2012

A new year and lots of projects although if I made any resolutions, they were to keep chipping away at the ufos. I took some time over the holiday break to have a good clear-out and re-organise all of my knitting, sewing, quilting and stitching. A series of lists have been made, including one labeled “Priority.” Two things have already been crossed off of that one but since they were not of an historical nature, they will not be featured here in spite of the seasonal non-historical knitting* and quilt in the photograph. I did also take some time to start a project which is historical, and not from a period pattern but is a museum reproduction. I hope to have it up on these pages by the end of the month.

*For the last year or so, I have knit miniature items out of left-over yarn from larger projects, and these make sweet little decorations and a nice memory set.

Birthday Quilt for Jane Austen

Today is Jane Austen’s birthday. This year is the 200th anniversary of her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility. I have been reading Jane Austen’s novels since the age of eleven, and then her other works, letters, biographies and critical works (books, essays, etc.) in English about her and her output for most of my adult personal and professional life. I have also made her or her work the subject of some of my needlework.

As I currently do not have a stand-alone embroidered piece quoting or depicting some aspect of Sense and Sensibility as I do of some of the other novels, I thought I would commemorate the beginning of the anniversaries of the publication of Austen's works with a small quilt that I made in 1996. The quilt is entirely hand pieced, hand quilted and hand embroidered. It is made of 100% cotton fabrics (including the wadding/batting), 28 count linen, quilted and pieced with cotton threads, and embroidered with DMC 25 Mouline Special cotton embroidery floss dark green (500) and pale blue (519) after the colour of Austen’s clothing in a painting of her by her sister, Cassandra. The Pineapple blocks were foundation pieced and are just under 4” square each, and the entire quilt measures 17 ½” x 12”. I chose the Pineapple block pattern not only because it is the perfect way to use various fabrics in one block but because it is multi-layered, as are Austen’s works. The pineapple is also a symbol of welcome and hospitality, and a widely used artistic medium that would have been familiar to Austen. The edges are not “pictures of perfection”* but I am not fussed by that.



I like to “write in thread,” stitching freehand, without any pattern on the linen, and have done many pieces over the years with extensive embroidered script since I enjoy playing with thread as much as I do with dip pens and ink and paper. I also usually stitch in this shade of thread to symbolically keep the memory of the words green and fresh. This little quilt lists the titles all of the written words by Austen, except one**, currently in the public domain – there is always hope of a newly discovered letter, story sketch, etc. The squares name her novels and, in the border, the titles of the scholarly-designated Minor Works – unfinished, Juvenilia, Prayers, Letters, Detached Pieces Verses, Scraps and A Fragment. The fabrics in the Pineapple layers of each square, as mentioned above, reflect aspects of the novel, and so, Sense and Sensibility, with its serious beginning has dark fabrics at the edge with lighter coloured fabrics moving towards the centre of the block with red (financial security) at the inner edge, near the heart of the block. All of Austen’s novels have prominent serious themes but some, like Pride and Prejudice and Emma, have more of the “light, bright and sparkling,”*** about them than the others. All have women in them and clothes are always discussed so I used fabrics that were like but not necessarily reproductions of those of the 1790s-1816. I was also hampered by the small scale of the blocks and so had to use tiny prints that are suggestive rather than completely accurate. The outer edges of the Pineapple blocks are in a cream fabric which has a white Copperplate script printed on it.



The outer green border has a print of gold leaves, flowers and birds. I chose this fabric as my favourite colour is green and that, and the motifs, are symbolic of Austen’s beloved countrysides. The gold is for her words – timeless, entertaining, enlightening, comforting and luminous.


*Letter to Fanny Knight, 23-23 March, 1811
**Play of Sir Charles Grandison
*** Letter to Cassandra Austen, Thursday, 4 February, 1813

P.S. Apologies for the shredded thread in the Sense and Sensibility block - it should have been snipped before the photo was taken.

Knit Pen Wiper

This useful little item is from “ Chapter XI, Knitting” in the The Workwoman’s Guide by A Lady (1838), (London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Stationers’ Hall Court, 1838.)



No needle size, gauge/tension or material is suggested apart from the colours black and red. I used 3mm needles and KnitPicks’s Palette in Black and Pimento. The edges are plain knitted and the interior is in the recommended “embossed hexagon-stitch” whose pattern is “No. 14” in this section of the book.



The finished object meastures 4” across by 2 ½” down.

Two identical pieces were to be knitted and sewn together. I knitted both in one piece and folded them over to “Double it like a book” and sewed “a bit of ribbon down the inside, under which may be passed bits of silk or rag to wipe the pens upon.” This double or even triple layer doubled over would help to keep one’s fingers, hands, cuffs, work, furniture, carpets, etc., free of ink stains. I can appreciate this only too well, having spent a lifetime in the company of ink and pens, and many accidents concerning drippy pens and spills from overturned or improperly capped bottles of ink.

Knitted Lace Collar No. 2 – Part Three

I am almost finished with the second part of the Knitted Lace Collar No. 2 from Mrs. G.. J. Baynes’s booklet (The Knitted Lace Collar Receipt Book {Fourth Edition}, 1846.) The Lace Pattern, like the Fancy Pattern, is another 8 row sequence, and I have knit 48 points so far with probably another twelve or more to go. The Lace Pattern is being sewn on with a double strand of cotton quilting thread.

When the Lace Pattern is finished and completely sewn on , the third, top and final part has to be knit.

Not Inspired By

There is a lot of discussion out there on the internet about authenticity, reproductions and patterns “inspired by” original objects and clothing, historical eras, figures in history, etc. This little bag, purse or lace reticule belongs to no era but uses patterns, not for its construction but for the elements of its designs from the past.

The base is a circular pattern from the Double Rose Leaf Night-Cap in Weldon’s Practical Knitter/Twenty-Sixth Series and also appears in Volume 9 of the facsimile series of Weldon’s, published by Interweave Press as well as Knitting / 19th Century Sources, edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot, Lacis Pubications (no date.) The original night cap dates from the 1880’s and can be found in this post.



The circular piece was knit first and the Rose-Leaf border attached, every other row, as I knit it.



The Rose-Leaf pattern is from Exercises in Knitting by Cornelia Mee, 1846.
(http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21032/21032-h/21032-h.htm)

This bag is knit in white DMC Baroque Crochet Cotton, the circular section on 3.25mm/US 3 needles and the Rose-Leaf pattern on 2.25mm/US 1 needles.



I made a double-layered lining from a pale blue imitation satin fabric, in turn lined with a double layer of light, non-stretch interfacing. The blue section was stitched to the lace bag at intervals on the inside at the bottom of the stockinette neck section, and thin blue ribbon for closing was run through eyelet holes at the garter stitched top. The bag measures 13 ½” around the middle, 4 ¼” across the base at the bottom, 3” tall in the lace section with a top band of 1 ¼” in stockinette, garter and eyelet stitches.

Lest We Forget

Pattern by Erssie Major from http://erssieknits.squarespace.com/knitting-charts/free-colourwork-charts/7544046

The finished piece measures approximately 4” square.

I used DMC 817 and 321 for the reds, 158 for the blue, 937 and a darker(label lost) green from my stash for the greens and 310 for an added three row black edge all round. The piece was knit on 2.25mm needles.

I will make this again but use reds that will contrast more with one another; these, all my own choice, were too similar. Embroidery floss also needs more attention to wrapping or carrying behind as the threads, unlike wool, do not become flat or felt with one another. I admit that this piece was hastily knit to make a deadline but I feel twice as guilty as my work can be better and such a commemorative piece deserves better workmanship. Next year's version will be so.

Catching Up

La Tricoteuse, c 1816
Madame G. Busset-Dubruste, (fl. 1806-17( (attributed to)
French
Coloured engraving (by Duthe)
Private collection; the Stapleton Collection
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: STC 428338

I have not posted many projects lately but that is because so many are in progress. I do suffer greatly from Startitis but I have also been slowly finishing off my 2011 list of Things to Make. This list was more about Things to Finish since I took a private oath last January to have no WIPs on my Ravelry page by December 31, 2011 and a finished stack of quilts that are WIPs accumulated over the last twenty years.



The Dressmaker
Fernando Botero (b. 1932)
Colombian
Medium (unknown)
Private Collection
(Photograph: Copyright Christie’s Images)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: CH 27259

Hand, arm, shoulder and neck pain has considerably cut down on my quilting progress (I do every stage by hand), and I have also been doing more Irish stitch canvas and crewel work and embroidery these days. The historic wardrobe needs some replenishing, too, and a few doll beds are calling for new linens with knitted edges. Other knitting includes the shawl for the neighbour, the three green garments and that short quasi-cloak for me, buttons for The Garment, seven or eight historical items etc, etc. – hmmmm, I think I need to cancel that oath.



Games, 1939
Charles Walch (1898-1948)
French
Oil on canvas
Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: XIR 209962

Although I truly do have some sort of sewing/needlework/knitting needle in my hands every day, my output can be frustrated when Life interferes, with or without warning.



Girl Knitting
John Parker (1839-1915)
English
Watercolour on paper
Private collection
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: BAL 19343

I seize every opportunity to work on projects, knitting being the most portable. I love to go to the nearby beach and parks and work in the open air and pure daylight. Stretching my eyesight, looking far into the distance, is also therapeutic, particularly as my profession, as well as my interests, requires a good deal of close work.



The Felixstowe to Ipswich Coach, c. 1939
Russell Sidney Reeve (1895-1970)
English
Oil on canvas
Ipswich Borough Council Museums and Galleries
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: IPS 72921

Public transport often allows for an hour’s catching up, giving me an excuse to indulge my passion for those extremely portable projects, namely socks and fingerless gloves or even that lovely green linen cardigan I have been trying to finish since the spring.



Best of Friends
Emile Munier (1810-?)
French
Medium (unknown)
Private collection
(Photograph: Copyright Christie’s Images)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: CH 27496

Back at home or visiting with friends, there is often well-meaning canine/feline assistance that then changes into sitting on the project or my lap which slows down progress.





The Concert
Georg Jacobides (1853-1932
Greek
Medium (unknown)
Private Collection
(Photograph: Copyright Christie’s Images)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Collection
Image ID: CH 27091

And the other kind of domestic interruption.



The Veranda at Villerville
Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)
French
Oil on canvas
Musee des Beaux-Arts Andre Malraux
Le Havre, France
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: XEH 53834

Lunch-time at work, with fellow-enthusiasts, lets me to catch up with simple projects such as charity knitting, that I can work on, and chat and eat, all at the same time – more or less!



A Girl Reading
Charles Edward Wilson (1853-1941)
English
Watercolour and gouache on paper
Private collection
(Photograph: The Mass Gallery, London)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: MAA 80673

Research into all aspects of historical textiles (and paintings with knitting, like these) never ends and that takes up hours and hours of non-stitching time.






These are some of my recent choices.













Popular Wireless, 3 June 1922
(front cover)
English
Colour lithograph
Private collection
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: XCF 307304

My favourite way of working on just about anything is in the company of the radio. Thanks to the internet, I can listen to stations from all over the world and can be entertained, educated, and kept alert and productive, twenty-four hours a day.




The Cottage Door (1866)
Henry Bright (1810-1873)
English
Oil on canvas
York Museums Trust (York Art Gallery)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: YAG 23480

So I shall continue to chip away at that List, hoping to knit and stitch and sew outdoors for a few weeks more, enjoying my favourite season of all – autumn with all of its glorious greens, oranges, bronzes, golds, browns, reds!