MIse-En-Place

My mom, Mrs Ferguson, subscribes to "The Knitter" magazine from England, and kindly gave me her October issue. It is the one with a free gift every month in a cellophane wrapper at the newsstand.

The magazine has a nice knitting vibe, comfortable and stylish with a touch of whimsy.
The Alan Dart pattern is especially appealing, so much so that I may once again have a cat. I have made quite a few of Jean Greenhowe toys, this is the first Alan Dart, and likely not the last. Maybe mice next, in tutu's
My beautiful Noel had to find a new home, as she kept making a break for it when the front door would open, of course not realizing how busy (and deadly to animals) Highway 12 is. She certainly wasn't a scaredy cat at all and I understand she is very happy with her new family.

My (not so) Scaredy Cat will be just as stylish, though not as energetic. I promise to contribute to him every day. Cyrils' English cousin is made with Hayfield Bonus DK. There is a wider colour range of this yarn available to knitters in the UK. The Paprika colour especially. I found a substitute in my stash.

He will be a mix of vintage Hayfield Grampian, Sirdar Country Style, Paton's Beehive Astra (made in Toronto) and for his furry self Kitten from Sandnesgarn.

From a practice us use in hand weaving, cardboard and tape preview the colour combination, so helpful. There is more detail about this process in the post for the the Acheson scarf.

I also like to rewind the yarn and completely assemble a working area, what a chef would call mise-en-place. Everything ready for the daily exercise.

Because the parts are so small, and sometimes parked for a while I use a 5 piece set of double pointed needles turned into short pairs with cute Clover stoppers for the ends. Organizing this way gives me 2 sets and a spare, thus lots of options for open and waiting "live" bits

The portable knitting desk is a piece of ceiling tile covered in a cherished piece of rayon. I use thumb tacks and some flannelette to finish the back side

Yes, Cyril is on the way for Hallowe'en 2018!

An Offer of Warmth

An Offer of Winter Warmth

Here at Myrtle Station, we are completely confident that wool is the natural and almost magical fiber for maximum warmth. 

To quote Elizabeth Zimmerman from her excellent book Knitting Without Tears

“Soft wool from the simple silly sheep can be as fine as a cobweb, tough and strong as string, or light and soft as down. There are scientific reasons why wool is the best material for knitting, and into these I will not go. I only know that is it warm, beautiful and durable. Woollen socks never become cold and clammy, however wet. A woollen sweater is so water-resistant that when dropped overboard it floats long enough to give you ample time to rescue it. The surface of caps and mittens made of wool repels all but them most persistent downpours.”

So for winter 2017, we have grouped 150 grams of Alafoss Lopi a full aran weight yarn into kits. Knitters can fashion a cozy hat (or mittens) using a pattern suitable for aran or worsted weight wool of their choice.

As a bonus, purchase one kit for 10$, then bring in the hat (or mittens) made with the kit yarn and we will give you a 10$ gift certificate towards any in-store purchase. We will collect the donations on an ongoing basis and deliver them to charity on a monthly basis throughout the fall, winter, and spring.

Though you probably have a favorite pattern of your own, we are also offering links and patterns we enjoy. The Cactus pattern free on the Garnstudio website is a good one. It is a broken rib pattern, just interesting enough.

And 2 free patterns at “myrtlestationwool@blogspot.com. A simple stocking stitch rolled brim hat and a twisted rib version called Madelana's hat.

We hope you enjoy the yarn as well as offering true winter warmth this season

We wish you fruitful and joyous knitting!

Madelena's Touque

My Italian mother in law, Madelena Favro was an incredible person and a super intuitive knitter/dressmaker. She only had to look at a picture of a sweater or garment, to create it. No pattern, no fuss, just great skill and patience. It has a nice deep 4 inch rib that covers the ears with a double thickness. 2 by 2 rib is my favorite stretchy stitch for cuffs and hats, rather accordion like.

My father in law, Alessandro enjoyed working in the garden in all seasons, so Madelena asked him to get her some yarn (from Towers) and she would make him a Canadian hat.. a toque. It kept him warm for many years as well as protecting his head from the low beam in the cellar.
Madelena used only double pointed needles, sometimes 6 or 7 in order to accommodate the number of stitches she needed for a sweater. I am pretty sure she only used 4 for this hat, and so did I, in her honour.

Byron fixed these needles for me. They are actually 2 pairs of my precious Clover Bamboo. He cut off the knobs and sanded the ends to a point. Beautiful!

I used vintage Alafoss Flos wool mohair, 100 meters per 50 grams, on a 4.5 likely about 80 grams not including  a pom pom, which Madelena included in the original .

If you wish a copy of (my best guess of) her pattern, please email me and I will happily to send you the PDF.