After figuring out the letters, and how much space to leave between words, and how far the lines should be apart, one more thing remained to do: the layout.

Measuring the ratio between height and width of the knitting, and counting the individual letter width, and cutting strips of paper with the appropriate measurements, and some more fiddling later, I finally had this:



which was my super-sophisticated knitting plan for actually making this. Including a plan on how much to cast on.

And then came some swatching:



Which only left one thing to do - the actual um knitting. That took some time, especially as I managed to botch in a few instances. That's proof that one should not knit things that require brains while tired!

I finally finished this knit, though. There was a stint of late-night-blocking, and it came out like this:



Now I only need to turn it into a button - and hope it will amuse other people just as much as me. That's how it will look, approximately:



 
The buttons have a diameter of 55 mm, which means that it will be possible to see a bit of the knit texture in the background, or so I hope. It's not blatantly clear that this is knitted text, I think - but it wil have to be good enough, as there's no way to knit letters across fewer stitches.

So. What do you think? Should I go for it?

While at the topic of buttons related to knitting, well, there's one utterly classical phrase that lots of people find funny, or appreciate, or want to use as a heads-up for their environment.

Which, of course, needs more letters than k, n, i, and t. So I sat down and started to figure out the tricky complex letters - s, e, o. And then other stuff. The first tries were, um, rather wonky:



But eventually, there was progress. And something more like actual text:



Have you guessed the text of the classical slogan yet?

Let me tell you about buttons. Not the kind to close your garments, but the kind with a pin on the back that you pin to your clothing, or backpack, or whatever, to make a statement.

Though I rarely wear these, I very much like them. I like the way you can easily add them to whatever fabric you want to, telling people something about you, or your mood, or to amuse them with a funny quip or picture.

As with so many things that I like, and where I think the world needs more of, after a while, I'm getting an itch to have it made, and offer it in the shop. (Yes, I know, it's not medieval at all. That's why I have the "miscellaneous" section, and I'm actually pondering making a "This Is Not Medieval but Fun" section in the shop. Though I might call it "Modern Shenanigans" instead - much shorter.)

There was one teeny tiny problem, though. To have a nice button, you need a nice design - and I wanted something more than just a random selected font centred on a round button to write stuff. That's just... hm. Well.

It is, of course, technically possible to make a button design like this with hand-lettering. This could even be enhanced with a bit of a drawing, where it suits, here and there. Which would be a spectacularly wonderful thing, but unfortunately, both my drawing skills and my hand-lettering skills are, at best, mediocre.

And then it somehow struck me. I could knit the button design. Because... well... that's how my brain works, sometimes, when I wake up early on a Saturday morning.

So I sat down, and I cast on some stitches, and I made this:



and showed it to the Most Patient Husband, and he said "maybe do it with smoother yarn", and he suggested some cotton yarn that I had lying around, so I finally got to use my very small needles as well, and I made this:



and this could actually already be turned into a button design, and it would look like this:



or, with the first version, like this:



and I must admit it amuses me no end. It's knit and says knit. Knit knit. Ah. (Yes, I'm easy to amuse.)

So. Should I do this? Get these printed as buttons? And if so, which version?

I've finished Vodka Lemonade a while ago, and I'm finally getting around to blogging it.

It took me about half a year to knit this. Yes, I am a slow knitter - not when I am actually knitting, that is actually, I think, about medium speed. Most of my knitting slowness comes from having other things taking higher priority, and thus letting the current project(s) lie in some corner for a while. Which can be a significant while.

By now, though, it is finally finished, blocked, all ends woven in and snipped off, and I have already worn it a few times.

The yarn - "Understatement" from Zitron, dyed in the colourway "Honigtopf" (honeypot) by Margit from Alte Künste, really is lovely to wear. It has a silky smooth feel, a nice shine, it warms when it is cool outside but feels rather cool when it is warm.

Regarding the pattern, I'm mostly happy. Even though I took great care to make the sleeves exactly the same length, one sometimes feels like it's longer than the other. The cardi also tends to slip off one of my shoulders when I wear it. Both these things may be due to how I move or stand - I tend to sort of twist my upper body sometimes, and that skews all my clothing, so this is nothing completely surprising, though it can still be annoying. Unrelated to this, though, it drapes in a way that makes the front look longer than the back - which, to me, does not seem optimal, but I can live with it.

I'm thinking about adding some way to wear it closed; I might do so if I can figure out something unobtrusive, to have that option for when it’s cooler (or to have less slipping off the shoulder, maybe). I have thought about adding a zipper, but I'd need to find one in a matching colour. Or maybe some unobtrusive press buttons? Some kind of hook-and-eye closure? I will think about it. Fortunately, there's no rush!

I have finally finished and blocked my Vodka Lemonade - now it's only the last few ends that have to be woven in, and it will be ready to wear!

I have not yet decided whether I will stick with the "worn-open" version that it's intended to be by the designer, or whether I would like to have a closing option - and if the latter, what it will be. Some small and unobtrusive press studs? A slim, hidden zipper? Some kind of brooch, or a hook-and-eye closure? I tend towards the zipper, though - provided I can find one that is a good length (or can be cut to a good length) and that is a fitting colour. Ah, decisions, decisions...

It's time for a stack of links again!

There's a "rare sheep breed wool challenge" going on in the US, started by The Livestock Conservancy. It runs under the delightful name of "Shave 'Em to Save 'Em", and you can read more about it here and here.

The Council of British Archaeology has a number of research reports online for free download, on a variety of topics. You find the list (including the Archaeology of York volumes) here.

Speaking of publications, here is an article about the completely fucked-up system that is academic publishing, where you pay to get access to publications on research... which had been paid for by the state (usually), and where the authors and peer reviewers do not see a penny for their work. Yes, really. It's a complete gnah situation.

And finally, an art project with knitted sweaters that let their wearers blend into the background.

If you are a knitter, you will know that there is more or less maths involved in knitting. While it's quite possible to avoid maths-ing to a large degree, not doing so can make things much, much easier - like adjusting a pattern to your gauge instead of endlessly fiddling around with different needles, and maybe trying a different yarn, to "get gauge" exactly as stated in the pattern. Or figuring out how much yarn you'll need from knitting a sample swatch and weighing plus measuring it. Or other things like that.

I was reminded of all that maths stuff when looking for an article about early compound knitting on JSTOR and found instead this one here:

Belcastro, Sarah marie, and Carolyn Yackel. “About Knitting...” Math Horizons, vol. 14, no. 2, 2006, pp. 24–39. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25678655. (JSTOR is a paywall thing, but they offer a free registration that allows you to read up to six articles per month for free. So if you are interested in that article, or in other stuff, you can sign up there and get some sciencey goodness.)

I found it amusing - and if you are tickled by the combination maths and knitting, Sarah Marie Belcastro also has a webpage about these things, with plenty of links to keep you amused and/or occupied. And a photo tutorial for a knitting increase that looks like a reverse ssk or k2tog!