Wicked Woollens

Busy New Year

2012-01-23T20:38:00.000Z

I can't believe how long its been since I last updated this blog. In my defence, I've been busy on the Victorian Soap Project so most of my blogging energy has been going on that this month, but I haven't been idle on the textile front either.

I've been working on some commissions for various regiments, here's a ridle green Kilmarnock that I've just finished, it gave me a biit of a headache as I needed to colour match as closely as possible a sample of uniform fabric, and it took me a couple of goes to get the dye blend right. At one point it all went horribly wrong and I ended up with a pink hat, but we'll gloss over that and never speak of it again if you don't mind!

I'm currently working on a number of forage caps for another re-enactment regiment. Although some knitters find it boring to do the same pattern several times in quick succession, I don't mind it, there is something quite satisfying about seeing how similar I can get them all and I love getting photos of the chaps in their finery when the order goes off!

I've also started reformatting and uploading some of my historic hat patterns to work as a Kindle download. It seems that in this day and age I ought to be trying to keep up with the available technology, so we'll see how those go and with luck it won't be long before the entire series is available in that format.

I've got lots of plans for new patterns for this year, but untill someone finds me a few more hours in the day, they are having to wait for a quieter bit of the year. More soon, for now its back to my forage caps...

Green Man

2011-10-15T08:52:00.000+01:00

Ever since the Dwarven Battle Bonnet came out I've been wanting to do a Green Man bearded bonnet, and I'm delighted to announce that the pattern has finally gone live.

Its been designed so that the pattern as written will give you pretty much the green man pictured here, but like my other charater masks, the idea is that you give your imagination free rein and once the basic framework is in place, have fun adding additional leaves, berries, creatures or other embellishments.

I'm working on a 'Treebeard' Ent version as I type, same basic pattern, but with trailing branches and leaves rather than the more classic arrangement seen here. I'm having so much fun with this!

The pattern is available on my Ravelry page for $3, which is about £1.95 There is still time to knit him before Halloween/Samhain, just right for a seasonal stroll in the woods.

The Victorian Soap Project

2011-08-25T10:44:00.002+01:00

As many of you know, one of my main research interests is the investigation and reconstruction of early soap recipes, partly to record the facts for a book which will eventually get finished, but also so that I can put selected recipes back into production to allow re-enactors and other interested parties acess to soap which is made as closely as humanly possible to the original ingredients and methods, but which also complies with modern safety and quality standards.

This makes each bit of research quite expensive, so I'm trying out Crowdfunding for the current part, which is looking at Victorian gentlemen's shaving and toilet soaps.
Investors can put in as little as £1 and I have set up a system of rewards/repayments for larger amounts. If anyoen is interested, or knows anyone who may wish to assist with this project, the Crowdfunder page is here: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/investment/the-victorian-shaving-soap-project-370

Please help me spread the word about this, its not a huge sum as research projects go, but I need to raise the money to cover the certifying chemist's fees and some additional research material and ingredients to allow me to get this stage of the Historic Soap project up and running.
Thank you!

Tough Love Spiked Wristlets

2011-08-17T15:56:00.003+01:00

I'm slightly embarrassed at how long its been since I last updated this blog, in my defence its been a very busy summer. I've been very lucky to have had a good number of hat commissions through, but I've also found time to work on some new designs.

Here is the latest one. This is 'Tough Love', and its a remarkably simple to work wristlet in sock yarn. The soft spikes lend themselves well to the use of shaded or variagated yarns, and it may be embellished with beads for a bit of extra sparkle at endges and on the spikes. One wristlet should take about 18-20g of sock yarn, so its a good way to use up leftovers from a sock project.

As with all my patterns, its available through Ravelry, and this one costs just $3

a Romano-British weekend

2011-07-03T18:51:00.008+01:00

We've just rolled in from a very pleasant weekend at the Roman Legionary Museum in Caerleon doing various Romano-British things as part of a Roman gladiators weekend. The weather was spectactularly hot, so lovely in many respects, but I must confess to feeling a bit pink round the edges now.

Still, it was perfect dyeing weather, so lots of fleece and yarn got turned into various pretty colours, and as always the woad bath was a huge hit, people love seeing the colour oxidize from yellow through green to blue as the air hits the wet skein, and I did the other classic dyes weld and madder to round out the basic palette.
Gareth worked on some repousse projects (I know there should be an accent in there, I can't work out how to do it sorry!), he had loads of small apprentices, lured to the punches and hammers and raring to wallop pieces of metal for as long as he could cope with them.Annoyingly I haven't got a picture of his finished items, but will try to update this post later, suffice to say, my shield is looking shinier than ever with two new repousse decorations :)

One last picture, the gardens at the museum are looking wonderful at the moment, really evokes the right feel, and I couldnt resist getting a photo with them as a backdrop.

Woad dyed yarns and some caps

2011-06-20T09:21:00.005+01:00

I've been doing a bit of woad dyeing this last week and have been particularly pleased with the results. In this instance I started with woad powder as I have no woad in the garden currently, but otherwise the method is much the same as if you were starting with woad 'tea'.

Two loads of yarn later, here's the results. The yarn on the left is a naturally very pale grey which came out beautifully slate blue with the woad, and on the right the larger skein was a natural creamy white wool that has taken the colour very evenly and is a glorious glowing blue.

I couldn't resist knitting some up right away, the two Monmouth 'labourer's caps' here are in the natural pale grey and the slatey blue, and have been through a hot wash to full them, which is always a good way to check that your dye is stable on the fibre :)

Knitting for a Regiment

2011-06-11T10:13:00.003+01:00

This week I have mostly been knitting Kilmarnock bonnets, with the help of my ever long-suffering mother (thanks mum!) who did the knitting on two of them, we managed to get an order for six bonnets finished in time for them to go to their regiment to wear at the Waterloo re-enactment next weekend.

Here they are drying on my garden steps, they just need one last steam blocking, and they will go in the post first thing on monday morning.

Tudor Felting, Fulling, Spinning and Knitting

2011-05-09T17:01:00.007+01:00

Gareth and I spent saturday at a very enjoyable Elizabethan revel in Guisborough (North Yorkshire) held to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the local college. We took some of our goodies along to trade, but mostly we were there to demonstrate various Tudor fibre arts.

Gareth spent his time working on felting and fulling:

I did some spinning and knitting, working on a stocking on fine wires and a hat on heavier wooden needles, with comparison needles in bone available for inspection. I didnt get any pictures of me at Guisborough, but this one was taken the week before at St Fagans, spinning outside a cottage built in 1544. I'm looking a bit pale and puffy in the pic, sorry about that, was in the process of going down with a mild lurgy of some sort.
All in all its been a very busy and enjoyable couple of weeks, we've met loads of lovely people and had some wonderful conversations about life in Tudor times. I've come home to lots of stocking orders, so that should keep me out of mischief for the rest of this week.

Alternative Corsetry and Crafts Weekend

2011-04-14T08:16:00.002+01:00

It gives me great pleasure to advertise this UK based creative weekend, these courses are run by a friend of mine and I'll be there helping out with projects and techniques.

11/12 June 2011
Alternative Corsetry and Crafts Weekend

Need room to work on your latest project?
Fed up with crawling round on the living room floor to cut out large pieces of fabric and wish you had access to a really large table or a vast amount of floorspace to lay things out on? We have a whole barn to use to set out big projects.
Want to learn simple embellishment techniques for costume and jewellery?
Fancy getting to grips with the history and mysteries of corsetry?
Need access to a sewing machine, overlocker or knitting machine for a couple of days? Want a hand from experienced seamstresses to finish a project?
Want to try silk painting, feltmaking, have a go with a Victorian sock machine, or just enjoy browsing our extensive library of costuming books?

Come along to our alternative making and modifying weekend and have a great time getting on with your existing projects or trying some new techniques.

All food and accommodation (camping barn or bring your own tent) included, expect good farmhouse cooking, plenty of homemade cake, and cosy evenings round the woodburning stove (feel free to bring your own alcoholic drinks, endless tea, coffee and herb teas provided).
Price just £85 per person (arrive from friday evening, depart sunday late afternoon)

Located on a beautiful Welsh smallholding in Carmarthen, easy to reach by road, rail or bus
To book, visit www.cwmoernantfarm.co.uk
This will be a very relaxed and friendly weekend, catering for everyone from 'make do and mend' vintage fashion interests through historical costuming, steampunk or alternative streetwear.

The same site is also running several excellent value Fibre Retreats this year, aimed at those who want to get away from it all for a few days and be marvellously fed whilst working on their spinning, knitting, crochet or dyeing (or any other textile based craft) projects.

It would be lovely to see a few of you there!

Kilmarnock and Hummel Bonnets

2011-04-05T16:02:00.007+01:00

I've always got several 'new' hat projects on the drawing board, in some cases spending months or years looking at surviving portraits and where possible extant examples whilst working up numerous test versions in order to work out a pattern that I feel gives an appropriate interpretation of a historic style. A recent request from a re-enactment regiment encouraged me to get a move on with a couple of styles I'd been looking at for the last year or so, and get them polished up into a functional hat.

Here are my latest two projects, I've been working on Kilmarnock and Hummel Bonnets for Napoleonic period Highland Regiments, and I think I've got these just about right now. The plain blue Kilmarnock bonnet pictured below is a little shorter than most of the ones I've been working on, they usually need to be about 6inches tall, (but I rather like the shape of the shorter version as well, and its a better picture than my taller ones, hence its inclusion here.)

There are some great portraits that survive showing Hummel caps in wear, I found this collection particularly interesting, note how variable the size and number of the dice (checks) round the hat are? http://www.74thhighlandregiment.com/uniform_study.html There are also surviving Hummel bonnets in several museum collections, so I was able to balance portrait and physical evidence when coming up with my version.

I never consider any of my patterns to be a final version, there is always the chance that I'll get to examine a 'new' extant hat in a museum collection or will see a portrait that I havent seen before, or in the case of military headgear, be directed to a set of regulations and supply guidelines that will help me make small modifications to continually increase accuracy and appropriateness for use in historic impressions today.

I gather that Deb Pulliam did an article on Hummel bonnets for Piecework a few years ago, but I havent yet been able to track down a copy, will be interesting to see if she has any additional details that will help me polish my versin even further. Will update in due course if I ever manage to get hold of a copy to have a look at.

In the meantime, if you know anyone that might be in the market for a new bonnet, point them at the shop site (www.sallypointer.com/shop)

'Templar' style headdress

2011-03-07T16:38:00.003Z

Gareth and I have just finished this headdress and thought we'd show it off. The Templars and circlet are in hand forged and drawn brass and bronze wirework, and the goffred veil is in linen. I suspect ideally the veil needs remaking in a finer weight of linen, but overall we're really pleased with this as a first run at this type of headdress.

There does seem to be a few different things that this style of headdress can get called, so if anyone has any good evidence for it being called other than 'templars/templettes' please shout. This one is based on evidence from a number of effigies and church brasses dated from the 1360-s to about 1415. To the best of my knowledge there are no currently known surviving physical examples of these, again, would love to be pointed at them if anyone knows otherwise.

Dwarven Battle Bonnet- variations

2011-02-18T11:20:00.003Z

When I brought out the Dwarven Battle Bonnet pattern a couple of years ago I had no idea it was going to appeal to as many people as it has. Clearly its not just me that firmly believes that everyone needs a silly hat in their lives.

One of the really great things about having the pattern out there being made by all sorts of people is seeing the variations on the basic pattern that people come up with, and it is a pattern that lends itself well to being modified slightly to create different character looks.

For example, here's one I made for a client last week, its got a spangenhelm/spectacle helm variation made simply by adding extra strips to frame the eye area, and 'rivets' added to the helmet by knitting a basic bobble at intervals, and hey presto, a completely different look for not much more effort.
If you have a look over on Ravelry at the projects page for this pattern, you'll see variations with horns on the helmet, different beard treatments, all sorts of different yarn choices, and lots and lots of really fantastic photos of people in their battle bonnets. I love creating hat patterns :)

If you fancy trying it out yourself, the pattern can be bought via Ravelry for just $3.00

General Carleton of Whitby Hat

2011-02-05T22:16:00.006Z

Every now and then I get a chance to make a historic hat that is glorious in its slight daftness. The cap from the ''General Carleton of Whitby' (sunk 1785) is just such a hat, its nigh on as close as you can get to a bobble hat in re-enactment

The original is very faded, so the use of the madder stripe is my interpretation- it may have been another colour, but I'm generally pleased with the overall effect. Three shades of undyed wool and some madder dyed, very very lightly fulled, just enough to allow the thrums to settle into the form seen in the original, without any fulling at all they look too fluffy and odd. Based on examination of photos, sadly I didnt get a chance to see the original whilst it was in Whitby last year.

I did have a quick look at the pattern offered in 'the Yorkshire Mary Rose' by Eleanor Clapp when I was first planning this hat a few months back, but a few details in her version seemed at odds with what I felt I was observing in the photographs, so I worked this one based on stitch numbers and structures I could count on the various published images of the hat. I'm not for one moment saying her pattern is necessarily off, just that without the benefit of seeing the original hat in the flesh I chose to work with what I could explain with the information available to me. On the whole I'm very happy with this as a first work up of the hat and hope very much to have a chance to develop my interpretation as I come across more details of this hugely entertaining hat.

Original hat here: http://freespace.virgin.net/suesteph.ba ... %20hat.jpg
My version here:

Forever Autumn

2010-11-18T18:27:00.003Z

I've been a bit quiet recently, mostly because I have been working on these new socks! May I present my latest pattern, Forever Autumn festures richly textured oakleaves and cables, just perfect for kicking through the woods whatever the time of year.

This pattern is being hosted by KnitPicks and can be downloaded from their website or from Ravelry, either way its a bargain at just $1.99. I hope a few of you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed working on it.

A hat for an Archchancellor

2010-10-14T15:36:00.003+01:00

I'd recently been asked to make a hat suitable for the Archchancellor of Unseen University, and this is it!
The hat is a blend of wine and claret merino, with a band of shot velvet trimmed with 'vermine' (actually 1940s vintage salvaged mink from an old stole) and then sprinkled with vintage glass beads and silver set jewels.
Hope they like it! I'm rather pleased with it I must say.

Holly Leaves & Berries

2010-09-18T17:47:00.003+01:00

A couple of years ago I worked up a pattern for a cloche hat trimmed with textural holly leaves and berries . The hat itself is nice enough, but I kept getting requests just for the holly leaves and berries as a stand alone pattern.

Here it is, available through Ravelry as a downloadable pdf and just $1.99, and in perfect time for the winter season, these little leaves and berries work up fast using just a few yards of yarn and are perfect for trimming garments, presents or jewellery. I quite fancy making a whole holly wreath for the front door with these.

Festival in the Shire

2010-08-19T08:29:00.009+01:00

We're back from the Festival in the Shire, and it turned out to be an interesting event. The organisers clearly had some teething problems with the arrangements, and the whole thing was rather quieter than we'd hoped for, but everyone we met was lovely and a few people bought pretties from the stall, and we had good friends to camp with, so overall a good time was had.
Quick pic of the stall, taken on my phone so not the greatest image I'm afraid:The cloaks with applique detail went down particularly well, I enjoyed making those and think I'll do more in due course. Started off with a bale of undyed wool cloth which I fulled and dyed before adding a bias edge and a wool applique detailing to the back:Gareth's new jewellery was the real star of the show though, we've just had his hallmarking punch set up so we can now have his silver all stamped officially by the assay office, and it all looked wonderful. This is a dreadful picture though, I must learn to take good pictures of shiny objects.

Anyway, this week I am working on silk stockings, a Victorian bonnet, and must start uploading the items that came back from the show onto the shop site. All this and I go off to the very wonderful Cwmoernant Farm tomorrow for the fibre retreat, I'm so excited!

Of Books and Battle Bonnets

2010-07-27T17:59:00.004+01:00

Been a busy week so far. I'm still frantically making things for my stall at the Tolkien Festival in a few weeks, and am hoping these will work well with my other items.

Been doing some bookbinding, its a bit on the rustic side, but I like the finished effect. The pages are 130gsm artists cartridge paper, hand sewn into books then bound in leather or in the case of the smaller ones, in polished walnut boards. The inside is finished with mulberry paper and skeleton leaves..
I've also made another Dwarven Battle Bonnet, this one with a few small modifications to the overall pattern, such as the tassel on top. The pattern is still available if anyone fancies making one of their own.

Elf warrior helmet

2010-07-15T08:45:00.002+01:00

I was making some felt Gandalf hats yesterday, mostly with the Festival in the Shire in mind, and thought I'd indulge myself by making something suitable for an elvish warrior whilst I was at it. This is the result. I'm considering dyeing it a bluey-grey or a greeny-grey then adding embroidered highlights before stiffening and blocking the whole thing to make it even more architectural, but I think its rather fun.

Regency Reticules and Silk Purses

2010-07-14T18:14:00.005+01:00

This week I have been mostly working in silk. I'm stocking up for a number of shows including the Festival in the Shire next month, and I want to be able to take a mix of historic and rather luxurious historically inspired work with me as well as the pointy hats and Dwarven Battle Bonnets.

So, here's the current stock of silk purses, one lot Regency style reticules, the other of little tassled purses with fingerloop braid strings inspired by knitted relic pouches.

I do love working in silk, the colours are so jewel bright and the finished textures are so luscious!

All hail the Goblin King!

2010-06-27T12:14:00.003+01:00

Its been a busy and rather warm few weeks here, and we've been rather tied up with a series of small business courses, so knitting has been taking rather a back seat but I must share this commission with you.

I have a very tall client who needs thigh high stockings to work with various sets of costume, and this time he asked for hooped/striped stockings in red and white. These are a little bit fiddlier to make than my usual plain hose, so it did take me a small while to do, and I was very cross with myself for inadvertantly shrinking the first pair when I washed them to get the dressings out of the yarn, but hey, that just means I'm ahead with the felted Christmas stockings for this year.

Anyway, after a bit of grumbling about the shrunk pair, I got on with remaking the hose this week, and because I was a little bit worried about the proportions I persuaded Gareth, my ever long-suffering model, to try them on for me this morning before I packed them up for the post.

Gareth is 6ft6 and a couple of shoe sizes larger than the end wearer of these stockings, but I thought the picture was so funny I had to share it. It reminds me of comedy goblin outfits :) At least with his utilikilt on I didnt have to make him stand there in his undies for the photo!

An Edwardian Weekend

2010-06-01T12:34:00.002+01:00

I spent the weekend at Cosmeston at the Multi-period event with my stall and sock machine, so of course I had to dress to reflect the age of the csm. I love the Edwardian style, but I must confess its not really all that easy to stay calm and unflustered in hot weather under a hat with an excessive flower arrangement on it whilst wearing a corset! Still, I had lots of little helpers who all wanted to help crank the machine, and managed to make quite a number of pairs fo socks and also some silk reticules.

Silk Regency Reticule

2010-05-05T15:13:00.002+01:00

I've been making some more silk Regency style reticules today, and was particularly happy with this one.

Its in a heavyweight pure silk yarn, with a picot edge and striped in colours that reflect the fondness for pineapples at this period. I'm planning on doing some properly spiky pineapple reticules soon, but for the moment, this gives a good look and is a nice cheerful little bag. the colours have come out a bit washed out in the picture, they are a better mix in real life.

Flower Fairy Hat

2010-05-04T18:37:00.003+01:00

I posted last week about the Belladonna Mitts that are newly out at Knitpicks, I also have taken the opportunity to completely rewrite the Flower Fairy Hat. This version is sized for both adult and child wearers, and has new charts and layouts to make everything nice and clear and easy to follow.
Find this cap pattern at Knitpicks for $1.99

Its a fun little cap, pretty and lacy, but easy to knit and it really flattering on a wide range of ages and face shapes.

Belladonna Fingerless Gloves

2010-04-27T13:53:00.002+01:00

I have a new pattern out! This one is a Victorianesque fingerless glove that I designed to work well with some Steampunk style costume I'm working on. Saying that, my mother in law has asked for a pair, so they arent too outrageous for any age.

The gloves are worked in two stages, the cuff is knit flat, then stitches picked up around the edge and the rest worked in the round. All in sock weight yarn so there are loads of potential textures and shades to choose from.
This is also the first pattern I've released through the Knit Picks Independant Designer Programme, so this one is available direct from their site for just $1.99 which makes it an absolute bargain. I do hope it appeals to some of you.

Wonderwool

2010-04-27T09:02:00.003+01:00

Well, I think I've recovered from Wonderwool! I was sharing a stall with the very talented Rag Rug artist Jenni Stuart Anderson, and between us we had a steady stream of visitors all weekend coming to chat and have a look at all the goodies.

Its such a nice show to be at, I always find it a real pleasure to see what everyone has been working on over the winter, and of course have a good look at all the wonderful fibre and yarn and equipment. Iwas very good though, I only bought some blankets (it was perishing cold sleeping in the back of the van on the first night) and managed to barter some soap for fibre from Freyalyn, so I came back feeling I'd had a shopping spree even though I didnt part with much money.

I finished at the museum last week as well, so I'm now completely self employed. I have a busy week ahead now, but next week I'm hoping to start overhauling the website and shop, I have all sorts of things to put in the shop that arent currently there, and the website itself needs a complete facelift.

A bit of news

2010-04-02T13:39:00.002+01:00

I've been a bit quiet recently, but I have some exciting news. In three weeks time I'll be leaving my current job at the museum where I have been for ten years, and will be entirely freelance. This is of course equally exciting and scary at the same time, but I'm really looking forwards to having more time to work on projects, design new patterns and do a lot more teaching. I have several research projects that have been on the back burner for a couple of years now, and it will be so nice to be able to concentrate on those again.

I'm going to be helping out and teaching at several fibre retreats and textile workshops at Cwmoernant Farm in Carmarthen again this year, do have a look at their list of events, they are marvellous value in lovely surroundings with fabulous food and friendly people, would be wonderful to see a few of you there.
www.cwmoernantfarm.co.uk/courses

New way to see all my patterns

2010-02-12T17:35:00.003Z

I've made my patterns both free and for sale available through Ravelry for some time now, but previously there wasnt an easy way to show non-Ravelry members the whole list in one easy way. Fortunately a new tweak has just been added to the site which will take you right to the pattern overview, so if you were curious to see all my current designs in one place, you now can.
Hooray!
http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sally-pointer--wicked-woollens

In other news I was delighted to recently sponser a knitting event at the Rijksmuseum at which over a hundred knitters attended a series of talks on the Dutch whaler's caps and had the opportunity to work from the pattern I devised that draws on this eveidence. Anyone still looking for a copy of the pattern, it's the Voyageur cap available from the link above. I've been thrilled to see the different interpretations of the pattern appear as hte knitters finish them.

I'm busy working on several new patterns at the moment, two new Historic ones, a Scots Bonnet and my version of the 'Prince Arthur Tudor' cap, and in modern designs a new fingerless glove with a pretty lacy edge and a complete rework of the Flower Fairy Cap. I'll post here when they are ready for action.

Forester

2010-01-09T12:25:00.004Z

I'm really excited with this one, my latest pattern has just gone live and is a hat that combines leafy forms and cables. I'm particularly pleased with the way the crown came out. I always love hats where the design follows right through to the last possible stitch, and the floral/star effect at the crown was an extra bonus.

I must also share with you this absolutely gorgeous version in red made by one of my test knitters, I love the contrast to the white version I worked mine up in.
Should you wish to try this pattern out for yourself, it can be downloaded from Ravelry for $4 and requires 3mm needles for the cuff and 3.5mm for the body. The hat is worked in dk or sport weight yarn.

Snow and staying cosy

2010-01-06T13:48:00.003Z

Happy New Year everyone, seems ages since I last updated the blog. The weather has been very snowy here, which has made getting to work a problem on a couple of occasions, but on the plus side we've had a chance to seriously test drive some of our warmest hats.

The Voyageur pattern (available through Ravelry for $4) has been particularly popular this winter, possibly assisted by the snowy weather! There is no doubt that having two layers of nice thick fulled wool over your ears is a great comfort when its sub zero and windy out. Here's a recent picture of Gareth in one of the Voyageur hats I've made over the last few weeeks.
I've also found some time for some designing, watch out for a new hat coming in the next few days, its been out for pattern testing and I'm really pleased with it.

Today though, once I've finished some work for the day job, I'm going to dye some fibre for the next round of Fibreholics boxes, and then curl up and work on a pair of super warm slipper socks that I'm designing as I knit.

Broad Brimmed 'Monmouth' Caps

2009-12-14T12:59:00.003Z

There has been a fair bit of debate in recent years as to whether the broad brimmed, heavy knitted cap popular from the late sixteenth century through early eighteenth century is more accurately described as a Monmouth Cap than the cap we are all familiar with. Not that there is anything wrong with the cap on display in the Neslon Museum in Monmouth, its accepted to be of the right date and to reflect a widespread style, and the excellent article about it by Kirstie Buckland remains one of the best articles about capping practices available-, its just getting it to match up with the written descriptions of Monmouth caps does show up a couple of possible issues, chief of which is that Monmouth Caps mentioned in the literature are typically about a pound in weight, something thats nigh on impossible to achieve when replicating the one from the museum.

As a result, there seems to be some good reasons to think that the broad brimmed version might be a challenger for this name, and the museum one might be better renamed the Monmouth Labourer's Cap. There is a very handy booklet available that goes into the current arguments for and against in the form of Monmouths and Monteroes. A confusion of caps. by Robert Morris available from Stuart Press.

Even more confusingly, for years, I and many other re-enactors and 'historic knitters' have tended to refer to this broad brimmed style as a 'Peter the Great' hat, after a famous surviving example in the Hermitage collection. Muddling, isnt it?

Whatever we end up calling it, and its entirely possible it will take a while for a generic name to settle on it, I've been working on different ways to reconstruct a plausible pattern of this very warm and useful hat, and here's the result that I feel gives the best result:

This is it before fulling, and here it is after fulling and modelled by my trusty (and long suffering, this photo was taken when the hat was still wet on a rather chilly afternoon) stunt head, Gareth:

its now available as part of my range of historic hat patterns, all of which come with a brief discussion of the style and footnotes to provide references to supporting information, either in hardcopy through the shop at www.sallypointer.com/shop (£2.50) or as a Ravelry Download ($4).

Acorn Purse and a Sally-Cosy

2009-10-10T20:36:00.005+01:00

I've been away for a week on the annual family holiday, which in this case means me, himself, my parents, my brother and his wife, himself's mum and her dog, all in a cottage in Devon indulging in far too much food and plonk, interspersed with long walks and a bit of knitting.

Whilst we were away, I finished writing up the pattern for my Acorn Purse, which is now available through Ravelry like most of my patterns. (link goes to the 'buy' page, its $3 should anyone fancy trying it out)

I also finished a little handspun shawl that I'd been working on, this started off as one ply of assorted green shades, and one ply of a brown and white undyed 'humbug' fleece, the finished shawl is just big enough to cover my back and shoulders without trailing over my arms, and has already proven useful on a couple of cool evenings.

The green is a bit more saturated in real life, I think my camera is starting to show its age and it isnt capturing colour very well these days.

Came home to a handful of hat orders and a nagging awareness that its only a couple of weeks until the International Living History Fair, at which I trade and for which I really need to crack on and make some stock, then a few weeks later we're taking the Plague Rat stall to the Supreme Show. All this and a banquet and a bit of media work to fit in as well, plus the day job. Oh well, better to be busy than bored, whatever the occasion.

Dutch Sailor's Cap

2009-09-02T20:57:00.005+01:00

In my last post I was working on the Machault cap, and I've been continuing my research by working up another double cap based on extant examples, this time a rather wonderfully variagated blue and white cap in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, dated to between 1650-1800.

The original is a relatively rare example of early variagated yarn, I’m quite pleased that my yarn mimics the original reasonably well. The Rijksmuseum has a fantastic collection of historic knitted caps, many of them from the whaler's graves at Spitsbergen, and I'm pleased with how this came out. I'm now itching to work on several other striped hats from the same source.

I've just about got this pattern ready now, it will be available any moment now over on Ravelry and in due course as a hard copy booklet in the shop, like all my historic range of patterns well supported with references and a discussion of this style of cap.

Machault Cap/Voyageur Tuque

2009-08-23T18:35:00.004+01:00

I was recently asked to do some research into the construction of double knit sailors caps/voyageur caps/tuques (lots of names depending on who you are and what you are representing), and this is the result. It combines information from extant caps both in Holland and in Canada, with most of the detailing in this instance being from the Machault cap, right down to the little 'ear dents' that are a feature of this cap but which rarely show up in reconstructed versions..

It starts out as a very long seamlessly knitted 'flat rugby ball' shape, which is then heavily fulled to give this result:

I'm not entirely sure yet if these will make it into my regular 'off the peg' range for the simple reason that being double caps thay take an absolute age to knit, but I think I will be writing up the pattern, with extensive notes and reference material for my range of historic patterns.

I'm pleased with it, and will be continuing the research with a reconstruction of the tie dyed indigo and white double knit Whalers Cap from the Rijksmuseum.

Tudor Caps and Pixie Hats

2009-08-22T20:42:00.004+01:00

I was convinced I had already blogged about this, but clearly my mind is going mushy and I hadn't. Anyway, after several people very gently prodding me over quite a few years, I've finally put my method for making a Tudor Cap down into pattern format. All my historic patterns come with a short overview of the style to allow for informed costuming choices, and its available either in hardcopy from my shop at www.sallypointer.com/shop, or as a Ravelry Download for $4.00.

My other recent pattern is a reworking of an old favourite. For a number of years now I've sold full kits for my Pixie Hats, but its now also available just as a pattern, again via Ravelry. This one priced $3, its a very quick knit in aran weight yarn on 5mm needles and is fulled for a perfect fit.

And it doesn't stop there, I'm currently finalising some research into Voyageur caps, tuques and double knit sailors caps, and hope to have the next addition to my historic pattern range out soon, that should be accompanied by a similarly documentations supported pattern for Thrum caps.

Dyeing at the Celtic Village

2009-07-30T12:34:00.002+01:00

Last weekend I spent a couple of days at the Celtic Village at St Fagans National History Museum just outside Cardiff. The occasion was the Festival of Archaeology, and I was there demonstrating the basics of natural dyes during the Romano British period, and Gareth was working on reconstructions of a couple of bone flutes in the museum's collections.

As is often the case with such events, I only managed to get one general picture, of a very rainy village, but there are a few more pictures of us and the results of the day's experiments on the museum blog here.

A hat for a forest setting

2009-07-29T11:23:00.007+01:00

Every now and then I get a commission that is nothing less than a joy from start to finish. Recently, I was sent this picture, and asked to interpret it in a pointy hat:This looks very much like a place near here that Gareth and I camp in occasionally, so much so that I can smell the woods just looking at this image, and I knew just how I wanted to make the hat, graduated from deepest mottled green to the lightest sunkissed pale new leaf shades, my only concern was whether I could do justice to the image in my mind.

I started out by laying several layers of the darkest green, its not far off black, really deep, rich, leafmould shades, that would form the inside of the hat and help make the brighter greens contrast well. Overlaying that, I staggered many different shades of green, this picture is of the final layer before I started felting and shaping:
After several hours of felting and a quick swim in the washing machine to harden up the felt, it was ready to block, and around an hour of bullying it into shape gave me this:and I've just done the final steam blocking- this is the result, and I have to say I'm really really pleased with it.The shades look a little acid in this photo- my camera isnt very good on colours sadly, you need to imagine this a bit richer and deeper all over- the splodges in the brim are much more subtle in reality, but hopefully it gives the idea. Just hope the recipent is pleased with it.

Whirligig pattern now available

2009-07-27T10:45:00.002+01:00

With thanks to my testknitters, the Whirligig pattern is now available in my Ravelry shop.
Priced at $3, it should be a one skein wonder for most dk yarns coming in at about 45g/120yards

Whirligig

2009-07-19T08:47:00.002+01:00

I tend to make a lot of historical hats, and I really enjoy doing them, the combination of the research to make sure my interpretation is a close as possible to the evidence and working with traditional yarns really appeals to me. However, I do find this comes with a trade-off price, every half a dozen hats or so I justhave to make something loud and frivolous to maintain the balance.

This week I was inspired by a rather lovely skein of DK bfl yarn by Yarn Pirate in the colourway 'Zinnia' and I designed a frilly little child's hat topped with a whirligig to show off the colour transitions well. I'm quite pleased with it, and I think I might write up the pattern for my Ravelry pattern shop.

Goose fluff anyone?

2009-07-06T08:53:00.002+01:00

I spent the weekend at a lovely fibre event at Cwmoernant Farm, and got rather more fluff than I bargained for.

Early on saturday a clutch of goslings hatched, four lovely little scraps that seemed to be doing well, until mid afternoon when it became clear that one was a lot smaller than the others and was being trodden on, getting chilled and generally ignored by the adults.

So, we fished it out, checked it over, decided that it seemed ok but was probably the last egg laid and effectively a bit less developed than the others, but its mum didnt want it back. Feeling fairy sure it probably wouldn't make it through the night, we reckoned we could at least make it cosy, so it was bundled up in a box with a towel and a hot water bottle.

After deciding that the barn would be too cold and the dogs and cats would pester it in the house, I took the box into the van with me for the night, reckoning I could check it easily if needs be and put the box on the bed next to me for added insulation.

Well, this tiny wee weak gosling lasted about an hour before deciding the only place it wanted to be was under the duvet with me, and nothing would persuade it otherwise, so I spent the entire night with a day old chick wedged into the crook of my arm with the duvet pulled up over us both Noisy little critter too, hardly stopped peeping all night long.

Anyway, its now called Duvet and by the time I left on sunday it was doing really well, visibly much stronger and alternating between a goose play pen made out of an old tin bath lined with turfs and straw, and regular warming cuddles from the spinners who all found that you can spin or knit quite well with a gosling having a snooze in your cleavage, it really liked prefelt too, that made a lovely nest.

Just goes to show, fluff turns up in the strangest places when you spend the weekend playing with fibre.

Flower Fairy Cap

2009-06-25T08:06:00.003+01:00

You may have noticed just a slight fairytale theme in my patterns recently, this is due in part to some fascinating read-along, project-along discussions over on the Folklore and Fairytale group on Ravelry. I'm constantly given new inspiration from the stories chosen for discussion, often they are tales I thought I knew well, but having so many diverse people discussing them and seeing what they choose to work on to illustrate a facet of the story is always a real treat.

I've been working on this particular pattern on and off since March, when I indulged myself for my birthday by spinnng and knitting a little cap. Since then, I've worked up a couple more versions of it, this time with notebook in hand, and its now out as my latest pattern.

I've test knit it both in a plain silky yarn, and in a gradually self striping one (this one is Noro silk garden lite), and I think it works really well in both versions. The two lace patterns used are very simple to work but give an intricate effect that isnt too fussy, and best of all, the cap is a stretchy little thing and so far has fitted everyone I've tried it on. Its worked in dk weight yarn and all three of mine came in as one skein wonders, with just a few yards left over.

If anyone does want to try this pattern, its a Ravelry download priced $3

Faerie Queen Socks

2009-06-23T16:12:00.004+01:00

I've just realised I haven't blogged about these socks, how terribly remiss of me! I'd wanted for a while to design a pair of socks inspired by the intricate designs on functional objects of the Arts and Crafts movement, and this is what came off my needles.

I wanted to try something a tiny bit different from standard sock construction, so I began with an ornate border workd flat on two needles and composed of lavish leaves and berries and a band of knotwork. This then is joined and the stitches picked up for the rest of the sock which is worked top down in the usual manner and which incorporates a double rose leaf lace insert and a practical eye-of-partridge stitch heel.

I'm pleased with the results, and although I worked mine in two shades of green, some of my test knitters have been making theirs in semi solid pinks and autumn tones, and I have to say they look fantastic.

As with all my patterns, it can be downloaded through Ravelry. This one costs $4, and I do hope some of you will give it a try.

Tam o Shanter

2009-06-23T16:07:00.003+01:00

I've always enjoyed knitting Scots Bonnets in all their variations, but as I mostly knit for the re-enactment community, its not often I get to make one for wear with modern dress, complete with toorie on the top.

This one was a commission for a lovely gentleman who tells me it will be worn to the Gathering of the Clans next month, an event that should see every possible variation on bonnets being worn with every possible permutation of Scottish dress. Its an event I'd love to attend some day, for now, I just rest content that a bonnet or two of mine will be there.

Goblin Market

2009-06-06T09:06:00.005+01:00

I've just finished my latest pattern and wanted to share it with you all. This is Goblin Market, is a reticule with a Victorian feel. It features a richly textured leaves and berries border, the body of the bag has a shape loosely inspired by pomegranates and poppy capsules and uses several distinct pattern stitches for a fast, interesting knit.

The name comes from the poem ‘Goblin Market’ by Christina Rosetti:

MORNING and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
“Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy”
…
We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?

What particularly pleases me about it is that it only uses approximately 20g or so of a sock weight yarn, which is pretty much exactly the amount I find I have over after sock projects, so for me its a great stash buster and one that I think will make great gifts later in the year. Like all bags though, it should work well on pretty much any yarn as long as you choose needles that will give a pleasingly firm fabric.
If you fancy trying it for yourself, its available as a Ravelry download priced just $3

Sample Boxes

2009-06-03T09:32:00.002+01:00

Been a bit quiet lately, have been under orders to rest a bit so less going on than usual. Normal service will be resumed shortly...

However, and more importantly, I am involved in the most exciting new sample box scheme. Fibreholics brings together some really diverse and talented fibre and yarn producers to offer a wonderful value taster box full of sensibly sized, useable samples. Check out the offerings so far for the first box!
http://fibreholics.blogspot.com/

This Week's Hats

2009-05-04T19:41:00.006+01:00

Been a fairly slow week, have been trying not to rush and to rest up a bit, and have concentrated on getting a couple of hat commissions sorted out. (Amazing how a few afternoons on the sofa with one's feet up watching films helps the knitting along).

First, and its a dreadful picture sorry, is a fifteenth century sugarloaf hat, possibly one of the silliest men's headwear fashions ever. It was a fun knit, had to be fulled until the stitch definition just about vanished resulting in a very heavy solid fabric that was then dyed murrey to match an outfit.
Second pic of it isn't much better I'm afraid.

Then we have a basic Tudor cap, but this one was a request for as near to 'royal' blue as could be got within the plausibility of Tudor dyes. Modern royal blue is a chemical dye and is rather different in tone to anything that could be achieved with indigo based blues, so I modified the dyebath a little to give a shade that is still very bright, but which I am confident I can achieve with natural dyes. Just for fun, I photographed this hat on one of my Dwarven Battle Bonnets, and I think it looks rather fetching this way.

Wonderwool Wales

2009-04-27T15:36:00.006+01:00

Spent the weekend at Wonderwool selling my yarns, fibres, hats and various other bits and pieces and generally catching up with all bthe lovely people who come to one of my very favourite fibre events of the year.

This year, I shared a stall with Jenni Stuart Anderson, who makes the most wonderful rag rugs and who happens to be a cousin of Gareth's. It was lovely to have company on the stall and it meant we could take it in turns to go for a wander round and do things.

Heres the stall, all ready for business on the first day:

I was very very good and hardly bought anything, just some fibre to keep me going when I ran out of the supplies I had brought with me. And yes, I know it makes no sense to be stood behind a stall full of fibre, then go and buy some from another stall, but it seemed somehow wrong to break into the 'for sale' stuff.

Most exciting of all, I collected Gareth's 'new' wheel. He's never had a wheel of his own before, and this was offered for sale a while ago and I just had to say yes. Not the best angle on the picture, but we're fairly sure its originally from Finland, and having had a good look at it now we're guessing its about a hundred years old. Needs a little tlc, the footman is broken and it only has one bobbin, has a missing distaff and hasn't been used for many years so a good scrub and oiling is in order, but its lovely, and I did consider, just for a moment, changing my mind and keeping it for myself, but rallied at the last moment and handed it over. Needless to say he was thrilled with it, and has spent time in the workshop today turning new bobbins and mending the footman. I expect you'll hear more about the wheel as he fiddles with it and makes it his own, I suspect we're going to end up with something with all sorts of extra twiddly bits by the time he's finished.

I didn't take part in the 'sheepwalk' fashion show myself this year, but I did manage to get a photo of the show staff modelling assorted dwarven battle bonnets and gnome hats of mine, so that was a very cheerful moment. I was also very proud of myself for managing the van all by myself, I had been very worried about manouvering it without someone to wave me into tight parking spots, but she behaved beautifully and all my fretting was in vain.

I have a couple of weeks off work now to try to get over a series of persistent colds and generally being very run down, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to find time to do some spinning, maybe even in company with Gareth on his own wheel, and enjoy doing some fibre crafts just for the fun of it.

Distaff and Spindle

2009-04-03T16:29:00.000+01:00

We cut the overgrown privet hedge last week and a certain twig just screamed 'distaff' at me, so it had a week drying out and today, himself debarked it, straightened a kink by playing a blowtorch over it then bracing it whilst it cooled, and oiled and waxed it for me.
(Excuse the hideous pic of me)

the top of the stick is just a neat fork:

The spindle is also one he made me, this is in slate, and its my favourite spindle

Overall, the distaff is the perfect length to tuck in my jeans pocket, but it also wedges into the sofa cushions perfectly for spinning in front of the tv. :)

Thrummed Sailor's Cap

2009-04-02T20:00:00.004+01:00

I was recently asked to make a thrummed cap based on a type worn in the seventeenth century and popular with sailors because the thrummed surface creates a very warm cosy hat.

The basic shape was very straightforwards to knit, then I covered the surface with short lengths of yarn before fulling the whole thing. This picture is after one fulling, and I think it will need a second as its a little large still. I do love the 'cuddly pet monster' effect. Please excuse the obvious anachronism, I should have made him take his torc off first.

There is an image of a sailor in a similar cap here, taken from Habiti Antichi e Moderni by Cesare Vecelli, 1600. (Tincey, p 22)

Gunnister style purse

2009-03-28T18:35:00.002Z

I've recently very much enjoyed reading Alison Milton's newly published booklet on the Gunnister Purse, which has detailed instructions for making a replica of this famous example of early knitting based on her first hand inspection and study of the original. of course, as soon as I read it I had to have a go, and this is the result.

Ok, this is an ‘almost’ Gunnister purse, which is all my fault and no reflection on Alison's excellent notes. I handspun the yarn (manx for the brown, the orange is madder dyed) and it was a bit chunky so I had to use 2mm needles, way to big for this project, I was getting 10st to the inch, the original was about 11.5). I also worked a balanced 2:2 rib, rather than the uneven rib of the original, and when I got to the pattern, I didnt have the designin front of me so winged it from memory, with the result that the pattern is similar, but not the same as the original purse.

Alison’s pattern notes and background information are excellent, and I thoroughly recommend this booklet. I’ll be making this again and getting the details right! Even with my little inaccuracies, its a pleasing purse and I’ll enjoy using it.

The Grim Squeaker Egg Cosy

2009-03-15T08:35:00.003Z

Inspired by the 'Death of Rat's' character created by Terry Pratchett, this little chap knits up fast as an (admittedly slightly large) egg cosy- he'd be perfect to cover a small easter egg, or with a base as a little pocket toy. He's available as a free pattern on my Ravelry page.

Flower Fairy Cap

2009-03-15T08:31:00.002Z

Yet again, the days have slipped past and although I keep thinking, 'I must update the blog with some projects', it keeps just not happening.

I did finish a cap last night that I'm rather pleased with, this was yarn I spun as a brithday treat for myself, a mix of beautiful grey and brown Norwegian fleece mixed with pale green alpaca, white silk then flecked with rose alpaca. The overall effect is grey, but the shades come through well under sunlight.

I knitted it up into a simple cap using a couple of repeats of harebell lace for the edge, then some little eyelet flowers, then a plain top with a liripipe- currently knotted but doesnt have to be worn that way. I like it!

Winter King

2009-01-10T20:54:00.002Z

Happy New Year everyone. Its been a busy winter, lots of knitting for gifting as well as trying to keep up with orders for socks and hats. Have had a little time for designing though and inspired by the tale of Good King Wenceslas and heavily inspired by the concept of the Holly King, this is my latest silly hat;

16th/17thC dyes

2008-11-22T17:08:00.004Z

Today I have been refreshing my collection of naturally dyed yarn, mostly silk today, but a little wool as well. I've been working broadly from some sixteenth and seventeenth century recipes over at http://www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes

So far I've done several skeins of madder, one of madder dipped in cochineal, one of cochineal and one of weld:

Now, I'm on a black dye recipe:

Black DyeTake 1 part

copperas, 4 parts ground gallnuts and boil with the wool yarn or

silk for 2 hours. Take it out and let it cool. Put it back in until it is black enough. Finally rinse clean in fresh water

Marx Ziegler's Weber Kunst und Bild Buch of 1677 tr Patricia Hilts available online at

http://www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes/zieglerdyebook.html#31

Will report back in two hours as to the final colour

Fairy Horses Tam

2008-11-17T15:45:00.006Z

With many thanks to those who test knitted the design for me, I'm pleased to announce that the Fairy Horses Tam is now available as a Ravelry Download priced at just $3.00

Inspired by the

traditional ballad of Tamlin: But tonight is Halloween and the fairy folk ride, Those that would their true love win at mile’s cross they must hide.

First let pass the horses black and then let pass the brown Quickly run to the white steed and pull the rider down (lyrics from the Fairport Convention version)

Graceful horses, more sinuous than mortal steeds, gallop endlessly around the deep headband of this cosy, double thick, stranded colour tam worked in DK weight wool.

The tam is worked in a heavier weight yarn on the undyed version pictured, this balances the thick headband well, whilst the green model uses DK weight yarn throughout. Either is good, the choice is yours.

Tradition associates the fairy horse with the sound of small bells, my green bonnet is finished with a short ‘tail’ ending in tiny silver bells.

Please note, the stranded work on this has a lot of unusually long floats. This does require a little more attention than usual to avoid any tension issues. Apart from this, its an extremely easy hat to knit

Balmoral Bonnet

2008-11-03T17:45:00.003Z

The Living History Fair was excellent this past weekend, so lovely to see so many friends, and I was very pleased to sell a good number of hats.

Whilst I was away I worked up the pattern for my version of the traditional Balmoral bonnet. This is a Victorian version of the Scots Bonnet and its works up fast on 5mm dpns in aran weight wool. Would make an excellent midwinter present for the kilt wearer in your life! You knit itin the round a bit large then full it down to size, so its a very relaxing knit without too many gauge worries.

Pattern is available through Ravelry downloads for just $3.00

buy now

Dwarven Battle Bonnet- pattern update

2008-10-30T18:58:00.002Z

Just a quick note for anyone currently knitting the version of this with the red beard. I've just had it flagged up that there is a pattern glitch at row 36- it asks you to cast off 26st, we think its meant to be 40. I'm away from my knitting supplies for a few days so I can't reknit this section and triple check it until then, but if you are doing this version, please bear this in mind and prepare to look at your hat and do a few more cast offs!

I'm very sorry about this, I thought we'd ironed any glitches out in testing but looks like this snuck through- I'll re-issue the updated pattern to everone who has it as soon as we've got this sorted out!

I'm always grateful to hear of any problems with any of my patterns, I do my best to send them out ready for action but sometimes daft errors escape and it helps so much to hear about them when they show up

Adventures with my sock machine

2008-10-27T13:21:00.006Z

Just been having another go at doing toe up socks on my CSM. I had a go at doing it this way up a couple of years ago, but I was using silk and it got very snarled up. Todays attempt in wool was rather more successful, so here it is step by step:

Start by joining in your sock yarn and go straight into making a toe by the usual method (white yarn is waste, cream is the sock yarn)

Then, drop the remaining toe stitches onto the relevant

needles- this is the bit I was finding hard- wool is indeed much easier but its still a bit of a stretch on my 84 cylinder:

then you just crank on until its time to do the heel, you

can just see the line of waste yarn where you would normally have to kitchiner- that can be ripped out once the sock is off the machine.

and finally, more for

comedy value than anything else, the sock on the machine once the waste is ripped off:

I can knit a Rainbow

2008-10-03T14:15:00.005+01:00

As an excercise in reading a lace pattern I've spent a few evenings working on the Zetor Scarf. I used some extremely vintage yarn which sadly had a few weak spots, and this put me off making the scarf more than a very small headscarf size, I also managed to repeat a couple of rows in two places, which threw the pattern out, but I decided not to frog back as this was very much a learning excercise.

Overall, I liked the pattern a lot and intend to make it again with a bit more concentration.

I've also been working on historic hats for the next Living History Fair, and much as I try to use up my stash, more yarn keeps coming in from swaps- oops!

mmm, squashy

2008-09-10T18:38:00.003+01:00

I've recently been rediscovering the benefits of using a spinning wheel to convert 'old' and unloved stash yarn into 'new' and desirable stash yarn.

This started off as three cones of very posh Italian spun wool with a smidge of acrylic, and one cone of eyewateringly flashy 80s vintage lurex, a pleasant short while plying it all together and its an airy, squashy and really rather nice dk weight yarn that wouldnt look that out of place amongst some of the flash designer yarns that cost a fortune.

I've done the same with blends of wool, silk and fine metalic filaments to good effect too in the past.

Gnome Hat and Beard

2008-09-08T18:28:00.003+01:00

Here they are, the latest in my collection of very silly hats. Knit in the round and then heavily fulled, the hats sit low on the forehead and look cute on wearers of all sizes. The beard is detachable meaning the hat can be worn alone if desired, and the lady gnome has braids with ribbons as part of her hat.

Worked in Aran weight yarn on 5mm and 6mm needles, this uses simple stitches and has photo instructions for the loop stitch used on the beard.

As with my last pattern, this is available for $3.00 through Ravelry downloads. Clicking the buy button will take you to a paypal page after which you will be automatically issued a download link for the well illustrated, easy to knit pattern.

The hats in the photo will be listed in my shop in due course, please check there if you are interested in purchasing a ready made gnome hat.

Miser's Purse

2008-09-02T20:48:00.003+01:00

Made this for Gareth as part of his Regency outfit for the ball in Bath next month. Its a heavy silk that I'm hoping to be carrying in the shop soon, and I'm fairly pleased with it. The rings are temporary in that 'they'll probably still be there in 20 years' sort of way, Gareth plans to make silver rings eventually for it.

Quick and Chunky Socks

2008-08-29T15:05:00.003+01:00

I've just written up my quickest, chunkiest, easiest sock pattern into a photo-illustrated article on the ever excellent Downsizer site.

A doddle to make on 5mm needles using aran or chunky yarn, these are great quick knits for beginners.

Have a go yourself, the article is here.

Dwarven Battle Bonnet Pattern

2008-08-22T12:09:00.005+01:00

Finally, months and months after it first came out, I've found time to write up the pattern for the Dwarven Battle Bonnet.

Yay! Now everyone can have a beard if they want one :)

The pattern is available for $3.00 and has instructions for both hats shown.

Pattern is written for an average adult head but is easily made smaller by starting with a few less stitches and/or working on smaller needles.

eta: 2/9/08 I've had a couple of people ask if I will make to order- these two sample hats are currently available and I'll put them in my shop at www.sallypointer.com/shop for anyone who is seriously interested. thanks for all the kind words about these

eta: 3/9/08 the blond bonnet has now been sold, the red one is still available

Pratchgan

2008-08-18T08:39:00.003+01:00

A few months ago I contributed a couple of squares to the now infamous Pratchgan, and on Saturday the finished item finally met up with its rightful owner. Just one pic here to give you a flavour of the wild and wonderful glory that it became, but please do go and read all about it on the blog of the lady who came up with the idea and put it all together.

This has been such a fun project, and it looks like Terry was genuinely pleased with the end result.

Been busy

2008-07-13T20:14:00.005+01:00

Haven't posted nearly often enough recently, its not that I haven't been knitting, just haven't had much spare time to do updates.

Went to the Costume Society conference on Saturday, sadly couldnt make the friday and sunday days, but am going tomorrow. Thoroughly enjoyable as always, no one specific thing to report back on, but I always enjoy the papers and its nice to meet up with other costumey people. I startecd work on a silk miser's purse during the talks, I've been trying out a few silk yarns to try to find some that will work as a substitute for purse twist, and this seems about right on 2mm needles

Just finished this white tam-o-shanter with an undyed brown brim. I was planning on dyeing it blue, but I quite like it as is.

Have also done a couple of statute caps in the last couple of weeks, a few pairs of stockings and more of the Women's Land Army socks. I must confess to also spending far too much time trading yarn on Ravelry, its so hard to resist when people offer yarns I haven't tried before!

Dear Cat

2008-06-15T14:00:00.002+01:00

Dear cat, this morning I very carefully fulled and blocked a nice new handknitted Tudor hat. It wasn't intended as a bed for you. Didn't you notice how damp it was?

Pointy Hats

2008-06-15T13:57:00.003+01:00

I havent posted for ages, sorry about that. Life has been so very busy. Anyway, here are a couple of recent hats:

This week's collection of hats.

2008-05-11T16:54:00.005+01:00

Been a busy week, had the usual manic bank holiday working at the medieval village, then a trip to London on tuesday and wednesday to go fabric shopping for my regency outfit, then work the rest of the week as usual. Still, managed to get three hats finished in amongst that lot.

We have a red cloche hat, a Russula cap in a purple shade, which took far more yarn than the last one I made, and a frilly little headband inspired by seaweed.

Wonderwool

2008-04-29T17:23:00.003+01:00

Wonderwool was great, really enjoyed ourselves. As always, there is so much wonderful work and covetable yarn on display, but I managed to sell more than I bought, just about.

The stall gave me a headache, its a difficult space to fill with those white walls, but it looked like this in the end.

Did some spinning whilst I was there, and came back with 800g of the most gorgeous handspun gotland by Freyalyn, I intend to make something really wonderful with it, just not sure what yet.

Cunningly mismatched socks

2008-04-21T17:23:00.003+01:00

Made these on the Autoknitter this morning, and for some reason, even though I used identical weights, method etc, the tension went off and I have vastly different patterning on these. Mildly annoying, still, I'm sure they will appeal to someone and as they are a child size being a bit skewiff will probably be a bonus.

Pineapple Regency Reticule

2008-04-16T18:29:00.002+01:00

I've been mildly fixated by a silk reticule shaped like a pineapple that is at the Kyoto institute recently, even found a version of the pattern in an early pattern book, but havent had a chance to sit and wrestle with the terminology of the Recency notation, so this is a stopgap variation just to satisfy my desire for a purse shaped like a pineapple. It needs beadwork adding to evoke the diamond shaped pattern of the pineapple body, but I like it so far. Its in pure silk and was lovely to work on, body stockinette, tops in crochet.

Child size woollen stockings

2008-03-29T06:57:00.002Z

Most of the output of my antique sock machines is practical woollen or fancy silk stockings for the re-enactment market. Up until now, I've only had the 84 cylinder Imperia, which makes wonderul adult stockings but which can be a bit baggy on anyone with very slim legs or smaller feet. The 'new' Autoknitter has a 60 cylinder, and now that its knitting I took the plunge yesterday and did my first child size stocking, pictured next to an adult size one for comparison.

It may not look like much to those of you used to modern socks in beautiful bright yarn, but this is going to help keep a lot of little people cozy this season, I'm very pleased with the first attempt and think it will be even better once I have the machine properly settled in. At the moment its a little stiff to crank and feels a bit awkward in places, but to be fair to it, I've had virtually no dropped stitches and it has been sat in a box in an attic for 60-70 years.

Silk Regency Reticule

2008-03-26T18:44:00.005Z

I'm going to the Regency Ball in Bath later this year, so being me I've started with the accessories (oops). This is a silk reticule, made on the Imperia in a rather yummy heavyweight pure silk. I'm fairly pleased for a first attempt and Its been given the general thumbs up by friends with a good knowledge of Regency styles. This one will be going to a new home to fund more silk for more reticule experiments :) Its the only catch with experimenting with silk, not a cheap raw material, but the results are lovely.

It Knits!

2008-03-15T15:12:00.003Z

Yes, it was all back to front, it now, after a little bit of cursing, knits all the way round the cylinder! Hooray!

Getting a bit stuck

2008-03-15T14:27:00.002Z

I'm having a go at getting it to knit, but so far I have two specific problems:I'm finding the 'up' motion of the needles is going too high and theyarn is dropping off the latches so they shut closed. If I move the yarn carrier up any higher it misses the needles completely.I'm also finding that the needles don't drop far enough in the cylinder on the 'down' part of their motion to pull the stitch through. So on the odd occasion where I've managed to persuade theneedle to hold a stitch it isnt forming properly. I can see that screwing the tension knob down is helping this, but its not enough.

I've just had it suggested that maybe I have reassembled it incorrectly, so I'm about to take it all apart again and see if it will go back any other way.

Autoknitter renovation, part one

2008-03-15T11:18:00.002Z

The Autoknitter has been looking at me reproachfully from its box for a couple of weeks now since I first got it, so today I relented and made a start on cleaning it up. Can't do too much today as I have sock orders coming out of my ears, so the Imperia has first call on my time, but I did take off the original test sock, take apart the cylinders, give everything a wipe over and re-oiling, and to my great delight so far its all turning smoothly, sounds good, and the needles look as if they may be up to at least getting the machine started. I've got the 60 cylinder on it at the moment, I'm very hopeful of getting this working and getting some smaller socks made, but I really need to settle down with the instruction manual before I attempt to thread it up, I've already spotted that a few things work a little bit differently to the Imperia and I'd hate to snarl it up through nothing more than overenthusiasm.

I've told myself for every sock I crank today on the Imperia I can spend half an hour fiddling with the Autoknitter, there is a very slim chance of getting it threaded by this evening if all goes well. Watch this space!

Look what I have!

2008-03-03T10:15:00.002Z

I'm soooooo excited, I have a new toy to play with. This was an extremely generous gift from a friend who found it in an attic. I'm overwhelmed at how good people are to me :) It needs some tlc, but nothing that can't be sorted out, just need to find the time to play with it now!

Hats hats hats hats hats hats

2008-02-21T20:24:00.005Z

I have hats floating before my eyes, been hatting frantically and we think we might just be about ready for the LARP fair this weekend. We've even bought a satnav system to help us get there in one piece! Anway, here are a couple of recent wossnames for you, the little sister of the Dwarven Battle Bonnet, and a pointy hat with detachable fully poseable felted dragon.

Rainbow Welly Socks

2008-02-11T09:27:00.000Z

Made on my Circular Sock Machine then dyed after finishing, I did the dying for this batch in the microwave. Worked really well too, I normally use pans on the stove for these dip dyed socks but I'm pleased with the clarity fo the colour on these.

Monmouth Hats

2008-02-10T10:06:00.001Z

There are a lot of patterns for Monmouth Caps on the net, none of them really work to my mind. I base my interpretation partly on the excellent description of the type in the article in Costume by Kirsty Buckland, but mostly on first hand personal examination of the surviving cap at the Nelson History Museum in Monmouth. Every time I knit one I try a slight variation, and after a dozen or more hats I’m starting to feel that I’m getting very close to replicating the key features of the original. I’m sure I can improve further though, I’m hoping to go back with my best efforts to compare them directly to the original again and see if I can refine further. Funny little hat, its amazing how constantly fascinated with this one I am.

Rib Tickler Wristlets

2008-02-07T21:31:00.000Z

I made these for my sister in law's birthday, and the pattern is now available to download. They are a complete doddle to do, there are only four rows per mitt that you need to pay attention to, and those use simple cable type stitch manipulation to make the sections of ribbing smooth into each other nicely.

The really nice thing about these is that they use less than a skein of yarn and can be worn either way up or even inside out- the pattern is identical if you use a cast on and off that looks much the same.

Do let me know if you find any errors in the pattern or if you can think of a better way to represent the stitch manipulated rows, but its all pretty simple stuff. Just right for cool spring mornings.

Big Skeins

2008-02-04T17:11:00.000Z

I needed a way to wind really long skeins for some dye projects, so Gareth kindly made me this today. It winds skeins 1.5m long/3m around, do I can do wider stripes in variegated yarn.

I've tried it for one skein so far, a red and dark grey custom dyejob as part of a trade, just need a chance to do some for my own use so I can try how it all comes out.

Pointy Hat and Stash tidying

2008-01-28T15:46:00.000Z

I had a to do list as long as my arm for today, but I had to put it on hold to do something about my stash, it was about to implode badly and I had visions of having to excavate the cat from underneath it. So, I spent the afternoon bagging, cataloguing and listing a lot of it on Ravelry. Have to confess I ground to a halt when I reached the coned yarn, I just couldnt face photogaphing and listing all of that, so that can wait for another day. This is just the start of it, at this moment I have 14 similar boxes stacked, and thats just the bit that lives in that room.

I also felted/fulled this pointy hat. We went to my parent's for Burns night so I needed something easy to knit in the van.

I intend to give this a hatband of oak leaves, which I think will look rather nice.

Despite the vast stash I had to order wool today, had a commission in and none of the right stuff in stock, typical!

Today's crop of hats

2008-01-20T15:05:00.000Z

Finished the green pixie hats mentioned earlier, I think the one with the brim will take a hatband with daisies on it rather well.

I've also been working on some medieval style felted hats today, two bycockets and a sugarloaf hat. Quite pleased with these, they need a final steaming, but I don't think they'll need any extra stiffener, its a Gotland wool and has a lovely strong rustic texture to it.

Catching up on the week

2008-01-20T10:30:00.000Z

Spent friday night catching up with old friends, and as we sat up most of the night talking I managed to get a whole hat knitted- pic to follow later, its a bright green 'flower fairy' sort of hat- its in the wash having a bit of a shrink right now. Also got most of a pixie hat finished the next day, so that counts as a good constructive session I think.

Last week I finished this hat, its some lovely silky superwash aran I bought in bulk last year, and dyed earlier in the week. I'm pleased with the button detail, and suspect I may wear this one myself. Will be putting the pattern up on Ravelry if anyone wants to try one similar.

I also found this picture of the wool winder Gareth made me a few years ago, and thought I'd share it. Its a real mix of woods, beech for the body, yew for the arms and reclaimed ebony for the flat bits the wool goes over, but I love it.

What else, oh yep, made another example of the'His n Hers' hats for a friend, this is in the most gorgeous Kerry Hill wool from the wonderful people at Rosewood Farms. Highly recommended yarn if you like to support small producers of ethical produce. Sorry the pic is so dark, flash made it white out completely

Russula Cap

2008-01-13T11:36:00.000Z

This gorgeously soft yarn (Twilley's 'Freedom Spirit') came to me in a swap and I was reminded by it of the lovely warm shades found on the caps of Russula mushrooms. So, heres the Russula Cap, and there is once again, a free downloadable pdf of the pattern if you'd like to try it out . It only used one ball of yarn, so a good stash buster I thought.

Blodeuwedd Headover

2008-01-09T17:57:00.000Z

In Welsh mythology, Blodeuwedd was a maiden created out of flowers. I received this vibrant green yarn (its some Rowan magpie tweed) flecked with jewel bright colours as part of a swap and it evokes for me that idea of a flowery, grassy meadow. The open topped slightly organic shaped headdress allows space for far more hair than usually looks good under such a fitted hat. The enclosed neckpiece gives an effect that reminds me very slightly of a medieval wimple, and seems just right for a cool spring morning walk.

I'm pleased with how this came out, very much a case of me making it up as I went along and the neck got rippedout and reworked before I was happy with the fit, but I like it now:)

This pattern is available as a downloadable pdf, I *think*it reads ok, but please do let me know if you find any errors.

Another Tudor Cap

2008-01-07T09:07:00.000Z

I enjoy knitting these, I've done a fair few over the years now, and every one comes out a little bit differently. I particularly like this yarn, its a vintage undyed Welsh wool, no idea what mill it came from, but its a heavy two ply and really very similar to handspun in the way it behaves and appears. I think I have enough for one more hat on the cone after this one, will be sorry when it runs out.

Of course, the ideal is to spin my own yarn for these, but whilst I enjoy spinning I just haven't quite got enough hours in the day at the moment. Really want to improve on that this year if I can.

I think I've just started a steep learning curve

2008-01-06T16:54:00.000Z

I'm a more than competent knitter, knitting doesn't scare me, I'll tackle most things. However, and its a big however, because most of my output is destined for the 'historic' market, almost everything I knit on a day to day basis is in plain stockinette, sometimes with a few purl stitches if its something really racy.

This means I'm rather behind the times when it comes to translating ideas I have for more modern pieces of knitwear into patterns that will be understood by other people. Right now, I have three designs whizzing round in my mind, and I lack the language to put them down competently on paper. Ideally, I'd have time to quietly knit them and do the notation as I go along, but I don't, so I should really be combining pattern notations with my scribbled sketches so that when I do get a chance to write them up, I won't have had all the detail leak out of my ears somewhere along the line.

The problem is though, I can see what I want the stitches to do in my head, but I don't know how to put that down on paper. One idea for example has a shoulder cape as part of it, the underlying sturcture is simple, its 8 increases on each second row, just like making a beret, but how do I write that out so it also includes cabling, lace and similar details, its not a regular stitch count so I can't use a graph as the design won't evolve properly on it.

There must be a way to do this, but my brain hurts.

Elvish Leaves Dishcloth

2008-01-05T18:40:00.000Z

Downsizer has been having a dishcloth knitting challenge, so I decided to have a go at the Elvish Leaves cloth. I haven't done much lace knitting before so it was as much an excercise in familiarising myself with the basic technique as anything else. I really enjoyed knitting this, it was just challenging enough to be good fun, and easy enough to be a quick, relaxing knit. Highly recommended!

I think I'll do this again, maybe in a variagated green and brown yarn if I can find one with subtle enough colour variations.

Red and Blue Wizard Cap

2008-01-01T15:52:00.000Z

I started this yesterday afternoon and finished it first thing this morning. It gave ne something unchallenging to knit whilst we saw in the New Year, and it came out rather well. Ran it through the washing machine with some laundry first thing to full it and now its drying quietly.

The photo makes it look a bit odd, but thats because the hatblock is curved so it looks lumpy, its really quite a nice shape on .

Halfbreed Headover

2007-12-31T13:25:00.000Z

I'm not quite sure what this one is inspired by, I can imagine it as part of a costume, with long pointy ears and that sort of thing, I can also see it as a hat in its own right. I'm going to add a few black and silver beads to the plaits, otherwise I think its done.

What kind of yarn are you?

2007-12-31T09:03:00.000Z

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
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More Pixie Hats

2007-12-30T13:55:00.001Z

I'm frantically knitting pixie hats on the train on the way to and from work in the morning, its good, easily interrupted work for that and I did really well with this design last year so I'm stocking up while I have the chance. I like the green and brown stripes I used for these two, nice cosy woodland shades.

The Dwarven Battle Bonnet!

2007-12-30T13:01:00.000Z

This may be, just possibly, one of the daftest hats I've ever made. Its intended as stock for the Live Roleplaying market in February, and was pretty much made up as I went along, with a nod of thanks to this image which gave me some ideas for shaping the beard . I'm going to very lightly full it to firm up the knit now, just hope it survives the process!

Welsh Knitters Map

2007-12-30T10:19:00.000Z

Just for a bit of fun, this is a Frappr map for knitters in Wales

It is going to be a busy year

2007-12-27T17:49:00.000Z

I spent a little bit of time today filling in events, sales, shows and so forth in the new 2008 diary, only to realise that once the various events kick off in mid february I don't get a weekend at home for over 6 weeks.

Not that its a problem, all good fun stuff, but it does have a knock on effect on trying out new pattern ideas and restocking, so I can forsee a very busy January as I try to stockpile enough of everything to see me through.

The first big sale will be a Live Roleplaying Market for which I need to make a whole new batch of felted pointy hats, though I also have some ideas for interesting knitted items that might possibly go down well with this audience. Going to have huge fun working on this lot.

I did manage to knit a hat on Christmas Day by way of after dinner excercise, haven't fulled it yet though so picture to follow. Was bask at work today, must admit I would have much rather have been knitting. oops.

Got my Ravelry invite today

2007-12-22T15:16:00.000Z

Am having an enforced day off knitting due to a stinking cold, so it was a nice surprise to get my Ravelry invite through. Just had a good look round the site and it does look like a useful resource, have already met some almost local knitters. Not sure if I'm disciplined enough to load up details of teh wool stash, but I can see a lot of useful material in the various patterns and ideas sections already.

Simple Swirls Hat

2007-12-22T13:42:00.000Z

I knitted this neat cap that has a spiral swirl effect using two strands of double knitting held together, I think an aran yarn or anything in that broad weight would also work fine. Its a very simple pattern and will be flexible to a broad range of yarns and guages. I made this in superwash, but for my next one I'll use aran wight wool and will full lightly then block for a smoother neater finish. I think it took about 100g or a little less, so a good stashbuster for an odd skein.

Using 5mm dp needles, cast on 100 stitches (25 per needle) and join without twisting.

Work 2:2 rib for 12 rows

Work plain stockinette for another 8 rows

Now start the swirly pattern:

Row 1: K2tog at start of needle, purl three, knit to end of needle.

Row 2: Knit two, purl three, knit to end of needle

Row 3: Knit one , k2tog, purl three, knit to end of needle

Row 4: Knit three, purl three, knit to end of needle

Row 5 and to finish: knit two, k2tog, purl 3, knit to end of needle

The last couple of rows will be almost all purl, but it makes sense when you get there.

Finish any loose ends, and wash and block lightly to smooth the shape (my pic is pre-blocking).