A Bluestocking Knits

Thoughts on Some Late-Mediaeval Mittens

Since we were heading off to Lake Tahoe after Christmas, and the snow last year was over people's heads in places, I decided to make some mittens.  Of course I had been intrigued by the late-mediaeval mittens in the January/February 2010 issue of Piecework magazine, and so I decided to make those.  The patterns was written up by Susan Strawn from a mitten in the Museum of London, dated to the 1500s.  It is different from the usual (modern) method of mitten knitting in that you start from the tip of the fingers and work down to the thumb, then start the thumb separately, also from the tip, attach half of that by a three-needle bind-off, then pick up the rest of the thumb stitches as you continue down to the cuff.  The cast-on is a variation of the one used quite often by Elizabeth Zimmermann, which she called Emily Ocker's cast-on -- this variation does not use a crochet hook but starts the stitches directly on the first knitting needle.

This wool is some leftover Lamb's Pride worsted in bright red, with a bit of Lion Brand superwash in black for the patterned band.

I made a few small modifications to the pattern.  It seemed to me that having a clever way of starting the thumb and still using a relatively clumsy way of casting on the hand didn't make sense, and so I started both the hand and the thumb with the circular cast-on method given in the article; I started with 9 sts for the hand (an odd number to avoid that slippery second-loop), then knit 1 round, increased to 16 sts, knit 2 rounds, increased to 32, and carried on with the pattern as written from there.  I don't think you need to turn both the mitten and the thumb inside-out, as the pattern says -- only the mitten -- you just need right-sides together.

I had some trouble with attaching the thumb, and didn't get the stitch count right either time, so had to fudge it a bit, because I was unusually impatient that day for some reason and couldn't be bothered to pick out the 3-needle bind-off and do it again correctly.  I also worked 9 rounds after the colored band, for a little extra length.

Do leave a long tail when joining the wool back after adding the thumb, as the holes left by this method are significant!

Here is the original mitten (of course there is only one, it's a child's mitten!) at the Museum of London:

"Small knitted woollen mitten. The wool is pale brown. There is a line of black wool decoration around the wrist. Date: 1500s. Knitting appears to have become common only in the 1500s, but then it rapidly increased in popularity. It was a new activity in working people's lives and soon also became a valuable source of income for many. This knitted child's mitten is a rare survival. It is knitted from the top of the finger-pouch in the direction of the wrist and decorated with three rows of black wool in a simple pattern around the wrist. Poorer people could find a bargain at the second hand clothes dealers ('fripperers') in Houndsditch, but many relied on home-knitted woollen clothes. This garment offers an insight into how children were protected from the cold. Place of collection: Hill Street, Finsbury, London [Islington] Measurements: L 130 mm; W (including thumb piece) 70 mm."

There is some discussion about this mitten on the HistoricKnit list, including a different redaction of the pattern.  The gauge of the original is approximately 8.5 sts per inch.  One lister notes about the color, "It is soft white wool, stained brownish by iron salts and peat acids, and has a very simple color-pattern band which is probably of natural-colored black wool," and another lister adds, about the identification of the pattern band color as black, "This keeps getting repeated, which is unfortunate. If you look at it under magnification, it's actually purple, and appears to have been lichen-dyed."

And this got me intrigued enough to work another pair to the second pattern, this time in some Paton's Classic wool.  I dyed a few arm's-lengths in grape-flavored Kool-Aid to use for the patterned band.  Since the wool was originally this oatmeal color, the purple tends to look a bit brown in most lights, but has a pleasing purpliness at times.

The gauge on the Paton's was different enough to allow more shaping in this mitten than in the other pair.  I did modify this pattern a bit as well, as I really liked the other cast-on.  This one does a more familiar waste-yarn thumb-hole, then working the thumb up from there to the point.

Alas, though, there is not a speck of snow where we are, and the ski runs are all man-made stuff, so that I could not pose the mittens on an impressive snow-bank, but there was a bit of frost on the dock this morning, enough to make it sparkle very pleasingly in the dawn light.

And here is the sunrise this morning off of our balcony --

Thoughts on the Serpentine Mitts

These are Miriam Felton's Serpentine Mitts in Rowan 4-Ply Soft, for a Christmas present.  I started these way back in September, I'm ashamed to say -- I was planning ahead, but distractions including a bout of the flu got in the way.  My deadline is tomorrow, though, so I quickly added the last thumb this morning, and worked in the ends, and off we go.

(The photos are a bit dull, I'm afraid, but it's difficult to photograph navy blue wool at all, let alone in weak December sunshine.)

It's a fairly simple cable-work pattern, easy-to-follow.  The cuff length is very generous.  I like the extra-long thumb gusset -- it is very comfortable.  The 4-Ply Soft is lovely to work with, soft and feathery-light; I might have worked these at a slightly tighter gauge as the fabric seems just a bit loose to me, and so not quite as warm as they could be, but perhaps that will not be a problem here in southern California. 

I was very pleasantly surprised that one ball of 4-Ply Soft made both mitts, so now I have enough for another pair!

"Bought on eBay for £7.39, Fair Isle cap now has pride of place in museum"

From the Shetland Times a few weeks ago:

"A traditional Fair Isle cap bought on eBay for £7.39 now has pride of place as possibly one of the earliest pieces of Fair Isle knitting in Shetland Museum and Archives’ collection.

The cap was discovered in a house move and was nearly thrown out, but was fortunately placed on the internet auction site instead. It was bought by knitting enthusiast Masami Yokoyama, originally from Japan but now living in London, from a seller in Kent...."

"The donation has delighted museum staff, who are now pondering the cap’s origins.

"Textile curator Carol Christiansen confirmed that the colourful cap is definitely a 19th century example of Fair Isle knitting and could possibly come from Fair Isle itself.

"Dr Christiansen said: 'The dark red colour indicates it is more than likely from Fair Isle as they had this deep red. I would say that this piece is now the oldest item in our knitting collection, although it’s impossible to put an exact date on it. It’s really in super condition and just fantastic that Ms Yokoyama found this on eBay and generously donated it to us.'

"The cap has the classic Fair Isle OXO pattern with still vibrant colours in the natural dyes that would have been used in Fair Isle in the 19th century. The dark red, indigo, moorit and black colours have faded very little while the white areas give the only clue as to the age of the piece.

"This kind of cap would have been the type of item that 19th century Fair islanders would have knitted to sell to tourists and passing traders either for money or goods. The madder dye (for red) and the indigo (for blue) would have had to be imported, and the colourful nature of the knitting would have made it more valuable.

"Dr Christiansen said the cap, which has a long conical shape designed to flop over in the Norwegian and Faroese manner, rather than the modern close-fitting style, has caused some excitement in the museum. It is unusual in that it has a seam in the top part indicating it may not have been knitted in the round as would have been expected. However the lower part of the cap has been knitted in the round and is very similar in pattern to another piece of knitting in the textile collection. The cap is quite small and Dr Christiansen believes it may have been altered to fit a smaller head, with the seam being added in later if a section was removed.

"The cap was recently discovered during a house move in Palmers Green in London. The seller is pleased that it has made its way back to Shetland and has been presented to Shetland Museum and Archives. She said: 'I’m thrilled that it has been added to your collection. If I had any idea that it was special I would have submitted it myself!'"

Rainy Days and Mondays

Well, it's actually Tuesday, of course, but still.  It's a suprisingly grey one, as it happens -- good thing I took this photo already as there is almost no light, even in the middle of the morning.  This is a Serpentine Mitt in progress, atop a Gaia shawl ditto.  Both fairly simple knits, although taking a long time, it seems, as I keep getting distracted by other things.

And in my literary travels, I am venturing a little further south, reading Krabat by Otfried Preussler, a German children's fantasy novel from the early 1970s, based it seems on a much-older tale.  It's a strange little story, of an evil miller and of the boy who becomes his apprentice, and thereby unwittingly a pupil in the miller's school of sorcery, and how the boy -- sort of an ur-Harry Potter -- eventually learns to overcome his master and escape the dark mill in the fen of Kosel. 

"New Uses for Old Things"

From Real Simple's "Summertime New Uses for Old Things" list -- mitten-as-sunglasses-case:

Hands up, those of you who thought "nice mitten -- I could make a pair of those!" before you thought of sunglasses holders ....

Thoughts on the Ribbed Scarf with a Crocheted Edging

Here is the Ribbed Scarf with a Crocheted Edging, a free pattern from Ann Budd, in Malabrigo sock yarn in "Abril".  Very nice to knit with -- took forever, it seemed, on 2mm needles.

The end of the skein was much bluer than the beginning, you can see!  I notice that my Abril is much different from the one on the Malabrigo site, but then I didn't quite manage to capture the color accurately with my camera, either -- it's more purple, generally, although it does seem to change subtly in different lights.

The Malabrigo isn't quite as wonderfully soft knitted up as it is in the skein, but to be honest, I haven't washed it yet, so it might loosen up a little, or have been softer worked on a slightly larger needle.  Still, the color is so gorgeous I can't really fault it!

It's a nice pattern -- the main pattern is quite simple and easy to memorize.  The little scallops at the bottom are really the only crochet; the other part is a variation on the main pattern, with the yarn-overs making it a little lacier and causing it to spread prettily. 

I did a lot of fiddling at the beginning -- since the crochet edging is done afterwards, I worked up a sample on a crocheted chain, to find out how much yarn it would use up, then knitted the border and went back and added the crochet.  Then I weighed the complete border, worked the body of the scarf until I had a ball left of the same weight, and worked the second border and the crochet edging.  It didn't quite work as perfectly as it should have, and I had to rip it out twice and go back, but in the end I wasted very little, and got a 55 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch (141 x 9 cm) scarf.

In other knitting news, a pair of simple father-in-law socks for Christmas, in Meilenweit MegaBoots Stretch, color 504:

 

and two projects going on at the same time for the New Year: some mindless knitting -- a simple stockinette sock with the Serenity sock-weight yarn from Deborah Norville -- and some, erm, brain-full knitting, a Selbu mitten cobbled together from a couple of patterns in the Terri Shea book.  The mitten will actually be a re-start, since I decided that the thumb gusset on the one in the photo was far too short.

So, yes, well, although I haven't been blogging much, I'm still knitting!

Thoughts on some Scandinavian Mitts

Laura looked at the first of these mitts when I was trying it on, and said, "That's really nice, mom.  Norwegian?"

I impulsively decided to make a pair of mitts a few months ago while riffing on some Scandinavian patterns, but was about two-thirds of the way through the first one and either got distracted or wasn't completely satisfied, I can't even remember.  But I sat down with them in a bit of a trance, I guess, the other day, and whoosh! they are done.

The yarns are both Regia sock yarns, less than half of a skein of Cotton in black, and 4 grams of 4-fädig in grey left over from my Spey Valley socks, because they were both in my sock-yarn drawer at the same time, and they looked good together.  (I said it was impulsive!)  I can't fully recommend the Cotton as a component of two-color knitting, as it's a bit splitty and I had a hard time with it in places.  It is also slightly larger in gauge than the 4-fädig, so I was concerned that it would be a bit overwhelming, but actually now that I look at the finished pieces, the wobbly bits are entirely mine.  But as an experiment, it all comes off, I think.

I was not entirely pleased with the thumb either time -- would possibly space the gusset increases farther apart, to make it a bit longer (taller, as it were), as it's a bit snug.  I did learn that while carrying floats behind a 2x2 rib (here across the base of the thumb), you need to attach them between two knit stitches, otherwise it pulls the rib out of shape rather unattractively.  I had assumed that as you do on the pattern sections, you don't want to "stack" the floats -- that is, have them twisted in at the same spot on two consecutive rows -- because it tends to pull at that spot and show from the right side.  It actually doesn't show much at all on the second thumb -- only when it's either stretched mercilessly or folded, neither of which it is when worn, so that's all right.

The shape of the mitt is based on Ann Budd's generic mitten in The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, and the star is adapted from my Dale cardigan with little diamonds and arrows improvised at the compass points. I had originally thought I wanted something quite subtle on the back of the hand, and tried an all-over sort of argyle-ish pattern from Sheila McGregor's book, but it was in fact far too subtle, and I'm thoroughly delighted with the star.

Just in time for our ice-skating party next week!

Thoughts on the Three-Rib Beret

 
I did not make the Knitting Olympics this year, but am rather wishing there was an event for Finishing, as I've somehow managed to wrap up two long-neglected projects in two days -- the Vintage Velvet Scarf (still drying) and this one, the Three-Rib Beret, from an article by Jacqueline Fee in the November/December 2009 "Piecework" magazine.

The moment I saw this darling hat, I thought of some Jaeger Matchmaker DK I've had in the drawer for quite a number of years -- this is shade 656 Cherry, not that it matters any more, I suppose, because it's been discontinued, curse them.  A terrific yarn.

I had to enlarge the pattern, as it was far too small as written for Julia's impressive noggin.  I cast on with 102 sts, increasing to 204 for the st st section, dec to 180 and then 90 for the K5, P5 section, and down again to 36 for the K2, P2 top; I did each section 2 rounds longer than in the pattern, to keep the balance more like the original.  Julia says it's a bit small, but okay -- but I'm not concerned by her coolness, as she hasn't taken the thing off since I sewed on the last pompom last night.

Had to use 2 skeins, but got to try out the Russian join which worked pretty well.

It doesn't look like much flat, but on a head it is incredibly cute, and with pompoms almost irresistable!

Thoughts on the Pulsvarmere Blonde

All in a rush this afternoon, I finished the Pulsvarmere Blonde -- lace wristwarmers -- from Marit of med pinner, which I found through Guro at rett og vrangt. (You can get to the PDF version of the pattern down where it says "klikk her".)  The pattern is in Norwegian, but it shouldn't be terribly difficult to figure out for those who have done charts.

legg opp = cast on
maske, masker = st, sts
strikk = knit, work
rettmaske = K
kast på pinnen = yo
2 masker sammen = K2tog
maske løst av = slip the stitch [wyib]

So cast on 30, knit 1 row, work 22 sts before beginning lace chart. (There is a little mistake on Row 17: the row should be "Sl 1, K2, (yo, K2tog) 3 times".)

I wouldn't recommend a multicolored yarn for this -- I tried it with some Malabrigo, and while it was deliciously soft, the lace pattern simply disappeared.

With the Jaeger Alpaca, I cast on 35 instead.  I also used a provisional cast-on and grafted the seam, to avoid bulkiness.  The wool was a real bother to work with at this gauge, I must say, very splitty; I thought I'd caught them all, but I'm seeing some rather embarrassing gaffes as I type.  Oh, well.  I am, on the other hand, cozy-warm!  Whew!

"Blonde" is a faux amis -- it does not mean "blonde" but "lace".  That took me a while to figure out, actually, although perhaps it is a little joke.  I have made only one joke in Norwegian, wh. I have quite rightly kept to myself, my Norwegian being rough as I am only learning from books and making comments on Guro's blog, who is nice enough to tell me that I'm doing pretty well.

Because in Spring You Think of Knitted Gloves

No, I don't know why, either.  I just had a craving.  This is the start of Nancy Bush's Norwegian Gloves, a free pattern available from Interweave.  I chose Dale's Falk instead of Heilo for its handwashiness -- plus it felt deliciously soft, unlike Heilo's rather gruff asperity in comparison.

Multi-color gloves are, I must say, not for the faint-hearted.  The pattern itself is not particularly difficult -- it's the fiddliness of dealing with both two strands of wool and five needles.  It took me a while to get into the rhythm of it, especially at the joins where two needles meet, and I don't think I am completely successful yet, but am erring on the side of caution where stranding is concerned, as all advice has it, and leaving the floats a bit loose.

I tried on the glove just after casting on the thumb stitches atop the gusset, and thought that it was a bit small, but after working ten more rounds or so, I realized that it was spot-on.  My gauge is pretty much exactly 7 sts per inch/28 per 10 cm, on 2.5 mm needles.

My problem with it now, you might see, is that the edges of the patterns do not line up with the edges of my hand.  The thumb gusset is too far towards the center of the palm.  This probably makes a prettier glove when lying flat on a table, but on my hand I was continually tugging at it.

I was undecided as of this morning whether I would just carry on and finish it as written, or start over again, but upon looking at the photos, I feel that I really must start it again -- it's painfully obvious in this photo, much more so even than on my hand:

perhaps because I could not actually twist my arm far enough to see it so clearly!

And I think I will take the opportunity to work the red rounds with a jogless jog, too.  In for a penny, in for a pound.