A Bluestocking Knits

A Suit for Bel

Oh, it's been so long since I've knitted that I completely forgot to participate in my own virtual knitalong!  Here, then -- better late than never -- is my newest contribution to "Knitting with D.E. Stevenson," for my recent re-read of Fletchers End.  The book was published in 1962, and I had to take some time finding a pattern that would suit the classic "shrinking violet" character of Bel Brownlee, née Lamington.  I doubt that Bel -- unlike, perhaps, her friend Louise -- would throw herself into Swinging Sixties fashions much, and so this modest-yet-au-courant suit works rather well for her.  (I don't think that a metallic Christmas tree is at all Bel's thing, though, so to that fellow leaning out of the window we'll just have to say, sorry, that will not do!)

JS Her Blunder

I had a sinking feeling as I began to work this over with the new colors, that I'd miscounted the first time.  Of course when I picked it up again the other day, I started with the next dividing band under the little filip on the end of the ribbonwork, and carried on blithely (wanting to start with positive new colors instead of negative picking-out).  I kept trying to tell myself that it was okay, it just looked a bit longer than it should because there was nothing beside it for scale (!), but no -- I had counted not just slightly wrong, but very wrong, when I started the ribbonwork of the floral band last summer.  Not just "threads" wrong, but "inches"! so that new signature line will have to come out.

Well -- (sigh) -- I am certainly enjoying the new colors, that's something!  And I must say, I do like a nice bit of satin stitch ...

"Floral" Ho!

Despite having a modest-but-tantalizing list of new sampler charts at my elbow, I dug out my poor half-worked "Floral Sampler" the other day, and my bundle of potential thread substitutions, and began the onerous task of picking it all out a band at a time, from the ribbonwork that seemed the best place to start, then on upwards.  I've now re-started the large floral band, and re-worked the red Montenegrin-stitch divider and the last line of the motto in the new colors.  Queen stitch is a bit of a pain to work, but it's rather hellish to pick out, I must say -- I am not looking forward to that little floral band about a third of the way down from the top, but I like the "Charlotte's Pink" miles better than the bubble-gum "Victorian Pink," so I'll just have to get on with it.

Well, the new issue of "Piecework" has a rather handsome pair of knitted mitts from a 1909 Weldon's magazine, and I must say that I'm tempted to dig out some needles and see if I have a suitable wool --

I wanted some comfort reading last week, and so as I was heading out the door I went to my shelf of D.E. Stevensons and chose one of my favorites, Fletchers End.  I like the main character, Bel (Lamington in her eponymous earlier story, now Brownlee and happily newly-wed) but I love stories about houses, and Fletchers End charmingly combines both.  Fletchers End is a cottage in a small village somewhere in the Cotswolds, which has been in the Lestrange family for generations but has been left by the late owner to her nephew, a navy man away in foreign parts who, being chronically short of funds, has not only neglected the cottage but wants to get it off his hands as soon as possible.  Louise Armstrong, one of Stevenson's characters who reappears in other novels, comes to see Fletchers End, looking for a house for Bel and her husband.

An abandoned cottage on the outskirts of Aston-on-Clun, Shropshire, 2018 (Jeremy Bolwell, Geograph.org.uk, CC BY-SA 2.0).

Mrs. Warmer, a local woman who has been looking after Fletchers End during the long absence of the new owner, has grown unexpectedly fond of the house during her six years there, finding herself strangely reluctant to show the house to prospective buyers -- though of course she does, honestly and dutifully, but she is secretly relieved when they go away again and don't come back -- and it soon becomes an indicator in the story of her approval of a certain few of these prospective buyers that she offers them tea, which includes freshly-baked whole-meal scones.  Now, being a reader who also appreciates good food in books, and better still being able to make something very like that good food myself, I had a go at some whole-meal scones.  These are my own bash of a couple of different recipes -- not quite up to Mrs. Warmer's yet, I expect, but not bad, even without clotted cream --

And for something completely different, a Lemoyne Star block auditioning for a 1:12 quilt, with some small-pattern fabrics I picked up on Etsy (the brown ones).  I think this turned out well, so I will throw a backing on it and see how it goes --

"The Pink Sparrow"

I took this photo the other day to write a progress post, and I turned around and the thing was done!  It is, of course, the "Pink Sparrow Sampler" by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread. 

I substituted "Gingersnap" for "Burnt Orange" before I'd even started, as it looked awfully vivid even in my shopping cart.  It wasn't until I started stitching with "Pumpkin Patch" that it, too, did not impress me overmuch -- it looked exactly like orange sherbet.  I've nothing against orange sherbet per se, you know, but it just didn't seem to go with the rest of the colors -- and so I overdyed it with some black tea.  I think I could have left it in the tea a bit longer, but at least it isn't quite as sherbet-y as it was.  I left the "X Y" I'd done pre-tea, and a good portion of the zig-zag just above it, but everything else is over-overdyed (as it were) -- the "E F" in the above photo is the tea-dyed batch.  "Gingersnap" is actually a rather lovely auburn -- it's the flower at bottom right --

There is no signature on this sampler, although it is said to be an antique, and I don't always sign my reproduction pieces, but I decided to sneak my initials in there this time, and did the capital J and S in four-sided stitch.  They don't show up particularly loudly, but that's alright with me.

It wasn't until I had finished the lower-case alphabet and was working my way around the lower field that I realized there is no y or z!  I suppose the original stitcher felt there wasn't enough room.  It is a bit well-populated, I guess, but it seemed a bit harsh to leave off y and z simply because they're at the end and "there wasn't room," and so I tucked them in, one on each side, in one of the quieter colors ("Raspberry Frost") -- before (above) and after (below).

The eponymous pink sparrow, although to be honest it isn't very pink.  I'm pretty sure it isn't a sparrow, either, but there it is -- I'm still quietly pleased with the effect.