Thrills, spills, and rooster tails

Published on Wednesday July 23rd, 2008

Would you believe me if I told you knitters’ heaven is at a Holiday Inn in Marshfield, Wisconsin? I don’t know about eternity, but I could spend an awfully long, happy time amid the heaps of beautiful sweaters, hats, mittens, etc. knit by Elizabeth Zimmermann, under the kind and gracious tutelage of Meg, Joyce, and Amy, with scores of inspiring knitterly comrades. We stuffed our brains with new techniques and sage advice, we drank good beer at the pub across the street, we laughed and chattered for hours and applauded each other’s successes. And we knit like fiends all day long and into the night. Jen and I even woke up early to knit and watch the Tour from our beds.

All too soon the weekend was over and I was boarding a plane to return home. As I did so, I came crashing back to earth most unpleasantly: I discovered that I am going to run out of wool for my yellow cardigan. I thought 850 yards was plenty, but I was wrong. Of course, when I misjudge things like this, I pay heavily. The yarn is from Uruguay; it’s been in the stash for three years; they’re not making the same color any longer. So yesterday saw me in a frantic scramble around town to find a yellow laceweight that was similar enough to substitute. No dice. I bought a skein of Socks That Rock mediumweight in 24 Karat with the insane idea that I might be able to unravel it and use a single ply. This is madness, of course, and will probably lead to ruination (the yarn’s) and despair (mine). I also went online and ordered a skein of Lanas Puras Melosa laceweight in Sunset, which looks like a very similar yarn, but seems to have more brown than my yarn. If it’s really brown, I’m tempted to go all Kay Gardiner and take the bleach to it. (Of course I’ll try this on a single strand before I dip half a skein in. I’m not that far gone. UPDATE: DON’T BLEACH WOOL. It dissolves. Luckily Véronique pointed me to a scientific article about this; I didn’t find out the hard way.) Either way, I’m like poor John-Lee Augustyn, having face-planted off the mountainside and lost my bicycle down the scree, now forced to wait by the road for the team car to bring up a new machine. So I thought I’d keep the French spirit of my knitting alive and finish this:

This is something I’ve been plotting for a long while. My grandmother was fond of the work of a French surrealist named Jean Lurçat, who worked in both textiles and ceramics. I don’t know much about him, but I’ve seen a tapestry of his in the Vatican Museums, and my grandmother (a needlepoint artist herself) had purchased the most wonderful rooster tapestry on one of her visits to her brother and family in France. My cousin has it now. We also have a small collection of black-on-yellow ceramic tiles by Lurçat, the best of which I let my brother take on the condition that he send me a picture of it so I could incorporate it into a knitting design:

I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull this off until I saw Joyce and Meg’s book on Armenian Knitting last fall. Aha! You carry both colors throughout the entire hat, intending the trapped stitches to show through, and then you just bring the contrast color to the fore to make your design! Genius!

See the little flecks of yellow showing through the black? Doesn’t it look tweedy? You know how I feel about tweed.

Inside, it looks like this:

Loose floats all over, but you can just make out the rooster in reverse where I carried the yellow as the main color and trapped the black. These yarns, by the by, are both Socks That Rock lightweight. Korppi and Pondscum. The best part is that when I picked them out at Madrona last winter and explained what I was going to do with them, Tina knew who Lurçat was and was enthusiastic about the project.

So, one Camp project down. I’ve got another to show as soon as I weave in the ends, and a third to work on during the Tour over the next day or two while I wait for my yellow laceweight to come. Hurry, little skeinlet! I need to get back in the race!

36 Comments to “Thrills, spills, and rooster tails”

  1. Veronique Comment Says:

    The hat is all sorts of lovely! The yellow peeking through is a great little trick. Armenian knitting, you say? Must look into it!
    Wait, you went to knitting camp?! How exciting!

  2. Jen Comment Says:

    Your hat is fabulous! The bird, the yellow, the tweediness and shape are great. I love the combination of the Tour and knitting as a motivating goal for finishing projects. Good luck!

  3. rebecca Comment Says:

    Amazing. wow. love that rooster.

  4. whitney Comment Says:

    What an amazing hat! I love it. I’m glad knitting camp was such a wonderful experience. I hope I can find a way to go someday.

    Sorry to hear about your yarn shortage problem…I hope you’re able to make it work (yikes, now I’m quoting Project Runway at you!).

  5. Katie Comment Says:

    Oh, no! It’s like you blew a tire or something! Please hurry, wee skeinlette, and be right! We are cheering you on. Nice “down time” project, btw. I’m amazed that you can just whip out a rooster like that.

  6. materfamilias Comment Says:

    That hat is very clever — and cleverly photographed with the floral golden echos in the background. I also really like the fit and the perfect V of the pullover you’re wearing — is that a handknit, by chance? If so, it would be patience-challenging, but I’d love to know the pattern.
    All my fingers and toes are crossed for you re the yarn-match. Good luck!

  7. Nancy Comment Says:

    If you’re a member of Ravelry, you could post a “search” for the yarn that you’re running out of – you’d be amazed how many people have been saved by other friendly knitters.

  8. rebecca Comment Says:

    Wow! Your creativity and skill never cease to amaze me! Bravo!

  9. Nicole Comment Says:

    LOVE the hat. Insanely jealous about camp. Rooting for ya on finding a yarn match to finish your sweater. Good luck!

  10. Katherine Comment Says:

    Oh my gosh! That hat and your outfit are so cute! What a fun photo set. I hope you find a solution for the yarn problem.

  11. bells Comment Says:

    Good Lord I can’t believe it. Very Augustyn indeed. Boo hooo but I love that you are trying your hardest to find something to match. If nothing else, you’ll at least have a great show of yellow laceweight yarns to remember the event by!

    And that hat. Goodness me. It’s incredible. Armenian knitting is fascinating and I’m off to google it the minute this comment is done. Good work. No, great work!

  12. Meg Comment Says:

    John-Lee Augustyn had that bystander to help push/pull him up the scree and I’m sure your guardian bystander will come through for you in the end as well! Meanwhile, c’est un beau chapeau de coq!

  13. megan Comment Says:

    Lovely hat. Very clever!

  14. Nonnahs Comment Says:

    Nice work, Sarah! I love it!

  15. laura b Comment Says:

    That hat is too clever! Beautiful colorwork and extra tweediness!

  16. Greeley Comment Says:

    That hat is inspired!

  17. Kim D. Comment Says:

    I agree, Knitting Camp is Knitters Nirvana.

    Love the Armenian hat. It’s beautiful! You should forward a picture of it to Joyce, she’d love it.

  18. Denise Comment Says:

    I was watching you knit that hat this weekend but whenever I approached you to ask about it I got distracted (very easy to do at camp). It’s BEAUTIFUL!! The design, the color, everything…well done!!

  19. Gayla Comment Says:

    What a beautiful hat. I love the black and yellow together.

  20. Julie Comment Says:

    That rooster hat is incredible!! I love the design, and I didn’t know that it was not a tweedy yarn you were using until you mentioned the technique- that’s really inspiring. Great FO!

  21. Mags Comment Says:

    I love that hat! I will have to check into this Armenian knitting because I’ve had a hat idea of my own for sometime now that I would like to do without doing intarsia and this sounds like the perfect solution for me! Thank You!

  22. fleur Comment Says:

    Hello, I like very much your blog! And the hat 😉

  23. Meredith Comment Says:

    Great hat! It looks great on you! By the way, I have been wanting to make your blue thistle jacket for a while now, but I am scared to attempt it on my own! Have you thought about selling your pattern?

  24. Karen Comment Says:

    Amazing similarity between the tile and teh hat. Awesome!

  25. Karma Comment Says:

    Sarah, you never fail to impress! Such a successful project. I thought I caught a glimpse of you modeling your Rohrschach jacket at camp on someone’s blog (Rose-Kim Knits?); I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself. 🙂

  26. gleek Comment Says:

    first, the rooster hat is too cool! i love that stranding technique.

    bummer about the yarn running out! i know that you’ll come up with something 🙂

  27. schrodinger Comment Says:

    That hat just blows my mind in so many ways. Marvelous!

  28. Wendolene Comment Says:

    Wow…I’m floored. Shake that cloche at anyone who says knitting isn’t an art! (and good luck with your Quest for the Matching Yellow!)

  29. Kate Comment Says:

    That rooster is definitely king of all he surveys! You leave me awestruck at the beauty of your translation :-0

  30. merete Comment Says:

    next year i want to go. i have said that for a while now. but i want to see meg in real life and all the lovely other knitters. i am soo envious of you in a good way though. beautiful hat and lovely pictures of you as always.

  31. Kristen Comment Says:

    I’ve already mentioned this elsewhere, but this is really one of my favorite projects I’ve seen in an age. The personal significance is lovely, but besides that, it’s truly just a beautiful and inspiring object as an object. I love the colors, and the tweedy look is irresistible.

  32. Jen Comment Says:

    The hat looks fabulous! Love the photos–very French, indeed!

  33. leah Comment Says:

    Lovely hat! And I hope the sweater is finished in an acceptably matched yellow.

  34. pamela Comment Says:

    best knitted hat EVAR. I would totally copy it if I thought I’d look half as cute in it. Will there be a pattern? Must look up Jean Lecrat, as I love those old surrealist textile artist/ceramicists, like Stig Lindberg.

  35. ann Comment Says:

    Discovered your website in Paris, where my daughter was looking for a knitting project – she’s loving making the Tree of Life sweater. Now a friend has fallen in love with your Jean Lurcat hat, and I’m wondering if you’re going to make a pattern available. Thanks for all your wonderful projects and photos.

  36. Blue Garter » Blog Archive » Auspicious Pingback Says:

    […] to modifying my chart to create a more solid bat suitable for Armenian knitting, as seen in my beloved missing rooster hat. I suspect that the design as it stands would be too delicate to read well in a fingering-weight […]