Knitspiration

I'm usually on the lookout for weaving designs. Weaving graphs adapt easily into knitting graphs. Until recently, I've relied on this little gem, "Lithuanian Folk Decorations:"

Karvelis, a Chicago publisher, issued this pamphlet in 1957. Many in the Displaced-Persons community owned it. The pamphlet reproduces designs for woodcarving, embroidery, and weaving. The weaving graphs include illustrations for tableclothes, runners, and sashes. The pamphlet is in rough shape because I played with it when I was a child.

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I bought this book about twelve years ago at a a local shop that onced carried both knitting and weaving supplies. I adapted one tablecloth chart into a sweater in 2003. I won't post a photograph of it now because the sweater is a nightmare. I knitted it when a family member was hospitalized for three weeks, and we had an eight-week-old puppy, Baci, at home. My knitted "gauge" wasn't even because I was distracted, worried, and tired. I didn't focus properly on my knitting. Most knitters tighten up their gauge when they are stressed; I am the opposite. As a result, the sweater—which should have measured 40 inches around the chest—was a size 49. So I ran it through the washing machine on the "hot" cycle, and the sweater morphed into a boiled wool jacket.

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A few weeks ago, I aquired this gem. It's the motherload of graphs! My Toronto Cousin picked up the book for me at a parish rummage sale, and she brought it during her recent visit. Anastazija Tamošaitienė and her husband, Antanas Tamošaitis, wrote the book. After World War II, the Tamošaičiai settled in Canada, where Tamošaitienė exceled as a weaver.