Dove Update

There have been developments in the dove nest by the garage. I can see only one baby so far but there may be more tucked in behind the first one. They don't seem to mind that I am only a few feet away taking pictures of them.

I am finishing up the first sock in Shibui and should cast on for the second one today. In hat news, I have found some black yarn and some brown yarn for hats for the rescue mission. I read somewhere that men prefer plain-colored hats, especially black or dark ones that don't scream 'charity hats' to everyone who sees them. I can use my other bright-colored yarns for hats for kids and women.

It was hot here over the weekend, and I actually turned on the AC to cool the house for Sunday dinner.



Update: Both parents were off the nest so I got a photo of the two baby birds. They look pretty glum though.

Vintage Knit Friday!

I can't resist buying old knitting books when I see them at booksales or used book shops. I started buying knitting books back in college when there were sale book tables at Cal Books in Berkeley and you could pickup old books for a dollar or so. I can't remember when I got this book, though. It was printed in 1940 in Great Britain but also sold in Canada and America. The book is about teaching you to knit and to make useful items. There are patterns for large and small items, but not much emphasis on fashion since this was during the war. There are chapters on baby clothes, men's and women's underwear and swimsuits, socks, gloves, and some garments for men, women, and children.

The blouse pattern is different from any I have seen before with its square neck and lace frill. I don't know exactly what the ration rules were, but it seems like it was easier to get yarn for knitting than to get fabric for sewing. People also knit for the armed services to provide helmets, gloves, sweaters, and scarves for their loved ones in the service.

This cover for a hot water bottle is more attractive than many I have seen. It has patterning on the sides and initials knitted into the bottom front.

This is a workbag. The seed stitch pattern is called 'dice pattern'. I like the way the sides of both this and the hot water bottle cover have a picot trim. Notice the decorative frill around the top edge.

The knitted shawl has a pretty lace pattern and garter stitch borders. It is very large, like a small afghan.

The body belt is for a baby. I have seen references to these in very old books from the early 1800's. It was worn by a baby to either protect the umbilicus or because there was a belief that a baby's abdominal muscles were weak and needed supporting.

Some of the baby clothes are simple like this lace-trimmed dress, but some require more skill like the cap and pram jacket trimmed with pattern stitches and a lace border.

The chapter on women's garments contains patterns for women's undergarments, though there is only a picture of a woman's opera top vest. All the other unmentionables only have charts as if it would be indelicate to show pictures of such garments. These include knickers, combinations and spencers. There are no pictures either of the swimsuits, but the charts look like something from the 1920's and are one-piece suits with boy shorts. Even the men's suit covers from shoulders to mid-thigh.

The weather has been very cold at night here for the last week but is starting to get warmer. My little Starter House is full of baby plants waiting for the garden to be dug up. The spouse plans to finish up the digging this weekend. I am still working on the first Shibui sock but am getting close to the toe.

Shibui Socks Started

I am well into the first sock with a yarn I have never used before, Shibui. This yarn is 100% superwash merino and has a lovely hand, soft and lofty. It is very hard to get the color of this sock right in a photo, but it has orange, apple green, aqua, fuchsia, red, and a little purple. It spirals in a very pretty manner around the sock. I am adding some wooly nylon to the heel and toe. After the hard-to-knit Sockotta yarn, this yarn is a real pleasure to work with.

This is color 51301, Spectrum. It was so pretty in the skein that I bought the last two in the yarn shop the minute I saw it, and the yarn shop owner told me it had only arrived in the shop that very day, and she had already sold 5 skeins of it before I got there. I am enjoying Shibui and will no doubt buy more of it in the future.

Retro Knit Friday!

I have no early life experience of shawls or shrugs even though I was a child during the 1950's. I can't recall my grandmother Mimi ever wearing either one (though the thought of Mimi in a shrug strikes me funny as she was soooo not a shrug person), and my mom never owned a shawl or shrug (she always wore her cashmere sweater or Batman sweatshirt). By the time I was a teenager, the hippy, long-dress look was in and shawls came back into fashion. Shortly after I was married, I made a shawl for my husband's grandmother, and my MIL made one for me. I now own both of these and wear them around the house. The shawls and shrugs in this 1953 booklet definitely do not look like grandma shawls.

The cover shawl is crocheted of fingering or sport yarn. It is trimmed with a simple black fringe. The last page in the booklet shows a variety of ways to 'knot a fringe' as the Victorians used to say. Some of the fringes look quite dressy.

The green stole is made of hairpin lace. After the stole is constructed, lengths of narrow hairpin lace are made and sewn down the 'seam' lines to give a furry look. The other stole on the same page is also hairpin lace in yellow and white.

The pink and white stole is crocheted and has a deep tied fringe. It combines flower motif stips with a white looped chain panels. Next to it on the page is a pink and blue stole, also crocheted.

The white shrug looks very much like it was knitted, but it is in fact crocheted of knitting worsted. The classic shrug below it is crocheted, but after the main portion is completed, the cuffs are picked up from the edge and knitted.

Both the shawls on the next page are triangles. The white one is formed from crocheted motifs, and the pink one is afghan stitch with a knotted fringe.

'Cheerleader' is meant to be knitted in school colors and the description says it is 'a must for sportswear'. It is trimmed with little yarn dolls. The blue shrug is called 'Party Girl' and is a cute, dressy shrug with crocheted trim, pearls, and turn-back cuffs on 3/4-length sleeves.



Now that I have finished the Sockotta socks, I have already cast on the Shibui socks. It took me awhile to wind the balls of yarn from the shank, including making a massive tangle, but now all is well and I am about 1" into the ribbing.

Another Pair of Socks

This week I made a bootie and finished a pair of socks (in addition to taking the inlaws for a ride in the country), so I would say it was a very productive week. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough yarn, but of course I did. I am thinking that with all the leftover sock yarn that knitters end up having in their stash, you could make a whole wardrobe of booties, one in each color of leftover sock yarn. There seems to be always enough yarn left over for one bootie but not two. I think that a baby would like to have mismatched feet, because that would be something to catch his/her interest while waving said feet around in the air. I once made a baby sleeper and ran out of yarn toward the end, so the sleeper is white except for one purple foot. M seemed to like it at the time.

Next up, besides the Rescue Mission hat knitting, is a pair of Shibui socks for A and the sewing together of the green cardigan. I have to choose a color for the next cardigan, too.

Mystery Booties Completed

It took patience to figure out the confusing instructions, but I managed to complete a bootie. This was a very interesting knit, especially the way the sole is constructed with k2tog's to fasten the sole to the body of the bootie. I will retype the instructions with explanatory notes. I made the ties on my Magicord machine.

Mystery Booties

Ridge pattern: (K1 row, P1 row, K1 row)

With size 1 needles, cast on 51 sts. Work Ridge pattern for 8 repeats.

K 1 row

Next row: P 1 st *YO, P 2 tog. Repeat from * across row.

K 1 row

K 18 sts and put on a holder, K next 15 sts, place last 18 sts on holder.

On the 15 sts, P 1 row, K 1 row. Then work Ridge pattern until 9 ridges completed (counting front and back ridges).

K 2 tog, K to last 2 sts, K 2 tog. 13 sts are left.

P 1 row

K 2 tog, K to last 2 sts, K 2 tog. 11 sts are left.

Pick up 16 sts along the side, K the 18 sts, purl back, pick up sts along the other side (I used a crochet hook and picked up the sts from left to right with the right side facing me), then P the other 18 sts.

K 1 row

Repeat the ridge pattern 3 time more. You should have 79 sts.

Sole:

K across 45 sts.

Turn, Slip 1, K 11
Turn, Slip 1, K 12
Turn, Slip 1, K 13
Turn, Slip 1, K 14
Turn, Slip 1, K 13, K 2 tog

Repeat the last row until there are 18 sts left on each side.

Turn, Slip 1, K 12, K 3 tog
Turn, Slip 1, K 11, K 3 tog
Turn, Slip 1, K 11 K 2 tog

Repeat the last row until 10 sts left on each side.

Turn, Slip 1, K 10, K 3 tog
Turn, Slip 1, K 9, K 3 tog.
Turn, Slip 1, K 9 K 2 tog

Repeat the last row until 5 sts left on each side.

Seam up the back of the bootie and graft the 5 sts that were left on each side to the 10 (I had 11) sts left in the center back of the sole.

That's how I ended up knitting it anyway. It went much faster than I expected but was complicated enough to be interesting.

Mystery Booties

I was doing a little shopping in the local antique stores the other day and found an envelope full of old patterns and clippings. I bought it for a couple of dollars and took it home to look through the clippings some woman from Santa Barbara had saved. Included was this pattern for booties. There is no picture to tell what the booties will look like, so I am knitting them up to see. I have loaded the pattern just as typed so that you can click on the picture and read the instructions in a larger size. I divided the instructions into two photos.


Here is the start I have made on the booties. The instructions call for size 1 needles, so it should take a little while to knit these.

I always was a fan of mysteries.

Retro Knit Friday!

These fashions are from the 1940 Bucilla booklet that we have been discussing for several weeks now. The first dress is knit at 7 1/2 sts/inch for a dress yarn called Tricolaine. The size 16 dress (the pattern is written in only one size) calls for 18 skeins. This classic shirtwaist dress has pattern detail on the bodice yoke and a rib detail on the skirt bottom. The belt is a purchased belt. To attach the bodice to the skirt, the instructions tell you to stitch a gathering thread along the bottom of the bodice to pull it in to a certain measurement before sewing the bodice to the skirt for a slightly bloused look.

The knitted suit echoes the military look of the times. The one-button jacket has four front pockets and ribbing at the waist for a close fit. The skirt features large box pleats. It is knit at 6 1/2 sts/inch on size 3 needles.

The pullover is knit of sock and sweater yarn at 8 1/2 sts/inch on size 1 needles. It has a very high neckline and short puffed sleeves.

"Matinee" has instructions for three pieces: the blouse with bow at neckline, the jacket, and the skirt. The materials list says that the jacket is red and is worn with a sideways knitted belt in red, navy and grey. The blouse has short sleeves, bow neckline, covered buttons, and is waist length. The navy skirt has knitted-in pleats. All three pieces are knitted in Tricolaine at 7 1/2 sts per inch on a size 2 circular needles. I didn't know they had circular needles in 1940, I wonder when they were first invented?

This is the back cover of the booklet with an ad for laundry soap. It talks about the benefits of this product over using bar soap to wash your sweaters, and it explains how to wash and block a wool sweater.

I have finished the first Sockotta sock and have cast on for the second.

Mama Dove

A dove has built a nest on top of some old closet doors that the spouse has stored against the garage wall in the backyard. She didn't seem too nervous as I stood on top of a stool and took a picture of her. You can often hear the cooing as the mother and father doves call to each other.

Projects in Progress

Here is a picture of the Sockotta sock as I approach the toe. This yarn feels a bit harsher than the usual sock yarn because it is made up of cotton, wool, and nylon. At first I found it too hard to knit with my regular needles, but after I switched to the KnitPicks needles, the yarn slid more smoothly and the knitting was easier. These will be a pair of socks for M and should be useful for summer wearing.

The green cardigan is nearly knitted. I still have the second sleeve hanging from the machine and should finish that off today. This will be a plain cardigan with single ribbed bands and a lower neckline. After I finish this garment, I will, of course, start another cardigan, but I am starting another project to knit winter hats for the Bay Area Rescue Mission, a local organization that helps the homeless and poor in this area. I spoke to the good folks at the mission and found out that they need hats for men, women, and children, so there is lots of opportunity for fun in design. I think this will be a better way to use up my extra yarn than the afghan project which left me with more leftovers than before. I am going to use this project to get more experience using the fair isle features on my bulky machine, and I am interested in finding some African designs and colorways to use. I love African fabrics and want to translate them into knitting. Bright colors, warm hats, less stash.

Still Knitting

I have finished the two fronts and one sleeve of the apple green cardigan and am heading for the toe on the Sockotta socks. Last week was a whirl of workmen and repairs so not much time to take pics or write. This week will be devoted to knitting and seed starting. And laundry.