As promised in my previous post I did some furter research on the question of knitting gloves (with 5 fingers) in Balkans region. I have come up with a theory about this which is based on the nature of Slavic (Balkanist?) soul (a similar argument that Cloopco suggested as well).
Imagine that you are a poet. Can a poet write a letter to his mother? This, surely, should pose no problem to a master of words. In fact, it’s such a simple act that it is not worth mentioning.
Imagine a great architect. Can he build a dog house? You’ve got to be joking! After working on a church with a great dome supported only by 4 columns mentioning a dog house is surely not an item.
And imagine a wonderful cook. Can she peel potateos? After having made 17 different types of “burek” in one month, you come and ask about peeling the potatoes?
I think I should make a short interruption to further illustrate my point. Here is what my grandmother answered after I asked her if she ever knit gloves with 5 fingers.
“It’s very simple. You start at the wrist and than divide off the stitches for the tumb, knit some more and than make the fingers.”
Really, what is this? It must run in the family!
After assuring her that I KNOW how to knit gloves with 5 fingers (at least in theory) and that I just want to know wheter people in her village knit such gloves in general, she answered:
“Of course we were. I made such gloves to your grandfather just before he went to the army.” (That must have been just after WWII).
So, here’s what I think.
Great knitters of Balkans of course knew how to knit gloves. Of course they did knit them. But people who would dream about patterns, imagine new combination of stitches, jelously hide their work from ‘competitors’ and make endless colours combinations just for fun would never, ever brag about a simple thing like gloves. “Gloves – pheeewwww! That’s way to simple to even mention!”
That’s why, today there’s no gloves in ethnological museums, no patterns to be found and no documents about these little treasures.
I have, however decided that:
- I will not ask my family members about such knitting questions anymore. It’s not good for my knitting reputation – probably both of them (my mother and grandmother) think I just wanted a quick recipe on how to knit gloves.
- I will look for gloves from this region some more – this time I will try to dig out some written sources. My idea is to try to contact Ethnological Museum in Ljubljana. I hope this will not ruin me as a knitter ;))
And here’s a picture to celebrate great ethnological imagination of this part of the world:
It's not knit. But I'd still love to wear it :)
Filed under: Living & crafting | Tags: Balkan, ethnology, gloves, mittens, socks
On Friday I came upon an intriguing post at Cloopco about Balkan knitting. To be more specific it’s about knitting gloves - it looks like there is no real / documented tradition of knitting gloves in this region. It looks like they have come only as far as mittens, wrist warmers and similar. Hmmmmm. This got me thinking. (You should read Maja’s post to get a full picture of this ‘phenomena’.)
It’s true that I love every aspect of Balkan ethnology, especially all types of textiles, but (sadly) it’s also true that until now my love has not been demonstrated in any kind of systematic learning and only limited to drooling over photographs or stuff I’ve seen in museums and when visiting friends and relatives in the area of ex-yu (mostly in Bosnia).
As my knitting knowledge is rooted in this regional tradition and since it is my mother who taught me how to knit and she learned it from her mother I decided that I should get informed about this question – so were there any gloves (proper gloves with 5 fingers) knitted?
First I turned to written sources – the only one source which was easily accesible to me and that is a book ‘Arts and Crafts of Yugoslavia’. There’s a section on textiles and a small portion of it dedicated to knitting – but no gloves were mentioned or pictured there. Mittens – yes. Gloves no. Socks – mostly. As if they would be knitting only socks, huh? I am completely on the same wagon here with Maja – people who could knit such elaborate socks didn’t (couldn’t is the word totally not apropriate here because it denaunces the wrong meaning) knit gloves? Why, why?
So, I made a phone call to my mother and asked her wheter they knit gloves with five fingers. After a brief period she said ‘Yes. I can knit gloves with 5 fingers.’ ‘Mom! That wasn’t the question. I asked you wheter people in your village were knitting gloves with 5 fingers when you were a child?’ To which she replied to me: ‘Of course they were! They only knit more mittens.’
This could mean a lot of things. That maybe there was somebody who knit mittens. That maybe they knew how to knit gloves. Or maybe that she wouldn’t want people of her village to look stupid because they didn’t knit gloves with 5 fingers and she wanted to make a better impression.
My mother is totally unreliable source. I am calling my grandmother tomorrow. :)
While you wait I think you might be interesting in seeing some really beautifully knit socks that were featured in the mentioned book.
Look at these patterns! Would you say they are more than 150 years old?
Filed under: Living & crafting | Tags: Kim Hargraves, Pazzo, simple knit, Vapor, variagated, vest
As I complained in my previous post about potential projects and the possibilities of choosing (neither)one, it struck me the other day that I should use some of my stashed yarn to make winter version of Vapour. So obviuos but such a long period to come to the conclusion.
On our last year’s trip to Macerata I bought some yarn (see here) and I thought that Adriafil’s Pazzo (top one on the photo if you follow the link in the brackets) would be appropriate for this pattern. The yarn is quite simple with changing shades of dark grey, brown and light grey and it would not compete with the simplicity of the pattern, which in my opinion could be a bit boring if not ’supported’ by a proper choice of yarn.
We’ll, what do I know? This was an impulse buy – I didn’t really think what I’d be making out of it, I just liked the colours, the texture and the price (discounted!), so I’ve set for 6 skeins of it. Couple of months ago I was still very enthusiastic about it, thinking it had a potential for something nice.
Today – after having knit through two skeins I am thinking – where was my brain to buy this stuff? I am not that much into variagated yarns and this one – though very beautiful on a skein - knits up to a pretty boring result. If you ask me what’s boring about it, my answer is the colours – so, there you go, I picked up a wrong colour scheme. At first I thought it was neutral and had a lot of potential, today I am all “another boring vest”. This, surely shall pass and I will be more enthusiastic about the FO and I assume it will even get lots of wear, but, but… This is really a note to myself, but – next time stick to green or red. Or make a hatand scarf for your husband :) – Well, I could stil do that if I am not satisfied with the result, right? ;))
Here’s a photo so you can get an idea of what I am writing about.
More than 2/3 of the back side is how far I've come
Front view
Here is it – all done and great. Cobblestone. I liked knitting this sweater a lot – except for the interruptions of not being able to get very short circular needles which has delayed finishing the sweater for almost a month… However, as I said – the pattern is very easy and this is my first project that included short-rows and also first knit in round. I agree with all those folks who say that it’s so good that after you’ve cast off the final stitch there’s no sewing to be done. It’s true! It is great!
I knit the sleeves on dp’s all the way, which was a bit annoying but not that frustrating, so I might do it again.
I used 800 grams of New Zealand by Adriafil, bought last year in Italy. It’s 75% wool and 25% acrilic mix, and it was delightful to knit with. I used 4 mm needles.
Back view
Laying in the snow
Filed under: Living & crafting
You know when I wrote in my previous post that I couldn’t make up my mind to knit something for myself?
Well, I went through my Ravelry favourites, checked my stash and found out I really need some inspiration, because I am not buying new yarn anytime soon and there’s planty of it in the house but… it doesn’t match with my current project desires. Which are – to be honest either not very wearable or not apropriate for me (for the reason of having too much weight on my bones).
Since everyone in the blogland is posting pictures of the projects they are going to make, or they find them inspiring, I have decided to do the same.
Probably from last summer I’ve been thinking about making Vapour – I think I have perfect cotton for this pattern and my husband even ordered Rowan 32 on E-bay so that I even have a pattern. But, really, how could I knit a sleeveless summer top in the middle of January?
On the other hand there’s a perfectly cute pattern – again by Kim Hargreaves – Little trees (from the same magazine) – which falls into the category – cute but very seldomly wearable. There are 9 projects on Ravelry, those who were knit with the tree pattern were made for children and those who were knit without the trees – we’ll they are just oridinary cardigans, aren’t they? Anyway here’s a pick:
Cute, huh?
And than there is Raglan Wrap (Ravelry link) – totally lovely and wearable, but to obtain the pattern I should order a book, which I am not willing to do:
Raglan Wrap
Also, I am slightly in love with Petal (=Ravelry link):
Petal (I gues could be worn even though I am NOT pregnant)
And to end the list I should mention Talia from one of the last years Knitty editions:
Talia
I have finished Cobblestone – have not had the time to take pictures of it today. I think it looks great and I hope to take photos and post about it tomorrow.
Until than I will just dream about potential projects looking for a perfect one. Have a lovely weekend.
