Recipe for Knitting Socks

New Year, new and a slightly less spooky look for The Haunted Quilter. Yet again I delve into the Maureen stash (knitting and sewing bits & bobs inherited from a much loved aunt), this time for a really old handwritten sock recipe:

Directions for Knitting Socks

Caston about 49 stitches (for Phyllis I have 69). The odd one for the seam stitch.

For the Well - knit 2 purl 2 the required length. Then do a few rounds plain.

The pattern consists of two rounds commencing on the third stitch after the seam stitch.

1st Round. Make one by bringing cotton to front of needle, knit 2 together. Continue this until you get to the two stitches before the seam stitch.

2nd Round. Purl all the way round commencing on the third stitch after seam stitch. This finishes the pattern. You then knit a few rounds plain (3 is nice) and then repeat pattern.

Continue pattern in the foot on front needle as far as you think will show. The toe is plain.

NB Keep the two stitches on either side the seam stitch plain throughout. If you put in any narrowings you will of course have only 1 plain either side until you narrow again.

You will require about 3 balls of Brightage (?) for one pair.

Hope I have made it quite clear.

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I think this recipe presumes a certain amount of skill and experience in knitting socks - I got lost on the third stitch after the seam stitch. Also, it is a bit of pot luck on sizing...presumably Phyllis had larger than average sized legs.

Escargot helmet

Last year, without a specific project in mind but unable to resist, I bought some lovely hand-dyed wool from Croft Wool and Weavers in Torridon (mentioned in the post 'good hats'):

nettle

weld

Inspired by my current Poirot box set marathon, I was looking for a Cloche hat pattern. Must be getting a bit mature in my tastes because although this is my 3rd time through this box set, for the first time I find myself admiring Miss Lemon's style:

Miss Lemon

I scoured the net and came across this magnificent free pattern on Ravelry, designed by Veronica Parsons: the Escargot hat. There are lots of versions on google images and I noticed that many of them are a bit roomy. I have a tiny head (no wasted space in there) so I reduced the pattern by 10 stitches:

Escargot cloche

Veronica Parson's 'Escargot' worn by Thimble

So far I have worn it once and received many exclamations of admiration, awe and astonishment. What a hat! I think it makes me look like a warrior lady soldier...

Chalcidian helmets

...but someone else said it looks like an old american football helmet. Nevertheless I feel I have notched it up a step in the style stakes for 2013.

Taking a line for a walk

So Bad Hair Day Lady has a little boy (I'll call him lego boy) who loves to draw. When he was 4/5 years old he went through a particularly creative phase and lucky BHDL would stumble upon these magnificent pictures when tidying up after her noisy brood. She told me these pictures reminded her of Paul Klee, who said 'Drawing is taking a line for a walk' (or something like that).

Now I am not ashamed to say that I don't know my Klee's from Kandinsky's but I could see the link:

Panels of the doodle quilt

Lego Boy's drawings aged 4-5

Well needless to say this tripped the quilty ideas switch in my head and I had a lot of fun choosing fabrics and machine quilting the pictures - it really made me notice all the small details, like tiny faces in the windows of trucks. The machine embroidery was also a great way of using up Aunty Maureen's cottons, some of which are very old.

Doodle quilt detail: looks like a snail

Doodle quilt detail: birdcage head man and friend

Doodle quilt central panel: Thimble on the right

Probably a bit narcissistic, but I couldn't help putting my picture in the middle of the quilt (that is me on the right with the big chin). I wanted to join up the pictures with a maze design, but it got a bit complicated so I did a modified maze:

Taking a line for a walk quilt

For the border, I wanted to use up all the odds and end bits, so I used my new bias binding maker and was very pleased with the result, and with my thriftiness.

strippy bias binding

Anyway I was thrilled with the end result, so thanks Lego Boy for your inspiration. I hope this stands the test of time. Weirdly enough the portrait of me from the central panel (done in felt tip pen) was in a frame on my bookshelf and over the course of the year whilst making the quilt, the picture slowly faded away and now is just a ghost outline...it would have been lost forever had I not embroidered it into this quilt!
  

 

Craft Crazy

This year's christmas tree angel is the lovely Castiel. I am not sure he featured strongly in the Jesus story, but then neither did magic mushrooms and marshmallows knitting a blanket, which also adorn our delicately tasteful plastic tree.

Castiel

Something was missing though and I didn't know what until we were given this lovely hand-knitted snowman with crocheted twig arms. Thanks Sheila!

Sheila's snowman

Party Frock

Party Frock

Work christmas parties. Enough said. This year I was determined to fulfil my resolution to make a frock and make a proper job of it. It has been a(nother) curve on the mysterious and sometimes incredibly frustrating but mostly fun journey of learning needlecraft.

This was the starting point:

It was a sorry moment when after a recent severe cold spell necessitating extra portions of pie, I had to 'upsize' Hedley in the bust department. Then the really fun bit of ordering fabric which I mostly like to do in a real shop but I ran out of time so used Calico Laine which has the widest selection of dress lining fabrics I have ever come across and is really reasonably priced. I chose the Airforce/Navy iridescent satin back Dupion because it looked a bit special...and also some polka dot green cotton...well just because.

Unlike the lovely lady in black on the packet, my figure crossed over several size bands which was a bit confusing, being a novice. I decided to be extra careful and EVEN made a muslin FIRST:

Hedley in muslin

The idea being that this is made using the pattern, sewn up, tried on and then the muslin pieces adjusted and unpicked to become the new pattern pieces. I am jolly glad I didn't miss out this step because I had to add 2 inches to the length and alter the curve of the side panels. Well to cut a long story short I got into a bit of a pickle sewing the lining to the front mainly because I didn't read the instructions. I also found out that Satin back Dupion frays really easily and is not the best choice for a beginner. There were a few sweaty moments when I had to unpick the zip and it might have ended up in the bin at the attaching the skirt stage, had I not remembered that my best qualities are perseverance in the face of adversity and optimism.

Well, I did it. I had my Pretty in Pink moment (anyone else remember feeling a little crestfallen at the unveiling of the dress in that film after the tremendous build-up? I'd do it again though.

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Airforce/Navy iridescent satin back Dupion

Patchy

Patchy: front

Patchy: back

Hedley looks like she has been eating too many pies.

Here she is sporting a Thimble original - a patchy skirt using all my favourite floral fabrics, inspired by the twirly skirt.

A Room with a View (1985)

The design is not actually original in that I borrowed from a per una skirt in shades of grey that I have had for a decade. It is also lined...albeit with curtain lining...which makes it quite suitable for Autumn. I can also picture it being worn in a wildflower meadow in Spring in a cloud of butterflies (picture the barleyfield scene in 'a room with a view')...though here it is more likely to be damp tick-infested bracken and my allergic rhinitis would probably detract from the romance of the moment. Roll on spring...

Good hats

Herdwick hat

Herdwick hat with lining

I was planning to talk about every good hat I ever knitted or had knitted or bought hand-knitted or admired, but realised it was a bit ambitious and would involve too many pictures of my head.

So instead I have picked 2 recent lovelies. First is the hand-dyed hand crocheted Herdwick hat I bought at Woolfest this year. I believe it was made at Crookabeck farm. A Herdwick hat?! Yes, that is correct, an itchy scratchy Herdwick hat. The colours are incredible - those hand-dyed greens really do shimmer in the all too brief glimpses of Cumbrian sunshine - always makes me think of the iridescent Green Tiger Beetle for some reason. I have no idea how the spinner managed to make something like this into something so vivid, I have a lot to learn about dyecraft.

Nevertheless, although I tried to be stoical, it really was like wearing a hair shirt...I think...and before long I added a lining. Now it is my all time favourite hat. 

Second I will mention this hand spun Gotland wool hat which we bought from Croft Wool and Weavers in Torridon. The couple who spin and dye and weave this wool from their own sheep had a lot of interesting things to tell us about wool and sheep. One fact I recall is that the harder the life for a sheep (the bleaker the winter, the crappier the weather, the sparser the diet), the finer/ softer the wool. I might have got that completely wrong as I only had half an ear on what he was saying - I was too busy fondling all the lovely scarves and shawls to pay full attention.

Anyway this hat caught our attention for its simplicity and the unusual gathered top. We decided it was definitely a man's hat even though we were told it was not committed to any particular sex and could be whatever we wanted it to be. I think that was a sales pitch. Not sure what makes a hat a man's hat but this hat has whatever it takes.

Gotland wool hat: Croft Wools and Weavers