Tired

We went to a family wedding up in Redding this weekend. When we got into town, we were appalled by heavy smoke in the air from yet another forest fire nearby. All the papers and news stations were giving warnings about the extemely unhealthy air. These pictures show a downtown intersection at noon on what would have been a bright, sunny, clear day. In addition, it was very very hot, high nineties anyway. And horrors, the wedding was going to be held outside on the banks of the Sacramento River where we would all choke on the smoke and melt in the heat. In spite of my pessimism, luck was with us, and the smoke cleared out a lot by Saturday night, and the temperature went down to bearable levels.

The location for the wedding was exceedingly gorgeous, and the wedding was one of the nicer ones I have been to.

Now I am doing nothing much in the knitting department because the construction on the windows is due to start soon. The husband and I have been packing things up and hanging drop cloths because I do hate hate hate the way construction dust gets into everything leading to days of cleaning drudgery (which I will avoid if I can). I plan to finish up the shibui sock while the work is going on and to start some new Sockotta socks.

Retro Knit Monday!

I planted 4 o'clocks one year, and did not realize that they would be in my garden forever and ever after. Here they are coming up through the zinnias next to the cucumbers. They are putting on quite a show this year.

This week the featured booklet is a Stitchcraft from 1952, which, judging by the ads, is a British publication. The cover shows a man's Fair Isle pullover made in fingering wool. The button-up cardigan for the lady is made to match with bands of the same Fair Isle pattern at the wrists and waist. The cardigan has a patterned neckband and contrasting button band and is quite fitted. The gauge for these sweaters is around 7 1/2 to 8 sts/inch. The colors used are white, royal, larkspur, pewter, and touches of carrot, gold, emerald, rust and holy cow, they used the 'n' word to name a color, which is I suppose black or dark brown. Definitely not politically correct in 1952.

The description says "tiny beads trim a 2-ply classic of perfect fit". The beads look pretty large to me and are right in style for this season of embellishment. It is knit in 'limpid blue' at 9 sts/inch.


The crossover sweater is knit in gold and white at 8 sts/inch. It has diagonally knit striped bands and a solid waist band . I don't think it would be very comfortable to wear a sweater that stopped at your waist because it would be hard to keep it in place every time you moved.


The patterned cardigan has kimono sleeves and is fitted and hip length. It is knit at 8 sts/inch in white and apple.


The back cover shows baby items: pram cover, bonnet and booties, sweater, and a very pretty dress. I especially like the lace panels on the dress and the scallop crocheted trim on cardigan and dress bodice front. This is done by knitting a vertical row of purl stitches and then, when finishing, a row of slip stitches is crocheted into the line of purl stitches, then this is used as a base for the scallop crochet. The dress closes in back with little buttons fastened with loops of crochet.

This last picture is an ad from the back section of the magazine. It is an ad for Lux soap, and you could get the pattern by writing to the soap company. Unfortunately, the offer expired on September 30, 1952. The sweater is very attractive with 3/4 sleeves and crochet lace trim at yoke and sleeves.

We are harvesting a lot from the garden at the moment, so I am busy putting food up for the winter. Right now I am making lots of pesto and freezing it, but the basil is growing faster than I can keep up with. Also picking beets, squash, and cucumbers. The hot weather went away and it is now cool enough for sweaters. Today, anyway. Still smoky.

Retro Knit Saturday!

This has been a busy week of putting up stuff for the freezer. Yesterday I started cooking up the applesauce having already made the pickle relish. I am also knitting on the second Shibui sock.

These are the rest of the projects shown in the Bernat Book 104 published in 1962 . These were designed by Mirsa of Italy, a name I have run across before in old ads and booklets. The first picture shows a pullover for sizes 6 through 12 in yellow and white with a large face-framing collar. The pattern is made with slip stitches and stranding. The same sweater is shown in color in the small photo. The cardigan, drafted for the same sizes, in knit in yellow, white, and navy. Both sweaters have raglan sleeves.


The next two cardigans are made with interesting pattern stitches, one uses texture alone, and one uses texture and color. The man's cardigan has a shawl collar and banded pockets with contrast pockets on the chest, body, pockets and sleeves. The materials list says it is knit in white and crimson. The boy's cardigan has an attractive pattern stitch that uses YOs and crossed stitches, and has garter bands. The buttonholes are sideways and not vertical, and it causes the buttons to slide off to the side and look sloppy.


I like a ribbed texture stitch in a sweater. This man's raglan pullover looks very neat and classic. The girl's sweater, a raglan pullover with a large collar, is also shown in the color picture below and is knit in red and navy.


The color picture shows color-work sweaters. The woman's pullover is knit from a chart and has dropped-shoulder sleeves and a straight neckline. The man's pullover is knit in white, walnut, and black, and has raglan sleeves and a turtle neck. I have never worn a sweater with a straight-across neckline, but I wouldn't think it was very comfortable. Easy to knit, though.

Lucky for us, the weather has changed for the better. Yesterday never got out of the 90's, and this morning it is overcast and cool. At least I think it is overcast, it could just be more smoky than usual.

Retro Knit Monday!

We are in for another bout of very hot weather. The spouse and I installed the summer shade cloth over the AC unit, so that will hopefully keep the house a bit cooler. Not much you can do when it is 110 degrees outside though. Luckily, the mornings are very nice so that is when the sewing and knitting are done. This week the booklet is Book 104 from Bernat, printed in 1962. It features Bernat Super Knitting Worsted Yarn. The book cost 85 cents back then.

The first sweater is an attractive cardigan with pattern bands on the sleeves, collar, and hemline. The sleeves are the ever-handsome 3/4 length, and the collar is large with rib bands around it. The front band is knit vertically of single rib. I have only tried this technique once on a vest, because I prefer knitting bands by picking up the stitches from the center front. I think that knitting the band vertically would leave lots of ends to weave in at the buttonholes. The instructions say that the main color is Beige and the contrast color is Green.

The next photo shows a color-patterned pullover in Ochre, Shell Pink, and Rust. I wish there was a color picture of this as the color scheme seems odd. The jacket is a Chanel-type cardigan with patterned bands. The colors are Black for the body, and White and Walnut for the contrast. 3/4-length-sleeve jackets looked very nice with the sheath or shift dresses that were popular then.

The cardigan on the left is also pictured in the color picture above. It has a herringbone pattern, solid bands, 3/4-length sleeves, and a shawl collar on a V neckline. The other cardigan has a pattern of twisted stitches and contrast bands on the collar and sleeves. The materials list says that the sweater is Dapple Green and Beige.

This pullover is knit in the same pattern stitch as the Blueberry Waffle Socks (available online somewhere) and has raglan sleeves. The colors for this sweater are Dark Sand, Tapestry Brown, and Sand. The booklet provides a graphed chart for the color blocking.

We had a busy and productive 4th of July weekend trying to save some of our fruit from the marauding squirrels. The spouse stripped the apricot tree and the Santa Rosa plum tree, and I made one batch of jam and froze the rest for later jam making when it is cooler. I enjoyed watching those squirrels wander around the now-empty trees going 'Hey, where did the fruit go??" I try to keep the bird bath clean and full of fresh water, and not only the birds enjoy it - the squirrels have learned how to leap from the neighboring tree trunk to balance on the rim and drink. The spouse also dug up the front flower bed so we can shortly plant the lovely dayliles we got in Plymouth last weekend.