Miss Marple and Me

I've always thought that if I ever become an old woman, I'll be just like Miss Marple. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but I'm preparing for that by knitting things that Miss Marple might knit. In one of her mysteries, she is described as knitting on a shawl (this is what baby blankets were called in her era), pink and fluffy. Well, my shawl isn't pink or fluffy and its not a baby blanket, but it is Miss Marple's Shawl from the great historical knitting edition of Piecework Magazine of last year.



It has only taken me a year to complete this project! I began on July 23, 2011 and finished on June 23 of 2012.It is 65 inches square.



I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts Marine Silk lightweight in the Lodestone colourway, a delicate pale green like spring leaves. In some of my photos it looks olive green, but that is - I think - because I have those old style lightbulbs that give everything a yellowish cast. This yarn is beautiful to work with and I think I'm going to make a delicate vintage blouse with my leftover skein. Miss Marple's Shawl took a little over 3 skeins on size 5 needles.

This picture is more accurate for colour:





I had to write out the pattern line by line in a multi-page table to keep track of the hundreds of rows. It was good though - no mistakes and no back-tracking! I just checked off the repeat sections as I completed them and carried on.

I love that I can use it on the bed as a lightweight blanket, or fold it in half and throw it around my shoulders for a triangle shawl when I'm reading in bed. I may never do another full size blanket in lightweight-almost-laceweight yarn again, but I'll treasure my Miss Marple's Shawl until I become Miss Marple myself.

Updated Lodestone

Here is the Miss Marple's Shawl after I've done a few repeats of the pattern.



I am so happy that Piecework Magazine chose this particular pattern as their example of a typical 1940's pattern that Miss Jane Marple might have knit. It is completely characteristic of the era and is easy to complete - if you are experienced with the vintage pattern language.

I created a chart - a type of spreadsheet - for myself to keep track of the rows and the increases and decreases. After all, this pattern has 671 rows! I'm very happy with how this turning out. I can't wait to display it on my bed as my new bed shawl!

And here is a better photo of Holmes and Watson in all their butterscotch furry cuteness. They are about 7 months old.



If anyone has any tips on how to make them more comfortable in their new environment or more friendly around people, I'd love some advice. They are wonderful boys, but Watson in particular is very shy and skittish and Holmes is quite aloof - very like their namesakes, I think!

My Lodestone

As you all know, I'm a dedicated addict fan of Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarns - all of them. There's something about the colourways and the way that they kit up that makes them unique. A lot of hand-dyed yarns look beautiful in the skein, but then when you knit with them, the lovely colours that looked so good side by side blend into a nauseating clown barf (see my failed attempt at Caruso socks). Blue Moon Fiber Arts colours blend when they're knitted (or crocheted or woven) in most pleasing ways. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that the dyer, Tina, actually tests how the colours knit up in new colourways that she's developing.

So when I first bought a skein in the Lodestone colourway, I fell deeply in love - fast. I think I now have this colourway in every fiber that I use. But it's not enough. Hand dyed yarns are a living entity - the colours will migrate slightly or greatly and every dye job is unique. I want so much more of this in it's current incarnation!



My newest project is the Miss Marple's Shawl from Interweave Piecework - a vintage pattern. I got two skeins of the BMFA Marine Silk fingering-weight for this pattern, for a total of about 974 yards. But I suspect it's not going to be enough for a 45-inch square lacy knit.



This pattern knits up very quickly - in the beginning, when there are just a few stitches on the needles. But I have a sneaking suspicion that as I add two stitches every other row and the project gets wider and wider, those middle-of-the-pattern rows will go a lot slower!

Our weather today is 10 degrees below zero and with the wind chill it's reported as feeling like 32 degrees below zero (really!), so I wish I was already halfway through this shawl and it would be warm and comforting over my legs as I knit!

In other knitting news, I've gone back to my multi-project ways and am also knitting both an adaptation of the Anthropologie-inspired Capelet in a black and tan tweedy worsted weight and a gorgeous little Oh Handsome sweater, using blue Lima yarn from Rowan - tweedy as well. I guess I'm having a winter Tweed moment!

Now I must go make oatmeal for breakfast and feed Holmes and Watson, and then make my way through this frozen world to my cosy office. I think I'll bring my vintage shawl and knit at noontime while the frigid wind swirls outside my windows.

Miss Sophia Marple

Today dawned with a definite sharp crispness (I lighted a fire in the fireplace!), and it reminded me that I hadn't finished preparing for winter. I do have balaclavas made for everyone now (you wouldn't believe the storms we get here) and here is the baby one:



I used a most wonderful vintage pattern that shapes the headpiece so perfectly with no piecing or sewing. Everything is made in one piece. Easy. The yarn is Blue Moon's lightweight fingering STR in "Manly, But I Like it Too." Babies are always overheated, so the lightweight will be perfect.

Now I am on to another vintage pattern, this one from the recent Sept/Oct Piecework magazine:



This magazine was so unique in that it explored the handwork, mostly knits, in classic literature. Miss Marple mysteries by Agatha Christie had their own feature and a project alluded to in one of the stories was the central pattern. In many Miss Marple mysteries, she is described as discreetly knitting on a shawl or on baby things while suspects spill the beans around her. I think it is The Caribbean Mystery where she is knitting a pink shawl.



The shawl chosen by Piecework is from the same era, 1930, and was donated by the fabulous Iva Rose who rescues vintage and antique patterns and preserves them for the rest of us and for historians. The pattern is printed in its original form, but only the pattern - definitions of the vintage stitches aren't included.



In the Interweave Piecework group on Ravelry, a few of us have banded together to knit up this pattern and figure out the needle size and yarn requirements. (Come visit us if you want to knit along!). So far, it seems that a fingering weight yarn with size 6 US needles are the favoured choices. There has also been a lot of discussion about which stitch to use for increases: kf&f, bar lift, or backwards loop cast on. In the original, the increases are almost invisible so this will influence my choice. There is also an obscure mention of knitting into the back of stitches, without specifying which stitches so this might refer to the increases, in which case probably the lifted bar increase was used. The original pattern was for a square shawl, though some are halving this to make the lighter triangle.

My own yarn will be Blue Moon Fiber Arts Marine Silk (merino, silk, and sea cell) fingering in the Lodestone colourway. I ordered two skeins just in case, since I plan to make the original square shape in full.

This is what Marine Silk looks like (this is the Quilla colourway; it will be a while before my Losestone arrives):



and this is what the Lodestone colourway looks like - a subtle very light green (it didn't photograph well, but you can get the idea):



I'm really looking forward to this project! I think it will be fast and relaxing to knit a simple square shawl in the cold weather.

One more cold-weather knit for myself is part of my plans (I really need to get back to knitting for others!), also from this same Piecework magazine - these gorgeous gloves:



I'll use the leftover dove grey cashmere yarn that I used for my own balaclava. I know, they won't wear well, but maybe I'll save them for special winter occasions!