Letters
Stepping Out
Dear Ann,
O joy! It’s cherry blossom time here. To celebrate the season, I’ve been doing a bit of springtime organizing, which I call Swedish death cleaning because that is a thing, and it makes me feel like more of a badass.
One of my favorite organizing tasks is blocking the finished handknits that pile up on the armchair, preventing me from snuggling up with a book or my knitting. The bigger a handknit is, the longer it takes me to muster the motivation to soak it in Soak, gently stomp out all the water, and spread it out to dry.
But the payoff of blocking is always extraordinary. A case in point is this big boy: the Stepping Stone Throw from MDK Field Guide No. 20: Atlas.
I started it last April, when you and were roadtripping together to Florence, Alabama. I finished it in record time, marveling at how simple entrelac knitting is—and how addictive. You pick up and knit those leaning rectangles one after the other—finishing each one comes with the strong desire to pick up immediately for the next one. The efficiency and beauty of those seamless joins are chicken soup for the knitter’s soul. If you like log cabin knitting, you are going to love entrelac, too—don’t let the fancy-sounding French name hold you back.
Look, over yonder—it’s a deal!
I am pleased to inform the knitting public that we still have a few MDK-exclusive bundles for the Stepping Stone Throw available here.
Big news: we’re closing out these big bundles to make room for the restock of our Atlas shades that is heading our way (any day now—hold on!), so they’re priced at a stunning 25 percent off the single-skein price. Lots of yards (18 skeins!) of beautiful Atlas in these packs, for the Stepping Stone Throw or other Atlas projects you’re plotting.
Meet the three colorways:
Original
Erika Knight’s Choice for the Sample shown in Field Guide No. 20: Truffle, Cork, Natural, Cedar, and the currently-elusive crowd favorite, Pear.
Bold
This is the “Andes Candies” colorway of my own blanket: Merlot, Wintergreen, Whisper, Navy, and Leek.
Mellow
Also known as the Cristina’s Mom’s house colorway: Pebble, shale, Mallard, Cedar, and Navy.
No coupon code necessary, just drop a bundle in your cart and go—but step on it!
Love,
Kay
I can’t wait until you ship to Australia! I’d love to try Atlas.
Hi, Didi – while it’s true we haven’t yet restarted Australian shipping, we have shipped a few packages on a case-by-case basis recently. If you’ll send your complete shipping address (including postal code) and a list of what you’re interested in (including exact quantities) to hello@moderndailyknitting.com, we can send you a shipping quote.
What’s the current status on shipping to Canada?
Thx
Ruth Ellen
Hi, Ruth – we ship to Canada. Shipping info is here.
I’ve placed orders, no problem 😉
Swedish Death Cleaning, hahaha, I only wish I had finished knits lying on an arm chair that needed blocking……
If somebody else would do that first fiddly row for me I might do a small entrelac project as a warm-up. I had heard they were like potato chips. But these days (marching towards ancient-ville) I tend to squeeze in no project bigger than a mostly stockinette sweater because I like the joy of a finished object as often as possible. For those of you still in your swinging sixties or under, hurry up and start one! Before your interest in learning new things starts to lag. You can start one at 69 – still brain-fresh – and go on indefinitely while hearth-sitting and tv-watching. It’s an investment. Chloe
Chloe! You have to try entrelac! The Scrap Tote in Field Guide No. 20 is the perfect bite-sized, instant (nearly) gratification project, with minimal set up.
Gosh, I didn’t even learn to knit until I was almost in late 60’s and now only five or seven years later have been learning and making all kinds of things! Just finished a cardigan, the Pressed Flowers mosaic knitted cowl, a dog sweater, two Barbie dresses and yesterday learned mosaic crochet from YouTube! I’ve been doing test knits and even a japanese lace bonnet that came out fabulous. What’s this about being over learning at 70??!! I hope not! I even learned weaving three years ago, joined the guild, bought an 8-shaft floor loom and and am taking classes in all kinds of techniques with that rocket science. Don’t sell us short! We can do anything we want to! As the Aussies say, Have a go! And I love all the ideas and encouragements from MDK. (Such as the luscious Old Friend, a great learning sweater, in that squishy Atlas. Yum.)
I know it is not a kit, but Cherry Blossom Time has great color potential for a throw. Cherry Red, a deep leafy green, spring time Pear, a rich brown bark, some golden yellow, or maybe a sky blue.
I ventured down to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden for the Cherry Blossoms a few years ago. It was a fabulous experience. We tracked the blooms online and were able to visit when the blossoms were at their peak. The Japanese wisteria was equally impressive.
I’m wondering about the sections with the dropped stitches in the throw. Fingers or toes could go through too easily?
Thank you GardenPoet and everyone! I believe you are right. And I am so impressed by your Pressed Flowers. I overstated my case because I will always remember a knitting club member in her eighties who had done it all and announced that she was depleted and all she wanted to do was those diagonal square baby blankets for hospitals. I remember being horrified at the possibility and now that I am nearing eighty myself I find myself resisting CERTAIN mental gymnastics such as cables and entrelac while ready to take on others such as lace and Latvian braid (which I tackled mentally five years ago and finally found the perfect project for it lately. The mental work had already been done while my spirit was still “young.”). So maybe it is not the brain – which always benefits from a good workout, I suspect – but for Some People it is the spirit (look at BarbaraWalker who walked away from knitting completely to investigate symbolism) and to each his own, I guess. But you all have revived my spirit and, Kay, I will try absorbing some Entrelac youtube tutorials (thank goodness they will repeat themselves endlessly) and see if I can catch the Entrelac bug. Thank you all for the pep talk.