Christmas knitting

I promised to show you my Christmas knitting. Each person got two knitted items. The trick was – they had to choose their own. What was meant to be a secret game quickly became a funny free-for-all. Everyone seemed to love what they chose from "Santa’s Bag."

And then there were the beer socks.

I did not finish the second sock by Christmas Eve.

Happily, sock one fit perfectly, and I quickly finished up sock two (it’s much faster when you can knit in public). As you can see, I ran out of the dark brown Jacob. Rather than spin more, I used up the leftover bits of gold yarn. And there is just enough left for future repairs (I expect these socks to get worn).

Happy Holidays

New Year’s Eve, and the holidays are almost over. It really has been a lovely season. We began, earlier in December, taking family to a Christmas concert, full of laughter and sing-alongs. Then, the weekend before Christmas, we had our traditional visit to New York City, to be part of the hustle and bustle, lights and decorations. Not to mention good food, and of course the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We spent the entire day at the Met, including the extended evening hours, which gave us plenty of time to explore at a leisurely pace. We visited our old favorites, and took in several special exhibits, including Gilded Age furniture, and an exhibit of house-shaped vessels from Central and South America. This was one of my favorites:

I love the little dog waiting at the door for scraps!

And then there was the exhibit of 16^th century textile pattern books.

book by Johann Schonsperger the Younger, Augsburg, 1529

The Met has an extraordinary collection of pattern books from the dawn of the print age, and many
samples of period textiles created from the patterns. Needless to say, I spent hours in the exhibit. It clearly showed how the rise of printing influenced textile fashion across Europe. Printers were freely gathering patterns for textile prints and embroidery from Italy, Germany, France, the Levant… and binding them together for the public’s consumption. While some people may be frustrated by how all this borrowing makes it difficult to know the origins of a particular pattern, I find it exciting to think about the “free” exchange of information across great distances, for people (especially women) who might otherwise not have the opportunity to travel so far. Today these books are particularly rare because pages were often removed in order to copy the patterns onto the material to be embroidered. The Libro de rechami (1532), by Alessandro Paganino even illustrates women using various methods to copy the patterns.

I think my favorite part of the exhibit related to a pattern of birds. This was clearly a popular pattern. Here is the pattern, and its interpretation in several different styles:

I was excited to see the lacis artifacts. Since this is a technique I have recently begun to learn, it was fun to see so many period examples all together. I think I will try my hand at one of these patterns.

And then there was the modern lacis. Perhaps I need to make myself a shirt.

 c. 1920 and 1910 respectively

Then, as a little extra treat, we found our way to a little-visited part of the museum, with an exhibit of 19^th century samplers. Here is my favorite, because it was such a surprise.

London, mid-19th century

This piece is only about 3.5 inches square, so you can get a sense of how tiny these stitches are. But, who was this girl who was stitching complex math problems instead of quotes from Scripture?

We ended our trip to New York with a visit to the Central Park Zoo. The weather was perfect, and the animals were particularly active. Here is just one photo for your enjoyment:

Beer Lover's Sock

Sock one is done!

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The only part I had trouble with is the heel. That is the yarn I spun from the locks. With combed or carded wool I can spin any thickness my heart desires. Spinning from the locks, with a fair amount of lanolin still in the wool, it was difficult to spin as fine as the rest of the yarn. It took most of the yarn I had spun to finish it, so I will have to spin more white before I reach that point in sock #2. It is also significantly thicker, and therefore difficult to knit on size 1 needles. I will make sock two the same, but if I do this again, I will spin it all with combed or carded wool. I will say that my husband is very unlikely to get holes in this heel.

Here is my general pattern:

Using size 1 needles, cast on 68 stitches. Knit 5 rows of 1-1 rib. Change to the Jacob wool and knit one row. Increase to 72 stitches. Knit for 2 inches. Begin knitting gold stripes. Each wide stripe is 5 rows; each narrow stripe is 2 rows. After 3 wide stripes, begin decreasing. Decrease one stitch at the beggining and one stitch at the end of a row, every 5 rows, until 64 stitches remain. vary the stripes according to the yarn you have. Knit until the sock is as long as desired. This one is about 12 inches. Using needles 1 and 4, knit a garter stitch heel. Turn the heel and decrease as usual until 64 stitches remain. Continue knitting, changing yarns as needed, until the sock is the desired length. 

If you don't like beer, it could also be the chocolate and caramel lover's sock (that would be me).