A Bluestocking Knits

More Famous Knitters (and Crocheters)

Ingrid Bergman again, looking very summery.

Loretta Young, perhaps not quite managing that heel turn?

Cass Elliot.

Meryl Streep, either in "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995) or on the set of it.  I've heard, by the way, that later she knit the shawl she wore as Sister Aloysius in "Doubt" (2008), so there's a bonus for this post, a bit of "Knitting in the Movies"! --

A very young Natalie Wood.

Queen Victoria, of course.  Presumably she learned to knit as a girl, but certainly she's far more often seen crocheting.

Shirley Temple.

Tasha Tudor.

Greer Garson, apparently with great sang froid knitting straight from the skein.

Veronica Lake.

Anne Frank, ca.1941.  I don't see any needles at all, so possibly she is crocheting, but in her diary she mentions knitting.

And Doris Day again, twice, early-ish in her career and later-ish --

Odds and Ends

The previous post was "bits and bobs," this one is "odds and ends" -- in a flutter of spring(-ish) cleaning and reorganization, I started consolidating the yarn in the chest of drawers next to my sewing machine, in order to be able to put sewing things in some of the drawers.  This meant, of course, that I came across dozens of leftover balls of yarn, sometimes two of three of a kind but often just a partial one, so not enough to make much of anything by themselves.

And so in the afternoon I sat down at the computer with a cup of tea and found a number of "leftover yarn" projects that I like, and will include at least one, I hope two or three, in this year's knitting.  I've long wanted to make a mitered-square scarf with the ends of sock yarn, but I might even have enough for a mitered-square blanket like this one by Nicolette of Knitting Squirrel!

For just a tiny bit of yarn, there is always something like the little sachet in the photo, which I came across in one of the drawers -- it was included with some yarn I bought, I'm sorry I can't remember now from where as it was a nice little touch.  This one has a ribbon drawstring and is filled with lavender.  The Treasure Pouch by Resilient Knitter (the pattern is available free with subscription to her newsletter) is very similar.

The Traveler's Life afghan by the Yarn Harlot is similar to the perennial favorite linen-stitch scarf in that you use one length of yarn per row and then tie the ends into a fringe -- easy-peasy as well as satisfying.  There are numerous versions of the linen-stitch scarf, I'm sure, but here is one, and here is another that doesn't even require turning your work! and here is one for crochet.  (This post at Look What I Made gives not only a tutorial for linen-stitch in crochet but also shows examples of how altering the number of rows per color will change the effects of the linen stitch.) 

The Fiddly Bits cowl by Jana Pihota or her Excavation blanket are a little more complex structurally but still very simple knits that would use up a lot of leftover yarns while producing a handsome and useful accessory. 

Or how about a sock-yarn rug?! -- a gloriously wild idea --

It's Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas Concert Season!

It's well into Christmas concert season, actually, but how could I pass up a title like that?!

I had a chamber choir concert at the end of November, a Christmas concert with the big choir a week later, went to Julia's instrumental-music concert at school, then yesterday helped to swell out the alto section when our director's church did "Messiah," which was fun -- it's done a lot, yes, but it is one of my favorite masterworks to sing, and I actually can't decide whether the soprano or the alto part is my favorite!  (Yes, I'm still wistful about not being in the alto section any more.  This is my seventh season as a first soprano, and that's still hard to believe.)  The church where we rehearse had asked for some singers for Christmas Eve, but then they decided to just carol on with the congregation as usual, and so while Christmas Eve services are always a pleasure, I'm a bit relieved to be able to just relax.

Here is a progress photo of the "Froth and Bubble" sampler --

at which I've obviously been slightly obsessive, as it's much further along than I expected.  I'm enjoying it tremendously, clearly! and am spending most of my free time, and I confess some of my not-technically-free time, on it.  At the moment, I'm pondering a color switch on those acorns in the bottom panel -- I can't seem to wrap my head around yellow acorns, so I've tried one in a golden-brown, which is not as realistic as the real thing, but more in between brown and the chart's comparatively bright yellow.  (Not that yellow is bad per se, mind you, but for acorns it's just not ... quite right!)

I was watching the Christmas 2017 episode of "The Repair Shop" yesterday evening, as one does, and was delighted to see that one of the craftsmen decided to knit a scarf as his Secret-Santa gift. 

It was a bonus that Will was quietly touched by the gift, perhaps in some disbelief that Dominic could knit at all, but also that he had gone to the effort to do so.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and you knitters, may all of your knitted gifts be as happily received as this scarf!

Knitting Project Bag

Here is the first of my Make Nine projects done!  This is Very Shannon's Reversible Sock Knitting Project Bag, which sews up very quickly and makes quite a nice little bag!

When I make this again -- not "if", mind! -- I will shorten the interfacing by about an inch or so from the top, as it makes the gathering a bit stiff, but other than that, the pattern is pretty much ideal.  I must point out that I interpreted, "Mark 1" down from the top edge of your bag. Sew a line 1" down from this edge" as that the sewing line is two inches from the top edge, but this is not the case.  I suppose that the instructions for 2" down would have been "Sew a line 1" down from this line" -- but be that as it may, you definitely want to sew the cord channel 1" from the top edge.

The bag is actually a little bigger than I'd pictured in my head from the original photos, so that's great!  It's definitely small enough to be portable, but big enough for a sock project plus glasses, ruler, pattern (folded), etc.  It would also make a great reusable gift bag.

I found this fabric in a drawer recently -- I bought it to make Laura some rompers, so that says how long it's been in the drawer, since she hasn't wanted rompers for sixteen or seventeen years.  It is still extraordinarily pretty and cheerful, though!  It looked really good with the yard of denim that I'd bought at the same time (sigh ...), but I thought now that denim would be a little too heavy for this bag, and got a short length of blue Kona Cotton instead.  I'm afraid I was very unimaginative and just flipped the two fabrics for the other side, but the yellow pleases me so much that I don't mind at all.

And what is the project?  The beginning of Henslowe, in Seven Sisters Arts Meridian fingering-weight in "Havran" --

Sewing for Knitting

After yet another quarter-hour or so taken up with searching through my bin of knitting needles looking for a pair of US6s, I thought "Right -- needle rolls."  I have a little Martha Washington cabinet of my grandmother's, the kind with three drawers in the middle and two half-round bins at either side -- some years ago I went through all of the loose knitting needles and made cards for the loose ones, with holes and stepped folds and all, but while this was a step in the right direction, it was still a chore to have to pull out a pair grab-bag-like until I found the size I needed.  And so in a burst of organizing energy not coincidentally around New Year's, I sewed up a pair of large needle rolls, all out of fabric left over from other projects.

A needle roll isn't a terribly complicated thing, but neither did I feel inclined to reinvent the wheel, as the saying goes, so I spent some time poking around the internet, and then more time narrowing down the myriad of choices ...

The first roll is from a tutorial at Guthrie & Ghani, which with some fiddling makes slots with more depth than just laying two pieces of fabric atop each other and stitching a bunch of lines.  This is certainly a handy idea if you have a number of really large needles, but my stitching leaves a bit to be desired, as the slots are clearly of almost-random sizes and depths, and it is more difficult to ensure that the slots are the same depth at top and bottom as well.

I wasn't sure I really needed two pockets, but unlike the lovely needle rolls one sees on Flickr and Pinterest, I don't have a uniform set of needles but a hodgepodge acquired over many years, of surprisingly variable lengths and knob sizes, so as it turned out, two pockets are handy for the shorter pairs.

The second roll is therefore just the two pocket assemblies laid atop each other and stitched down.  Since it was clear, once I had laid out all of my needles in a row, that not only do I have a lot, but that I have a penchant for smaller needles (five pairs of nearly-identical 3.25mm!), I realized that having shaped slots in a roll for the finer end of the range would actually be a drawback, since snugger ones would be more secure.  QED!

(I vaguely remember that I used a tutorial for the dimensions of the second roll, but have no idea now which one ...)

I had to piece some of the pockets, but all of these seams were easily hidden.  I was delighted to be able to accommodate the lining fabric's decorative edge, too --

I still, I confess, need another roll for my dpns, and probably another for crochet hooks -- I have only about four of those, but it wouldn't hurt to have them all in one place, would it!  I am getting close to the end of the birds-and-flowers fabric, so we'll see.

The archivist in me was unable to throw away all of the original packaging, so I admit that I have kept some, partly for sentiment -- I'm sure I inherited that set of aluminum Boyes on the left, ca.1970s if not earlier, and the Peace pair (presumably in a project somewhere ...) were bought in Hong Kong -- partly because, well, librarian.  The Takumis don't come in that nearly-indestructible green sleeve anymore.

In my wanderings around the internet, I found quite a lot of other interesting projects, as one does, and so yesterday I made a pair of these, the "Brigitte Needles & Notions Zippered Pouch" from a tutorial at VeryShannon.  Although I did have some hiccups in the process, I nevertheless managed to make two of these in one day, which is certainly a compliment to the tutorial! 

These are fraternal twins, as it were, made from three coordinating fat quarters (anonymous, alas) -- I would certainly have been able to make at least one more pouch, probably two, but I had only two zippers.

I had a bit of trouble with the zipper installation here, which has you stitch around the lining and then around the outer pouch, in two steps -- I couldn't get things to either meet in the middle or line up neatly -- and so ended up going back to the one I used last summer, which has you stitch the two sides in one go, as well as a slightly simpler method of attaching the zipper to the lining. 

The next time I make some of these, I would also make the outer-pocket flap a bit longer, maybe just a scant quarter-inch, and also stitch the lining a bit short, as it tends to wrinkle a little inside (because both the outer and the inner are pretty much exactly the same size, and therefore one doesn't fit inside the other quite neatly).  These, however, are minor issues, and I'm pleased with the finished pouches!

It Knits a Village

Three cheers for the ladies of Cloughmills Crochet Club in Co. Antrim! who have recreated their village in crocheted and knitted miniature.  This looks like it was a lot of fun!

10th Update

(Not the tenth one, on the 10th ...!)

I finished the knitting on the second Mora mitten late last night -- now only have the weavings-in and they're done!

This is less successful -- my nth attempt at a sontag, which every single time so far has either been far too big or far too small, curled mercilessly, shrivelled ditto (twin rib stitch), or just generally disappointed.  I keep varying the stitch pattern or the sizing, without yet finding the right balance.  This one is too small -- again.

These, however, turned out exactly as I'd planned.  I have been continually dismayed at the ease with which the girls manage to dent and scratch the metal water-bottles they take to school daily for lunch and various after-school activities.  Most of our older ones don't stand up straight any more, from being dropped or knocked over, etc. etc. etc.  When I found these new ones at Costco recently -- the mouth is large enough to easily get ice cubes or a bottle-brush into, and the lid has no moving or difficult-to-clean parts! -- I decided that I should take some protective measures, and so of course being me I thought, "well, what about a crochet sling-type cover?"  These are a mash-up of two free patterns, Kat McCab's "Water Bottle Cozy" and Kelly Spenhoff's holder with a strap -- I used the stitch and the shaping of the former, and the latter as inspiration for the carrying loop.  So far, so good!

I am also slowly doing some handy-man work on the dollhouse -- regluing loose pieces of trim, mostly.  Am dreading sanding that dark-green paint from the upstairs room, which I am sure is going to be a challenge to cover up, but it is just not attractive -- I should just get started, I'm sure it will give me great satisfaction once it's done!

A few weeks ago I joined Postcrossing, an international postcard exchange group.  Ireland is the latest country to issue a postage stamp in honor of the group.  I used to collect stamps, a very long time ago, found it interesting at the time but only from a distance once I stopped, but it is appealing to think of the occasional first-day cover like this one, to keep in a box or perhaps an album now.  I've just sent my second postcard, so am looking forward to my first arrival!

(I joined because I was feeling rather wistful about not really having anyone to exchange letters with any more, my oldest friend being hors de combat, as it were, and limited to e-mail as a result.  It's just not the same.  What a loss to the younger generation.)

I was delighted to see the Google Doodle for today -- it's Nansen's birthday.

As for my current petitpoint project, the Turkoman is slowly coming into shape.  I like the design a lot, mind, and the "faded" colors I decided on -- but it's tedious, I must say.  I've watched rather a lot of television, filling in all of that red background.

Goodness, I think I forgot to say that I started a separate blog over at Blogger (because it's free, to be honest) for the photos from our canal-boat journey.  We enjoyed it so much that David and I certainly plan to do another trip as soon as possible (Julia says wearily, "just not so many locks") -- maybe another stretch, or the rest! of the Stratford Ring, maybe Oxford ...?  I decided on making a separate blog so that I could play around with subject labels as well as focus exclusively on narrow-boating -- plus of course it's more of a family thing than just my own natterings here chez Bluestocking.

Zhī zhēn

David brought me these from Shanghai -- I don't know how he managed to find a knitting shop, but he did!  The double-pointed sets are tiny, and long! so presumably they are for lace rather than socks, which is what he was thinking of.

The Mandarin for "knitting needle" is zhī zhēn, or 织针, I'm told -- the zhēn (needles) part of this character appears at the bottom of the paper packet that looks like a sleeve for chopsticks.  I guess the Chinese are still knitting with the UK needle sizing, as that is what these are all marked except for the bamboo circulars, which are stamped with metric sizes, and they still come in sets of four, not five.  I'm delighted to see that one of the circulars comes with a gauge for the fine sizes, as I don't have one!

The circulars are interesting, as the one in the snowflakes packet is a steel cable encased in plastic, which is not only both strong and flexible but doesn't have that "flip" that plastic circs get in the middle of the cable after being in a packet for a long time.  I'm very intrigued by the bamboo sets, as they have what appears to be IV tubing, light and hollow and very flexible.  Not like I need to start a new project just now, but ....

In Praise of "Golden Hands"

Moth Heaven Julia asked about the "Golden Hands" books that I mentioned in a comment on her post of January 2nd, when she wrote about the Time-Life Art of Sewing books she was given for Christmas.  I don't think I could do this series justice without at least a few pictures, so I thought I'd write a post about it.

"Golden Hands" was a serial published by Marshall Cavendish in the early 1970s, not technically a book but a series of magazines, essentially, that you would buy as they came out.  (My mom got hers at the grocery store.  You could send away for binders to keep the issues in order -- "$1.75 plus 25¢ shipping and handling" -- and the index.)  It was kind of like a home-study thing, a little "chapter" of two to four pages per issue on knitting, crochet, embroidery, needlepoint, dressmaking, beading, patchwork, tatting, and so on, and finishing and care techniques for the resulting projects.  If you were a complete beginner, you could start at the "Knitting Know-How 1" chapter, for instance, which gives basics on yarn types, gauge, and abbreviations, then goes on to casting on and off, the knit stitch and the purl, with increasingly advanced techniques throughout the 74 chapters.  I more-or-less taught myself to knit from here, studying the pictures and going for help to my mom when things didn't go right.  If you already knew the basics, you could start at a later chapter for new techniques, or jump straight into a more difficult project.  Rae Compton was the knitting consultant for the series, and while I don't recognize any of the names in other areas, I expect they were all equally competent and qualified, judging by the thoroughness of the instructions.

Many of the projects are more than a bit dated now, of course -- macramé vests, ponchos the first time around -- but the lace doilies, Shetland shawls, floral needlepoint handbags (with a chapter on mounting the needlepoint piece on a metal bag frame), ganseys, and such, are as timeless as they were in the 1970s.  Some of the knitting techniques are a bit dated, too -- psso instead of the now more usual ssk, for instance -- but nothing that would really hold you back.

After the series was completed, they did one that went into more unusual crafts, like candle-making, millinery, costume-making, batik, some really interesting stuff, and then a monthly that as far as I know only went to two issues.  They also did a few paperback pattern collections, with new patterns, "All You Can Knit and Crochet For Women/Babies and Children/the Home," and so on. 

I started with the garter stitch scarf, and not much later (in my early teens, perhaps) made a lovely doll dress and coat, and eventually at least three different baby blankets.  There was also a stunning bridal coat that I considered years later, and would have been high on my list if I'd been married in cooler weather than a California June.  In fact, I'm seeing quite a lot of things here that intrigue me now!....

Halfway

Every time that David goes on one of these business trips, I feel an increasing respect for single parents.  It is not something that I would like to attempt on a regular basis.  We are now halfway through this trip, and it's been hectic, to say the least.  A sampling --

-- Potty training.  Still.  Enough said.

-- When the milkman brought our delivery at the beginning of the week, three of the six cartons had a bottom corner bashed in.  I didn't have enough large containers to decant it, so our milk is in various Tupperware boxes in the fridge.  I kept getting distracted from hosing off the porch ("Mommy!!"), so I'm afraid the puddle is still there, bar a watering-can rinse when I actually did remember to water the houseplants yesterday.

-- The phone has been ringing off the hook with special-election recordings, including one from The Big Guy himself.  Thank heavens it's over now.

-- I spent probably the most panicked fifteen minutes of my life at Laura's school the other day, when I turned around in the crush outside the kindergarten classrooms after school and Julia was gone.  I looked in the most obvious places, then the not-so-obvious ones, then the mom I'd been talking with (about sex offenders, unfortunately) started looking with me, in ever-larger circles around the spot I'd last seen Julia, and fifteen minutes later had at least three other moms, two teachers, and a veritable army of kids looking.  By that time, of course, the worst possible things were going through my mind.  I don't usually panic easily, but this was awfully close -- so many people were milling about, anyone could have snatched her and been a mile away already.  The utter relief I felt when I saw Laura's teacher coming up the sidewalk with Julia howling in her arms was indescribable.  (She'd just wandered off on her own, apparently, all of the way to the corner.  Didn't want to tell me what she'd done, so I think she knew she'd worried us.)

-- Laura then came down with some kind of bug, up half the night coughing, then throwing up the next day, possibly from coughing so hard.  She lay on the couch literally all day, grey shadows under her eyes, watching "Barney" and "Sesame Street" listlessly.

-- The house is a mess.  It seems like the more housework I do, the more there is to do, which goes against all the laws of physics I've ever heard of.

But knitting, that's what I was supposed to be talking about.  The only good thing about Laura being sick is that since she wants me to sit with her most of the time, I'm getting an unexpected amount of knitting done.  I am working on a Christmas project, so won't reveal details, except that I am learning something new with it, Meg Swansen's "jogless jog" solution to the problem of that little hiccup at color changes in the round (here's a step-by-step description from Judy Gibson).  This is a handy little trick, almost like magic.  The first few times I tried it looked more than a little obvious, but it is settling in nicely.  It seems to be inspired by the slip-stitch effect, which raises and stretches a single stitch to cover two rows, but here in the jogless jog does essentially the same thing without appearing to do so.  The new color becomes the old color, and the old stitch disguises the new one.  Ta-da!