Roman Holiday

I'm writing about Rome on my bicycle blog and my kitchen garden blog. I am curious about knitting in Rome. A fellow blogger, an American who has moved to Italy, writes about her experience here. I also found a blogger near Rome who is a spinner. Meanwhile, I found this free pattern from

I've also found two knitting stitch patterns named for Rome. The first is Roman Stitch. This would be an easy stitch to program for the garter carriage on the knitting machine, as it is simply a combination of knits and purls. The second is Roman Stripes stitch. I am afraid this would not be so easy, because it is not only lace, but also the handknitting instructions call for knitting two rows, essentially a garter stitch row. You can't easily do lace with the g-carriage, and you can't easily do garter with a lace carriage. Maybe it could be done on a Passap, I don't know.

Cozy knitting

 The dried-up leaves are skittering in the November across the lanai outside the door to my studio.  The wind picks them up and tosses them in a whirlwind around the lawn.  It rained earlier, and the outdoor floor is still shiny and wet with the rain.  The Pampas grass down the hill is bent almost double in the wind, and the pin oak tree is holding on to its rustling brown leaves with all its might. 

I decided that today would be a good day to spend in my cozy studio.  It is cozy today, because my husband discovered that we have batteries that had gone dead in the upstairs thermostat of our new home.  I don't understand how that affected the temperature in the downstairs, but I am glad that he did. Anyway, new batteries installed, now the radiant pipes running under the flooring are making my slippered feet warm. 

The new version of DesignaKnit9 arrived on Friday.  We had company this weekend from out of state, so today is the first day when I have time to spend on installing it.  I also want to work on completing some hats.  

Every time I try to use DAK, as it is called, it seems I am having to re-learn it.  Either I'm on a new version, or it has been so long that I have to refresh my memory. I must become more disciplined about devoting time to knitting on a weekly basis. 

The last time I used this software,  I referred to Trish Shafer's books on DAK to re-learn how to download my design into the computer's memory.  Trish is Charlene Shafer's daughter, and her married name is not Shafer.  Her books are a series of five that can be purchased separately, each covering a function of DAK. Stitch Designer, Original Pattern Drafting, Knitting interactively, etc. 

I have also taken seminars on DAK from Charlene, who owns the Knit Knack Shop in Peru, Indiana.  She previously hosted an annual seminar, with other instructors, on the subject of machine knitting, at the fairgrounds near her shop.  I had the good fortune to attend the last one.  I guess it was also the bad fortune, because it turned out to be the very last one, even though it was the first time I had attended.   2020 has not been a good year for knitting seminars, generally, because of cancellations due to COVID-19.  But I did attend a virtual seminar hosted by Vogue Knitting earlier this year.  I think I am not a fan of virtual seminars, although they are better than nothing, because I am too easily distracted at home.  I missed one session completely and had a hard time paying attention in the other. 

On my other blogs, I am currently writing around a theme of "the Grand Tour".  In the 17th and 18th centuries, young men from well-to-do families were expected to complete "a Grand Tour" of European cities to finish their education.  This might be London, Paris, Vienna, Rome, and other European capitals.  Because we are not travelling this year due to Covid, and because I am not that well-off, I am completing a "Grand Tour" by bicycle of cities in Ohio that are named after European capitols.  Most recently, I visited Strasburg, Ohio.  It is probably named after Strasburg, Germany, although it could possibly have been named after Strasbourg, France, a city that is on the border with Germany.  So I am also revisiting books in my library "Twisted-Stitch Knitting: Traditional patterns and Garments from the Styrian Enns Valley" by Maria Erlbacher, and "Traditional Knitting Patterns"  by James Norbury to find examples of German knitting.   

The lights are blinking on and off as the wind increases.  I must set this blog post aside and proceed with my software update, or I may not have an opportunity! 

Well, that is my plan.  I will post an update at the end of the day. 

Update: I installed the software and finished iteration 2 of the bicycle hat.  This one is self lined, instead of being lined with fleece.  The ribbing was knitted first, using a ribber, then the fairisle section.  The lining is just plain knitting.  The first row above the ribbing was hung back on the needles, and before knitting, the cast-on row was also hung on the needles. There were three stitches on each needle.  Tension increased three full numbers, one row knitted, then bound off.  Seamed the side seams and gathered the top.