The amusing thing for me about Saturday was the parade of handknits that I saw. I spotted a lady wearing a nice lace shawl that I could tell was handknit. I asked her if she made it, and she said no – her daughter-in-law did. It was a nice conversation opener, and we discussed that it was a cotton/linen blend because she doesn’t like wool – it is too “scratchy.”
I really should have made her feel my Mountain Colors 4/8ths wool scarf that I was wearing, because it is not scratchy at all. But we must be careful in converting the non-knitters over to the wooly side.
The one that amused me the most was the man that I spotted at the end of the row of booths walking towards us. I knew, even from far away, that his sweater was not possibly machine made. Those cables were a thing of beauty that no machine could produce. Ok, maybe a machine could, but I just knew.
Turns out that he was wearing his grandfather’s sweater from Austria. He was from Munich (woot! Munich!) and his sweater is a part of the “traditional” German attire. Think lederhosen and things like that. It was wool – that I will admit had a little scratch to it when I dared to cautiously touch his arm, because again, we don’t want to scare the non-knitters. It was a lovely khaki/beige color, and it was beautiful. I really wish I had asked him to pose for a photograph, but I was in such awe of the sweater I really wasn’t thinking clearly. It actually reminded me a lot of the sweater which Victor made and posted about back in September.
Now I can’t focus on my Trig, because I want to knit a sweater. Right away. One that will keep me warm in the cold when I go north for the holidays. Must knit a sweater. NOW.
4 replies on “Spotting the Handknits…”
Are we related? I’m having the same insane desire for sweater-making! It’s all I can do to stay out of the yarn store!
Isn’t it funny how we all start to spot handknits once we’re knitters ourselves?
As for the sweater thing, I am SO with you! The unfortunate thing is that I always start to crave sweater knitting when the weather gets cold, instead of BEFORE the weather turns (when I would actually have a hope of finishing something in time for “winter”).
Hooray for handknits! I find myself spotting the handknits more and more myself. I am also in the process of knitting a sweater of sorts–Avast from the last Knitty. My hope is to finish it while it’s still cold, but we’ll see. I’m not the fastest knitter and there are only so many hours in the day…
Anyway, too bad you didn’t get a picture of that sweater. And Germany and Austria are awesome! 🙂
Waaaaahhh! You should’ve taken a photo. I’d’ve loved to see the sweater and the guy himself!