Famous Knitters – Anjelica Huston

Anjelica Huston (July 8, 1951)

Another knitting Morticia!

Knitting or Not in a Painting for Summer

Heat (1919)

Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944)

American

Oil on canvas

Brooklyn Museum*

Collections: American Art

Accession Number: 57.125

Gift of the estate of Ettie Stettheimer

Image: Brooklyn Museum photograph

This painting made me laugh when I first saw it. That’s me – that is how I spend the summer, flopping all over the place in thin dresses, moaning about the heat. The knitting on the floor are my historic projects, worked in cotton, which become limp and damp on their metal needles in my overheated hands.  I work better in wool in this weather, preferably on wooden or bamboo needles, making socks or doing the caps for charity knitting. Small projects that do not sit in my lap, with springy wool that does not strain my muscles and make me even more bad-tempered than I already am on a daily basis.

The painting depicts the artist (lower right) with her mother and her three sisters celebrating the birthday of their mother. The ladies are arranged at a distance from one another. This spacing may be for artistic purposes or have hidden messages or it may be that it was just too hot to sit closer. As if the temperature is apparently not high enough, there is a very large birthday cake with lit candles in the forefront of the painting, resembling a large sun, radiating more heat into the room. The only person who does not seem bothered is the mother, all buttoned up to the chin and sitting upright in her chair.

I also love the vivid but slightly garish colours in this painting, even though they are reminiscent of tropical flowers, making me think of even hotter places in the world. The stringy branches of the trees are like strands of unraveled knitting, limp and motionless in the heavy, airless weather. The slight blur of the style of painting suggests to me that it is difficult to see things through the haze of the heat.

A nice final touch are those knitting bags beside the two upper sisters and, possibly, the mother.

My thanks to my friend Susan for introducing me to this painting.

*On view in American Identities: A New Look, Everyday Life/A Nation Divided, 5th Floor

Famous Knitters – Gloria Stuart and Gina Lollobrigida

Gloria Stuart (July 4, 1910 – September 26, 2010)

Apart from her careers on the silver screen and in other fields, she holds the current record for the oldest person nominated for an Academy Award.

Gina Lollobrigida (July 4, 1927)

Pretty piece of knitting.

Famous Knitters – Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland (July 1, 1916)

I cannot find an image of Olivia de Havilland  (on the left, in the front) with knitting but I did find these stills from that pivotal scene in Gone With the Wind where the women are all doing different kinds of needlework round the table and it looks as though Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), sitting near them, is winding wool. Olivia de Havilland's character, Melanie Wilkes, appears to be crocheting but she also reads to the group as they work.

India Wilkes (Alice Rhett), on the extreme right, seems to be knitting. 

(This image is from http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#p=1&q=Gone+with+the+Wind+sewing+circle)

Quilt for June

I always put this quilt out on a bed in the summer. Its cream background and multititude of reproduction fabrics from the 19^th century have a calming effect on someone (me) who is not overly fond of this time of the year.

The pattern is probably one of those geese-doing-something. Being of a nautical frame of mind, however, it makes me think of sails – many, many sails, out on a cool body of  water.

I loved making this quilt. Selecting the fabrics from my stash and stitching the blocks was like revisiting old friends. The outer thin border is of a two shaded bronze, and the backing is a soft shade of pumpkin with a subtle floral print. Neither of these are reproductions but are, rather, from the “inspired by” category.  Since they compliment the other fabrics beautifully, and I liked them both so much, I sneaked them in and I always explain their presence when others see the quilt.

This quilt was entirely hand-pieced and hand-quilted. It measures 61” square. The blocks are 11” square and the triangles are 3 ½” by 2 ¾ x 2 ¾” each.  The borders are finished in a knife-edge and the quilting is simply straight diagonal lines.

Apologies for the slightly wrinkled look of the quilt. It must have been a little pushed about in storage this past winter.

Famous Knitters – Anne Revere

Anne Revere (June 25, 1903 – December 18, 1990)

One of my favourite character actresses, superb in all of her films, and a descendent of Paul Revere - just one of her connections with significant history.  Seen here in National Velvet (1944), wielding dpns and wearing an interesting shawl.

Two films, amongst the many notable ones she appeared in, are Song of Bernadette (1943), with Jennifer Jones 

and  Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), with Gregory Peck.

Lady’s Knitted Hood – In Progress

This pattern comes from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Number 1, First Series (1886). It is also published in Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 1, Interweave Press, 1999.

The original pattern calls for “Beehive wool, white or any colour preferred,” “Bone knitting needles No. 10 (modern equivalent 3.50mm/US 4), a crochet needle, (“No.10”) and ribbon for shaping. “The hood can be lined or not as preferred.”

I knit this hood on the original sized needles with Knit Picks Palette’s Edamame.

The hood is made up in four sections. First, this strip which is begun at “the top of the headpiece” and knit until “you can count 43 holes straight along.” This part ends up looking ridgebacked or ruffled, or even just crumpled, but measures just over 11” long, flat.

The second part, knit flat or back and forth, is picked up along the sides and cast off end of the ridgebacked strip.

I had to start this section on three double pointed needles but I was able to eventually change to two single pointed straight needles when I had about six inches knit down. This part, when finished, measures 11 ½” down all sides from the pick-up row of the ridgebacked strip, now pulled almost flat but still a little puffy, by this added section.

The third part is a “curtain” or skirt or long fringe which will be sewn around the bottom of the hood. It measures 18 ½” wide and 8” long from the top flat edge (when straightened out) to the end of a point at the opposite edge.

The fourth part is a strip of lace edging to go round the face. Instructions for a crocheted edge are included in the pattern but I do not crochet. I have tried to learn for years, even taking a special class in crocheting for knitters. I can do many kinds of handwork but I just cannot seem to get the hang of or follow a pattern or “read” my crochet work.  Thus I had to find a knitted edge. In spite of having finished all of the parts of the hood last year, I spent the last few months going back and forth with edgings, looking though many of my 19^th century patterns and repeatedly trawling though all of the facsimiles of Weldon’s, knitting out samples. I finally settled on the No.26 - Wheat-Ear Pattern from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Sixth Series – Edgings (1887?) which is also published in Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 2, Interweave Press, 2000. This one comes out at about one repeat of the pattern to one inch, and measures just over 2 ½” wide. The facial border of the hood measures 25” so I suppose that will be the number of repeats although there is a wavy bit around the middle of the border (the cast-on edge of the ridgebacked strip) which may call for more repeats.

I do think, however, that this hood would really be better with a crocheted edging as the slightly heavier crocheted stitches would balance and hold the hood more securely on the head with hair arranged in the variations of the popular style of the era as seen in this image from La Mode Illustrée  (Dinner Dresses - 1886.)

All quotations are from Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 1, Interweave Press, 1999