Miscellaneous: September 2004 Archives
My father-in-law recently returned from southern Poland (you can also find more interesting info about Poland here) where he was visiting family and friends. My husband and his family are from a small village in the Carpathian Mountains near Zakopane. John and his family are Goral or "Highlanders". John isn't terribly traditional, but being married to him has been an immersion into a whole host of interesting traditions and experiences.
What fascinates me the most, however, is the clothing and textiles that this primarily shepherding culture created for themselves.
The doll in the picture is wearing something similar to the traditional dress of Highlander girls and women. To get a look at the clothing the men and boys wear, you can see a few examples here and in this fabulous photo album of traditional clothing.
The wonderfully detailed capes and pants that the men wear and vests that are part of the women's outfits are all made of wool. A great deal of work by skilled craftspeople goes into the creation of these garments. According to my husband, a pair of the traditional pants can cost $400 -- even in Poland -- and they are a very special gift for an American Goral.
When I look at the women's vests, with their elaborate floral designs, I can't help but think that it would be interesting to come up with a felted version where the designs were created with intarsia. I've looked all over the place for charts of the designs or books that describe the designs and their symbolism, but I haven't come up with very much. John has asked around a bit for me, but no one has been able to point him to anything.
So I was wondering if anyone out there might know of any place that I could find patterns for these vests or designs -- or other traditional Polish garment designs -- charted or not. Polish charts and instructions are just fine, because John can translate for me if knowledge of Polish is required. Polish craft sites are great, too! I'm open to anything that might help me track down something useful.
P.S. Thanks for all the compliments on Salt Peanuts -- y'all are too kind! If anyone out there is doing/going to do this sweater and I can help you in any way, let me know. I'm happy to share any details that might help you along!
Salt Peanuts and I are having a bit of a snit right at the moment. And the tiff really isn't to be blamed on the sweater at all, but, instead, on my ability to deal with complex and somewhat unclear instructions. I can work with either complex or unclear instructions independently, but the two combined are too much of a match for me. At least tonight.
If anyone else is working on Salt Peanuts, there was/is a knit-a-long group who worked on this sweater a while back (I can't tell if the knit-a-long is active or not). One of their members posted a very helpful page that offers suggestions and instruction interpretation. You can find it here.
Of course, the finishing of the Filigree Lace Jacket (my fussy sweater is gently blocking under a cold spritz right now) and reaching the greater than half way mark with Salt Peanuts (a sleeve, the back and almost one of the fronts) has gotten me thinking about what will come next.
Lately, I've seen a number of bloggers (Steph and Julie in particular) talking about Butterfly, a Jane Ellison creation from her new Noro Knits book. I love the shape of this sweater, and seeing the waves and stripes in the back of Julie's Butterfly just put me over the top with the need to add this sweater to my wardrobe.
But I really didn't want to spend a bazillion dollars on Kureyon. Not that I am above spending a lot of money on yarn for a sweater, but I am really trying to be good right now. Enter Wool Needle Works in Canada. Check this out.... $5.79/skein for Kureyon. How can you beat that when it's more than $9/skein in most places in Chicago? So now I have 14 skeins of Kureyon in color 90 winging (or rather surfacing, becauase I was too cheap to spring for the "air mail" postage from Canada) its way to me. Supposedly it's already shipped, so now all I have to do is be patient....
...and finish Salt Peanuts....
...and think about my poor neglected Audrey....
...and wonder when I am going to finish all those unmated socks...
Happy Labor Day Weekend to Everyone!
