For whatever reason, at the end of the year,
I always get the urge to knit this portrait again.
I love this picture and I love working on it.
It is not an easy task, and always requires courage.
So, this is my 2017 Ancient one.
Knit-wise it’s done in what I call water color quilt style,
which means intarsia with knitting the border st with both strands
(so no overlapping yarns).
Needles: US 5.
Size: approx 12.5X18″.
Here are some of previous years:
October, one of my favorite months, got me doing 2 mini exhibits:
The exhibit in Little River library:
and an exhibit at Myrtle Beach mall, till end of November:
Above: The woods, Meher Spiritual Center.
Below: Light/The ancient one, and Meher Baba’s signature, Damadi, and hand gesture:
Below : (the painting is not mine but part of an ongoing exhibit) The Invisible knitted portraits of Meher Baba, in yellow and peach:
Dear Tracy,
I can not find your comment, so will answer you here, as other people asked about the book too.
The book is a work book. It explains how to knit pictures, from easy ones to more involved. The patterns in it are like exercises. They are meant for you to knit them and hopefully hang them on your wall or give as gifts.
You may not sell my patterns, but you may do many pictures using the charts in the book, and even sell the pictures you knitted yourself.
I am saying that the charts are exercises because my purpose was to give you enough information so that you can continue to make your own charts and do your own pictures.
So, to sum it up, the patterns in the book are for you to knit in order to learn the techniques used.
After the picture is knitted and BO, you can block it. For this you will need to stretch it upside down on foam board or anything else handy, spray lightly with water and let dry for 24 hours. Because of spraying it with water, you need to use stainless steel pins. You can buy them in a sewing store.
Some people prefer ironing their knits, I do not.
After the picture is well dry, you can attach it to foam board that is cut to fit the size of the picture. For this you can use straight pins (they do not have to be stainless steel).
Some people glue the picture instead of using pins, I do not.
See next blog post for detailed account of the charts in the book.
The book is available on Amazon.com
Good Luck, hope you’ll enjoy it, and feel free to ask questions.
I’ve been working all year on this exhibit.
In a way this is a summery of my life since I came to Baba, and specially of my first trip to Meherabad, India.
Knit-wise the pictures are knitted in stranding, intarsia and one in what I call weaving style. They vary in degrees of easy – intense knitting.
Baba of Rahuri Cabin
July-August 2015
In Rahuri cabin there is a beautiful painting of Baba, done by Rano Gayly to Baba’s specifications:
1. The image was to be of Baba sitting, dressed in a sadra.
2. The painting was to be done on a piece of plywood which was already painted with a painting Baba did not like.
Rano said the value of the painting is in how it was used by Baba: He brought it a few times to old Mandali Hall at lower Meherabad, and before the New life He had the men mandali say prayers of different religions before it and He bowed down to Himself in it.
I loved going to Rahuri cabin and once, just as I was leaving, Baba asked me to knit this picture for Him, and I made a promise.
The picture is 20×27″, knitted in weaving style.
Here is again about how to knit pictures: without fear and with much fun!
Attitudes:
1. Use common sense as oppose to relying on instructions along. Sometimes looking at your knitting makes it easier to figure out what to do.
2. Adopt attitude of ‘no biggy’.
3. Instead of thinking you made a horrid mistake, call it a new design element. See – didn’t it get pretty immediately?
I just go on knitting.
Technically: all I do is knit and purl. Adding/ending/carrying yarn is done by weaving-in the extra yarn (or yarn tail) as I knit along.
Adding a new yarn: knot it to the old yarn, or weave it in 7-9 sts before you need it (so it is ready and secure in place).
switching yarns: stick the needle into your next st, hold the new yarn ready to use. Now place the old yarn in between the needles and the new yarn, so that when you knit, the new yarn will ‘hug’ the old yarn in place (‘sandwich’ it). Inserting the needle first into the next st will save you from a lot of trouble.
Weaving-in the other yarn: same as switching yarns. Stick the needle into the next st and place the unused yarn in between the needles and the working yarn. Note: I alternate between moving the yarn upward (right photo) and down (left photo) but that’s not a must.
Just think of hugging. Make sure the unused yarn/tail is being hugged-in by the working yarn. That’s it.
Even now, after almost 20 years of knitting pictures ( /tapestry / wall hanging ), it’s still scary.
I run around telling myself: I don’t know how to do it! I don’t know how I did it before! I’m a terrible knitter! and so on.
So, here is my real ‘how to knit pictures’:
1. BE BRAVE! tell yourself you can do it, and just start!
No matter the gauge, the yarn & color matching. Instead of wasting time in mastering all that and trying to get it perfect – just start knitting. Believe me – it is faster this way.
2. Mid way: even if the knitting looks like – – – – , and not at all like what it suppose to look, even if the images are totally unclear, and even if you have a hole in the middle:
GO ON KNITTING!
You can always fix things later. A big part of knitting pictures is to have faith. If it looks terrible when its done – start again using all the knowledge you gained by LETTING YOURSELF FINISH the first picture. Again – it is faster this way.
3. ALMOST THE END, and you still want to undo because it looks bad and totally un-beautiful and so on – resist unraveling temptation (it comes from the devil whispering in your ear), and finish.
Once done – do all the corrections needed.
Often, the simple act of stretching while framing the picture, will put everything into place.
GOOD LUCK
🙂
p.s. yes – technicality, being a good knitter etc. does not really matters. What matters is having the passion in your heart.
Picture Knitting 
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