Perfect time for an afghan

I'm not sure why it is but don't you find that you usually work on something like an afghan in the heat of summer?  Maybe you started it when it was cool but somehow they always seem to end up being finished in the summer and the whole big fat hot pile of wool is plopped right in your lap.

Well, not this time.  It's been freezing and raining and snowing for several days now and I've started my full-size version of the Amish Center Diamond afghan.  Here's what I've got so far:

The center panel is done in seed stitch, from corner to corner.  It's 144 stitches at the widest point which is a whole lotta seed stitch, I can tell you.  The corners are working up much more quickly (108 stitches picked up along the side) in stockinette stitch and the borders will be in a chocolate brown garter stitch.  The 108 stitches, if you saw the previous post, is because you pick up the number of stitches equaling 75% of the number of stitches at the widest point of the diamond.

Yarn?  It's Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool, thanks for asking.  I know I've said this before but I LOVE this yarn.  I've used it for a number of projects and always have a supply of it on hand.  I love how easy it is to knit with and how it softens more and more as it's washed and how economical it is.  465 yards for $9.  Can't beat that with a big ole stick.

Cutie Pie Elf

A lady at work is pregnant.  Back in the summer, I asked her what she wanted for her knitted item and she decided on an elf outfit.  She's due December 14th and wanted something to dress the baby in for Christmas.  Do you know how many knitted baby elf outfit patterns there are?  Neither do I but I'm guessing not many.  I had a think about it over the summer, decided on my basic pattern and found some yarn while I was out and about - I think it was in Tulsa that I found it.  DreamBaby D.K. by Plymouth Yarns.  So soft and stretchy and not at all splitty like this type of yarn can sometimes be. 

So here's my vision come to life!

(click on pictures to see a larger version)

The main thing she wanted was the curly toes.  I decided on doing the white knitted-in i-cord down the top of the foot which allowed me to continue it on after I'd bound off the red to make the curly at the end of the toe.  I don't know if you can see it but there are little jingle bells at the end of the curly.  You can see it better here in this close-up.

At first I finished it without the fringe around the hood but it all looked so plain.  I took it with me to JoAnn's and got some other ladies to give me their thoughts.  Someone suggested the candy cane button for the chest but that wasn't quite enough.  I had originally put the white fringe on the cuffs of the sleeves but since the sleeves were too short, I took them out and redid the sleeves as you see them.

This is the fringe that I learned while doing the 1860's Spanish Opera Hood and it works a treat for this purpose, don't you think?  Very handy technique.

Fashions of the 50's

When I was in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago, I visited the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg.  In the gift shop, I found a copy of The Ladies' Self Instructor In Millinery & Mantua Making, Embroidery & Applique (1853).  It contains quite a good section at the end with knitting and crochet patterns.  While there're no pictures, I'm having a great time with them.  I've just finished my first one: Evening Carriage Shoes.

The pattern started out with the most fascinating stitch pattern knit into a rectangle:

Just looks like a scrubber, doesn't it?  The stitch pattern is very simple once you figure out what the idea is.  You do a foundation of the brown wool then for the blue section, you knit 4 in blue, slip 2 brown, and repeat across.  You do 4 rows like this, working the blue section in stockinette.  Next you change back to the brown and knit 2 rows and purl 2 rows.  On the next section, you set off the blue pattern by knitting 1 in blue, slip 2 brown, knit 4 in blue, repeat the last 2 steps to the last 3 stitches and knit those in blue.

It's a great textured look.  I was showing it to someone who mentioned it would look great as a jacket and now I can't help thinking what a great idea that is.  The more I see it the better I like the idea.

Next in the pattern, you simply fold lengthwise and sew up each short end.

The pattern then says to run a string through it and put on fringe.  I decided to pleat the front and add the brown button. (Click on a photo to see a larger image.)

Now is it just me or does this look very 50's - 1850 or 1950.  I can also see Scarlet O'Hara wearing these on the way to the Ball but it reminds me of the sort of shoe Mary Tyler Moore would have worn on the Dick van Dyke Show.  Oh, wait, that was the 60's.  Early 60's.

Amish Diamond Quilt (afghan)

A few weeks ago I went to Pennsylvania and had a side trip to Lancaster.  While I was wandering around, I came across the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum.  If you're ever in the area, I would really recommend stopping by.  I'm not a huge quilt fan but I did see a quilt that fascinated me.  It was one of the earliest of the Amish patterns, from what I understand, called the Center Diamond Quilt and all I could see was how easy it would be to knit.

This is a (poorly blocked) sampler I did just to work out the dimensions and to show the basic elements.  The center diamond is knitted from tip to tip, casting on 2 stitches and increasing each side every other row until you have the desired number of stitches (in this case 20).  Then you simply decrease each side every other row until you have 2 stitches left.  Bind off. 

The brown sections were picked up from each side of the diamond.  I wasn't too sure about how many stitches to pick up since geometry has never been my strong suit but I discovered that I needed to pick up 75% of the width of the diamond (plus one to make an even number).  In this case, the widest part of the diamond was 20 stitches so I picked up 16 stitches along each side.  I decreased stitches on each side every other row to finish up the square.

With the square finished, I picked up 24 stitches across the top (12 for each triangle - 75 % of  the 16 stitches I picked up for the section).  I knitted in garter stitch until I had 5 ridges and then did a stretchy bind off.  I did the same for the bottom then basically the same thing for each side except the pick of stitches included picking up stitches across the blue bar of the top and bottom.  And, as they say, whala.

The theory is that you could use the formula above to make it any size you want.  As you can see from the link above, there's all sorts of variations that can happen within this basic recipe.  I think what I would do for my large version is to make the center diamond and brown sections a seed stitch and then garter for the outside borders.  That way it could easily be reversible.  One thing I like about having the center diamond in stockinette is that it kind of pops out but I don't know that it would have the same effect in real size.  You could include some sort of motif in the middle of the diamond and on each of the diamond corners.  That could be cool.  I think I would like this sample more if I'd had a 3rd color for the outside border. 

I stand corrected...

Evidently I stand corrected on the nets for horses' ears! See the comment on the previous post. Always ready to learn something new.

Onto to new things. I am now the proud possessor of Evening Stockings (for a Young Lady to Knit).

This is the most fun I've had with a pair of socks in ages. I love to knit socks, don't get me wrong. But these were just plain fun. And incredibly easy. Nancy Bush interpreted them from a pattern in Weldon's Practical Needlework, Volume 15, published in London in 1900. I found the pattern in the November/December 2009 issue of Piecework Magazine, in case you'd like to give them a go.

Here's how the shaping was worked along the back of the leg.


Heritage Knitting Retreat

We've finalized some details for the Heritage Knitting Retreat next June. The idea is to have a weekend devoted to knitting from the latter half of the 19th century, including looking at patterns and how to read them, materials that can be used and stitches that were commonly used and more. Have a look here for more details and to download a printable version of the flyer. If you'd like to join us June 18-20, 2010, drop me an email or message me in Ravelry and we'll get you fixed up.

Now I've heard everything

I was looking at a newly posted pattern book called "Homework" from 1891. I was scrolling through the crochet section when I came across the following:

The image isn't great but it reads:

No. 162 - Nets for Horses' Ears.

Really? Really? Nets? For Horses' Ears? Really?

Ask me what I did this weekend

Remember I was working on spinning some mohair and was wondering if it would work to ply it with the turquoise merino? Well, here are the results:

I love the way the solid colored merino toned down and grounded the colors of the mohair. I've got a couple more ounces of the mohair to spin and I'm waiting for more merino to come so I can finish. This skein turned out what I would call heavy lace weight, makeing about 320 yards (72 grams) so doing the rest of it should give me about 600 yards. Now it's just a matter of figuring out what the pretty yarn wants to be!

I had to do some traveling last week for my job. Actually, I should say I got to travel because it was the perfect opportunity to do some exploring. Of course, any trip requires the project search. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to take with me because I didn't really have a good project going to take. So I quickly grabbed this black wool that my friend Cindy gave me and the leftover yarn from some recent socks and started to experiment with it. I've been wanting to do some other projects using the Brioche stitch in preparation for our Heritage Knitting Retreat next June. I thought it would be cool to have the electric colors of the sock yarn against the black. The gauntlet is reminiscent of what you might have seen in the latter half of the 19th century.

The second thing I grabbed was some Fortissima Socka in white and the pattern for "Evening Stockings for a Young Lady to Knit." It's a sock pattern in the Nov/Dec 2009 Piecework Magazine, adapted by Nancy Bush from a Weldon's pattern. As you can see, it's a long sock and the lacy pattern is so lacy and so easy, you wouldn't believe. The shaping for the leg is done along the back of the leg so you have a seam running up the back and the pretty lace everywhere else. I know this looks like a sock to fit a child but that's only because it's not blocked yet and I have pretty small feet anyway.

I thought I would make this with the white yarn because it's the only sock yarn I had 3 skeins of (bought it for something else that I ended up not making) and I wanted to be sure I had enough. The thought was to make them with the white and then dye them but I like them so much that I've decided to keep them as is. I would definitely recommend these for sock lovers. Easy with a huge payoff!