Tendrils

This sock pattern is called Tendrils, the designer´name is Mary Lou Egan.

Here is another pattern from her knitting basket : Coquille 

 Mrs Egan is inspired by organic shapes - and knitting her patterns makes me think of the Art Nouveau period: In Denmark called "Skønvirke" (1895-1920) The decorations were inspired by wild flowers, insects and the flora and fauna of the sea.
Kristian Rørdam, Danmarks Tilblivelse (1898) A wild danish forest, drawn in "skønvirke" style (Danish Arts and crafts : Art Nouveau, Jugend style").

In Britain the movement was called arts and craft.

"The Arts and Crafts style started as a search for aesthetic design and decoration and a reaction against the styles that were developed by machine-production. Arts and Crafts objects were simple in form, without superfluous decoration, and how they were constructed was often still visible. They tended to emphasize the qualities of the materials used ("truth to material"). They often had patterns inspired by  flora and fauna."
This goes for knitting, too.
The sock yarn is an ordinary solid blue, however the stitch pattern has 3D effect on the solid yarn color, reflects the light and makes it look like semisolid. And the knitted fabric becomes elastic and lofty.
Tendrils is a birthday present for my son, who appreciates a hand knit sock.

be fashioned as before

This rainy summer I have spent some quiet and rewarding hours in the reading room at our local State and University Library. I have borrowed old knitting books from 1845 and 1875 and really enjoy reading the patterns - like some people like to read food recipes and imagining flavor and taste without putting on weight. In this case I rest my arm.
The period, I am interested in is urban Victorian style, with its deep colors, tassels and fringes. The yarn, which is often mentioned in the books, is Zephyr wool in Danish, and found out that it is the same as Berlin wool used for embroidery.
Googling led to fly-fishing. The body of some very famous historic flies were tied with leftovers. Guess the salmons never had a chance. Thanks to Mr. William S. Bailey I now have access to colors and fibers, a 3 threads merino, in the adventurous, historic work of knitting.
And the colors are:

black - blue - brick red - green
light brown - magenta - olive - orange
purple - red - scarlet - yellow

I have written down a wonderful fringe pattern from 1845. I venture to translate it:

With Berlin wool held double and steel needles size 17
Cast on four stitches, knit back.
Set up row : yarn over 5 times, purl two together, yarn over twice, purl two together.
Row 1 : Yarn over, purl two together, slip loop, yarn over twice, purl two together, pull out the needle.
Row 2 : Yarn over 5 times, purl 2 together, slip loop, purl two together.
Repeat many times , bind off, and sew on.

This is what I have worked for meeee and myself:
I have finished the Coquille shawl, it is a bit sad, because I enjoyed every minute of knitting it. Here is my scarf for the winter.

the passionate sense

This summer has been very colorful. The hollyhocks flower and also the field bindweed.
And I just finished a shawl designed by Evelyn A Clark. In cashmere and silk.
I have worked several of her patterns : Swallowtail is gorgeous. This shoulderette is called Heartland Lace Shawl. It is a free pattern and I warmly recommend it. The Filatura Di Crosa Golden Superior only weighs 25 g and runs 300 m. The thread is not a springy type and I gave the spine a little extra attention. I do not like when the middle stitch is stretched too much, so I worked the middle stitch like this:
Wrong side: increase:kfb
Right side : decrease: ssk
Unfortunately I ran out of yarn, had to skip 10 rows and missed the beautiful edging called The River of Life.
On my needles is Mary Lou Egan´s lovely flutter shawl called Coquille. A new Knitty hit. And a free pattern, too.
The Lorna's Lace Shepherd Worsted is my absolute favorite wool. The name of the color is Cranberry but I think that it it is closer to the color of raspberries I picked the other day.

Shawl 1845

The shawl from 1845 is done, and blocking.
I have weaved in ends but will wait to cut them until it is completely dry. Whenever I work these old patterns I sit and memorize what I know about the period. The author of the pattern was a head principal and perhaps she has used this pattern for her pupils. It is an easy and fun knit and the colors and symmetry will appeal to girls. Even today. The colors are extremely bold. However, people at that time really loved the new chemical colors that did not fade like the old ones. From a book about Van Gogh I have taken some funny photos to remind me how extreme the paintings were at that time.

Van Gogh had a Japanese lacquered box in which wools were kept.
He used to make up combinations of complementary colors.
I recommend this pattern for people who work at open air museums in the period 1845- 90. It is an easy way to dress up for an original urban Victorian outfit.

garish birds

My current project is another historic shawl. I found the pattern in a book, written by a head principal from Elsinore. In 1845. You cast on 180 cm of stitches and decrease one stitch at the sides and two in the middle. Every other row. Stitch pattern is garter.
For me the interesting part of working this shawl is the search for the original materials and trying to find stuff similar.
The pattern calls for "4- threads Berliner-Zephyr" and after a serious googling I learned that it is embroidery wool. A merino wool from Gotha, dyed in Berlin. Actually it was extremely popular to work Berlin Wool Work, which was cross stitch on hand painted canvasses. The colors were garish. It was the time chemical dying took over. And the rich middle classes just could not get enough. The Berlin Wool Work were used for chair seats, pillows, bell pulls etc. in the Victorian homes all over. And apparently also for knitting.
It must have been extremely expensive to buy yarn for this shawl. The pattern suggests fringes, as well. The colors are for the border, black alternating with six different shades of purple red. From dark to light. And back.
The bottom is worked in two shades of gray.
I only use DMC embroidery wool for the red colors which means that I bought 6 X 6 skeins at 8 m each. For the black and gray wool I chose Sandnes Smart which is a 4- thread wool, as well.
The embroidery wool is very strong I simply cannot break it. However, the 8 meters run out for every 50 stitches and I simply tie it to the new thread using this knot suggested by Mrs. O.T in her book for knitting, published in 1924.
It is a very fun knit. The changing of the colors makes me go for "just one more row" I imagine the Berlin Roses when I see the colors mingle.
After studying photos of shawls from the late 1800 I am convinced that our wrong side was the right side for them. In that way the colors really mingles and creates thin black stripes.