At Her Leisure

2020 was an odd year, no doubt. I was lucky that I was able to go to the George Washington Ball in Williamsburg the week before everything spiraled into chaos. With nothing else going on, I got a lot more time for needlework than usual this year, and by summer I realized I was churning stuff out way too fast. I started working on things that take a lot more time to get a finished product like cross-stitching and knitting.

I made two things this year that I really love – an 18th century domino and a Victorian shawl. I'm happy with a lot of my other stuff, but those are just some of the coolest things I’ve ever made.

( This year's projects behind the cut )

I finished the knitting for the first side of my next 18th century pinball. It's most satisfactory.

I ended up doing a lot of cross-stitching this year, which made great inroads on my cross-stitch kit stash. Of course, that was at the expense of sewing, but I’m still pleased with what I finished this year.

My favorite thing of the year is my 1897 Harper’s Bazar ivory wool dress.


( The rest is behind the cut )

These are the current UFO's.
17th century knit garters: The first garter is 60% finished. This is a background or traveling project. They’re not going quickly, but they progress a little every week. I do expect to finish the pair by the end of 2018.


Early/mid-18th century stays: These are really close to finished. I need to bind half the tabs on one side and put in the lining on that side. I ran out of binding and need to get some more.


“Southern Belles” cross-stitch: This is barely started. I started it to have a hand-sewing project to work on at any given moment, but then I started my new stays right afterward, which gave me a hand-sewing project. I expect this one to be a very long term project, like may not finish in 2018 long term.

I finished knitting the second side of my current pinball.



I'll have to wait until my wool batting is out of storage before I make it up, but the vast majority of the work is finished.

I have the thread to make one more, but I'm not feeling any urge to so I started on a new cross-stitch piece. I can take breaks from it working on my cap, but since I don't usually feel like cross-stitching, I ought to take advantage of the urge while it lasts.

The latest pinball project has been finished. I gave it to the friend I made it for on Saturday so now I can post the pictures of the finished project.

Here are the flat, blocked knitted pieces.


Take all the supplies


and sew them up into a pinball!


Pinballs are so much fun to make.

I finished the first side of my new pinball.



It only took a week, but that's only because I ended up doing 38 rows on Friday. That was a lot of knitting for something so fine, and after knitting a dozen rows of the second side last night, my wrists need a night off.

Working on pinballs again has made me think about personalization of them. I've only given one as a gift that has initials on it, and I just put the recipient's initials on it. I've seen some with one set of initials with or without a date, but I've also seen some with two sets of initials as in "XXX to XXX". Now I'm curious to know whether people receiving a something like this as a gift would rather have it personalized with just their own initials or would rather have the giver's initials as well. What do you think?

If it helps, there are examples of both on my pinball Pinterest board.

I was working on my pinball again last night and realized there didn't seem to be that many stitches between the design and the edge. I forgot to count the twenty border stitches before I started the pattern Wednesday. How did I get through twelve rows without noticing? I realized that it would take longer to un-knit twelve rows than it would to unravel and cast on and reknit eighteen rows. *sigh* Now I get to start over.

I just wanted to post a status update on my current project list.

18th century cap:
Nope. No progress whatsoever. No progress expected any time soon.

18th century stockings:
Moderate progress. I've done forty-odd rows of the foot. I'm really only working on it while reading right now so it's not expected to go very quickly.

1897 Harper's Bazar dress:
Still on hold. This is waiting until the 1830's dress and bonnet are done.

18th century pinball:
Basically on hold until it's warm enough that I don't want to work on a heavy wool sweater. The cardigan has knitting priority right now.

Aran cardigan:
The back is finished, and I'm about a third of the way through the first front. I just joined in the back of the pocket, which was interesting.

Brown poplin mid-1830's dress:
I cut out a bodice mock-up but haven't gotten around to fitting it yet, but the skirt panels are torn, seamed, faced, and hemmed. As soon as I hem the placket, it will be ready for the waist treatment.

1858 sortie cap:
I started another little knitting project, a sortie cap. It was nice blind knitting, and I did the knitting while reading this week. Wednesday night I raveled out all the stitches, and last night I blocked it. Now I need to do all the making up - it's got more finishing than a lot of knitted items.

Regency shoes:
Last week I dyed some Regency shoes I bought over the summer, and now I want to do a little decorating with ribbons. I want them for a Houston Area Regency Society tea next weekend so they should be done some time this week.

There are rather more projects on hold than I really like to see, but I guess it's not so bad. I'm not quite sure what I'll work on tonight...

I separated embroidery thread for a new pinball on Wednesday and cast it on last night. I haven't finalized the design yet, but I've got 20 rows before I need to commit. Actually, I knit two rows so make that 18 before I have to commit.

I'm being good and making something I already bought supplies for before I make the 17th century garters I want. Besides, making pinballs is a lot of fun.

The ship pinball came out very prettily, and I really like the coral ribbon with the green. It's my fourth pinball, but there will be a break before I do any more pinball knitting. I think I want to make a silk miser's purse next, though I really should get further on the petticoat lace before I go ordering anything else. That's the best way to reduce temptation.





For those who like Ravelry pages, the page for this pinball is here.

This is my fourth pinball, but there will be a break before I do any more pinball knitting. I think I want to make a silk miser's purse next, though I really should get further on the petticoat lace before I go ordering anything else. That's the best way to reduce temptation. And I've got scads of yarn (9 balls!) left over from my petticoat due to a serious mistake when gauging it. I really need to find something to do with it. Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with 450g of blue sport-weight 100% wool? I've got 100g of cream sport-weight yarn left over from my 1907 sweater that I could use with it.