All Laced Up

Good morning! (a special good morning to my friend Nad across the ocean!) I hope you have a nice cup of tea this morning, or evening, wherever you are because this is going to be a long post about vintage booklets and lace patterns.

We were supposed to have a cosy but not too severe snow storm last night, with several inches of snow and so I thought it would be a good time to pull out the old knitting and crochet books and have a nice look-though with a cup of tea. I had such a fun time looking through them again and again, and picking out my favorites to show you!

However, the snow storm never developed - which is a good thing for me with my long driveway! We had these sunny skies instead:



I should have gone outdoors for more than a couple of dog-walks, but the indoors cose was so soul-restoring for all that!

The books I have to show you are old ones:



Dainty Work for Pleasure and Profit, 1901

Home Needlework Magazine, Feb-Mar 1912

Home Needlework Magazine, Aug 1915

The magazines themselves are works of art. I really love this aspect of vintage books and magazines. They strove to make the outsides as creative and inspiring as the insides. Rather than try to "hook" you with snappy catch-phrases and current watch-words, they highlighted one of the patterns that was contained inside, or they employed a current artist to draw a gorgeous scene. The August Home Needlework displays an enlarged version of one of the silk embroidery patterns in this issue, dragonflies, waterlilies, and cattails...



Even the ads are works of art, often illustrated with artist's ink drawings. The only place that has such beautiful ads these days is Ravelry (and sometimes Etsy)!

The Corticelli Kitten:



I love the art-nouveau border on this crochet cotton ad:



But my first reason for searching through old books to begin with was to find some pretty lace trims to crochet. I do love knitted lace, but there is something about those crochet picots and shells that just makes me happy!

Many people, when they think about old lace, think first of filet crochet - and it's true that filet is gorgeous and there are so many ways to adapt it. Take this beautiful tray mat, for instance:



Although it is designed for a small mat for serving, it would be so perfect to keep repeating the motif and make a kitchen window half curtain! All you would need to do is sew a series of those old bone rings across the top, or even crochet a series of loops - anything for the spring-rod to go through. It would be an even more beautiful baby blanket, crocheted in a soft chunky yarn and lined on the back with a deep blue flannel to look like the birds were flying through the sky!

Just in case anyone would like to try any of these ideas, this might help:



Many of the lace patterns in my old books were used to make panels that either were inserted between panels of fine cotton lawn for petticoats, or were sewn together side by side for bed-covers. This is a good example:



and the edging to go around the border is one of my favorites:



It would be really pretty as the edge of a baby's bedsheet or on a pillowcase as a gift, wouldn't it?

This is a classic edging for cotton nightgowns and pillowcases, too:



And I particularly love this one because it reminds me of seashells from the beach:



Some trims are complicated and combine several different types of crochet stitches back-and-forth to complete the entire design, like these, but they are well worth the results!







That last one, of off-center fans, I did try to replicate for you in one of Blue Moon Fiber Arts' silk yarns... but turned out so wonky that I pulled it all out by the end of the night. The directions leave a lot to the imagination and experience of the lace worker, who is supposed to use the drawing as a guide. I know I can master it, but it will take a little longer than I was willing to spend last night!

It's the little tiny trims that I love best. I really like changing up old patterns by using new colours and weights of yarns and wished that I could have summoned enough energy last night to sample these little lace patterns in some bright cotton threads to show you! How pretty these trims would be in Pond Scum Green (one of my favorite new colours), Tomato Red, or Butter Yellow! Here are some unfortunately blurry little photos of the tiny edging laces from the 1901 book:







I'll share one last one, with it's precious little bell flowers, with you here. It calls for crocheting into the picots of a "fancy braid" but you could achieve very similar results by starting with a crochet chain and picots. I hope that if you try it out, you'll post a comment here with a link to your results!

Edging No. 2, 1901

1st Row - 3 tr. into 1 picot of fancy braid, 1 ch., pass over 1 picot and repeat.
2nd Row - 1 dc under 1 ch., 5 ch; repeat.

the very birds are mute

How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December’s bareness every where!
...
And, thou away, the very birds are mute;
Or, if they sing, ’tis with so dull a cheer
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter’s near.

Sonnet 97, W. Shakespeare

It's almost time for me to move westward where Spring is just opening the door and my whole heart will exhale. Here in the North, the turning of January to February is not an opening of Spring's doorway, but actually the middle of winter. We've had a cold dry winter with little snow accumulation but lots of ice. An lots of ice means....

...lots of skating!



This old city park, seeded in memory and part of the historical downtown area, has a large pond that is home to duck families in Spring, Summer and Fall. But as soon as the edges start to crystallize, children gather on the bank anxious for the old faded sign to go up... the one that reads SKATING TODAY. Even dogs are eager to test the ice with their chilled owners in tow.



and skating weather is also Knitted Hat Weather! I don't know why I'm constantly losing hats, but that means that I'm constantly making hats. A friend recently gifted me this lovely new hat pattern: Ami by funfairiegirl on Ravelry, and I'm loving the making of it!



The stitch pattern is a wonder: lush and stretchy with a textured spiral to it that winds like ribbons around the crown. I'm using MadelineTosh DK in the colourway Silver Fox with a size 6 needle and the effect is gorgeous. The stitch shows off the variegation of the yarn in a very subtle way and when it is finished, I'll wear it like a snow drift on my head (but so much warmer)!



I also discovered a new online shop this week, just when I needed (so much!) the cheer of new yarns and projects: Wool & Honey, in Michigan. I love to peruse local yarns and handmade accessories for my favorite art form and Wool & Honey is such a beautiful store:



They have their own line of patterns:



and most beautiful local llama fibers:



You know how I love to collect these skeins from small farms that show the face and name of the of the gentle creature whose coat was sheered or combed to spin to yarn! This is from - top, then bottom, and then the middle skeins - Pipsqeak and Riyal, they yielded a natural pinkish brown...M.S. Hallelujah!, whose coat resulted in a decidedly masculine rich grey-brown... and the most marvelous Prophet, whose yarn is as soft as cashmere and, though he looks white in his photo, is a light oh-so-creamy tan.

What I'll do with these fibers, I don't know yet. Perhaps vintage style gloves would be the perfect match.



It's obvious that winter has me down, and I'm sorry and I'm sad, but soon I will be slipping westward and, like Persephone, winter will fade in my memory. Not soon enough for me, but then, I need another week or two to finish up my hats!

Holding my breath

January has been a wild month. In four weeks that were over in a flash we've had blinding snow storms with traffic-stopping accumulation, hope-inspiring 40-degree sunny days, flooding downpours complete with epilogues of bone-shattering, slip-inducing freezing rain, and bleak long days of low cloud-covered dark and cold. But today makes me think that even though the winter here lasts another 3 months, Spring may be more than a distant myth. Three months, I tell myself, I can hold on three more months...

I may have to visit friends who live in less temperamental climates.

In homage to Spring, I'm working on a Spring Nursing Shawl for a dear friend with a beautiful brand new little girl. She wanted black, in Noro, but - alas - the Noro yarn called for in this pattern didn't come in any black combinations and I was reluctant to switch to another Noro yarn that did because the lesser yardage would have meant many, many more skeins - 12 skeins instead of 3. So I don't know if, in the end, she'll even like these spring colours and use the shawl...



A risky endeavor for something that is so much work. I'm using a pattern designed by the owner of a LYS: The Easy As Pie Shawl. It is very drapey, which makes it a good nursing shawl, and also wider at the bottom than the top, so it doesn't feel like you're wearing a blanket when you wear it wrapped as a scarf around your neck. The yarn, a mix of cotton, wool and silk, makes it lightweight yet textural so it just feels good.



I considered switching to a sock yarn that was dark and black and wintery, and maybe I should. But the fact is I'm 25% done and Spring will be here soon and the black winter coat will go into the closet and she'll search for something that brings a bit of brightness and this particular colour combination of buff and tan and cream and teal will be... quite perfect.

At least I hope so. Sometimes my confidence flags, and my stitches slow, and I wonder if I should be the kind of knitter that knits what people want instead of the kind that knits my own self into what I give. Still, I can't help remembering Elizabeth Zimmerman and I knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises. After all, if EZ knit Nether Garments for her family and they loved them to unraveled shreds, then maybe I can bring a bit of Spring colour a few months early.

the final Christmas present

The final gift knitted for Christmas has been sent and received and worn by the recipient! So here are the particulars:

This is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Gaia, in the colourway Tempest. The pattern is the beautiful Anastasia sweater from Quince & Co. The pattern was so fast and easy and knit up without a hitch. This is size XS, and came out with about 2 inches of positive ease. I added a leaf repeat for length but it turned out it wasn't needed. It looks deceptively short-waisted on the model used for the pattern, but it isn't. I also added pockets. I love a cardigan with pockets. The buttons are vintage glass buttons from the 1940's.









I'm so happy to be on to a group of projects that I've been mulling over for a couple of months - the Belfast Hoodie (from Quince & Co.) - but without the hood, in Quince Lark colourway Storm, and a size 3 (!) Baby Sophisticate for the little guy in the wonderful Sublime Organic wool. My 3rd project currently on the needles is the Firebird Feather Scarf from Piecework magazine in Fleece Artist Saldanah Lace in the colourway Red Fox. I think these projects will keep me busy for a while!

On the other side of "Whew!"

The holiday season was fast and furious for both the BF and for me. If seems to have flashed by like the Silver Surfer, but to have been so FULL of events that it left me gasping.

We started with a visit to the BF's family in Cape Cod, where everything was so beautifully old New England - in keeping with their ocean-side cottage with its traditional door wreath! I made a Christmas Pie:



And, as I reported earlier, my knitted gift for his sister was (whew!) finished on time:





This is Saroyan, and was very well received. She wore it the entire day as a shawl. She was especially delighted that I had knit for her without her "having to ask for it". It never occurred to me that this would be an issue, but once she mentioned it I could understand that people don't like to feel like they're begging you to make them something. And then there is the embarrassment if you have to turn them down because your knitting list is too long (ahem)... as in 'all projects planned for the next year long'. So I was glad I decided to knit for her this year and so happy she was supremely knit-worthy, as in "loving it!"

The next day, back home, we had our own day and I opened two most wonderful gifts from friends and family:



These most incredibly beautiful cards were designed and drawn and printed by the artist Julia of Thorazos. I love them beyond belief - the little bird, the cosy nest, the escaping yarn ball... it's so me!

and my great friend Nad sent me this French Sajou scissor set which is To Die For!



It's the mother-of-pearl set with thread bobbin and thimble in a velvet box! There are little crosses on the handles, like Templar crosses. Last year she gave me one of Sajou's sewing boxes full of various notions so I am really over the moon about all these treasures!

I made knitted gifts for friends, too. I (whew!) finished this one the morning of Christmas eve and got it into the mail that day, so at least the "done-by-Christmas" thought was there! This is a simple cowl for a hiking, biking guy friend:



It's made from Hand Maiden 4-ply 100% cashmere in a size 7 needle. I plan to write up the pattern and post it for free in Ravelry, since when I went looking for a pattern like this I couldn't find one. This is tall enough to pull up to the nose when cold, but sophisticated enough to fold down and look like a black turtleneck under a formal wool winter coat.

The third knitted gift I made - and this one was finished just 3 days before Christmas but enough time to get it to the recipient by Christmas day! Whew! - was, again, for a guy friend. It is a striped scarf - wide and long - knit in simple K1, P1 on a size 9 needle from Madeline Tosh Vintage (worsted) that I ordered from Happy Knits. The colourways are Graphite, Cloak, and Silver Fox (a gorgeous burnished white bordering on light, light grey):





This knit was also well received and has been in use almost constantly since it was opened!

Shortly after Christmas, the BF and I traveled to DC again for a week. Our family there have a most gracious home, beautifully decorated for the holidays:



We had many teas:



And loved interacting with both Lamp Cat:



and Crib Cat:



and, while there - and this should not surprise you - I enjoyed a leisurely, soul-inspiring, second visit to Fiber Space in Old Town, Va while the BF slept in the car (we had gotten lost about 5 times in DC traffic while he tried to find our way there so I think he was emotionally exhausted!). This time, I met the shop dog, a pretty little miniature greyhound who happily stretched in the sun from the wide front windows or tip-toed clickity-clack back forth between people:



I loved the Fiber Space holiday windows: a fiber-dressed astronaut and alien:



and Rockets!



I was able to wander all around the store, looking at every single thing, the way I love to do and gathering everything into my shop basket. The staff is so respectful of shopper's space but so helpful when needed. After an hour or so, I sat on the couch and sorted (I wasn't able to get everything I wanted LOL), and still ended up with an inspiring collection of new yarns and patterns:



I'm especially excited about 3 skeins of Brooklyn Tweed's Loft that I acquired, along with a perfect, vintage style scarf pattern. I'm dying to knit these up! You can see my choices, set out on the couch beside the basket above: Long Johns, Postcard, and Cast Iron.

So there you have about two weeks out of my life, not counting annoying illnesses and going-back-to-work-nesses. I've started a KAL in my Piecework group in Ravelry and am still finishing up one last big & complicated knitted Christmas gift. But I'm definitely on the other side of "Whew!" and ready for a short and simple winter.