A Bluestocking Knits

Thoughts on the Economical Baker Street Scarf

Yes, well, when I saw the Gaea "Say Nevermore" version of this scarf at Knitty a few months ago, I somehow found myself on the Blue Moon website clicking "purchase" as though in a trance.  Maybe it was the daze, maybe it was the summer heat, maybe it was just the idea of paying over thirty-five dollars for one skein of yarn -- however indescribably gorgeous -- but when I sat down to knit the scarf, I discovered that the pattern actually calls for two skeins.

I thought, and for some time, I admit, about ordering a second skein, but luckily the weather was cooler, and sense won out.  So this is the "Economical Baker Street Scarf," modified slightly from the original by Joan of Dark.

My version is over 32 sts, but this is different from the pattern only because the label was vague enough that with the original stitch count I might have ended up with something anywhere from 6" to 8 1/2" wide (!), so since I was already being economical, I shaved 2 sts off of the original count.  This still got me 6 3/4 in. on US8 needles!

I also, as I say, used pretty much all of just one skein instead of two -- when I got close to the end, I unwound the rest of the ball and from the non-working end cut fringe for the cast-on edge and attached it, then cut more-or-less the same amount (in one length, to keep it from becoming a mess), then worked as far as I possibly could with the remaining yarn -- the only bits left are the wobbly piece from the beginning of the skein, a length that I cut too short to add to the fringe, and a shaving or two from the finished fringe.  The resulting scarf is about 6 3/4 in wide x 50 1/2 in. long, not counting the fringe (17 x 128 cm.) -- so considerably shorter than the 6 ft. of the original (!) but also a lot more frugal. 

A word of warning -- it does curl.  The stitch is very easy to memorize, and looks handsome, though different, on either side, but it does curl, so if that's important, knitter beware.

But the yarn is delicious -- you can tell that I think so by the number of close-up photos I've taken! -- with a subtle blend of navy/black with a lighter blue here and there, and a little revelation of tawny gold and perhaps even a hint of teal at times, and it has that wonderful quality of revealing more or less of the colors in different lights.  I am delighted to say, too, that I wrapped it around my shoulders this morning after I took the photos, and the weather is cool enough that I am still wearing it an hour later ...

Miss Marple Knits

It seems appropriate to end this little series of knitting in the movies and television with Miss Marple, Agatha Christie's famous amateur sleuth, one of whose main characteristics is that she is often to be found knitting, and it seems that in the half-dozen-plus films and series featuring Miss Marple over the years, the knitting part has come more and more into play.

I admit that I haven't seen any of Margaret Rutherford's 1960s Miss Marple outings in full, and so I don't really know whether she actually knits much in the films, but I could find only the one image to use in this post.  She isn't actually knitting in the second one, obviously, but she is wearing a wonderfully dumpy cardigan as well as a knitted hat, with characteristically Rutherford pompom of course.  (Apparently, she insisted in wearing her own clothes to portray Miss Marple!)

Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple in a single outing in 1980, so perhaps there was not much time for knitting.  I don't see a single image of Helen Hayes as Miss Marple actually knitting, which is a shame -- I don't remember her two films, though I must have seen them, so I will certainly make the effort to do so again.

Joan Hickson played Miss Marple in the late 1980s and early 90s for the first television series, one that remains firmly in the consciousness of many viewers as the definitive Marple.

The production values and attention to detail for Geraldine McEwan's tenure as Miss Marple in "Agatha Christie's Marple" were high enough that she was often shown knitting, although I will not be the first to say, nor the last I'm sure, that for a series called "Agatha Christie's Marple" it strayed rather far from the original at times.  I am still hoping that McEwan was simply doing what the director asked for.

Julia McKenzie took over from McEwan after the latter's retirement, and I must say that she fits my mental image of Miss Marple rather more (I won't say "better" because I admire McEwan tremendously) -- and of course I love the fact that pictures of her knitting in the series abound!

Bonus -- slightly out of order, but how could I not end with this? --

Miss Marple herself wearing a classic keyhole scarf.  Free patterns are available for Skiff's Miss Marple Scarf here, and another one here by SusanneS-vV, and an actual 1948 one here from The Sunny Stitcher.  Just for fun, here's a faux-fox version.  I knitted mine up -- in two days! -- in some of the late and much-lamented Jaeger Extrafine Merino left over from my Pearl Buck Swing Jacket, in the beautiful elderberry shade 944 (about 80g).

Knitting in the Movies (and TV): "The Bletchley Circle"

Another series with excellent costumes and knitwear!  For some reason, I avoided "The Bletchley Circle" when it first aired in 2012 or '13, then started watching it on Netflix about a year ago, and though I don't remember much at all now about the mysteries, I was intrigued by the characters themselves, the relationships between the four women and the way the four actresses pulled everything together.  I was also -- all right, I'm a knitter! -- charmed by the sight of Susan (Anna Maxwell Martin) knitting in her sitting-room.

("Dear Sir" spotting: "The Bluebell Railway is excellent to stage late 1940's or early 1950's scenes on trains, but when selecting stock for trains supposed to be working out of St. Pancras Station it was careless to use a locomotive of the Southern Railway. St. Pancras was on the London Midland & Scottish Railway until nationalisation in 1948, when it became British Railways.... What is more, the bus that appears is an RML type which was not built until 1961 and in a livery that dates to the mid 1970's, the stations shown on the route board for the Barking line are incorrect (East Ham!!!), and a character mentions the Gospel Oak to Barking line but at this date the route ran via Kentish Town, not Gospel Oak."...!)

Knitting in the Movies: "The Hobbit"

Well, I seem to be in a bit of a house-keeping mood this week (blog-keeping?), tidying up old draft posts and putting them up.  When I wrote this in 2014 (!!) I said "I'm a bit behind with this, I know -- 'The Desolation of Smaug' came out nearly a year ago!" which sounds positively ancient by now.  These photos, though, especially the studio ones, are still pretty good, and worth posting for the knitwear and my theme, even though my opinion of the movies has tumbled considerably.

So -- these are from the first "Hobbit" movie, of course, "An Unexpected Party".  I think all of the dwarves have hand coverings of some sort, but not all are knitted.  Ori, on the far right here, has heavy garter-stitched fingerless gloves.

He also is the only one who has a knitted waistcoat, which gives him a sweet air of childlikeness in addition to Adam Brown's own, as though Ori's mother sent him off with extra warm clothing.

Sometimes he wears the waistcoat properly, and sometimes twisted and cast somehow about his neck like a cowl.  I must admit I can't quite figure out how this works, as the thing isn't circular!  Maybe he's just pulled out his arms and tucked up the hem around his shoulders.

Óin (John Callen) here has some pretty splendid knitted gloves, whose swirling cables echo that splendid beard.

Bofur (James Nesbitt) wears a multi-colored garter-stitch scarf.

Bombur (Stephen Hunter) has, perhaps not coincidentally, the thickest mitts, even with an extra moss-stitch patch sewn to the back of the hands.

Gandalf (Ian McKellen) has knitted mitts as well -- these are apparently folded back for extra warmth on the hands.  Unlike the dwarves' mitts, these don't appear to have a knitted thumb.  (The scarf is not knitted but woven, though I'm sure someone has come up with a knitted version by now!  Here's one, in fact.)

Knitting in the Movies (and TV): "Home Fires"

This is a bit old, but I was weeding out the images file on my computer this morning and realized I'd not posted these yet.  They are from the late "Home Fires" -- yes, it's been cancelled -- which I watched sort of half-fascinated, because Blitz-era England is one of my fascinations, and half-guiltily, since it was not a little soapy at times.  I do love Francesca Annis, though, in just about anything.

Part of these photos, I admit, are for the aprons and pinnies as much as for the knitting, though!  Above we have the ladies of the village out blackberrying -- Pat on the right (Claire Rushbrook) has a fairly typical cardy in a basketweave stitch.  Each of the women has a different yet very typically-1940s apron, Erica (Frances Grey) a wrap-around, Frances (Samantha Bond) a scoop-neck, and Pat a full one, probably H-back but we can't see this.

 An apparently favorite slipover worn by the butcher's son with the overprotective mother (Will Attenborough and Claire Price respectively), who has presumably knitted it herself.  Don't get me wrong, I completely understand not wanting to send your son off to shoot and be shot at, but she's a bit mad about it at the same time.  She herself has an interesting raglan-sleeved cardigan in a rather lovely sea-foam green.

Curiously, Frances's apron seems to have no ties, which I think would be fairly annoying, with it dragging in things.

An absolutely bang-on perfect 1940s pullover in chevron stripes on the blind Isobel (Gillian Dean).  If looks could kill, the entire Luftwaffe would have simply dropped stone-dead from the skies at this glare from Mrs. Cameron (Francesca Annis).

A very pretty green lacy cardigan worn by Kate (Rachel Hurd-Wood).  I think her sister Laura (Leila Mimmack) is also wearing a knitted cardigan of some sort, but in this picture it isn't quite clear.

The man we love to hate, the thoroughly-nasty Bob Simms (Mark Bazeley) in another perfectly-period slipover, this one a classic faded Fair Isle.

Sarah (Ruth Gemmell) has this very pretty cardigan in the famous King Charles brocade stitch, accented presumably with embroidered flowers inside lines of the diamonds at the front.

The wardrobe for this series is really excellent -- full marks, especially for including lots of period-looking knits!

And if you like the soundtrack, it was composed by Samuel Sim, with the haunting title track sung by Synergy Vocals, and for the time being at least, you can listen to the whole album on YouTube --