Alphabet Challenge #20 - T Is For Teacup and Traditions of Togetherness

When I discovered eBay, I was fascinated. So much stuff! And it's like winning a contest! For some reason I fixated on teacups. There are just gorgeous teacups out there and they weren't very expensive. And who doesn't like a pretty cup of tea?


Crappy picture, but the blue flowered Art Nouveau one is a Haviland. I don't remember the maker of the reddish one, but I love it because there is a little bridal procession marching around the inside rim...bride, groom, priest, drunkard. (The dogwoody-y china in the background came from a grandparent.)


I bought a few Shelley cups and saucers...Shelley was an old English company and had gorgeous designs. My aunt brought a couple of these back to me from Canada.


But this is one of my favorites. My mom loved Susie Cooper's designs and I bought her some coffee-related Susie Cooper pieces. But I don't drink coffee, so this is the piece I kept. A Susie Cooper teacup.

I don't know what I was thinking, buying all these teacups...I may have had visions of tea-parties or something. (Or, as one of my cousins used to say "teatarpies.") I certainly enjoy looking at them. But what do I pull down when I want a cup of tea? A big ole Dansk mug.

I think I may have a few too many teacups...

I got my copy of Larissa and Martin Brown's book, Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together. And what a nice book it is. It just feels good right out of the package. I know...not everyone thinks about the way a book feels. But this one has no dust jacket, just a satiny cover with a shiny spot in the middle. It's a nice size, too, and rests comfortably in one's hands.

Oh, you want to know about the insides?

Well, they're nice, too. There are six chapters, with subparts in each chapter, and each chapter contains a section called "Larissa's Diary" where she talks about a particular experience of knitting together. There are 20 projects and while a couple of them hold no interest for me (a French press cover? a felted peace crane?), the majority of them make me want to grab my needles and get started. A meathead hat is one project I definitely want to do...though I may make it for some small child. I think if I made one for me, I might cause Mr. Pointy Sticks to rupture something laughing at me when I put it on. I love, love, love the Eden scarf, a cascade of leaves and blossoms to throw around your neck. And I wish I had had the pattern for the Entomology hat and mittens back when my daughter was so crazy about bugs. I may have to make them for her just for old times' sake. (I would love to do these with the Fair-isle bugs done in a variegated blue-green-purple shiny yarn, to give them that iridescent beetle quality.)

There is wonderful writing about knitting together, from early knitting bees and knitting for war efforts to the current internet knit-alongs. There are tips for starting your own knit-along, tips for swaps, chapters about blogs, about competing in State fairs...all the many ways we have of staying connected to other knitters and crafters.

So...bottom line, this is a very nice book, and a great addition to your knitting bookshelf.

Oh, and the endpapers are filled with the names of all the people who participated in Larissa's knitalongs. How cute is that?