A Bluestocking Knits

Girl Scout Birthday

Today was the Girl Scout Birthday Event at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, celebrating the anniversary of the founding of Girl Scouts of America on March 12, 1912.

It was a beautiful afternoon, warm and sunny.

We did some different things this year, in that the little farmhouse where the Nixon family lived was open.  I saw this crocheted blanket on a rocking chair in the living room, and thought I'd post it here.

Here is a detail of the part over the back of the chair -- the color is better in this photo.  You can see a little bit of the picot edging at the lower left.

Thoughts on the Ostrich Plume Lace Throw

Ta-da!

This is my slightly-modified version of E.J. Slayton's Ostrich Plume Lace Throw from Vogue Knitting Baby Blankets (one of the On the Go! series), knitted in ten balls (ten!) of Rowan Calmer, started a great long time ago, I'm afraid, but finished at last and gracing my sofa already.

I had intended to make a much larger throw, but if you've read the saga you will know that I was nearly heartily sick of the thing; perhaps time heals all, as I'm very happy with it now that it's done!  It is about 40 x 37 inches (say 101 x 94 cm) give or take, as it is quite stretchy from both the lace and the springiness of the Calmer, and it has not been blocked.  Now that I look at the photos closely, I wonder if I should have worked it on a size larger needles, but on the other hand the stretchiness might solve that for me.

I didn't like the fact that the top edge of the lace didn't match the bottom edge, due to the fact that that while the bottom starts off with the pattern row, the top finishes with the "plain" Row 2 and a decrease row (which is added to help the top scallop the same way the bottom does).

Instead of the dec row, I worked the patt row (Row 1) but did not put the yo in the small cable-like sections -- this brought the stitch count down to where it would have been after the dec row -- and then I worked the 8 rows of garter st.  If I'd been willing to rip out the top border a third time, I would have slipped in a K2tog at each of those spots in the first garter row, as it still doesn't scallop quite as much as I'd like.  But the eyelets in the plume section are closer to the garter border now, and the passed-over bar across the cable-like section also match the bottom edge more closely.

That said, I love this lace pattern -- it really speaks to me, for some reason.  Mostly the plume-like bits, I think.  I worked 11 repeats instead of the 9 in the original number of sts, and carried on until I'd more-or-less run out of yarn at the end of the tenth ball.  (I might have gotten another repeat out of the last ball if I'd been willing to gamble!)

This color of Calmer is "Chiffon" -- alas, discontinued. 

Now I need only some cooler weather -- already have plenty of good books waiting!

Hot Enough For You?

Remember this?

Ah, well, it's been a long time.  I'd forgotten about it, too, until I tripped over the bag the other day, on my way to open up yet another window to try and get some cool air into the house, and saw that the thing was actually not too far from a good stopping place.  It's really too hot to knit much just now, but I was so close that I sat this afternoon with a fan blowing on my hands to finish the last few inches.  Proper photos and a wrap-up to come.

In Nature News, we've got a pair of sharp-shinned hawks living in our big pine tree in the backyard.  They are both juveniles, my cousin-the-zoo-vet tells me, so their colors will change as they mature.  Nest-mates, I'm guessing, since they are both juveniles and about the same size.  Very chatty, too, like teenagers, "kew-kew" all morning and afternoon.

There are still a few open areas in our town, but we are, to be honest, deep in suburbia, which makes the hawks all the more fascinating.

So I think I'm going to read for a while, instead of knitting.  It was 80° F (26 C) when we lugged our dinner outside at 6:30 -- just not knitting weather.  I don't know what made me think of it -- perhaps putting Ellis Peters on my mental list of authors I'd like one more book from -- but I've gotten it into my head to read all of her wonderful Brother Cadfael mysteries again.  And the "Blackadder" font I found a while back was too good to pass up, so here's a button, just for fun --

Knitting the "Knitter's Almanac": Mystery Blanket

April's Knitter's Almanac project is a "mystery blanket," the mystery being in the fact that it has no apparent beginning.  Elizabeth pondered the idea of weaving together squares that had been knitted in the round, thereby "[producing] the mysterious effect of the blanket having been knitted in all directions at once," and this pattern was the result.  The technique may have been quite inscrutable at the time, but these days with our sometimes-emphasis on the eye-catching and marvellous (sometimes merely for the effect of being startling), it's not so unusual, I think.  It was used quite gracefully by Selma Miriam in her Kousa Dogwood Shawl in Melanie Falick's Knitting in America (reprinted in paperback as America Knits), which I remember knitting a number of years ago.  Still, Elizabeth's blanket is very handsome, and the technique is not to be scorned simply because it is not so unusual as it once was!

Elizabeth used her 4-Ply Sheepswool, which is apparently now 3-Ply, working up originally at 12 sts per 4 in./10cm.  This pattern looks extremely adaptable to different weights of wool, and so since I'm on a b*dg*t, I'm using Patons Classic Wool with those handy weekly 40%-off coupons from Michaels.  The Classic Wool works up to about 20 sts per 4 in./10 cm, so you can either knit the squares to the given stitch count, and simply make more squares, or work to the given measurements, and weave more per square.  (Let's see, 96 sts divided by 4 is 24, so 24 sts at 3 sts per inch in the Sheepswool would make 8-inch squares.  And 96-stitch squares at 5 sts per inch in the Classic Wool would make 4.8-inch squares.  Or 8-inch squares at 5 sts per inch means 40 sts per side, 160 altogether.)

And, oh yes, there will be a lot of weaving!  "If you are one who hates and fears weaving (or grafting, or -- why -- Kitchener-stitch), and tries to con others into doing it for you, now is the time to take yourself in hand"!

Knitting the "Knitter's Almanac": Some Babies' Things

The Knitter's Almanac projects for February are snuggly babies' things, a simple blanket, a mat or sleeping bag, a jacket and matching hat, and footed leggings.  I made a throw/shawl to Elizabeth's baby blanket pattern here a few years ago, for my sister, in one of those fortunate coincidences where I had a lot of yarn and Christmas was coming up and I saw the photo and put one and one and one together.  I used a plain black wool I'd had stashed in a box under the bed for far too long, and I tried the Gull Stitch Elizabeth recommends, which is very pretty indeed.  It made a very handsome throw, if I may say so myself.  And another shawl that I made (ostensibly for Laura when she was born, but to be honest, I kept it for myself) was inspired by this, too, although using the Old Shale charted out by Martha Waterman.

I definitely approve of Elizabeth's views on colors for babies.  Soft heather-grey -- "especially if you incorporate some white around the edge of the bonnet" -- navy blue, greenish-blue Shetland.  "And what's wrong with scarlet?"!  (I seem to recall making one of these double-knit mats in a dashing peacock blue.  This was, as it happens, my first introduction to double knitting.)  The traditional pastel pinks and blues are all right in their way, but I'm always impressed by the less-traditional things that folks come up with for babies.

"Our favorite longies are those on which we used up odd remnants of wool.  A green pair has a cute grey color-pattern at the calf, and then becomes steel-grey for the feet.  A navy pair has a white pattern at the knees and scarlet calves and feet.  They must actually be seen on young legs for their true charm to become apparent." ("Thrift and conservation are in the wind: how delightful to find that using up wool-remains improves the appearance of our finished product"!)

New technique for this month: knitting from the top down.  Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that I've never done this; there must be dozens of patterns in my collection alone.  But I've always been a bit leery -- like with cutting -- that it just looks upside-down.  Well ... I will let Elizabeth take me by my lily-white hand and lead me over the water.  The Gull pattern does look nice upside-down, too, I'll say that.  And personally, I am always grateful to those designers who, like Elizabeth, arrange things so that the fiddly bits of a pattern stitch are on one round and the other round is the "mindless and relaxing one" of knitting all the way!

This is the merino left over from Ene's Scarf.  I also appreciate what Elizabeth has to say about wool.  While I understand that some people really do have an allergy to certain fibers, others object to wool simple because they've succumbed to the notion that wool is hard to wash, and so I find very amusing Elizabeth's underhanded methods for dealing with those stubbornly ignorant of the "warmth and comfort of wool": "If I were stuck with a child allergic to wool I would become very sneaky: I would make it a sweater of orlon or whatever, into which I would knit one color-pattern of wool. If this were received and worn without carping comment, I would increase the dose -- next sweater, two patterns, next one, three.  After twenty sweaters -- in theory, at least -- I would have a nice normal wool-wearing child.  At least I would have tried.  If caught at my fell deed, I could always say that the particular color I wanted was only available in wool."  "Pass by the synthetic yarn department, then, with your nose in the air."  Synthetics have come a long way since 1974, it must be admitted, and I am not so much a snob that I refuse to work with synthetics on principle, but I do love natural fibers the best, by far.

And this just makes me laugh: "My special technique for car-cat-naps is to sit bolt upright, and let the chin drop down as far as it can on the chest, relaxing all neck-muscles.  My reflexes are now so conditioned that this pose sends me to sleep almost immediately; the head doesn't loll, the mouth doesn't open degradingly, and I like to think that there is no snoring, although the family is in a conspiracy to tell me that I always snore, which is plain nonsense."

Thoughts on the "Big Bad Baby Blanket"

Here is my "Big Bad Baby Blanket" -- project one of two for the Baby Knit-Along over at Emy's vintagefusion.

This is a fast knit, and makes a very handsome blanket.  I didn't think that I really had that much time for knitting, but it worked up in a little over a week of half-hours here and there.  Mine came out bigger than the original, of course -- 37 inches square, after blocking -- as the Nature Wool is heavier than Koigu.  I adjusted the row numbers to fit the larger gauge.  I like the Nature Wool very much.  It is a bit rougher than, say, Jaeger Matchmaker merino, but not unpleasantly so; oddly enough, it seemed softer to knit with when doubled than with a single strand.  I had a half-ball due to the earlier attempt, so in order to keep any variances of color from showing (and I had already seen that they would), I started with one full ball and the half-ball, thus blending the skeins.  This has the added benefit of keeping the splices well-spaced apart.  I love the subtle color changes within the skein.  It has a nice woolly smell when wet too -- I liked the smell of it on my hands after I'd washed and blocked it!

(And note that designer Lisa Shobhana Mason at My Life in Stitches has a Big Bad Baby Blanket gallery....)

This one is for a "northern hemisphere" baby -- the other project is for a "southern hemisphere" baby.  One will need something warm for winter, the other something light for spring and summer!  I have started the garter-stitch jacket from Debbie Bliss' "Quick Baby Knits" in Rowan Cotton Glace....

Philadelphia Story

Have spent the last few evenings, after the girls have gone to bed, watching the 2-disc DVD edition of "The Philadelphia Story".  I can recommend it for the movie itself, of course, but the extras are good too.  Film historian Jeanine Basinger provides a commentary -- she sounds more than a little professorial at times (at one point, in fact, shuffling pages can be heard), but nevertheless she gives a lot of interesting information about the film and its cast and crew.  (I can, by the way, highly recommend her 1993 book "A Woman's View : How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930-1960", a fascinating look at "women's movies" and their stars.) 

The DVD also includes two full-length documentaries, one on Katharine Hepburn and one on George Cukor, both about an hour long and packed with details on their respective careers.  There are also two (!) radio versions of the play, with the main cast from the movie.  One, from 1942, cuts the play down to about an hour, including war bond commercials and a war effort plug from the four stars and Cecil B. DeMille at the end -- the other version, from 1947, is a zippy half-hour total, including Lady Esther ads for hats and face powder.  (Actually, here is the "Lady Esther" version itself.  Apparently Lady Esther was a cosmetics company in the forties.  And for a rather long digression about advertising as a "reflection of society" in the 1920s and 1930s, read this, which is in some ways related to Basinger's book that I mentioned above, discussing how a particular social group reflects and is reflected by a particular media, being both its audience and its target.)

I am not sure why the Robert Benchley short "That Inferior Feeling" and the MGM cartoon "The Homeless Flea" were included on this DVD, as they seem to bear little relation to either "The Philadelphia Story" or to any of its cast -- perhaps the DVD producers wanted to give us an idea of what it was like to see "The Philadelphia Story" in the theater in 1940.  It is kind of fun to do the whole movie thing, pop some popcorn and watch a short and a cartoon and the feature!  (It was funny to notice that the first set in the Benchley short was used in a Spencer Tracy movie featured in the Cukor documentary, even down to the Holbein print on the wall behind the desk.)

Well, back to knitting -- I'm making an effort to schedule some regular knitting time, since I've had to let things sit for so long.  I decided to rip out the two squares I'd done so far for the green baby blanket.  I still like the idea of the stripes of the Nature Wool going in different directions, and I had grafted the two squares together, then come to the conclusion that the seam as worked was too stiff for what one hopes will be a soft baby blanket, after all, and I did not want to use the limited time at my disposal in fiddling with grafting methods.  So -- out it all came, back to the beginning, and started again as a Big Bad Baby Blanket proper.  Luckily, being worked with two strands at once, it grows fairly quickly.

I love the Escher-ness of the center, where the four squares come together -- always going down the staircase.

August Knitogether

Marjorie invited me to her home and the August get-together with Siow Chin, Joy, and Eva, with Vivian and her sister.  I got to pore over a huge stash of new magazines and books (this one, too) as well as knit and admire everyone else's projects.  (Got to get me some of that Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud ....)  Thank you all -- mm-goi saai!

It had stopped raining when I got home, and was a surprisingly quiet afternoon, grey and still.  Julia had actually gone to bed for a nap on her own, and Laura was watching cartoons with the babysitter, so I made myself a cup of tea and read for a while.

Well -- I've recently joined two knit-alongs, one with a finite completetion date, so I'd better get cracking,

and the other, blissfully open-ended,

I have at least one, possibly two, baby projects in the planning stages -- am thinking of a certain wrap-style jacket from an old Knitter's magazine.  I have some Rowan cotton in a pretty girly purple from a completely stalled Debbie Bliss project (which would be better in a yarn that actually worked up to the right gauge, eh?), so I'll start swatching when we get home.

Friday Progress

Kind of hard to get excited about a blanket, that just goes on and gets only longer instead of different.  But -- I am now on the fifth ball of yarn, and it looks like it will be a nice size.  No bets on the final measurements, of course, but this time I'm getting almost exactly 3 1/4 inches per ball, and it's about 45 inches wide, without blocking.  I have to say, I love this pattern.  The "plume" part with its scalloped edges, and the little cable-esque detail -- really nice.

In Which I Resolve to Try Again

With the completion of "Truly Tasha" and the indefinite stalling of the Noro kimono jacket, my only work-in-progress is the Ostrich Plume blanket. 

I have started over completely, making it smaller, determining to make whatever size square I can with the twenty balls of Calmer 462 that I have.  This color is now discontinued -- a shame, because it's very pretty, a lovely pastel lavender -- but in a way, it's something of a release, because now I can't simply buy more until I knit a large enough blanket.

The Calmer is really extraordinary to work with.  The 25% microfiber and the unusual construction of the yarn give it a strange and wonderful spongy elasticity.  It is described as an 8-ply, but this is a rather liberal way of putting it, as it is actually two braided strands twisted together, thus --

(As I knit, it feels like water running through my fingers, as if I were holding my hand under a little fall in a stream and feeling the gentle push on my skin.  I can see how it might inspire one to poetry.)  This doesn't really transfer to the knitted piece as much as one might hope, but the effect is still much softer than ordinary cotton, and it has a beautiful springiness.

The book is "The Tribes of Britain" by David Miles, which I picked up impulsively at the Kelly & Walsh in Exchange Square the other day.  I was interested anyway -- archaeology + Britain = yes -- but the author won me over on the first page of the introduction with a quote from, of all things in a scholarly-sounding tome, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".  The book examines the genetic archaeology of Britain, the way that migrations, invasions, and other upheavals have influenced the make-up of the British people.  (Read the Sunday Times review here.)  The book's weightiness is offset by a deft writing style, the heavier bits of science lightened by humor and the occasional distraction -- "In the nineteenth century burnt layers in towns such as London or Colchester were routinely ascribed to Boudicca's [first-century AD] rebellion as if no one else ever lit a fire" (29), for instance, and the way that archaeological discoveries often remind him of modern things, a neat way of pointing out the relevance to us of history.  The Times reviewer's criticism about the lack of cultural history is valid, but for me not as much of a sticking point as he seems to imply.  To say that "who are we?" is an unanswerable question and then complain that Miles doesn't answer it completely is a bit unfair.  Miles' focus is demographic and archeological, not cultural, and the "who are we?" question is asked in that light.  Wars, plagues, and invasions are much more efficient at changing the genetics of a people than are thinkers and philosophers.  What Miles does here is not only to instruct and inform -- as well as entertain -- but ultimately remind us, as we so often need reminding these days, that we really are all related, we are all brothers and sisters under the skin.