...

Of course, with all the color changes, there were approximately 10,000 loose ends to weave in before felting. You cannot quite get away with weaving them all as you go either, because the way the fans are constructed in interlacing rounds requires leaving an open loop at the tip of each fan that cannot be tightened & tied down until 2 rounds later, but I strongly recommend taking care of them ASAP (as I did) rather than saving them all for the very end. Fortunately, once you get them into place, the felting process really helps hold them there.

Here are two photos: one (on the left) taken before felting, where you can still see the stitch definition, and the other (on the right) taken after felting while the piece was drying. Click on either one to get a closer look. I suppose it almost goes without saying, but the Lamb's Pride yarn felted *beautifully*. And I like my color scheme even better in the final felted version than when I laid out all the yarns side-by-side.

As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, the pattern calls for a dinner plate to be inserted after felting to help ensure that the beret will dry in the correct shape. I knew instinctively which of our various china patterns would turn out to be the right size, but it took a bit of effort when the time came to get the object properly situated. I felt a little silly for a moment there, if truth be told, until I had won the wrestling match, and then my self-consciousness suddenly turned to instant triumph. To my delight, the "crown" of the beret immediately stretched into a perfect circle, and I believe the fact that the rim around the plate makes it slightly convex rather than strictly flat means that the finished object will more easily fit onto my head, which, thankfully, is also not flat on top. ;-)

*Almost* the End of Summer

Notice the date? It's inevitable: school will be cranking itself into high gear again very soon. The new crop of first-years will arrive for their orientation on the 30th of this month, and our fall classes will start on September 7th, while the rest of the country celebrates Labor Day. That may seem a bit out of line, but remember Tevya & Co. singing about "Tradition"? It's always been the way of things here for the term to begin on the first Monday in September. The practice actually pre-dates the existence of a Labor Day holiday, and so local custom trumps the federal mandate. Every time. Funny, that...

Anyway, more organizational and planning emails are appearing in my campus account every day now. And although the summer has been a splendid respite from all of that for a while, as long as it lasted, I find my thoughts turning to academic pursuits once again with increasing urgency — which means that this blog, and the needlework activity by which it is fed, will naturally have to slow down to make room for things like reading assignments, lecture preparation, tests, student papers, etc.

But that said, there are still a few project goals that I would very much like to reach before the students return.

For instance, what I have been calling the "Great Guernsey Adventure" continues unabated. Eriskay is still waiting in the wings, but we have been exchanging glances lately, especially because I am eager to show off the *lefty* Channel Island Cast-On, which I recently learned. But I have been telling myself that I can't stand to have both Guernsey projects on the needles at the same time unless they are at different stages of their development. Otherwise I won't know which way to turn!! So my self-imposed rule has been that Stornoway must be done up to the armhole gussets, where I will divide the front & back (& stop working in-the-round), before Eriskay can commence.

It is happy news, then, that I have been making steady progress with Stornoway. Such lovely, simple, geometric patterns!! They are easy to memorize and very satisfying to knit, especially because the 5-ply guernsey wool really makes them visually "pop", as the saying goes, without being ostentatious. Yet this is also unmistakably a sturdy, functional garment and not just a show-piece. I *LOVE* the idea that it can stand up to heavy use, and is meant to be worn. It is a fabric closely tied to life and work and weather, where man meets nature and is unafraid to face the elements. So here now is Stornoway, with 75 rows of the body complete. That's 9 3/4" of the 13" needed below the armhole gussets.

These photos got the color of the "Cedar" just about right. What a surprising beauty!! When my husband first picked it out, if truth be told, I was concerned that it might look dull, but that changed once I saw the cones as opposed to the snippet on the color card, and especially when I actually started working with it and seeing the knitted fabric emerge. It's far more green than gray, with remarkably rich undertones. I have been warming to it more and more all the time, and by now it has completely won me over.

In the picture on the left, you can see how much (or rather, how *little*) remains from the first cone of yarn, which will leave me a little bit shy of the half-way point when it is used up. The picture on the right shows the center front (or back), with the patterns in their symmetrical ranks on either side. Click on either photo, as usual, to get a closer look. The sweater is taking shape nicely, but ribbing will still have to stretch somewhat more in order for the side "seams" to lie flat. I will probably take the plunge and acquire a proper wooly board when the time comes to block the guernseys. I have always wanted one, and this will be the perfect excuse, er, *opportunity* to make it happen.

Ah well, having said what I came here to say, I should really get back to my end-of-summer tasks. Duty calls...