WW1 knitting

My blogging life is fast becoming like my knitting life - fuller and fuller of WIPS.  I blog about something or other and then, at the end, just mention I happen to be embarking on another exciting project.  But the next blog post? ... nothing, nada, nix.  I forget to follow up and having whetted appetites say no more.

The Somme 1917 watercolour painted by J Brunt a private soldier

Today was no different.  I had an idea as I was running some early morning errands (which, after I chatted in shops, forgot something, went back and then met two neighbours it was nearly lunch time and well into the afternoon as I sat down to blog).  I thought I would blog about going to knitting festivals (L'aiguille en Fete and Unravel to date, WonderWool and Unwind to come).  And then I remembered at the end of last week's post I posted a picture of a manly waistcoat in a conservative colour (not my usual style) and a promise of more next week.  So I will keep my promise and put off yarn related travels till another day and tell you about Tell Them Of Us

I heard about this exciting project on Annie's Blog.  A community project making a film about the lives of real people who lived through, and suffered the effects of, WW1. Because the people depicted in the film actually existed there are photographs of them and as near as possible the actors will wear costumes like those worn by the men women and children of 1914 - 1918.  That is where knitting comes in, so many hand knitted garments and so a plea went out to knitters to volunteer to knit for the wardrobe.  They now have more than 200 volunteer knitters and over 90 of us have finished our first garments.  Some of the patterns are contemporary with the war and some have been created by the clever co-ordinators of the project just from the photographs.

The yarn for my allotted project arrived in the post just before I left for my holiday

Lovely BFL dyed a lovely soft brown

The pattern was e mailed and I rushed to print it off and swatch before I left.  Patterns of the period can be a lot less detailed than the modern ones we are all used to, there is also less use of standardised terms.  When you are knitting up vintage patterns it is advisable to read right through before putting yarn around your needles.  

In this case there was no mention on how the borders were to be worked.  The usual way of finishing armholes and button bands were not mentioned at all (except for the left front that simply said 'work 6 button holes').  You need to use common sense and scrutinise the photograph or sketch very closely as well as the written word.  The stitch used for the back is plain stocking stitch and for the front a sort of rib with one row knit and one p4k1.  Without some sort of edging stitch this waistcoat was going to curl!  So I incorporated a two stitch garter stitch border along both fronts and around the armholes.  This kept the work flat after blocking.  However, it did not work for the back neck that due to some short rows actually had an unusual upward curve  and, with my two rows of garter stitch mod, just gaped in an ugly fashion.  So I unpicked this bit and finished in stocking stitch concluding that the back neck was meant to curve outwards forming a little draught proof roll collar.  Apart from being a little bulky (the yarn is aran weight) it was the perfect simple project to take on holiday

Sitting on our balcony sewing up the waistcoat

The only other modification that I incorporated was on the pockets.  The pattern instructs to knit the garter stitch top and then cast off for the opening and cast on again on the next row before carrying on up the front, later picking up from the cast on edge and knitting the pocket lining downwards.  Instead I knitted the linings separately first, incorporating the live stitches in the next row after the cast off instead of casting on.  This meant there was slightly less bulk at the pocket edge.

You have already seen the shot of the waistcoat blocked and ready to post, but here it is again

Ready for William Crowder

And the watercolour at the top of the picture?  My Grandfather William Acaster was a volunteer and served throughout WW1, mostly on the Somme.  One of the few working men of the time who could drive a motorised car he was immediately employed as a driver in the army.  Perhaps this saved his life, as far as I know he never actually 'went over the top'.  When my grandmother died in the 1990s an old sketchbook was found in the back of a cupboard.  Inside the front cover was written

Drawings by

G Percival & L Hardy

Book property of R W Acaster and all above mentioned

Full privates

with pay, don't forget it

Some Soldiers on the Somme

La Guerre 1916 - 1917

The book contains cartoons, mostly in pencil ridiculing German soldiers and British Officers, two water colours of Northern France and one or two satirical cartoons from the 1920s.  It is still a bit of a mystery, not all the drawings are by Percival or Hardy, the watercolours by someone called Brunt and several are not signed, perhaps they are by my grandfather.

xx

c

The Military Moustache 27/2/17

That lovely TA DAAA!!! moment

Its done

broach a serendipitous find

My juno cardigan (pattern The Princess Twinset Cardigan, designed by Susan Crawford)

Cast off and blocked

perhaps the blocking mats could be a little less educational!

Mattress stitched (very little making up required as I knitted the body all in one and the sleeves in the round, much in the same way as socks)

shoulder seams

and modeled

selfie

Now for something to go with it and that is where I paid a little visit to Unravel  and bought this fab alpaca, silk cashmere from The Natural Dye Studio, it will be a little short sleeved sweater

if only you could feel it too!

Unravel is our very own local yarn festival here on the Hampshire, Surrey borders.  For two and a half days the Farnham Maltings is packed out with eager fibre fanatics spending pounds by the minute.  And how exciting, I met the designer of my Juno (and the little sweater that will go underneath!)  Susan Crawford who as well as displaying some of her beautiful knitwear also showed a lovely new yarn range, specially produced for her vintage inspired patterns.

I know there are several similar events around the country (and I would love it if you posted links to your favourite local ones in the comments) but in case you are interested in coming next year (all done for 2014 sadly) here are some photographs to whet your appetite.

Vintage knitting ephemera

Spinning fibre jewels

felting  and the cutest dog

more from The Natural Dye Studio

AND - my stash enhancement...

BFL spinning fibre from John Arbon, sock yarn and so much more

xx

C

Vintage explorations

At the weekend a post on my local knitting group's Ravelry forum reminded me about the Southampton University Vintage Knitting Pattern library.  I then spent several happy hours reading the patterns, including entire books of knitting talk, all on free access.  Then I had a little light bulb moment -  that to truly appreciate the patterns I should knit one up.

I have made a mitten (just one for now but the second is on its way)

I have a large collection of 3 and 4ply pure wool yarn in loads of colours, I chose shades which are closest to the ones suggested in the pattern, which states black, white and magenta (I have black, beige and scarlet)

.

My yarn is about 50 years old and although the pattern book was published in 1876 it is broadly similar to the yarn a lady would have bought at her local shop to make herself a pair of warm mittens.  Note these were made for wearing indoors, houses were very chilly in those days!

The patterns of this era are written without the standard terminology we are used today.  The style is more narrative, in this pattern increases are called 'raises' and purl 'seam'. But by reading the pattern straight through and, where instructed, referring back to details in other patterns it is easy to follow and my first mitten, cast on on Sunday afternoon was cast off this morning

stripes in K2P2 rib

a neat thumb gusset worked exactly according to the pattern

TA-DAA!

Now, all this - lovely pattern resource, a yarn stash of 1950s 3 ply and breaking vintage knitting code led to an idea.... A knit-a-long! (with a difference)

Here is what I suggest

1. Choose any of the patterns on the Southampton website (including the mittens here)

2. Knit in your own yarn (anything suitable) post as a project on ravelry with the tag chopkinsvintageKAL  or upload to my flickr group

And that's all there is to it!  Except...  with the permission of those who join in and post photographs I would like to let the department at the university know about the project.  I may also have the opportunity to display some of the knitted articles (or photographs) at a local knitting event later in the year.  I can't say any more about this at the moment so you will just have to keep an eye on the blog for more information on that.  But if you join in and live in the UK perhaps you might consider whether you might lend me your FOs to put on show.

Although I have only made one mitten so far, I fully intend to knit the other and other items from the pattern library, some stockings perhaps, or a hat.  I have plenty of fine yarn in other colours - see here!

I look forward to hearing from you!

xx

c

PS (following Sally's comment)  There is no time limit if you just want to join in the fun, knit up one of the patterns and tag it on Ravelry or upload to flickr.  But if you would like to lend your knitting to me (or have some photographs of your work included in)  the display I am hoping to set up as part of the Big Knit project in our town's Summer festival I will need to know by mid May.  More details about the display once I have liaised with both the Art school and our festival committee.   

At the halfway point

Its high time I posted about knitting again.  I have got so immersed in sewing (and I'm dying to tell you about my latest acquisition but I shall have to save that till another day) I have neglected to chat about knitting.  But I have still been working hard behind the scenes on my Titanic related knitting project

After some swatching I decided on using the two shades of pink in the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk for the lozenge pattern.  I like the different textures as well as the colour contrast.

As you know I have no pattern for this, only a good photograph from Vintage Fashion Knitwear by Marnie Fogg.  I am trying to keep to the way I think the sweater is constructed, which is not the way of modern patterns, but also I am looking at ways of streamlining the process.  I have no technical skills for creating knitting patterns, I rely on keeping to the tension of my swatch for measurements and otherwise a 'suck it and see' (or knit it and rip it) approach.  And for time to time pinning out what I have made and seeing if it looks anything like the shape I have in my mind's eye.

I knitted the front and back peplums separately first on their own they look like nothing on earth.

But things are now taking shape

Having knitted the peplums and crochet a row of eyelets along the top I began the main body knitting up from the bottom of the sleeve, This time I have knitted the bell cuff continuous with the sleeve and made the eyelets by the yfwd k2tog method.  I am going for dolman sleeves, hoping the inc1 each end of every knit row will give me the necessary ease for the armhole.  There is another row of eyelets across the yoke, so that I can get some ease in I am knitting the front and back separately then the yoke, I will hand sew the yoke in to get the ease.

At the moment I intend to knit the sweater in two halves casting off with the 3 needle method on the right side centre front and centre back but if that does not look right I will graft it like the toe of a sock.  All the edges are then finished off with several rows of DC.

I am note taking as I go along but I also change my mind a lot!

xx

c

silky dilemma - frogs and mods

Although I did talk about finishing my silky vintage cardigan a week or so ago there have been a few problems.

Firstly the button band was floppy.  Well of course silk is floppy but the pattern called for knitting the button band at the same time as the main body of the work.  This meant that although the ribbing was mainly knitted in 3mm needles and the body in 3.75mm the button band had also to be knitted with 3.75mm.  So it flopped and the button holes sagged.  I solved that one with backing the band with grosgrain ribbon. But there is a bigger problem.  I just can't get the neck to sit elegantly.

Either it shows too much of the workings

Or it is too high for comfort (and style)

And while I like it sitting just like this...

it quickly flops back to version 1.  It's not that I  dislike the contrast, although I am willing to admit to there being other opinions on contrasting colours for linings, I quite like it.  No its the way the neck sits and the way it shows a not-very-elegant-inside.

So what should I do?  As I see it there are four options

1. Wear it as it is, never button it up and readjust constantly (I think that is a bit of a shame after dressing and a quick check in the mirror, I like to forget about my clothes and it is so silky soft it is one of the few cardigans I actually could wear without a shell top underneath)

2. Frog the fronts to midway between the second and third buttons and knit a new lower neck line (too sad, could I bear it?)

3.  Steek it, machine the neckline profile I want, cut and knit a new neck band (too risky)

4. Unpick the i-cord bind off on the neck, knit on a double thickness neck band and rever facings.  This would cover the back-stage elements and have it as a collarless rever opening (may be too bulky)

I'd love to know what you think.

When I have solved the problem I will write up a modern set of instructions and post a pdf on ravelry

xx

c

Photography Challenge day - 3KCBWDAY2

Playmobil is The Little Model's current favourite toy when she comes to visit.  She has begun inventing little conversations between the tiny figures and taking them out to play.  Yesterday we set the school out for a knitting lesson

Habu cotton gima , left over from Erica Knight's little notebooks with needles made from tooth picks and tiny beads seemed (nearly) the right scale for the figures.

When TLM had gone home I unpinned the pieces of my vintage cardigan which had been blocking on the spare bed since the weekend.

I have been making this for AGES and yet, despite how near I got to the end and being able to try it on at last, I was falling asleep mid stitch before I had finished the i-cord bind off on the neck band and left the sleeves to sew in another day

But in the morning...

And on a closer look

I found the last button under the sofa.  The silk yarn was a joy to knit and is sooo luxurious to wear.  I am thinking I need a very special skirt to wear with it

xx

c

Procrastination

I just cannot bring myself to throw the tulips away

In their almost dead, petal dropping state they are still so beautiful.  Like some fading society beauty photographed by Cecil Beaton.

I am the master of procrastination.  At university, despite being a mature student (a 38yo mother of 4 when I began my first year reading law at Cambridge) I very quickly mastered the art.  I know I should have known better but...

Supervision to go to - hours spent in the law library photocopying the cases and articles I needed to read before the 4pm deadline - reason, 'I could not work in the library needing the comfort of my room, coffee and biscuits before I could concentrate'.  

Essay to write, ditto photocopying and a whole packet of cadbury's boaster choc and hazelnut cookies.  

Exam revision- a master class in procrastination 

1. I needed to give the children some mummy time over the Easter holiday 

2. I could not begin to revise until I felt enough anxiety to give me the necessary drive 

3. I have to have a set of spiral edged notebooks (one for each paper), A5 size, a set of highlighter and half a dozen pencils and a pencil sharpener.  

4. day 1 of actual revision, sharpen all the pencils (and repeat as necessary between bouts of doing the actual revision)

Many years on I am unreformed.  At the beginning of the year I resolved not to have so many knitting and sewing projects on the go.  It seems that whenever a shop gives out one of those handy calico bags for life I find a new knitting project to fill it.  If you look at my ravelry page you might think that too-much-stuff-on-the-go is not one of my vices but you would be wrong.  I just don't get around to posting the WIPs.  My resolution was not to work on only one project at a time but to have less and to finish up everything that had been sat in a bag for more than a year.

With that in mind I am working very hard on my vintage cardigan.  I am nearly there, 

but I have recently experienced a return of the Old Trouble.  I bought a Swift and cannot resist playing with it and winding off the odd skein or two

 And then my attention alighted on this

Swiftly Swifted it became this

There are 800 yards of aran weight Araucania, after a search on Ravelry (it is so easy to search under yardage, weight,, style - its Google for knitters) I came up with this which the pattern says can be made in any size from size 8 up to HUGE with 750 - 1,500 yards of aran weight

© Spoked cardigan by Carol Feller

I need to make a medium sized version - very roughly I  would need 1,100 yards for this sweater. I realise I am asking a lot to make a sweater out of my yarn but there is far too much for a cowl and its too chunky for a shawl so I am stamping my feet and shouting I WANT A SWEATER.

So here is a possible solution, I have another 300 yards of a very similar colour in DK weight.  I figure the slight variation in colour will not matter as all the yarn is hand dyed and varies quite considerably (the producer recommends to knit with two balls in alternate rows to blend the colours.  As for weight, I'm thinking I shall knit all the ribbing in the DK, as the main body is knitted side to side and the ribbing added later.  What does anyone think? (and dont worry about telling me to finish the vintage project first - I'm already telling myself that!)

extra DK yarn in the centre

xx

C

PS My old college is Lucy Cavendish its well worth checking out the website,r even if setting off fo university is farthest from your mind at the moment.  I first read about the college in a women's magazine when a nurse on night duty.  I cut out the article and pinned it to my kitchen notice board.  The cutting was old, yellow, and curly before I took it down and seriously considered completing my education.