Not Spring

So many of my friends are blogging and writing about the blooming Spring and I hear that the DC Cherry Blossoms are indeed springing in season (peak bloom starts next week) - although the Cherry Blossom Kite celebration scheduled for today has been postponed due to “inclement weather” (my iPhone tells me it is only cloudy in DC).

But this is what my town looked like just 4 days ago:



Yes, a snow storm. In fact, two last week. Today, the temperature is just 2 degrees above freezing and the wind is whistling and rattling the windows of this ancient house.

In honor of our obstreperously obstinate winter, here in the frozen north, I'll post one more winter pattern from my vintage collection: from The Art of Knitting, London and New York, 1909.



These mittens were originally knit using thread-weight purse silk twist and tiny steel needles (size 00000 US or vintage UK size 19) - size 19 UK.



I have a pair of these needles that I got at a yarn fair from Twisted Sistah Beads. Of course, this pattern requires DPNs, not straights.

I plan to knit these mittens using a yarn slightly weightier than thread - either the lace-weight Tencel (a natural plant fiber with a silk-like sheen and drape) in this beautiful blue that I got on a cone at Webs in the back warehouse,



or this divine Hand Maiden Flaxen, a blend of silk and linen in the colour Smoke,
which I got at Knit/Purl in Portland, while in my other home:



The original stitch count for casting on is 80, because of the tiny gauge. I recommend casting on 60 sts for a small hand, and using light fingering weight (such as the yarns above) use a size US 1 set of DPNs. Use a stretchy cast on such as the long-tail. Two of the needles should have equal numbers of sts on them, and the 3rd should have a few more stitches than the others (60 = 16/16/28). Join - mark the beginning of the row (in my experience the tail of cast on may not be a visually specific enough marker) and knit 5 rows.

R 6 - K2tog, YO all around
R 7 - 13 - knit
R 14 - K1, YO, K2, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, K2, YO, repeat around
R 15 - knit
Repeat the last 2 rounds 3 times each:
R 16 = R 14
R 17 = R15
R 18 = R14
R 19 = R15
R 20 = R14
R 21 = R15 and after each of Rows 17, 19, and 21 pass the first stitch of each needle onto the next needle, knitting the first one slipped only as the last stitch of the knit round.
R 22 - 26 - knit
R 27 - 50 - repeat rows 14 and 15, slipping the stitches in the knit rounds as directed above.
R 51 - knit

This completes the fancy cuff section of the mitten. Now comes the lace section of the wrist. To make this lace panel come in the right place, redistribute the stitches so that the third needle contains 31 stitches and the rest of the stitches are divided between the other two needles (14 on one and fifteen on the other. The lace panel is knit over 29 stitches in 8 rounds, repeated the number of times to get the length you require, minus the the length of the tip of the mitten (1.5 inches). For a small hand, the number of repeats of these 8 lace rows might be 10.

Needle 3 now becomes your first needle, and is the needle on which the lace panel is completed. The stitches on the remaining 2 needles are always knit. On row 76, or after three repeats of the 8-round lace pattern, the thumb increases begin on one side.

Lace pattern:
NOTE: the original directions say: Slip and Bind which means: "slip one stitch, knit the next; pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch" so on future rows where this term is used, I'll use SKP.

R 52 - K1, SKP, K6, YO, K2, YO, K3, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, K3, YO, K2, YO, K6, K2tog, Knit the remaining st in the round
R 53 - K1, SKP, K5, YO, K15, YO, K5, K2tog, Knit remaining
R 54 - K1, SKP, K4, YO, K4, YO, K3, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, K3, YO, K4, YO, K4, K2tog, Knit remaining
R 55 - K1, SKP, K3, YO, K19, YO, K3, K2tog, Knit remaining
R 56 - K1, SKP, K2, YO, K6, YO, K3, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, K3, YO, K6, YO, K2, K2tog, knit remaining
R 57 - K1, SKP, YO, K8, YO, K3, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, K5,3YO, K8, Yo, K2tog, knit remaining
R 58 - Knit ll stitches

Knit these 8 rows twice more and then begin the thumb increases as follows:
The Thumb:
On a right hand mitten the thumb must be at the left of the lace panel, while on the left hand mitten it must be placed at the right of the lace panel.

Starting with Row 76, knit the first row of the lace panel, k1. This should bring you to the end of the first needle. On the next needle, K 1, then Knit front and back (Kfb)of the next stitch. Knit 2, Kfb, knit remaining. Repeat Row 76 directions every other row (the number of stitches between increases with be greater by two each time) until you have 12 increases or 24 rows. Place the thumb stitches on a stitch holder on the next round and cast on 4 stitches over the back side of the thumb opening on the following round. In the four rounds that follow, decrease one stitch in each round at the point where the extra stitches were cast on, thus disposing of the four extra stitches and forming one-half of a small diamond-shaped gusset, the other half being formed in the same manner when work on the thumb is resumed.

At the same time, you will be continuing with the rows o the lace panel on the first needle. After you've finished the lace panel of the hand portion to about 1.5 inches from the fingertips, the fancy tip of the panel is knit in 6 rounds as follows:

Round 1 - K9, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, K2, sl1, K2tog, PSSO, K2, YO, K1, YO, SKP, knit remaining stitches
Round 2 - Knit all sts around
Round 3 - K13, YO, K1, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, K1, YO, knit remaining
Round 4 - Knit all
Round 5 - K14, YO, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, YO, knit remaining
Round 6 - Knit all

On the next round, begin the decreases for the top of the mitten. K8, K2tog around.
On next round, knit plain.
Continuing these two rows, decreasing above the previous decreases until you have 4 stitches remaining. Fasten off, thread tail through remaining stitches and close.

Resuming the Thumb:
Place the stitches that are on the thumb stitch holder evenly on three DPNs and pick up 4 stitches from the base of the gore that was formed by casting on 4 stitches between the the thumb and the hand. Knit once around, and then decrease one stitch in each of the next four rounds at the point where the gusset is. Then knit as many rounds as needed to give the proper length to the thumb, and finish by K2tog in each needle each round until 3 sts are left. Fasten off, thread tail through the 3 sts and close.

On the cuff, fold the edge over to the inside on the YO eyelet row, and loosely sew using over-stitch to inside of cuff, forming neat picot edging. Male sure that this edge in still stretchy enough to go over the hand.

Form bow with wide silk ribbon and tack to the back of mitten where the lace panel begins.

Weave in ends and block mittens.

Juliet

I finally decided to post my summer sweater project, which I finished last month. I've been waiting to see if I could get someone to take a photo with me wearing it, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. So, here is....

Juliet



Yarn: Lyndon Hill from Plymouth Yarn, 85% Pima Cotton, 15% Silk, 218 yds per skein, colour 101. I used 6 skeins because I wanted extra length.

Needles: Knitpicks Options circular, US size 6

Modifications: I added an extra half-skein to each sleeve and finished the sleeves with one lace chart repeat. They are 3/4 length on me now. I also used one extra skein for sweater length and just kept repeating the lace pattern. It's pretty long now - lower hip length.

This yarn is fingering weight and very drapey and light. The pattern calls for a bulky yarn or a worsted weight held doubled. Obviously I just ignored that and made a more lightweight summer sweater. I think it's going to be perfect for wearing over my sundresses at my air-conditioned work. I'm not really a fan of garter stitch sweaters but on this design it works and certainly makes it a very quick knit! Or... it would have been quick if I hadn't set it aside for a whole month.



I plan to put just one button at the neckline - I doubt I'll ever wear it closed. But, wouldn't you know, I had a beautiful green glass button that a friend gave me quite a while ago set aside to use and as soon as I finished the sweater, I lost the button! I have an alternative and will make a crocheted loop at the neck edge, as the pattern advises.



Making this sweater was so gratifying! I hardly ever knit or crochet anything for myself so it's almost a guilty pleasure. I love it inordinately and think I'm really going to like wearing it next year!

Goodnight Moon....

The Golden Moon Shawl



a version of the Shetland Triangle by Evelyn Clark, from Wrap Style...

Yarn: Luscious Silk (sport weight; 360 yards) from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in colourway: Oregon Red Clover Honey; 1 skein

Needles: Size US 9 Addi Lace circular (32")



This pattern is so incredibly easy and fast. Just like last time, this shawl took less than 2 weeks from start to finish - and I didn't have all that much knitting time! I used a size 9 needle, when the pattern calls for a 6, because this is a sport weight yarn and the pattern is written for laceweight. The size was just right!

I did end up omitting one entire repeat of the body lace chart (I think it's 14 rows, actually) as well as the last two rows of the edging chart (I went strait to the final two rows which are in the book, not in the chart). Even so, it is just the way I would have hoped.

The yarn is very delicate. I treated it very gently, but still got a slight 'halo' or 'blooms' and a couple of pills. I'm hoping they won't show too much after blocking smooths everything out...

and here is a final shot - it's dark on the colour, but you can really see the stitch pattern.



This was actually a blast to knit. I can't wait to make the next one!

Untangling...

Yesterday, I got an a frantic call from a friend to go over to her house for an emergency unscrambling... she had taken her precious bundle of Habu pure raw silk and tried to wind it by looping it around the legs of her coffee table and pulling on the end. She thought that it would slide smoothly around and around the table while she wound it on her spooler - kind of using the coffee table like a swift, but a swift that doesn't turn around...

Okay! This sounds like a job for.....UnravelingSophia!! Hey - that name's not just for show, you know! I even have a superhero cape!

This is what I found when I arrived:



Ah, the hubris of humans when encountering the natural silks! How we love to think we've subdued the strands with our spinning and our natural dyes. Not so. These threads - these teeny tiny smaller-than-laceweight threads - were so full of sproingy static electricity that they kept leaping off my fingers and back into the tangled mass. They were wiley, those threads!

Then the bright idea part of brain decided to send me a message - Use the power of the (water) Force! it said. I asked my friend for her laundry water bottle and spritzed the silk. Immediately, it snapped to attention and obeyed. Ah, how satisfying!



Unfortunately, the tangled threads were too intertwined to find any semblance of a skein so I couldn't wind it from my own swift. I had to untangle, wind, untangle, wind, untangle, wind a little tiny bit at a time.

Once I had a hand-wound ball from the mess, I threaded the end on to the ball-winder, and made a nice center-pull ball. This was more to keep the threads from re-tangling than anything else. With a yarn this apt to escape its bounds, I recommended that she really unwind it from the outside when she actually knitted with it. And, I cut off the toe from a pair of her nylon stockings and slipped this over the now nicely-behaved ball with the end sticking out... Nice and orderly...



My job here was done and it was time for me to fade away into the sunset... "Who was that masked woman? I wanted to thank her!" (special prize for anyone who correctly identifies where that pseudo-quote came from!)

Really, this took hours and hours and was one of the most arduous yarn-untanglings I've ever attempted. There were several times when I thought I'd never succeed, and never get to the end of it! I love the Habu, but it needs to be treated, very, very gently.

In other news, my fabulous swap partner from the Vintage Swap on Ravelry sent me (along with lots of other fabulous treats) a skein of midnight Blue Indigo Moon sock yarn!! My first skein ever of this yarn - I love it!

the next knit

It's not been easy to find time to post to my journal, with getting my classes ready for the Spring semester and fending off the evil Catherine, who pounces on my fingers every time I try to type on the laptop!

I have just a small offering for you, to help you survive this long and cold winter... FERRYHALIM games! These are cute and gentle games (though some involved boats that crash and burn on iceburgs!) and I like the ones with the jumping hedgehogs and the little mouse that bumps butterflies into flight! I hear that there is one with ladybugs, but I haven't found it yet...

Right now I'm watching the rerun of Masterpiece Theater's new production of Persuasion by Jane Austen (a really terrible adaptation). They have cut large parts of it, to make the 1.5 hour show fit into tonight's time slot, and that has made it even worse! Though its dreadful, I did notice one exciting screen shot: as Anne is playing a sad air on the pianoforte, the camera moves to her hands and show a pair of very long fingerless gloves in knit (or crochet) lace!

I'm starting a new knitted project: this "Zelda" slip from the book Naughty Needles. It's a little lacy slip with garters to hold up your stockings. Very fun!



At first, I was going to use some Fiesta 100% silk yarn that I have in the colours shown in the picture. But I don't think that silk will wear well for this pattern, as silk has no "memory" or elasticity, and I've heard it pills terribly. So now I have a seagreen silk, linen and nylon yarn for it.

This yarn, in this very colour:


Don't you think that will be lovely? And the yarn's name is perfect!

Now Catherine has pounced and bloodied my hand again, so I must go and put some Bacitracin on it. Evil kitty!