Until very recently I avoided knitting in the round. Most of my projects consisted of rectangular shapes, with the odd hat every now and then - always with a seam up the back. Well, no more! I bought myself a set of straight double-pointed needles, an interchangeable circular knitting kit and some lovely soft wool yarn as a birthday treat, and got to work that very night.
My gauge for worsted-weight yarn on size 7 needles is about 4 stitches and 7 rows per square inch. I decided to work the brim in a double knit stockinette, so I rounded my head circumference up to the nearest full inch and cast on double the number of stitches I would need for a single layer. I think my mind wandered a couple of times while I was working the brim, but the mistakes aren't glaring. Once the brim reached the desired height, I joined the two layers (K2t, repeat to end of row) and continued in stockinette stitch until the total height reached 4 inches.
I divided the total number of stitches into 8 sections for the decreases, and did some maths to figure out how many rows to knit between each of the decrease rows. The crown of my hat has a more gradual slope than the extant piece referenced by other recreationists, textile archaeologists, etc., but all in all, not a shabby attempt. I'll jimmy with the decrease scheme to try for a flatter crown and try my hand at fulling the next cap.
Now I'm working on a dark blue wool cap for my dear hubby, who doesn't dig the whole "dress-up" scene, but does appreciate a warm cap knit with love.
[Deep breath ...]
Last week I kept myself busy, hem-stitching like a loony until my brown kirtle reached a wearable state. The skirt length turned out just right for a utility garment - long enough to avoid indecency, but short enough that I don't have to worry about tripping over it unless I'm bent waaaaaaaay forward.
Since I can't do just one project at a time, I picked up some dark brown tapestry thread for a new matchy-matchy lucet cord and some mustard/gold wool yarn for a knit Monmouth cap. I also spent a good chunk of time one day braiding a cord from Kermit green embroidery floss, only to discover that my eyelets are not big enough for the knot to pass through. Bugger.
With all this going on I wasn't able to put a new high-necked smock together in time to pack for Crown, so I wore my keyneck under-tunic with the brown kirtle. It didn't look half bad, really, but the sleeves are a bit tight through the forearms. I have three weeks until Christmas Revel to sew a new smock. Since I have the knit cap there's no rush to work on a hood, and I know I won't have time to turn a wool army blanket into a cloak. But hey, rectangular pieces of fabric as outerwear are totally period and can serve multiple purposes.
Macie got its first on-the-body outing on the day of the tournament. It did fine, with one exception; when I was using the wool blanket as a cloak, the weight of the wool pulled the shoulders back and the neckline up - and it was pretty shallow to begin with. I'll definitely keep Macie in the late spring / early autumn rotation, when I can go without a full cloak. The brown kirtle got to come out for court and feast. I ended up serving feast, rather than sitting - something I would recommend to any fairly new SCAdians. Carrying drink pitchers and food platters to and from tables helps make contacts, and, at least in Gleann Abhann, the feastocrat makes sure to feed those who volunteer or are recruited to serve. And buddy, do we have some good feastocrats!
That's it for now. I'll be working on the smock and putting together a class on natural dyes in the upcoming weeks, and I'll post a write-up for the Monmouth cap on my next day off work.
Progress is yummy. Over the course of the past few days I've completed the double box pleating for my brown kirtle. This involved revisiting my maths, re-measuring, pinning, making frowny faces, re-re-measuring, re-revisiting the maths, undoing some stitches, re-pinning, and finally producing an acceptable outcome. Although next time I do something with double box pleats I'd prefer to end on a "peak" rather than a "valley." It's just cleaner that way.
Once all that was done I went straight to attaching the skirt and bodice at the waist seam. I had initially planned on turning the top edge of the skirt under just a bit and sewing the waist seam about a quarter inch up from the bottom edge of the bodice. Once I had the bulk from the pleats in my hands, however, the plan changed to "overlap the pieces flat, with the top edge of the skirt on the outside, and hem stitch." Jean thinks I have Cinderella's mice stashed away in my closet to do all the tiny stitchwork that seems to make its way into my garb ... I wish it were so!
For the kirtle to reach a wearable state, I need to close the front of the skirt and hem it. I'm a little concerned about how the skirt's heaviness may warp the shoulder straps during between-events hanging storage and after washing, so I'm going to grab some ribbon and attach weight-bearing loops inside the waist seam. If I do this right, it will take the stress off the straps and I'll only have to worry about replacing the kirtle if/when my body shape changes.
A side note: even on the hanger the dress has a booty. Period silhouette accomplished! I will post pictures once the kirtle is ready for its debut at Crown.
