midflight

Psychiatrist Dr Karen Norberg, of National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, spent a year knitting an anatomically correct replica of the human brain.

Full story in the Telegraph here.

One-way stretch Italian wool fabric was bought close to a decade ago at Australian designer Sally Bluff’s bolt end sale – now it is slightly 1930s inspired top (bias-looking construction, but actually it is a bit of a cheat). Jim is Mr Henson due to muppety open selvedge seams at shoulders (I think of him often).

© JSP

Teva Durham’s yoke vest – many people have blogged about Durham’s difficult sizing in general and this pattern in particular… I rewrote the pattern partly to compensate for my 180cm frame and partly because I used a different wool which made the gauge all off (3.5″ width to 10sts instead of 4″ with a US13 needle). So I added quite a bit into the yoke and hip to add length – I will post my resizing here soon. I also changed to a US11 needle for the collar – there is no way it could stand up knitted with the 13. Very fast and easy pattern however; it took a day and a half, with a bit more time in front of the tv to weave in the ends.

© JSP

Wrap-around lace sweater from Stefanie Japel’s Fitted Knits, using Madil 70% kid mohair and 30% silk in colour 459. Quite warm, but light and floaty as a cloud…

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A waisted cardigan made from four big balls of undyed wool left by my grandmother. It was based on a pattern from Stefanie Japel’s Fitted Knits, but I altered the detailing around the collar and waist, and changed the sleeves in part because I only had this much wool – I knit and un-knit the first sleeve about three times before I figured out something that could work with what I had left.

© JSP

Was recently reminded of this strange and wonderful bit of writing from Ben Marcus’ The Age of Wire and String. As we approach the final week of Masterchef, it reminds me of afternoons in costume history class and painting plates of costumes through the ages… It makes perfect sense, and yet – what?!? Eh? I love Marcus’ redress (excuse the pun) of language, disturbing the idea that words are stable things. And how authoritative history is thrown into question by his acceleration of time.

How odd, what we wear and eat.

The Food Costumes of Montana

In the morning in Montana the leg was bound from the ankle to the knee with bacon or hair and then cross-gartered with thongs or strips of uncut rice; later a slack taffy, bound at the ankle, was worn. As the lower legs of the taffy became more fitted, they were called slews, and as the slews eroded or spoiled to the knee, fitted milk skins called loops were worn. By 11.30am, feet were added to the loops. As slews grew shorter, loops became longer; by 12.20pm, the loops reached the hips and were attached by butter webs to the stomach. By c. 1.00, the loops and slews formed one garment; thus shads were first known. Beans and nuts were used, as was kale, and color became extravagant. The shads were multicolored and often each leg was clothed in a contrasting food style. As the upper part of the loops became more decorated and puffed out, a separation occurred (c. 2.30); the upper part became known as pike rings because of the swimming motion the food made as it circled the thigh, and the leg coverings were for the first time called bones and recognized as a separate accessory of dress. Knitted bones were first known in Oklahoma (3.27); in Montana, Linder is said to have worn (c. 4.00) the first knitted vegetable bones for a record-setting period of three minutes before succumbing. Knitting thereafter became general, and machines came into use after autumn of that hour. Colored, cooked, and reversed pike rings were worn at 5.15, though cooled wheat sleeves were the fashion. Also at that hour the decorative bean boots of the army were of the northern or navy style, although oaten socks were shared by sisters during the 5.30 festival. Cereals came into use after 6.00. Noodles, because of their strength and elasticity, became the leading loop fiber after the Evening War. At 7.30, women began applying the fudge girdle, a one-piece garment that spread from waist to feet. As men’s milk slews spoiled throughout the evening, their loops grew shorter and fresher, and the word food officially came into use just after sunset. Women’s food, although hidden until midnight by their skirts, has always been an important part of their costume. It is expected to remain fresh for many days, and will certainly survive the women who wear it and the men who look at it.