Enceinte, 1912

Enceinte, from the Latin incient (to be with young) was first used to refer to a pregnant woman in 1602. In the late 1800's and very early 1900's, it was considered bad taste for women who were pregnant to be seen in public (hence the term "her confinement")as it brought to mind the act that created pregnancy.

But within just a few years this extreme delicacy ended and women were sharing patterns for fashions that would bring them comfortably through pregnancy while still allowing them to attend those social events that were acceptable.

Recently, a friend asked if I had any patterns for pregnancy that she could use in a re-enactment of the early 1900's. I found a few knitted garments, but she doesn't have time for that so I looked through the few antique sewing books I have.

The Women's Insitute of Domestic Arts and Sciences published a booklet for home sewing (or for one's live-in seamstress to use) for Maternity and Children's Garments. Here are some of the clever maternity designs fashionable in the early 1900's...















While some of these are definitely "home dresses", here are a couple of "Evening Coats" definitely meant to be seen!





All the wrapping is very clever, though I don't think it would take a woman very far through the nine months. I do love the evening coat though!

A touch of autumn

Yesterday was another local Wool Fair and our Shaker Village. I've been really unwell but had promised a friend some time ago that I would drive her there and I only see her a couple of times a year. So we set out at about mid-day, to drive into a beautiful forest-y historic part of the state. It was a gorgeous early autumn day, very warm and with just a kiss of cool breeze - perfect weather for an outdoor wool fair!

Our first view was the gardens, with the bright, irrepressible nasturtiums still in prolific bloom along with asters, chrysanthemums, and blossoming sages.



There was so much going on! Several tours of the buildings, fiber-bearing animals on parade and herding demonstrations, food, vendors, an herbal remedy demo, and flax dressing and natural dying demonstrations, weaving demos, and a garden tour... lots of things I don't even remember!



We walked up the hill to where some lovely lively llamas were on display:



This big fellow was so friendly and also hilarious. He had a big ruff that went all the way down his legs, like a pair of clown pants! He is about 5 - 6 years old.



I also loved this pretty little girl. She is a one year old llama:



She was also really funny because she was very drawn to the camera! Every time I pointed my phone camera at something, she would trot over and get in my face. She really loved to have her picture taken!



The herding demonstration that was on view when we were there was with a young dog and pygmy goats. I didn't get to see the actual herding, because I needed to rest for a bit before going on, but my friend told me that the shepherd said that they don't usually train young dogs with goats because they are more aggressive and will face off the with dog, threatening to butt it, whereas sheep will just run and scatter. Apparently this demo went well; the young dog was well trained and the goats behaved well!



We took a short spin through the vendor tents...







and saw more animals... this time, angora rabbits with their soft eyes and intelligent faces:





I would have loved to pick up some angora blend yarn, but it was fairly expensive - $33 for 130 yards. I'm sure that's a fair price for the work of combing, cleaning, carding, spinning, and dying to produce it... it was just out of my price range this weekend.

Over to the side was a pen of alpacas, happily amusing passers by with their talkative gurgling and soft heads:



This one was very determined to get at a tasty patch of clover just outside the fence:



Next we wandered over to one of the most fascinating demonstrations: Gina Gerhard, Flax Dresser:



She described how the flax had to soak for a long, long time before it could be thrashed and prepared for spinning. Some of it was years old. I've always loved to see period dying with nature dyes. I'm convinced that at sometime in the long life of my soul, I must have participated in natural dying with plants, flowers, and herbs. I'm drawn to it so strongly! Although I have no desire to do it again I want to possess almost all the naturally dyed fiber I see!



Here you can see the varieties of naturally dyed flax. On the very very far right (to the right of the blue skein) is a partial skein of ocher yellow-green. I wanted this with a Big Want. I asked if I could buy it, but was told it was only for display. It was dyed with goldenrod.



On the way back down the hill, we happened upon a weaving display in one of the small out-buildings. A woman from the local weaving guild had set up her portable loom (a really lovely thing!) and had it set for inkle weaving:



That was really all I could manage, energy-wise, so I sat outside the visitor building and enjoyed the beautiful scene while my friend wandered around for a while longer. She got to see the sheep-herding and a llama parade with costumes and some hand-dyed silk scarves. It was all wonderful!

I was happy with the little things I picked up at the fair: some stitchmarkers made from the horns of a Jacob sheep and a finishing needle made from an antler found shed in the woods:



a child-bed sized felted wool batt, which I'm going to use as the natural padding for a blanket for the little guy:



and - a perfect souvenir of this perfect autumn day, a felted lapel pin made from wool wound around real acorns:

Goodbye to Camp Loopy

Camp Loopy 2011 is coming to a close soon and so many of us are feeling nostalgia already. The friends we've made, the skills we've learned, the knits we've accomplished, and the prizes we've won - it's all been so fun!

I've shown you how I learned to knit cables, and I showed you my Camp Loopy vest, but I haven't yet shown the first camp Loopy Project, a striped silk shawl in 3 colourways. The challenge was to make a two-coloured project, a shawl, wrap, or sweater. I chose Stephen West's Daybreak, a beautiful paneled and striped shawl.



And I knit it in three colourways from Hand Maiden Sea Silk: Earth, Hemlock, and Salt Spray. The silk yarn embodied the mountains, the forest, and the ocean and I called my shawl Daybreak on the Ocean.



Daybreak is a great pattern, not fast - especially since the rows get longer and longer from the neck down - but logical and simple. It's good travel knitting, great camp knitting, and the results are so beautiful they belie it's simple knit/purl construction.

I was so happy with the finished shawl and how the gradual lightening of the colours really was reminiscent of the sun rising over the eastern coastline of fields and mountains.

It was given away as a birthday gift this week and I so hope the recipient likes it.

The making of vests

I love knitted vests on men. There is something so appealing, so winsome, and - frankly - so sexy about a man in a well-fitting nicely knitted vest. A case in point:



(this is Colin Firth in Another Country, 1984)

While not every man is a Colin Firth, I think they all come closer to that ideal with a nice knitted vest on.



This is my last Camp Loopy 2011 project, which was to be a project that uses at least 800 yards of yarn. Since I knit this in Madeline Tosh DK (in the Twig colourway) I used 1012 yards, or 4.5 skeins. I'm so happy with the fit and the style and how it came out.

It was not a difficult knit. (You may notice that every project I've knit since the Camp Loopy July/August Project 2 has had cables!) I'm highly tempted to make another - this time with more cables and in blue or green, maybe a tweedy yarn. I love Rowan Felted Tweed but one of the things that made this vest project fun was that it knit up so quickly - a fingering weight might take the fun out of a large project.



I highly recommend the making of vests. Besides - there are no pesky sleeves to hold up the finishing!

Camp Loopy

This summer I went to Summer Camp - virtual summer camp! The Loopy Ewe (a very addictive yarn store - and so much more!) decided to start Camp Loopy 2011 for those of us who couldn't actually get away. It started on June 15th and ends on September 15th, so is still going on. The premise is that each camper participates in 3 knitting challenges - each for one month, meeting deadlines and making them eligible for a lovely prize at the end... a skein of Wollmeise.

The first project challenge was a 2-colour project, the second was a cabled project, and the 3rd was a project using at least 800 yards of yarn. I decided to use these challenges to get a head-start on gifts, but I have already given the second and the third (unfinished) projects to their recipients so I can reveal them here.

As you can imagine, the grand prize excited a lot of interest and there were over 800 summer campers participating! In our Ravelry group, we were divided into "Cabins", smaller groups that allowed us to get to know each other and support each other through the tough tasks and projects. Our group, Cabin 3, became particularly cohesive and close and have stayed together pretty much throughout the whole of summer camp.



Cabin 3 - the "Night Owls" because we were the ones who stayed up late on the computer - started with list of about 53 people and had so much fun, new people wanted to join all summer! We had a group swap during each project - the first was a mini-swap ($12 cost limit), the second a stitchmarker swap, and the third (going on now) a full secret partner swap. We encouraged and cheered and supported each other's project efforts and talked about real life events. We posted and chatted almost every night.

During the first swap, my mini-swap box came from a new Camp Loopy friend who even included a loaf of home-baked marble cake (delicious):



This swap happened during Project 1, which turned out beautifully. I'm currently wrapping it to send as a birthday gift so I won't be able to reveal it in this post, but soon.

Project 2's stitchmarker swap was a big hit too! Each person committed to sending a certain number of stitchmarkers with a summer camp theme and received that number back in return. I was in 4 groups but I have only 3 groups to show because my first swap set is in use for Project 3. The first swap set had a blue owl, a barn owl, a watermelon glass bead, a dragonfly, and a silver bumblebee. (sorry for the fuzzy pictures)

Set 2:


Set 3:


Set 4:



Project 2 was a cabled project and I had never done cables before (except crochet cables) so there was a big learning curve for me! My cabin-mates suggested Bella's Mittens as a pattern that was good to learn on, and I chose MadelineTosh Vintage yarn, a very soft and vibrant worsted weight.



It turned out to be the perfect pattern for me to learn on and my finished pair came out beautifully!







I was so thrilled to learn this new skill that I started a second pair - this time sized for a man's hand. This re-sizing of the pattern at the same time I was practicing my cables was tricky, but turned out okay:



During Project 2 we also had a "Hiking in the Mountains" Camp Colourway contest for a new yarn to be dyed for The Loopy Ewe. Our group chose these colours and this inspiration:



We didn't win the prize, but The Loopy Ewe decided to have all the content entries made up into Camp Colourway yarns and they'll be available to purchase in the fall. I'll need to get one of each - they're all beautiful! You can see the inspiration pictures and descriptions Here.

I'm pretty excited about cables now and have purchased a few new cabled pattern projects to make for Christmas presents! I also chose a cable pattern for my Camp Loopy project 3!

Project 3 was any pattern that used at least 800 yards of yarn so I decided it was time to knit something for my boyfriend. On his birthday, I showed him the pattern and the yarn and promised him a new cabled vest in one month! I'm adapting the Mondo Cable Vest to be more manly and it is working out perfectly so far!

(this is the start of the vest and the cute barn owl stitchmarker from the swap)



He tried it on last night and it not only fit perfectly, it looked great! I'm 60% done, with one cable repeat, the ribbed bottom border, and the back neck ribbing to finish. My big plan is to finish it this weekend - being a holiday weekend with no work on Monday.



I also packed and mailed my secret swap box yesterday - full of camp themed goodies and knitting things that I hope my swap partner will love! I tried to get all local items for the non-knitting things and was pretty successful.

So that's the story of my fun summer camp. I have a little less than 2 weeks to finish my project 3 and have had such great fun will all my cabin-mates. It will be hard leaving camp this year, but I've heard it's going to happen again next summer!