Letters
Letter from Paris: Noodling
Dear friends,
Such a change since my last letter. By the time you receive this, the 2024 games (both Olympic and Paralympic) will have entered the history books and crews will be busy taking down the decorations.
Local sentiment, here in the tenth arrondissement, is relief with an undertone of pride. It went well, and that’s gratifying. However, enough is enough.
Paris certainly loves a party, and goodness knows Paris loves to have the eyes of the world trained upon her; but right now Paris would like to take her bra off and lie down in the dark with a glass of wine to binge-watch Madame est servie.*
Meanwhile, the weather is cooling precipitously. This always brings out my nesting instinct, and by nesting I mean the urge to bury myself in various wools and not go outside again until the daffodils return.
The leaves fall in the Square Émile-Chautemps, a place I love to knit.
I am still, thank you very much for asking, knitting on Martin Storey’s “Mitchum” cardigan, and am pleased to report that since I last wrote, the back is nearly finished.
As well it should be, considering that I chopped a whopping four inches (10 centimeters) off the length of the back because otherwise it will hang down over my butt, and I don’t like it when my sweaters do that. I have rather a lot of butt, inherited from both mother and father, and when I drape it in knitting it looks like I’m smuggling hams out of Spain.
The yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed Aran) is a peach to knit with, but it’s all gray. Now, I wanted to knit Mitchum in the first place because I hadn’t done anything with cables for a long time and was gagging to play with them again; and after several multi-colored projects in a row, acres of undulating gray sounded soothing.
While I work the remaining acres of gray, of course all my mind can think about is color. I am gagging for color. The more the better.
To that end, I cracked out seven balls of yarn I bought two years ago in Scotland, on a visit to The Border Mill in Duns.
It’s all Shetland wool, sport weight, and I brought it all home without having any real idea of what I’d do with it, because you are not my mother so don’t tell me how to live my life.
I’ve now decided it will be a vest for me, in stranded color work.
That’s about as far as I’ve got, though noodling around with swatches has begun. Well, one swatch. One small swatch, densely packed with noodling.
It looks very raggedy, I know. I haven’t tarted it up for the photograph. I think it’s very misleading to suggest that on your way to making something pretty, you don’t very often have to make something messy. At least if you’re me.
Please note: I have no intention of knitting the vest in a checkerboard pattern. A swatch like this is for finding out how the colors play against one another, for determining what size needle will give me the fabric I want–neither stiff, nor flimsy. Like well-cooked pasta. Al dente, you might say.
I wonder how one says al dente in French? Let me check my Larousse Gastronomique.
I’m back. The answer is “al dente.”
Hang on.
I’ve been noodling around … to get an al dente fabric …
There’s a great joke in there somewhere, I bet.
But it’s time for Madame est servie, so that will have to wait.
Cordialement,
Franklin
*A television comedy of the 1990s, much beloved here–indeed, revered as a classic–which anglophones may know as Who’s the Boss?
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Many thanks, Franklin! Your name in my inbox and your letters are such a joy. Onwards, colorfully!
Love your post. Your colors play very well together. Relax and enjoy!
Love all the writing! Thank you!
I love your sense of humor!
You had me at “smuggling hams out of Spain”. Knit on dear Franklin.
Yes, Franklin really should warn us before lines like that. I almost snorted my coffee across the room (in the very best possible way, of course)!
What an absolutely delightful piece. I laughed out loud and that made a very good start to my new day.
Yes! And the comment that Paris collectively wants to take it’s bra off and relax was a lol moment of almost spitting my coffee!
Thanx for sharing, so I’m not the only one with 2 year old yarn?
Just 2 years old? I have some that’s at least 10!
Nice Monday morning reading. Ahhhhhhhhh
What a delightful post. I will never look at Spanish ham in the same way again. This summer, thanks to Nell Ziroli I learned a new way to swatch in the round. You use less yarn and as a result a neater, photo ready, swatch.
Ooh, I do love me some Shetland fingering! On a pre-Covid trip up there, I found myself standing gobsmacked in front of a wall of color in Jameson and Smith’s store. I came away with white cobweb.
I laughed out loud. Best way to start my day. Thank you and best of luck with both vest and sweater. Looking forward to more of each of them.
This was the perfect start to my week!!
I love that after watching so many of your wonderful tours of Paris on Instagram I can hear your voice in my head while reading your Letters from Paris.
Noodle on.
I’m starting on a heather grey scarf for my friend to use on our next trip to Paris, January I think. It has cables and will be a switch from 3 orange and blue NY Mets hats.
When I read noodling, my mind first went to catching fish by hand.
The vest would be stunning if you followed your noodling swatch.
Me too, Susan. When I read “noodling,” my mind first went to catching fish by hand too. But it’s amazing how versatile the word can be.
The idea of “noodling” with your swatch is a fun twist—experimenting with different patterns and textures could lead to a stunning vest. It’s like you’re creatively fishing for that perfect design.
How fun to discover you. Inspires me to suck it up & fix the dropped stitch snaking up my double toe up socks so I can knit the heels.
Oh Susan! THE perfect definition of noodling with yarn – you tickle it until it leaps up and becomes something worth eating – um, wearing.
I live for your posts! As always this one made my day! Thank you!
Always like to hear from Franklin! And from Paris! So glad he survived the Olympics.
Sincerely,
SUCH a fun Letter from Paris! Noodling, nesting, and Spanish ham. Woke the dogs up with my laughter. And, I like the checkerboard swatch for at least part of the vest. That gray is a noble beautiful color (colour?) and with the cables, just spectacular. Be well, and merci for the great start of the busy week.
Oh Franklin, bursts of laugh merit your turn of phrase and word images with joy! Merci!
Th Border Mills, ehh? How is it in the hand? Certainly not ham fisted I hope. Or is that hand a full flush?
I always ever so excited to see a post from you! Your imagery makes us “see” everything you write about. What a great start to my day! Thank you!
Look forward to all your letters.
I always count on your missives for a smile.
Even my mother is not allowed to discuss with me my yarn choices that I randomly buy when I am somewhere with beautiful yarn. Thank you so much for making me smile today.
Thanks for brightening up my Monday
Love your comments. I’m a fan of cables also. Took a class with you in NYC a while ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Oh Franklin! Mon Deiu! Once again your words have left me laughing out loud and smiling to myself for the rest of the day as I go about my self. I love the noodling and think you SHOULD make your vest like Jacob’s coat (and yes, I AM a mother)—it would be glorious. Tres magnifique! Apologies for the absent accent acute—it is, after all, a U.S. site! Thank you once again for the laughter filled early moving private coffee moment—you are my Knitting Literati .. with joy and heartfelt thanks, wool-ingly yours—Marla
And I thought Who’s the Boss was a light diversion.
Now likely analyzed to the nth degree…
Great colors for the vest, the yellow has a nice pop.
Love your letters from Paris and admire your adventures in knitting.
Really enjoy hearing from Franklin. Always a pleasure. Thank you for sharing your knitting with us.
Beautiful photos, especially love the noodling swatch!
You make me laugh so hard! What a great way to start the day.
Thank you, Franklin!!
I thought of a Paul Klee version, until you said ‘no checkerboards’. Oh, well. Carry on!
Always delightful to begin the day with one of your
letters.
I see you have managed to introduce not only a new knitting term — al dente, for that just-right fabric feel — but have also discovered another of those Knitting Truths that translates so well into Real Life — on your way to making something pretty, you very often have to make something messy.
Keep on making those glorious messes, and please keep sharing them with us!
Charming as always! I just finished a heavily cabled sweater in Rowan Tweed Aran for my son and it is a fabulous yarn. I have enough left over for a cabled stocking cap or two. Love the yarn, even over acres of knitting.
Have “noodled” a tank top in the past…no idea it had a name…
It was for a 5 year old…!!
Funny, I thought Paris would be binge-watching “Les Craquantes”…. (Glad you survived the games!)
Once again you Franklin, you make me smile.
Hilarious, as usual, Franklin! I can’t see the shoes or the clamdiggers (also known as high-water pants – capris were originally narrowed down toward the calf, who knows now – people are splitting their infinitifs and everything) in the reflection, but if Birkenstock can display their fur-lined sole models in steamy California, I will believe Parisians are wearing their clamdiggers to Sunday Mass at La Madeleine.
Once again, you make me smile. Thank you.
It is so satisfying to see that my swatches look like yours before all the blocking and noodling are done. I always wondered if I was just a messy knitter or was doing something wrong. Thanks to you, I shall continue swatching.
Merci beaucoup.
Yay!!! Another letter from Paris! Oh, how I look forward to receiving your letters! The humor!! Thank you so much for starting my day off in such a fun way!
Great start to the week! Fun column, especially “hams out of Spain”. I laughed out loud, very loudly. The sweater looks lovely, but the colors you are swatching are delightful. Thank you for another great piece of writing and an insight into French culture.
Wonderful colors as well as witty thoughts. Next time someone gives me unwanted advice I am going to quote you: “you are not my mother so don’t tell me how to live my life.” Anything you design with those colors will be beautiful!!
Thank you, Franklin, for all you do, but especially for using your gift for words and storytelling to transport me to the delightful inner bubble of the world through your eyes.
Oh! So well said! All true, add to that the fact that he worked so hard to build this world. Moving to FRANCE! Learning French. Going through cancer. He is a marvel.
Nancy from San Diego
Fabric al dente. Marvelous to conceive.
As if our hour and a half with you yesterday on Patreon wasn’t fun enough we get a Letter From Paris. Smiles and giggles all the way through. You-have-such-a-way-with-words-you-should-write-a-book (tee hee) and how is that coming by the way. I hope it’s going to be available with leather binding, or maybe custom covered with one of your own fabric designs. Love all your Shetland colors together.
Did I say something wrong? I came back to see more Comments which are often fun but mine was not there. Sometimes I get carried away. Anyway, Franklin, wonderful humorous post as always!
So much to adore in this post. “smuggling hams out of Spain.” “because you are not my mother so don’t…”
And the truth about the messiness on the was to Beauty. Love
Franklin. Check out the Paul McCartney vest. It’s loaded with color!
Love the letter, Franklin. Your spanish ham comment had me thinking of this story. https://thespinoff.co.nz/kai/08-03-2022/the-enduring-mystery-of-the-hobsonville-point-ham
Many warm blessings, Franklin, for your hilarious morning message.
What a great way to wake up on a
Monday morning in early fall! I’ll
be grinning all day quoting ‘Spanish
hams’ to my knitting buddies ….
Carol M. in Minnesota
Brainy and hilarious indeed!
I’m so grateful you write these letters. That, and the fact that my husband brought me latte and fancy eggs from SBs really added some pizazz to the prospect of another scorcher in SoCal.
You are so fun. But habit forming. Enjoy your wit tremendously. Onward, more color!
Franklin,
These are some of my favorite colors. They will look good together no matter how you place them. “Smuggling ham”. Too funny!!
It seems that you are better and well!!
You are hilarious! I’m off to the market to buy some ham. Thanks very much for cheering up my day.
I love that swatch idea. I’m tucking it away for future use.
You live in a most glorious place! I so enjoy your expressions of knitting, and the beauty of life that you bring forth! Thank you, Judith
Good for you for making progress on the swaths of cabled grey! And pulling out some yarn to enjoy the colors while you knit. I would be sorely tempted to stash the one project and cast on a colorful project…. But that’s how I got in trouble during the lockdown and ended up with double digit WIPs…
I do think the multi colored checkered pattern of your swatch is fun – and I feel that you have the panache to pull off a vest knit just like it. I do look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Thank you so much! So needed at this time and place!♡♡♡
What a fun read!!
Sharing yourself with us… yarn, travel, cables, colors, places…
Merci!
No one writes like you do. I love the colors for your vest and hope you post a picture when it is finished. Even the “mess” of the swatch is pretty. Thank you for the laughs. You should post every day. My doctor told me to eat three servings of fruits//vegetables every day, exercise thirty minutes three days a week, and laugh every day. So I need you to keep me laughing. Thank you.
I would never have thought those colors would look not only okay, but fabulous, together, until I saw the swatch. Wow! I have used the”dive in and rip out” method for WAY too long. Thank you for the brilliant concept of noodling with colors.
Dear Franklin,
You make my Mother smile, and laugh, and say ooh! You have to read this!
Thank you!
Dawn
Have “noodled” a tank top in the past…no idea it had a name…
It was for a 5 year old…!!
Love hearing there’s fall weather somewhere. And Scottish wool.
Love this post!
How delightful!
Smuggling hams out of Spain…that’s a new one!
Loved your letter today!
I am relieved other people buy random bits of yarn, not knowing what will become of it. I felt guilty! But not anymore
Love your noodling around
Very good, I will try it. I need colour..
Ad sleazy, you made me laugh and that is a great thing. Good luck with your sea of gray, that vest will be magnificent. Can wait to see how you decide to go with the stranded vest
Franklin’s letters are the ones I ALWAYS read. They give me a chuckle to begin my day. Like others “smuggling hams out of Spain” is a phrase that will be remembered.
Zut alors!
♥️ I bought a used copy of Larousse Gastronomique in 1985 and still love it. It’s nice to see a reference to it.
Your letters always provide me a few minutes of escapism as I imagine myself knitting in several of my favorite spots in Paris, then heading off for a baguette and a bottle of wine to enjoy in the Bois. Thank you once again.
I love the colors in your swatch. Perfect.
Noodling al dente should look like you took a handful and flung it against a vest…
Love the colors! Once more, you had me laughing out loud. Enjoying cool air after so much smothering heat here.
Franklin, I love you, I love you!!
Your writing always raises my yarnie spirit and fiber mood!
This was an especially lovely missile from Paris. Thank you!!
you were so funny I thought you were a woman writer. lol
You are high-larious, monsieur.
Thank you for your entertaining letter. Unlike you, I love plain colours and I almost always cable. In all my 77 years I have been unable to master fairisle and so steer away from multi colours in disgust. Please keep the letters coming. I am an exile in Greece without knitting buddies, your letter much appreciated.
Loved the hams comment. The vision will keep me chuckleing all day. Thankyou.
Oh my goodness, this post was très magnifique! I was laughing out loud, truly. Thank you for making my day.
Smuggling hams – THANK YOU FOR THAT IMAGE.
Those colors together are absolutely stunning! And I think the checkerboard pattern looks pretty cool! I hope you’ll share your pattern with us after you get it all put together.
Mmaratta6@gmail.com
Franklin, you are an international treasure!
Cannot knit but loved the colours and the sample knit. You made me smile by the way you spoke yes I coukd hear your voice. Keep on knitting and making oeople smile Eileen
Very fun. I am gagging to hear more from Franklin.
By the way, I’m the Boss.☺️
I think it’s very funny. I should imagine it will draw in may youngsters who find the work boring and tedious. Thank you.
I studied French in boarding school in England 1966 – 1970. Yes, I am ancient. 72 to be exact. I love the sound of French, but even more, I love the sound of Farsi/Persian. I lived in Tehran in 1966 and most of 1967. My father worked for the British Civil Service as a Security Officer, taking him to foreign countries, like Tehran. This was before the Shah was ousted. It was a nice place, ruined, of course, by the radicals. This is too long, so, a bientot and chadafez.
Franklin, I simply love getting letters from you. Thank you for the inspiration to dig out some colors for I, too, buy yarns without knowing what they will become. (…’you are not my mother’ is a welcome phrase for future use? ) happy knitting. MSue
Love all the writing! Thank you!
I love the approach to swatching to figure out how the colors play against each other. Somehow things can be very different in the knitted fabric versus the ball of yarn.
Another clever trick from our Parisian friend!
Thank you
You are an absolute delight!!!!
It’s always a great day when Snippets includes a Letter from Franklin! I love the line about the defending your yarn purchase “you’re not my mother”!!! And also the smuggling hams out of Spain. You make my day!
I love you Franklin. I can’t stop smiling.
You now have me wondering what knitting Tony has stashed in a basket in the living room… Lord knows Angela most likely doesn’t have anything on the needles. But somehow I bet Mona does… and it’s ALL the colours.
“Raggedy” – phsst. I’m a knitter who’s most varietal knitting is swatches (rather than the long haul of a project, let alone a sweater). I’ve got an imagination!
It’s looking great, and full of possibilities.
Thank you Franklin for making me L.O.L, for real, with the “smuggling hams out of Spain” comment. Funny, yet on the other hand, not a bad outcome if you ‘end’ up with a cache of the king of the cured hams, the “jamon serrano”, pata negra especially.
Keep on noodling! Those colors do appear to be playing well together. Love the rich and deep tones.
It’s always a great day when “we” receive a letter from Franklin! (A book might be better, though…just sayin’.)
Two year old yarn? Why, that’s brand new!
Your cable sweater is wonderful. You were smart to shorten the length. I am short so I often have to do the same.
As to your colors – they are a lovely collection and I’m sure you will come up with a great design. I look forward to seeing its progress.
Perfect, as always. I love Who’s the Boss, especially now that Judith Light is having a much-deserved revival.
Thank you, Franklin, just for being you. You’re delightful, and it is always a pleasure to read your wonderful posts.