THIS PATTERN HAS NOT BEEN TEST-CROCHETED BY ANYONE EXCEPT MYSELF.  WHEN YOU FIND AN ERROR, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.  THANKS!

worsted weight yarn: orange (100 grams made 3 hats, 1 of each size)

small amount green

4 (for newborn size leaf), 4.5 and 5 mm crochet hooks

SIZES: for S (0-3 months), start the EVEN ROUNDS after Round 5; M (3-6 months), after round 6; L (6-12 mo), after round 7. **for larger sizes, just do a round or two more of increase rounds, and extra rows even.

The sunny days  brought out the urge to go fishing, and see what I could catch..so I dug around in my workbasket and brought out some hooks…and soon you will see that I have hooked some very unusual, very colourful and most succulent fish!  The very first thing I did was to go fishing on the internet to find Mrs. T’s wonderful fish recipe, which you will find here.  I have wanted to try out her special fish recipe for a long, long time, since it first appeared in fact, but found that it was taking me a long, long time to make it–many months.  So I have come up with a way to make the fish a different way–with just one hook and a long yarn fishing line!  Mrs. T. has very graciously given me permission to share my hooked version of her very popular pattern, and as soon as I am able to get some nice pictures to share with you, I will post my pattern for the West Coast Fish Hat.

Wikipedia cites this as a popular mnemonic for remembering the colour sequence of rainbows: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet.  Furthermore, they inform that  “the colours of a secondary rainbow are inverted compared to the primary bow, with blue on the outside and red on the inside. The dark area of unlit sky lying between the primary and secondary bows is called Alexander’s band.”

Angora fleece

I recently saw a very vivid double rainbow, which inspired me to try to create the colours in yarn.  I chose some rabbit angora fleece that has been sitting in my stash for over a year.  I started with five ounces, and am not sure how much I will use for this project.  I am afraid I don’t weigh or measure–I just plunge my hand into the fluff, select what seems to be “the right amount”, and go from there!  I used some Club House Neon food colouring–which actually did not give me a red, but a pretty coral colour instead.  I did not mix colours; instead, while preparing the dyed fleece for spinning, I brushed two colours together into little rolags.  For this I use a small, $1 dog slicker brush from a local “dollar” store.

spinning equipment

I’m using a home-made spindle for this fly-away fleece, and seem to be getting 15-30 yards of each colour, spun into mini-skeins of two colour combinations:  i.e., yellow/coral blended, then yellow; yell0w/blue blended, then blue.  By keeping the skeins to two colours, I can choose which end to knit from, controlling the colour sequencing in the item.  After spinning some of each colour combination, I added white undyed fleece to the dyed, to lighten and soften the colours for the second rainbow!

Angora yarn in hanks

Just a few more colours in the lightened fleece to spin up, then I will have to decide on a pattern that suits this super-soft yarn!

Angora mini-skeins

Thank you, April, for this lovely, incredible angora fleece!  I know that after I knit with this yarn I will be addicted to bunny fibre–it is even softer than alpaca.

Taurus Shawl

Moni’s designs are so lovely, and it is really wonderful of her to celebrate her own birthday by sharing a mystery design–it was free for the duration of the KAL and afterwards will be available for sale, along with other patterns, in her online shop!

I used one  skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn my daughter bought me for MY birthday last summer–I’d been keeping it for something special, and Taurus shawl is it!  The finished shawl is about 60″ (150cm) wingspan by 24″ (60cm) deep, using 5mm needles.

Taurus Shawl

Now…to finish up some other works-in-progress before the Masked Ball begins!  On the list:

Vernal Equinox Surprise, Mystic Star, Springtime Swirl, and Wings of Horus……can I do it????

I think so…on Moni’s blog, she says it is about five weeks before the knitting  starts!

Now…out into the sunny garden to knit!

Their tuques are smaller and closer, and generally almost concealed by the fleecy folds of a ‘cloud’–that peculiarly Canadian wrap which, consisting of a fringed strip of  loosely knitted or woven thick soft wool nine feet long and eighteen inches wide, is both comfortable and becoming.

There is a pattern for a “Canadian Cloud” in the Lady’s Book of Knitting, on page 32–the link is to the whole pdf. of the book, at the Antique Pattern Library site, and may take a few minutes to load (be sure to check out all the antique pattern books in the “Catalog” tab on the right).  This book was published in 1886 in Boston, and I find it interesting that red and white were the colours chosen for this pattern, as those are the colours we associate with Canada today.  (This book has many other interesting patterns, too–I made the “Gentleman’s ribbed sock” on page 18 for my son-in-law in an alpaca/wool/nylon blend yarn).

There is another Cloud pattern on page 279 in “Little Wide-Awake” magazine (1881, London, ed. Mrs. Sale Barker).  This pattern uses two yarns in different colours, one finer than the other–I am testing the pattern with lace-weight wool yarn for the shetland, and double knitting weight wool for the ‘double berlin’; old UK size 1 needles are 7.5 mm on the needle chart I use from the Yarn and Fiber website.  There follow two lace patterns to use if only one colour of yarn is being used, “small spider net” and “another feather pattern”.  It does seem that the Clouds were knit with these large size needles–another Cloud pattern in “Best of Everything, by the author of Enquire Within”, Robert Kemp Philp, London, 1870, on page 235 (yet another online Google book), uses “very fine Lady Betty wool, or…shetland wool” with needles about a “third of an inch in diameter” which, on my ruler, is a 7.5 or 8mm needle).  This cloud is knit square, then folded in half to make a rectangle.

There is a pattern for a crocheted “Snow-flake cloud” on page 350-351 of Potter’s American Monthly (Volumes XIV and XV 1880, Philadelphia); this one is much shorter,  only three-quarters of a yard to  a yard and a quarter, i.e. 27-45 inches) and seems to be worn just as a head-covering, not wrapped around the neck.  While it may be made all in white wool, “a charming variation, however, is to make the foundation of white wool, and the chain-work overlying it of some contrasting color.  Black or purple over white is used for persons in mourning, or elderly ladies; blue or pink for others.  Scarlet is admired by many, but the effect is almost too vivid for any one except a very young girl.” !!!!!!!

Searching on Google full-text books brought up other references to the Cloud, too–a couple are In Her Earliest Youth, a Novel, by ‘Tasma’ (p 83-85; by Mrs Jessie Catherine Huybers Couvreur; New York, 1890); and Rose and Lavender, by the author of “Miss Toosey’s Mission,” “Laddie,” “Tip Cat,” etc. (p 218; by Evelyn Whitaker; Boston, 1891).  It was common for women to publish their books anonymously, and in Mrs. Whitaker’s case her identity was not revealed until after her death, according to Wikipedia’s entry about her.  It also states that she made frequent use of the language of flowers,  popular in Victorian times–the Antique Pattern Library has an interesting little book about this topic, published in 1844, listed under Edgarton, Miss S.C. The Flower Vase; Containing The Language of Flowers and Their Poetic Sentiments.

]]> http://westcoastsupernatural.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/the-canadian-cloud/feed/ 3 westcoastsupernatural http://westcoastsupernatural.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/vintage-cloud-or-cache-nez-pattern/ http://westcoastsupernatural.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/vintage-cloud-or-cache-nez-pattern/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:08:32 +0000 Westcoast: Super, Natural http://westcoastsupernatural.wordpress.com/?p=248 Continue reading →]]>

I decided to knit useful items instead of swatches to test vintage patterns; this kitchen towel was made to test the pattern on page 180-181 in The Young Lady’s Book: A Manual of Amusements, Exercises, Studies, and Pursuits, edited by Mrs. Henry (Matilda Anne Planche) Mackarness; published 1888 in London, available online through Google’s book search.  It is a pattern for a cloud, or cache-nez–a wide scarf, or stole, as Sarah Bradberry’s Knitting-and.com site explains (be prepared to spend some time browsing, if you haven’t been there already!).

This is an interesting stitch that I am not familiar with. I only did three pattern repeats, before switching to plain stockinette as the main towel component. The edging that I put on the bottom of my towel is added along cast-on and cast-off edges of the cloud, or stole as we would call it today.
It would be a great scarf or stole–you knit it long ways, casting on 334 stitches, and knit in pattern for 18”; the pattern is only a four row repeat, and three of those rows are plain knitting (i.e. garter st) so it would go quickly. It might be a bit boring–but easy to remember, a great almost-mindless take-along project where you don’t want sheets of lace charts to keep track of.

The Young Lady’s Book is interesting to browse through:  for instance, besides a few knitting patterns, there are many recipes, and household tips–such as, on page 34, using newspaper to clean glass; this is how my mother always cleaned her windows, except she added a splash of white vinegar instead of plain water as The Young Lady’s Book suggests.  There are outdoor and indoor games and activities (including woodcarving, carving cameos on shells, and–for older girls–”Dumb Crambo”, on page 281, a charades game in which one group thinks of a verb, the other must act out what they think it is) and a chapter on “Conversation” beginning on page 120 in which she condemns the use of slang: citing words such as

“awfully” (excessively) pretty, merry, or agreeable.

“cheeky”, impertinent, bold.

When you go hunting for knitting patterns on the internet, you just never know what you will find, or where you will get sidetracked to…It can give us great insight into the daily lives of those who actually filled their spare time and had fun without the benefit of electric appliances, chemical cleaners, video games, movies…and, of course, the internet!

I actually only completed part of Clue 4, (8 instead of 64 rows) because I used a fairly hefty yarn with a 5mm hook–the finished size is about 30″ deep and 102″ bottom width.  It really reminds me of the Victorian capes that were very popular.  (There are some excellent examples of vintage patterns here , just scroll down.)  I think the Clue 4 pattern I chose provides a really open, lacy edging as it is! 

I think I am probably influenced in my delight over this pattern because the third thing I ever knit, in the mid-1970′s, was a cabled Aran cape made with yarn my mother spun from the wool of our own two sheep–Suffolk wethers named Snoopy and Wimpy.   The first thing I ever knit was a doll sweater, when I was six–with a huge amount of “help” from my mother, who had suggested a blanket would be better to make first.  After that, I learned to crochet and never knit again until I was 16, when I made myself a poncho out of dark green and light green Pop-N-Yarn.  Much to my astonishment, I recently saw Pop-n-Yarn at our local Safeway grocery store, a few weeks ago, and it brought back a wave of nostalgia for my fringed poncho–I almost bought some to knit another.

I’m kind of glad I crocheted this wool cape, instead!  I look forward to wearing it tomorrow after I go out to find just the right buttons for it! 

Browsing through posts and files, I discovered that group members host a “crochet-a-long” of one of the doilies available in the group files.  Not only that, but the one starting on the 16th is a large centrepiece that I had looked at on the old Celtwich site and flagged for a laceweight shawl project–”Design 7520 Pineapple Spider”!  The crochet “pineapples”  are a very popular crochet design element, but “spiders”?   I discovered that one of the patterns used in it is called the “spider stitch”.  This is a very old stitch pattern–the Antique Pattern Library has Adeline Cordet books scanned, published in 1912 and 1916 that include patterns using spider stitch.  The crocheted versions look very like the knitted spider stitches–there are some examples of these on Knitwiki … So I spent last night deciding what hook size to use to get the look and size I want the finished shawl to be.  I am using Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro (as I have it in my stash) and decided to use a 3 mm hook:  ten rounds are about 6″, measured from the centre to outer edge; there are 6o rounds; therefore, my finished shawl will hopefully be about 72″  diameter.  I don’t think there is as much “stretch” to crochet as there is to knitting, so it shouldn’t block out hopelessy larger than that!

UPDATE ON CROCHET-ALONG

The crochet-along has been changed to use a very similar and equally lovely design, in two sizes–but smaller than the one I swatched for.  Therefore, I have decided to crochet this DoilyShawl on my own–I love the look and feel of it so far in the Merino Oro–and the good news is I don’t have to wait for the CAL to start, I can just get going on it!

VÅRT LAND

(English translation of Finnish National Anthem) (Original written in Swedish)

by Johan Ludvig Runeberg

Our land, our land, our fatherland,

Let the dear words ring forth!

No hills to heaven their heights expand,

No valley dips, seas wash no strand,

More cherished than our home far north,

Than this our native land.

Our land is poor, it has no hold

On those who lust for gain,

And strangers pass it proud and cold,

But we, we treasure every grain,

For us, with moor and fell and main,

It is a land of gold.

Today is the birthday of  the poet who wrote the words to it, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, celebrated in part by eating his favourite delicacy,  Runeberg’s cupcakes, made for him by his wife  (there is a link to recipes in my post yesterday).