Nautically Patriotic

Red, white, and blue were the colors of the day wherever we looked on the Fourth of July. Even the tables of pies brought to our annual gathering at the lake were festive. Thankfully there were enough for the 125 family and friends who came - with leftovers for supper!

Meanwhile, I have been enjoying working with patriotic colors of wool yarn, though the flags Elsa and I are knitting are international symbols rather than belonging to any one country. Knitting maritime signal flags is the closest we are currently getting to the sailing we used to enjoy.

This addition to the Hand.maid.en Etsy shop has been a long time under development and is still awaiting the official photography before it will be posted. The first pillow sham took days and weeks to turn out the right size for Elsa, and it has been undergoing "stress-testing" for some months to help fine-tune the final design.

Meanwhile, the initial knit in relief on the back of the pillow (showing which letter each flag represents when used in combination) takes much knitting and un-knitting for Elsa to perfect. I have also re-done all of the sewing on the side seams since we recently hit on the best way to do it. But the angled color designs of some flags are totally up to Elsa for now. I stick to the straight lines!

Part of the fun of these pillows is the meanings behind the flags. "C," called "Charlie" stands for "Affirmative." While "T" as in "Tango" means "Keep clear of me; I am engaged in pair trawling."