At Her Leisure

I'm so close to finishing my current pair of stockings. I just have five rows left before starting the toe. Once the toe starts, the stitches just melt away.

I've had a lot of reading to do this week and a lot of videos to watch so I've done a lot of knitting. I'm only four rows away from dividing for the heel flap on my stocking. I also sat down one night and worked a little on my cross-stitching so I've started the second side of the pattern. A different night I started working on the gaiters for my son's Hallowe'en costume. I'm about half done with those but need to buy snaps.

I intend to finish the gaiters this weekend and to turn the heel on my stocking this weekend.

Last week I blocked the stocking I finished the week before. I like it, and I'm working my way through the second one, albeit slowly.

I turned the heel on my stocking. It always feels like a momentous occasion.

I've worked on three projects this week.

I'm through five repeats plus five rows of the pattern at the hem of the 1930's tunic. Only 27 rows to go to finish the body. Then I want to reknit the patterned section of one of the sleeves because I made several mistakes in it before I really got the pattern down.

Since the tunic stopped being a good blind knitting project a week or so ago, I started a new pair of 17th/18th century stockings. I had hoped to use the pattern from The Typical Tudor, but now the publication date is expected to be in October. I didn't want to wait until then to start them since I really only had the one set of yarn for plain knitting on hand. I bought it last summer when the book was supposed to be published in October 2021.

I made some progress on my 1910's evening dress. I finished the ivory layer and started the blue layer. The bodice part of the blue layer is done, and the skirt seams are sewn. After I press the seams, I'll attach it to the waistband and then let it hang before hemming. I've cut and seamed the skirt for the black net layer, but I'm going to do the hem on it before I mount it to the waistband. I can level it from the top.

I turned the heel on my new 18th century stocking yesterday. Only 84 rows left before the narrowing for the toe starts.

I don't think I ever posted pictures of the stockings I've been working on. I've got one finished of each pair.

Victorian


Colonial


Next week I hope to have some sewing to show.

I've gotten a bit bored with knitting stockings. They go on and on and on, and I have two pair in progress right now. So what do I do but knit two more.



These only took about an hour apiece. It was a nice break from hundreds of rows.

Since I haven't mentioned them in awhile, here's the current status of the other stockings projects:
18th century wool stockings - I'm ~40 rows into the foot of the first stocking. That makes me about 80% finished with the first stocking.
Late 19th century cotton openwork stockings - I did not account sufficiently for the lack of stretch in an openwork pattern. I was 20 rows short of splitting for the heel when I decided to try it on and found that it wouldn't stretch over my heel. I had to rip back 55 rows to get it on. Over the weekend I redid all of that and now am only half a dozen rows short of splitting for the heel. That was depressing, but I'm glad it's over now. (That was the real driver for making the little ones.)

And now back to more stocking knitting and cross-stitching.

I went to the living history day at the Presidio San Agustin de Tucson last month. I dressed in clothing that was appropriate to the time period if not the place. It was really windy that day. I got my husband to take a picture afterward.



There are apparently differences between what the English colonists wore and what the Spanish colonists wore so I will need to do some investigation into that. Looking at casta pictures was recommended to me, and with my coloring, I think I want to try to look at the espanola versions. If anyone can give me recommendations for resources, I would appreciate it.

I also got him to take a better picture of the stockings that I finished last summer and never got a good picture of.



I've decided I really should start another pair of plain white stockings with clocks for when I'm reading and the like, but I will need to get the wool. I'll make them the weight of the first pair of 18th century stockings I made, which are finer than these. I think these are right but coarser than really go with the silk gowns. I kind of felted my original white ones by accident. They still fit, but they're shorter through the foot than I would quite wish.

(I don't know how to do diacritical marks here so I've blithely ignored them for this post.)

 I've done a bit of knitting the last few days.  My stockings are finished with time to spare. Interestingly, I had about two yards of yarn left at the end of the second stocking after running out on the first stocking. I don't know if the extra stitches I picked up after the heel on the first stocking pushed me over the edge on needing more yarn or the yardage was just slightly lower in the first two balls than the second two. In the end, I do have just one odd-colored toe. 

I started working on the 17th century garters I've talked about before. I gauged them and knit about an inch before I decided they weren't working. I posted about the attempt on LJ (http://atherleisure.livejournal.com/114983.html) because I didn't want to add the picture to Flickr.  Something more the texture of the silk embroidery floss I've used for pinballs would probably work better, but the floss itself wouldn't be suitable.

I also started working on the 1919 Slipover Bodice that Wearing History sells. I'm guessing that it comes from the 1919 edition of The Columbia Book of Yarns, but I can't find that one online so it's just a guess.  Since I don't know where it comes from, I don't want to add it to the Ravelry database.  (She put it in as a personal pattern when she did her project page.)  I am hoping this will use up the rest of the leftover yarn from the 1892 petticoat as well as a couple of sport-weight leftovers from other projects. I don't mind having a fabric stash, but I don't really want a yarn stash so I'm always extra happy to use up the leftovers.

Incidentally, there is an error in the slipover bodice pattern - it says to cast on 76 stitches for the back, but the pattern doesn't work out that way.  It needs to be 77 stitches. Then you have 61 left after narrowing for the armscyes and cast off 23 for the neck. I'm only just to the neck so I don't know if there will be any more issues. As often happens for me, I had to go down a needle size.  I find it interesting that the armscye is quite shallow on the back (and therefore presumably much deeper on the front) like the 1907 sweater and 1912 vest I've made so the shift to sweater seams directly under the arm like modern sweaters must post-date about 1919 but has occurred by about 1937 because my c. 1937 sweater does have the seams under the arms.  I may be the only one who finds that interesting, though.