Teaser: Saffron, a shawl for leaving the Maiden House

The pattern I've been working on for over a year, a screen-accurate copy of the red shawl worn by Saffron in Our Mrs Reynolds, is nearly ready! Watch this blog for updates regarding the release.

Thanks go out to my volunteer tech editor and the brave test knitters in the BigDamnKnitters group at Ravelry.

This pattern will be a free PDF download, available through Ravelry and my document shelf at Scribd. I will make announcements here, at livejournal, and on Ravelry.

Pardon Our Dust

I've been doing some consolidation, some redesigning (just now I threw on a nice skin from the handy blogger template thingy just to make it look different), and some other waffling about. I have decided to roll my old art blog into this one, since I doo ALL my infrequent updating over at deviantArt for the time being, and also my perpetually-on-hiatus house restoration blog. I'm going to leave the posts on those blogs that are linked from elsewhere in place, with notes that they have been relocated, and delete the other posts.

There are a few other things I am planning to roll in as well, like all my public posts at my livejournal, which go back to 2003 (this may take some time), and older stuff from my personal websites, in order to make it all searchable, taggable and accessible in one easily backed up place. Eventually, when things get better, this may get embedded into my future new personal site.

I have quite a lot of Real Life commitments to deal with at the same time, so this may take a few days.

What the CPSIA means to me

This entry is not "against" the CPSIA, however, I am worried about how that very necessary piece of legislation has been, and continues to be, mishandled by the vary people who should be making it work. As it stands, it's not doing any good, and won't be able to do any good, until the blame stops being passed back and forth between the CPSC and the Committee for Energy and Commerce.

Like many, many other parents, I was delighted that there were now steps being taken to test imported, lead-contaminated toys. I still am. I am delighted that the toys and clothes and feeding items available to me will be safer in the future. However, there is something gravely wrong with this necessary, well-intentioned law.

What is wrong? The CPSIA is both too narrow and too broadly defined, requiring items known to not contain lead to be tested, specifically disqualifying component testing or testing by materials suppliers, and thus effectively making it impossible for small and micro businesses to comply at all. Some will survive by making only two or three items in batches of sufficient size to send one for testing, but their prices will go up. Some small companies are being turned away by the certified testing labs, because their business isn't lucrative enough. It's even worse if you make one of a kind, unique items - things that might be possible to make from a selection of pre-tested and certified materials must now be made in batches of two, so that one can be destroyed by the testing lab in digestive lead testing.

This would not be a problem if the parts of the law that need defining, clarification, redefining, etc could be dealt with, but the CPSC and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are dragging their feet, and passing the buck back and forth. Nothing is getting done, even though there seems to be a lot of talking and blamethrowing. That means that all these thousands of small companies, small stores, even libraries and schools, that want to comply with testing, or that already do by only using/buying domestically made materials, are left out in the cold, unable to do comply, because no questions are going to really be answered in time for the deadline(s).

I call it irresponsible, especially given the desperate economic climate our country is in. The fact is that the testing is often unnecessary, and where it might be necessary, it is mandated to be done in the most onerous, burdensome way. Furthermore, the lack of sufficient labs coupled with the short time frame for testing has made it impossible to even get the requisite tests performed, were the tests even easily affordable. Costs have been driven up to amazing levels by the sudden overwhelming demand.

What does this mean to me? I was working on a home business, getting all may ducks in a row, getting ready to sell a few items for kids on etsy. That's not going to happen now.

As I've said elsewhere, my embryonic business is being forced to change focus completely. At least I only had a few items made up to try out sales for the holidays when the impossibility of continuing due to the CPSIA caused me to stop and put everything aside until I could work out what I was going to do.

I even set aside all the standard startup paperwork (thank goodness I put a hold on my plans before I filed for my fictitious business name! I'd have to refile, because it was obviously child oriented!) as soon as the impact of this law became apparent, while I was researching use testing requirements last fall. I had hoped to have everything in place to start small in early December, but my etsy shop instead sat empty, and will remain so until I finish my non-kids designs, and figure out exactly what I'll be doing.

I've looked back at the time I've spent preparing and it turns out it is over 2 years of work down the drain. I am looking to refocus entirely on hand spun yarn, historical costumes, and collector art dolls (NOT for kids, small parts, display only). Time will tell if there is even anyone who wants those things. I'm sad. My kids loved the prototypes of my playthings, wore my cloth diapers and cloth training pants, I wanted to share what I'd made for them with other kids.

As bad as I feel about not being able to share my kid-oriented work with others, I feel worse that I won't be able to buy handcrafted items for my own children, or I'll have very few, and MUCH more expensive, options available to buy. According to this law, I can't even swap my craft work for someone else's craft work, unless both items have been third-party tested according to the law's requirements. Even if all parts are domestically sourced and confirmed lead free and nontoxic by the materials manufacturers, that person-to-person craft swap is illegal, an exchange of contraband for contraband.

I may - may - be able to get samples of the fabrics and notions I use XRF tested so I could list and sell the few items I have ready between now and August, when even that screening process will become insufficient. However, that depends on demand, and I have to work out if the profit I will make on a few all-textile toys, cloth diapers and dressup hats will cover the fees for that, even given how reasonably priced as a small-volume XRF scan consultation can be.

That's where I am. It's not a pleasant place to be. It's like looking at the burnt-out shell of a home you once loved. What's worse is that I'm not alone. It's like a huge city has been obliterated, and we all have to start over.

This has been long-winded, but people in despair want to talk about it. It usually helps to do so. So far, my letters, calls and emails have been ignored. So far, it looks bleak.

At least our inspiration can't be outlawed. I can only hope that next year, some of us can emerge from the wreckage, like cicadas, and begin again.

OH HAI YARN DIET and some actual knitting

I may not have been knitting much at all for months and months (it's been impossible around Mr GiantBaby), but I've continued to buy yarn, slowly, in little bits and bobs. This combination of factors is not good, and after the last infusion of stuff into my stash, I called Yarn Diet until I get some of my many wips and planned projects out of the way. To help with that, I picked up a set of nickel DPNs from Knitpicks during my last bout of frustration induced retail therapy. I thought, maybe, if I spoiled myself with some new tools, I might be more likely to use my ever-multiplying stash of materials.

In aid of this lofty goal, I picked some rescued yarn out of my stash and decided to make my mom's Christmas present, which would be a circular lace shawl. If it's on one needle, in a circle, it'll be harder for the little guy to rip it our of my hands. That's the theory anyway.

I decided to use the 1940's lace tablecloth pattern from knitting-and.com - so far I've gotten through row 57, in two or three after-the-kids-go-to-bed sessions. Including a night in which MrGB did no such thing, and I discovered that he is less interested in pretending to be a cat in relation to my yarn and more interested in trying to sit on my shoulder while turning my work lamp on and off. Different? yes. Better? Maybe.

I'll let you know if I develop any exciting injuries this time. In any case, I've come back to being able to knit and things are going well. I may even get to put up a FO post some time. Perhaps I'll knit a pig with wings or a flaming snowball to commemorate the occasion.

Mindless knitting: a 3x3 rib scarf recipe

I've noticed that my Not A Gryffindor Scarf on Ravelry is marked "pattern not yet published." There's a reason for that. It's not a very interesting pattern, more of a recipe, or a knitting meditation.

Use yarn appropriate to the needle size. Swatch if you are unsure.

Cast on a number of stitches evenly divisible by three. Ideally, the number is also divisible by two, because that means you just reverse the knitting and go. Unless you choose to do something exotic, like stripes, it's a pretty mindless knit.

Knit 3, purl 3, to end of row.
Turn.
Knit all knit stitches and purl all purl stitches, to end of row.
Turn.
Continue to desired length or end of yarn, whichever comes first.
Bind off.

Garnish however you like.

Serves 1.

The Not a Gryffindor Scarf notes are as follows:
*Knitpicks Pallette in Yellow and Red (discontinued colors - use Semolina and Pimento for close match)
*Size 4 needles

As above, except change color with russian join every seven rows.

Infrequent update

My gardern looks a lot better than it used to. I've been talking about it, I had better pony up some pictures.

This is what it looks like today (glamour shots!):



and



Typical angle for comparison:



When I started, a year ago:



That's basically all hardpack sandy dirt, some rocks, a lot of dead vegetable matter, some VERY healthy dandelions out of frame, and a little bit of naturalized groundcover (so little, in fact, that it is nearly invisible in this image, but it really was there). Half of that is my neighbor's yard. All told, it's perhaps 15 by 18 feet, both together. They are essentially overly wide flowerbeds. The thing in the sunken pot is a very sad indeed spider plant that is still there, still alive, in desperate need of splitting, and which will be getting repotted into two or three hanging pot next week. Poor thing. I feel bad that I've let it languish for a whole year when it's already been there for god knows how long.

So I watered like mad and weeded for a couple of weeks. Then I went and spent a little money, and a couple of DAYS of ill-advised hard labor in the hot of summer, and put in some plants, watered more and moved around the abandoned pavers until I had something vaguely gardenlike:



I swear the plants looked bigger in my car.

I was trying to map out beds, one at the back against the wall, one along the walkway, a little path for easier access to maintain the garden, and a big main bed that I had not enough plants in yet to really divide into zones. It's informal, but even informal gardens have a plan.

Of course, it looks like it's nothing but plan at this point. And some rocks.

A little more watering and some time later, it looks a little better, but not much:


You can see that naturalized but not native groundcover (it's called "baby's tears") really enjoying someone actually watering. It's the only thing I actively cultivated that i didn't put down myself - even though there were some neat looking weeds that I considered, the only one that did not get the heave-ho was the baby's tears.



It actually looks better from ground level:


So, next there are a few months where I was so discouraged I didn't take pictures, even though the dianthus thrived, the sunflower things whose names I can't recall thrived, the alyssum (of course) exploded, my succulents did okay, and the mums did pretty good if I kept them deadheaded. It was okay to look at but the pictures just looked like the occasional potted plant in a vacant lot (similar to those above, but with puffier flowers, really). During those months of desperation, I also frantically weeded, kept watering, enriched the HORRIBLE soil (fertilizer, bag soil, coffee grounds, etc), bought a few more more plants and fluffed it up some, put in and pulled out some sacrificial rosebushes that died during the next-to-last frost this year, and I finally got some mulch and put in that path I had sketched out. I also bought some little solar lights. I took some pictures at night after I finished that major step:



So, it starts to look more like a deliberate garden than a disused flowerbed. Which was still better thn "empty lot with some plants and rocks."



Lastly, here is an out-of-focus, dark, and otherwise not very effective version of the typical angle shot.

Against the back wall, you can see the previous attempt at jasmine, both of which were killed by the final frost and its attendant scorching dry heatwave in late March, and the little azalea between them, which did survive, but barely. The brownish thing in the back in the third photo is the same azalea, which I left untrimmed while I tried to nurse if back to health. I've since added a trellis and put in a hardier, woodier jasmine to replace the casualties.

So there you are. If you like, you can click on the pictures to see the larger versions and page through the album. There are also some nifty macrophotography shots from when the whole yard didn't top six inches high, and I'll close with my favorite:

Lacking real macrophotography equipment like fancy lenses, I cheated for those - I set the camera for BIG images, set the timer, set it down among the plants and waited for the clicky noise.

Stuff On the Worktable

Here's a quick rundown of my current projects, and a cool thing I figured out for a small work area. Projects first!

This first one is a two-layer dressup sun/royalty crown I made for my kids. It's a big pain to sew, though, because of the fiddly shape of the rays, so I probably won't be making any to sell that are just like this. I'm also planning to make a soft tricorn hat and a pointy hat, but the little guys have to wait for those. The big sewing project (my formal and Laura's formal) is going to eat up a large amount of my time.

The second thing I'm making is a soft toy inspired by the fact that little kids love to pull all the tissues or wipes out of a box. I'm calling a it a "magic tissue box" and the "tissues" are serged random shaped fabric pieces, different on each side They connect with hook-and-loop, so they pull out one after the other, but will tear away for safety, and connect to the bottom of the "box." The box is actually a box bag without a zipper, overlapped to give the illusion of closure.

I'm making one for Mr Giant Baby to replace the cardboard-and-knotted-fabric prototype, and one to test the waters with in my Etsy shop. I had several goals for this:

1. Stimulating patterns and colors, maybe also textures
   
2. Washable, all fabric
   
3. Soft
4. Safe (so no knotted-together pieces of fabric)
5. Portable, so it has a handle, and the "tissues" connect with hook-and-loop so they don't get lost easily

They are still in progress, and I'm still deciding whether I want to add round and square tissues or keep with the random triangles and rectangles I've been using. Also, I have a few threads left to trim..



This is a hint of the colorful pieces for something I am planning to sell, which is a terrycloth teething toy. Mr Giant Baby has already worn his prototype nearly out, but he'll get a new one of these, too.

My goals for this one are:

1. Bright colors and interesting patterns
2. Teethable surfaces (terrycloth)
3. Washable and quickly drying
4. Interesting surfaces
5. Loop for hooking to stroller/carseat

Pictures when I have more than just parts!

Finally, this is my solution to having only one worktable, two machines I need to switch between, and a small work area (so adding another table is impractical). I got this turntable with a TV stand that was Freecycled to us, and since my husband didn't want the turntable it was sitting around useless - until I realized it would fit on my worktable, and it would hold both my machines (which happen to share the same type of pedal/cord). It works fabulously, and all I have to do to switch machines is unplug one, spin and plug in the other. It's really fast if I do my matching thread setup before I start.

And here is the coolest thing, which I figured out recently - I can fit my small cutting mat on the end of the worktable next to the turntable, so I can cut things out without having to move the machines around! Yay for better organization in small spaces.

An observation

...or five. I got another slow row done on Bobby while waiting for the patient orientation, and tried (more fool me!) to keep going this evening. However, it didn't go as planned.

It's difficult to keep even tension when a toddler is fighting you for your needles. We won't even talk about when he grabbed the yarn.

Again, it is possible, but difficult and error-prone, to knit with your arms over your head. However, it's useless when knitting with circular needles that have a long cable. Ask me how I know.

It also makes your hands tingle if you do it too long.

Finally, I'm very happy I can pick up and re-work dropped stitches as I go. I had a bunch during the wrestling match(es).

Time for bed.

Really, it's knitting related!

Today, I go in to the Naval Hospital to go through the monthly patient orientation for tubal ligation patients. As you can imagine, I'm thrilled I'm on the list. I've been wanting a tubal since the birth of my second child, most recently mentioned here as Giant Baby of yarn destroying (and knitting unraveling) fame. I love my kids, but I know when I'm outnumbered, and I swear that it's only a matter of time before you read about them duct taping me to the wall and running off in my car.

But - my need-to-fidget, ADD body is looking toward an hour or two of boring presentations and Q&A with, well, dread. How will I hold still? Will the medical staff get angry that I'm so fidgety? How many other women will be there (well, you know, men just don't have this procedure)?

So I'll be bringing my knitting/small fidgety projects bag, which is this old shoulder-tote bookbag I got at Bookpeople in Austin when I lived there. I actually have two, but one is beige instead of lavendar, and it's missing. I'll probably have Bobby and the Scarf (which is now over 2 feet long! I know I've mentioned somewhere that I'm positively the slowest knitter ever) stuffed in there, with those charts and some graph paper , and a pencil, and maybe some spare yarn and needles. That's a lot of stuff, and my small projects are all in these little repurposed vinyl bags (ugly, but practical).

Also, I finally squeezed the money out of my budget to buy a Monkey Bag, which I await with barely contained greed. Too bad I have to wait, but I can take consolation from the fact that it'll go with me on procedure day.

Blogstalkers! The Navelgazing Post, or, it's all about me.

In honor of the reanimation of Knitty Coffeeshop Blogstalking, I've redecorated. However, I took the easy way out, and just used a template, so expect it to change again when I get around to it. Maybe I'll just spend some time trying on templates. I dunno.

Anyway - we're supposed to be self-centered this week. I'm awful at that (see! That's about me!). Personally, I think I'm boring, while the things I do, the places I've been, and the people around me, are interesting.

Here's an example of the boring, the normal, the unremarkable:

I'm 37. I have 2 kids. I'm averagely pudgy and averagely tall. I have averagely large feet. I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers, and three stepparents. I wear glasses. I drive an old, third-hand minivan. I had three years of college, and left to work without my degree.

The Interesting:

I grew up in California. I'm from Berkeley/North Oakland, with moves to Santa Cruz, Monterey, Mendocino, San Jose, San Diego, out of state to Texas, Oregon, and Illinois, and out of the country to Ireland (in early childhood). I've lived everywhere from very urban environments to very rural environments - places I had to carry mace, and places I had to feed horses and care for sheep. I like to tell people I was raised by a pack of wild intellectuals in the woods, which is close to the truth.

I've been doing fiber arts in some form since early childhood. So long, in fact, that I don't really know when I learned to spin. I know it was after 1973, because Susan Druding says that's when she sold my mom her wheel. I know I've been weaving since I was six or so, as I used to have a tapestry I made hanging in my room. I also don't remember when I learned crochet, but I remember my first attempt to learn to knit. It was AWFUL - my mother decided we would learn together, and we didn't. The resulting scarf was very 1970's, acid green, big "deliberate" holes, gauge problems, etc. I hated it, I hated knitting, and I never wanted to do it again. My mother hated the scarf so much she gave it away, and I remember being angry that she gave it away, because it was so hard won I did not want to part with it. Well, at least Nadia liked it, which is more than the horrid thing deserved.

I sew, and I sew all kinds of things. This week I designed a bra pattern for 1-way stretch denim I had lying around, and it is so comfortable. I'm also making my dress for the Marine Corps ball (in November), and I recently had fun doing brainless sewing for my living room (see the previous entry). I can drape, flat-pattern, and estimate yardage in my head. All for a hobby.

Professionally, I've been a bookshop clerk, a warehouse worker (I was so slim and strong, if only it had paid better), an administrative assistant, a graphic designer, a security guard (really), an illustrator, a web designer, a theatrical costume designer, a telephone operator, and a bridal dressmaker's assistant. I've also worked in restaurants, from being an assistant dessert chef at a 4-star gourmet place to managing a pizza parlor near a university.

I have geeky hobbies - I'm in the SCA, and I have done historic reenactments, museum volunteering (costumed interpreter, collections processing, docent). I like to play computer games (though I hardly ever get to anymore - I used to be really good at Quake.), and tabletop RPGs. I read a lot - everything from mysteries (I prefer historical ones where the authors have done lots of research that only other people like me would care about, of course), to horror, to fantasy, to hard research materials. I've been known to read encyclopedias for fun. I recreate medieval wire jewelry, collect beads (and sometimes use them), and cook stuff. I used to (before kids) work as a convention volunteer staffer for as many as three conventions a year, mostly science fiction. It's like herding cats, and that's just dealing with the important people :)






Um, I also used to be cool (sort of). I had a mohawk, and I have a tattoo on my scalp, of a knotwork roundel from the Book of Lindesfarne. Once, when I was a phone bank volunteer for KTEH in San Jose, the actor who plays Lister on Red Dwarf scared the crap out of me by sneaking up to take a photo of it. I managed to get a picture with him for that :) He is, by far, one of my favorites of all the "famous" people I've ever met (and I've met a lot of them).




See? it's the things around me that are interesting (even my hair is more interesting than me), not me. But I guess I clean up okay :)

Interior Decoration, Budget Style

When we moved, we had to store our livingroom furniture (two heirloom ironwood tables - too heavy; a large l-shaped sectional - too big; a steel and glass display cabinet - too heavy and too big; and a restaurant shelving entertainment center - didn't want to disassemble it), so we had nothing for the living room when we got here, except some pillows, some boxes, and some blankets.

We had planned to get some replacement furniture from Ikea, but they were out of all the cushions the day we went, so we didn't get any of it. And we ended up spending the money budgeted for that living room on other things in ensuing weeks. While the rest of our house was furnished, the living room sat empty and forlorn. Nothing but an area rug, boxes, sad and battered pillows, blankets and a big tv. It looked like a 'first apartment' story when you walked in the door, without the motorcycle on the carpet.

Later, I freecycled a loveseat, chair, and ottoman, which were originally white/yellow damask but had become ugly, dirty, ... and smelly. Cleaning was ... ineffective. We covered them with the blankets and used lots of Febreze for a couple of weeks. I got 20 yards of navy blue brushed microfiber, imprinted with a tiger-stripe pattern (invisible unless looked at closely) for a dollar a yard at Valdemart, which, when combined with my staplegun, worked just dandy to do a quick and dirty re-upholstery job on the used furniture.

At some point, we figured out the tv would fit nicely on top of Chris's footlocker. It looked okay for awhile (interestingly, this living room was still iffy enough that the only images I have are focused on my kids). We also got a torchiere from Valdemart and some wire grid shelves from Tarjay. It began to come together. The boxes began to leave the room.

Then, I freecycled a nicer, but still used, (and green) comfy chair and had to work that in, too. The same week, I ran by Ikea and bought 20 yards of end-of-season fabric (4 different, semi-coordinating fabrics). I love the end of season fabric. I made new covers for my pillows and even made drapes. I made a throw for the sofa, and I have enough left over to make all kinds of other stuff.

Then, later the same week,I discovered that the nearby daycare center was tossing lots of old, school quality, furniture (I'm guessing they got a grant to replace their old stuff), so I asked, got permission (crucial when dumpster scoring nice stuff!), and picked up three low storage shelves and a kids' workbench. The low shelves became a sofa table, a television stand, and the base for a wall unit also made up of a small chest of drawers and some of the grid shelving.

Here we have the curtains,

and some art I made to fill the large, empty wall.

So, now we have a living room full of furniture and I think we have spent 60 bucks. there's still a large box draped with extra fabric pretending to be an end table between the two chairs, but the rest are gone.

I want to do a really pretty, magazine style shot, but that requires a lack of cookies on the floor and good light. Maybe tomorrow.

I Can Has Ravelry!!!!

I got my invite ... yesterday? Perhaps it was Monday. It's all a blur.

OMGWTFBBQ. It's great, even with the bugs and incompleteness. I'm trying to figure out how to best help with the live beta development. It was so worth waiting 3 months for (I signed up in early May or late April, I'm not sure which.), and I love it. I have only entered a few stash yarns, a few of the most interesting WIPS and FO's, and spent most of my time just browsing around and using the features. Also, it complements my other fiber-focused online stuff, instead of replacing it.

I have to say that I love having what amounts to a customized newsfeed of my favorite bloggers and online fiber-freinds, the forums are fantastic (only what you actually scroll past gets marked read, wow!), and the patterns, and the yarn, and the...

(cut for interlude of unintelligible enthusiastic blithering)

Okay, if you have not yet signed up, go ahead and do it. It's great, and I can't wait to see it in a non-beta version.

Did I mention it's GREAT? Yeah, like the cereal. I could eat it up.

Roadtrip!

I'll be even less reliable about posting for a few weeks, as we are moving. If I do post, it'll be about Bobby as I'm dragging him along with me.

More Bobby

No picture today, but the curvature created by the shortrow shaping on Bobby is coming out perfectly. I'm aiming to match the curvature of the original garment, and I'm spot on.

If anyone has 3 or 4 balls of Knitpicks Essential in 2 colors just lying around, and wants to do a sporadic knit-along with my developing pattern, here's the part that I've worked out (not in clear modern knitting language - I took this straight from my notes):

Gauge swatch: 44 sts x 48 rows over 4x4 inches, knit in 1x1 rib on size 1 KnitPicks circulars (straights are ok, too, i just don't have any plain straights in 1). 11 sts by 12 rows over average square inch.

Using a long-tailed cast on, cast on 136 sts.
Work 10 rows 2x2 rib over all 136 sts.
Work 1 row 1x1 rib without shaping.
Work 80 sts 1x1 rib, turn (use your favorite shortrow method).
Work 34 sts 1x1 rib (continue in 1x1 rib) turn.
Work 38 sts, turn.
Work 40 sts, turn.
Work 44 sts, turn.
Work 48 sts, turn.
Work 50, turn.
Work 52, turn.
Work 56, turn.
work 60, turn.
work 64, turn,
work 68, turn.
Keep going, working 4 sts past your last turning point on the row on the needle each time, until you are back to the edge of the work. Work 15 rows (continue in 1x1 rib) and begin side shaping.

I haven't written the side shaping. Tune in next time, probably Wednesday.

The sample is a 12-18 month size, roughly 1T. I'll be working out patterns for all standard CYC infant sizes once Bobby's all written up. 1x1 rib = knit 1 purl 1, so you know I'm not using some bizarre shorthand.

You can also use any other fingering weight sock yarn, I have worked up swatches in Wildfoote and Dancing, and the gauge is similar. If you want to try this in other yarns, let me know how it works out.

1855 Warm Undersleeves Project, part 1: Swatcheriffic

First, as some of this is culled from my posts to the HistoricKnit mailing list, I ought to recommend that list to anyone else interested in converting old patterns, reconstructing old techniques, or making reproductions of historic clothing items. It's just chock full of other knitting history geeks, and plenty of good information.

Now that that's done with, on to the quotes and notes and train-of-thought-in-a-blender that is the process of working out this pattern:

Warm Undersleeve (November 1855 Godey's)

Materials: One ounce of white single Berlin Wool; quarter of an ounce of blue wool; pins, no. 14.

Cast on 60 stitches and knit in brioche stitch till the length required, about half a yard, is completed; cast off; join up the sides with a rug needle and wool and knit the frills as follows:
Cast on 90 stitches with white wool and knit three rows before commencing the pattern.
1st row - Slip 1, knit 1, a pearl 1; knit 2 together three times;
repeat from a finishing with knit 2.
2d - Slip 1, knit 1, a pearl 1; knit 12; repeat from a .
3d - like 2d row.
4th - Slip 1, pearl 1, a knit 1; knit 12; repeat from a .

These four rows form the pattern which must be repeated five times with white, then once with blue, and cast off loosely. Two frills are required for each sleeve: The upper is placed about an inch and a half above the under, which is sewed by the edge of the sleeve.

You're probably already thinking "wait, there's something wrong here!" and you'd be right. Keep reading!


First, I found it, at Hope Greenberg's Godey's Lady's book project. Then I went to Knitpicks and bought some Palette in cream, as it looked about right.

I'm planning to make up a readable pattern for this, in three sizes (s,m,l), with variations and a bonus neckpiece, with charts and stuff. Ambitious, no? YES. This is like baking with no measuring implements - you can do it if you already know how, but if you've never done it, it's all experiments until a light goes on. And you get a lot of rejects.

First quote:

I'm working up swatches for a modern translation of the lace-ruffled brioche-stitch woolen undersleeves from the Nov 1855 Godey's Lady's Book. They call for "single Berlin wool" which I believe should be about modern fingering weight, and "size 14 pins" which look to be, from the gauge shown on this page, roughly equivalent to size 2 modern needles.

I got loads of advice, and half of it said I was about right, or maybe they ought to be smaller (like 00), and the other half thought I got the yarn weight and the needle size wrong. My swatches said I was about right, and because I'm a tight knitter (I've tried everything, I just am unless I use a whole size up from what's called for on a given gauge), I opted for using size 2 or 3 needles.

Here's a quote on my reasoning, in which I don't even notice the weight of the yarn called for:

...The confusion may come from the nebulousness of the term I used - hence the annoying, still nebulous, new yarn weight standards - notice there isn't a category of actual lace-weight yarns? So did I. This is the yarn I chose. It's very light and thin, I'd say half as heavy as 4-ply baby yarn, which I've also seen described as fingering weight, but about 2x as heavy as a fluffier laceweight. It looks very similar to the wool my mother uses for her Berlin work, as well, just not quite so tightly spun (and one ply short...).


...I'm using a carrying yarn, 2-ply, fingering weight, and it seems to produce a workable gauge at either size of needles (I've only swatched on 0 and 2 so far). I tend to knit tight, so I may end up going with the larger needles just to make it work for my mother (these undersleeves will be her Christmas gift).

So I figured out that knitting it on smaller needles just gave me a smaller size, as is appropriate, and is not really helpful (Telegram for Captain Obvious!). I think this is the point where I actually settled on size 2 needles as being best for the sleeve itself.

There was some arguing back and forth about yarn and needle sizes until someone pointed out that an ounce of worsted would be unlikely to make anybody a pair of sleeves, let alone with ruffles. Enter my "duh!" moment:

I hadn't even made that connection, as it seemed perfectly natural to choose a lightweight yarn based on all the other factors. Of course the weight gives it away!

[and]

...I cannot imagine knitting a sportweight yarn on 0 or 00 (or even size 2 if one is a tight knitter) needles in brioche stitch and producing a lightweight undersleeve. It would end up being more like a potholder.

Then another lady who'd tried to adapt this pattern pointed out a writing flaw. There are decreases and no increases in the ruffles. This produces an interestingly shaped triangular swatch, but no openwork. I charted my little heart out, and swatched some and frogged some, trying to figure out what was really going on. I figured there were some open increases, somewhere, and went crazy trying stuff. And didn't write down a danged thing once I started swatching. So I had to frog a somewhat successful looking swatch and start over, this time taking notes as I went.

Here's a rundown of that experiment:

Okay, what I've got so far (October 6th):

* As has been mentioned, this pattern must be calling for a light,fingering weight yarn, just from the amount of yarn described in the pattern text. Even for a small person, 1 oz of yarn wouldn't make much of an undersleeve (my mother, the model, is a small person - she now has plump arms, but in her "skinny" youth was able to model actual period clothing without modification).

* The 90 sts cast on [for the ruffles] is WRONG. It doesn't fit the stitch pattern at all when charted, on any of the rows. After fooling around with charts for several hours, I think it's actually 96 sts cast on, as that allows for full repeats.

* The ending sts (the ones required for a clean selvedge and for the smooth repeat of the pattern from row to row) are left off the rows following the first row.

*The rows also seem to need that final knit or purl (before the two ending sts) to close the pattern repeat, though it's not mentioned anywhere. This works well if 96 sts are assumed to be the correct cast on #.

* There are definitely make-ones, yarn-overs, or some other open increase left out of line 1. I suspect copyediting issues, as [...] the ruffle would quickly dwindle to nothing and not have any openwork if worked as printed. That would make a great method for working a shaped frill, though ... with a lot of charting and swatching!

* I am not sure that the rows are actually supposed to go 1,2,3,4 - I think there are more than a few copyediting mistakes here, and its should be 1,2,4,3. The #3 row comes out backwards and disrupts the eyelet pattern if knitted as instructed, but if #3 and #4 are swapped, you get a smooth stockinette ground, with a delicate purl "rib" between rows of eyelets.

* I am swatching to determine whether the open increases should be worked between the k2tog decreases or after, and I've determined that the repeat should be the same size as the other lines pattern repeats (purl, 12 total pattern sts, purl, etc), as this continues the purl line. The two versions I'm trying out (each with a couple of different open increases) are (k2tog = /, purl = - and yarn over = O, and I show 4 repeats for the purposes of diagramming this in text): -/O/O/O/O/O/O-/O/O/O/O/O/O-/O/O/O/O/O/O-/O/O/O/O/O/O- or -///OOO///OOO-///OOO///OOO-///OOO///OOO-///OOO///OOO-

The first looks very like an eyelet stripe motif that my great grandmother worked into my baby sweaters (we still have some for comparison), and I have not yet worked the second, though I've worked lace patterns with large open areas like this before.

Okay, now I have worked a swatch of the possible variations of the ruffle (I only swatched enough of the brioche stitc to figure out how big I need ot make the sleeve for mom and frogged it after taking notes). It's BIG and ruffly:

My swatch went from 24 sts wide to well over 100 (I haven't counted yet), and is twisting up my circulars (I don't have long straights in the size I'm swatching with, but I think they'd be much easier to use for this). I'm at four repeats, and it is certainly ripply. I've determined that the increases are implied in the row 2 instructions (where it tells you to knit 12 over 3 sts on the previous row between purls, I've tried making 3 yo's after each knitted stitch from the previous row), and it works better, giving cleaner, more open eyelets, than adding yo's between the k2tog's in row 1.

What the pattern does NOT allow for is that every other set of rows there will be one incomplete repeat. It's not avoidable, at least in the swatch. The full-length piece may not have this issue.

However, I think you will not acheive /exactly/ what the pattern illustration shows by using the pattern, even if it's redacted. You will acheive a nice ripply frill with an expanding pattern of trios of lace eyelets, not a continuous row of eyelets. To acheive that look, one would do better to work the eyelets without the purls between them. I do put this down to the illustrator and engraver refining the larger "bars" between the sets of eyelets (which the pattern produces) out of the image. There was likely no-one with the job of techincal editor for illustrations then :)

The swatch in question covers two possible variations of the pattern's intended eyelet increases, and I'm happier with the second one (cleaner lines), even if it still doesn't look like the illustration. FOr one, it's not nearly as open, and for another, it's entirely too ruffly. That thing that looks like it's the size of a scrunchie? Yes, that's the 24 stitch swatch!

I may end up trying a small swatch on 4's or 7's to see if that results in anything like the picture. Just for laughs. I may well surprise myself.

Next installment of this pattern will be working toward a modern version, changes being made for usability , and notes about the neckpiece. And, hey, maybe a scrunchie swatch how-to for fun.

Current Knitting Project Rundown

Things on my plate (or needles) right now:

Hats For Alex (if you aren't a member of Knittyboard, you'll have to sign up), and a pattern here for the hats.
I'm planning 3, making 2 for sure. It's important. This is my first knitting priority right now, and I'm doing them on my birch DPN's, for practice.

A Print O' the Wave stole from Eunny Jang's pattern for my mom, from this:
Which is about a zillion yards of very fine laceweight romney singles that I spun last winter.

I'm also making her a set of lace-trimmed undersleeves and a matching necker...thing, which I'm redacting from the 1855 pattern for "warm undersleeves" on this page. I'm using Knitpicks Pallette in Cream, with a handspun blue laceweight single I hand-dyed for the contrast color.

Watch this blog for notes on the progress of the project, and eventually for a posting of the redacted pattern with other sizes, plus the neckpiece and variations. Eventually, I'd like to try a sweater, but we'll see how the smaller pieces go.

I'm making a pair of toe-up socks for each of my kids - the blue ones in the picture started out as a big-brother gift for my older son, but they are now going to be for my younger one. Big brother gets a pair in red and yellow (favorite colors).


Oh, those are another set of my homemade birch circs. Version 1, as a matter of fact.


My Big Secret, which is planned as a Knitty pattern submission. All I'm going to say is that it's a hat, and it's felted. And that it's taking forever to work out what the heck I'm intending to do as I go. I've been throught six charts, five revisions of instructions and four swatches now. And I'm not even to the different sizes yet! If it ever gets done, and if it gets accepted for publication, I'll be posting how-I-got-there-from-here after the fact diary blog entries once it's published.

A new baptism bonnet for boy#2, as he has ALREADY outgrown the one I made while I was pregnant:
The new one is not on the needles yet, but I have to have it done in time for Thanksgiving, as he's being baptised (Anglican) during the service that week. It'll probably be done in something I have on hand, but I'm not starting it until I've finished my Hats for Alex contributions.

There's more, much more, in the planning/stash building stages, but this all the really active stuff.

Screaming baby, must go. More later.