the warp weighted loom

I'm finally setting up to weave on my warp-weighted loom once again.  We have a demo/event weekend coming up and I said I'd bring it.  It was a wonderful draw to the public when I brought it to an art show that our medieval group was demonstrating at and it gives me that little push to get going.
The last project was a broken diamond twill which is complicated and time consuming even by WWLoom standards.  This time I'm doing a check pattern in a basic tabby.  It'll be simpler to weave but flashier in colour.  Great for public display.

Eventhough I'd seen the trend of no tablet woven starter band during the medieval ages I find it's the best for spacing and my persona is 7th century Irish Celt so I have no proof either way if a WWLoom was used let alone a starter band, so what the heck.

I'm trying to decide how much I want to do ahead of time.  I really need to go through my notes so I can set up a talk during the weekend.  A combination of function and history I think will work best to keep attention of the public and our members.

monmouth evolution

Monmouth museum cap pattern evolution

The evolution of the patterning of this particular extant hat by modern knitters.

By Stephanie Goodchild, SCA THL Caelfind ingen Failtigerna

Description

The Cap from Monmouth

 “The Welsh border town of Monmouth was a centre for cap-making from 1520s to about 1585.  Monmouth caps were of peculiar design and were sold far and wide, becoming well known throughout England.” (Rutt, 58)

 “Little has been recorded of their appearance, except that they were round, brown, and topped with a button.” (Rutt, 58)  There is a particular cap at the Nelson museum in Monmouth that many have attempted to recreate and analyze.  “It was knitted in the round on four needles, entirely in stockinet, felted and shorn.  The dark wool is course thick 2 ply, knitted at a tension of 1 stitch to a centimeter (3/4 in).” (Rutt, 58)

The Yarn

During this time in history the common techniques used for yarn making are woolen yarns as opposed to worsted ones. “The crucial difference between worsteds and the woolens that supplanted them in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries lay in the fulling and finishing processes.” (Oldland, 97)  A woolen yarn will lend itself to the fulling process more readily than a worsted yarn will due to its structure of hairs lying in multiple directions rather than parallel, as in a worsted yarn.  “Shearman dressed the cloth by repeatedly napping the cloth with teasles and cutting it with shears, gradually lowering the nap, to produce the smooth, silky feel.” (Oldland 98).

Although this seems to be a very well known technique and many assume it was done to all woven wool garments, today the cap has very sharp stitch definition.   Whether this is an effect of time and degradation is unclear.

First Attempt:

Rutt interpretation of the Monmouth cap

Needles: size 6mm,

Yarn: Threads and Loops:  Cozy Wool (wool/acrylic blend) super bulky, 2-ply.

Cast on 59 stitches (it was recommended by Baroness Camilla to use a knitted cast on)

The brim of double fabric was shaped by increase or decrease at end of ea needle on 3^rd round inside and outside hem.

The hem is 8 rounds deep

The cap is shaped with a decrease 3 times every 10^th round at end of ea needle in 10^th and 30^th round

It is decreased in the middle of each needle in 20^th round

After the 30^th row, 50 stitches remaining

Decrease every 3^rd and 2^nd stitch in alternate rounds until 8 stitches remain

The remaining stitches are drawn together and topped with a button

A loop of 14 stitches is added at the back

The museum hat is measured by Rutt to be:

20cm (8 in) deep

55cm (22 in) circumference

My sample was 3.25 sts to the inch

5 rows to the inch.

The finished hat is 20” circumference and 8 7/8” deep

Picked up brim at knitted cast on and knit up into hat for brim.  This looks incorrect on the bottom edge. I may have misinterpreted what the Baroness’ opinion was of the brim section, but I thought that was what she recommended.

Second Attempt:

Ravelry pattern by “Neen”:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/monmouth-cap-the-details-matter

Needles: 8mm

Yarn: doubled Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool (100% wool, worsted weight) as recommended by pattern.

Gauge: 2/5-3 sts to inch

Backward loop cast on 62 sts

Turn and knit back, and then join in the round.

Brim is 8 rows.

Decreases begin at round 17 and are more gradual than Rutt’s description.

Cast off with 11 sts.  Wrapping the tail around the bunch and then stitching through the bundle to create the “button”

Pick up on row 8 and knit down to original cast on from the inside.

Three needle bind off after turning the hat to the right side.

Chain stitches to create the loop.

My sample:

3 stitches to the inch

4.5 rows to the inch

overall size:  20” circumference, and 12” deep

Instructions say to “felt down to size”

Third Attempt

Using my own hand spun 2-ply Shetland wool. 

Gauge is approximately 2.75 stitches to the inch.

4 Rows to the inch

Hand made 8mm 12 inch dpns (made by my lord for this project J)

Using the museum image for a visual estimation of stitches and decreases, and the size description by Rutt.

Museum piece only appears to have six rounds of stitches for the brim.

Cast on 60 sts using backward loop method (as in 2^nd pattern).

Two rounds knit.

Decrease fourth stitch on each of three needles on third round (visual from museum).

Continue knit rounds until round 19.

Decreases begin.

20:  1 decrease at the beginning of each needle

21:  2 decrease at the middle of each needle

22:  k1, *k2 tog, k3* repeat to end of round

23:  k2, k2 tog repeat to end of round

24:  k2 tog, k1 repeat to end of round

25:  k2, k2 tog repeat to end of round

26:  k2 tog, k1 repeat to end of round

Using bind off method from Humphrey’s pattern as it gives a very close visual approximation to the museum piece.  The work must be turned to the outside for the bind off to lay flat on the outside of the cap.

Pick up stitches on round six on the inside of the hat. (counted rounds on museum cap)

16 finger crochet stitches for loop.

Findings:

The measurements from the Rutt book say that the hat it only 8 inches deep and yet I estimated 50 rows to the hat from the museum photo.  That would be 6.25 rows to the inch and yet only 3 stitches to the inch.  The knitting does look compact but not distorted.  I would have to say that the smaller needle size would definitely be needed to achieve close to this row gauge.  I am wondering about the accuracy of these measurements from Rutt.

Works Cited

Rutt, Richard.  “A History of Hand Knitting” B T Batsford Ltd, London:  1987.

Oldland, John.  “The finishing of English woolens, 1300-1550.” P97, Medieval clothing and textiles 3.  The Boydell Press, New York:  2007. 

Hammarlund, Lena et alia.  “Visual Textiles:  A Study of Appearance and Visual Impression in Archaeological Textiles.” P69, Medieval clothing and textiles 4.  The Boydell Press, New York:  2008.

People to Thank for their input:

Colleen Humphreys “Neen” on Ravelry

Sally Pointer “SallyinWales” on Ravelry

Sarah  “MsMcKnittington” on Ravelry

Chris Laning “Claning” on Ravelry, SCA (Dame) Christian de Holacombe from the Kingdom of the West

Baroness Camilla

black out speak out

labourer's cap a.k.a. the Monmouth museum cap third attempt

So just under the wire for my third and last attempt for the labourer's cap in our regional arts and sciences competition held yesterday.  I worked within the information I could gather from studying the museum photo and the dimensions written by Rutt.  Something doesn't jive but I couldn't tell you exactly what that is so I went in between the two.
The hat is comfy, functional and well received.  It doesn't look the same as the museum photo but at this point, I'm pretty happy with my hat.
The original picture is here:  http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/large/item/GTJ01788/
The dimensions from Rutt are 22" around at the base and only 8" tall.  The image looks to be taller than the diameter.  Was this from the camera angle?  Was it stretched after being on this stand for too long?  Was Rutt incorrect in his measurements?  Can't answer those unless I go to Monmouth and measure myself so I guess I'll have to be content with what I have.
I was wondering about the gauge.  The hat I estimate to have about 50 rows and 60 sts around.  At one stitch per centimeter, that's 2.5 sts per inch.  At 8" it would be 6.25 rows per inch.  Whew that's compact.  The closest I was able to get was 5 rows per inch on my first attempt but I think my stitches were a little more per inch too.
So my final hat was in my own hand spun shetland yarn.  The rows ended up being half of the museum photo's but the dimensions were pretty darn close.  It's comfy too so next winter I have a hat!

labourer's cap a.k.a. the Monmouth museum cap

So number two of the cap has been done for a bit now.  I've had two or three false starts with the third rendition of the cap.  At this gauge (2.75 sts to the inch) I've discovered that it's easy to incorrectly measure gauge.  I thought I had 3 sts/inch.  That makes a big difference in your cast on sts.
Argh.  Well, I'm trusting Fate to deliver me a good outcome.  I was going to use a commercial yarn, but it has synthetic in it.  Now I have the practice enough to spin the right thickness of yarn, so I'm using hand spun now instead.  Come on now, the competition is only three days away ;-)

Here's second attempt below the first.  They want you to full the hat down to size.  I can't see the people in the 16th century using this technique like this, but hey, who am I?

naalbind socks

So I'm still procrastinating...
I'm having fun with the socks though.  You can never have too many pairs of socks.
I'm using a Finnish stitch UUOO/UUOOO F2 
I made a strap around my ankle once the toe was long enough to hit my ankle and then spiralled down to the heel.  I worked out pretty nice and fits well enough.  I was also able to keep the spiral going.

 

socks

So I should be working on my Monmouth cap project what with the due date being about three weeks away but I've been procrastinating with something else.  I was judging the Golden Seamstress competition this past weekend and was inspired by a project by one of the teams.  The GS is a sewing competition and if you are curious to know more visit here:  http://expo-conv-svcs.com/QS/home.html

One of the teams did a recreation of the Ancient Finnish Costume from here:  www.vikinganswerlady.com/FTP.../Ancient_Finnish_Costumes.PDF

They included naalbind mittens and socks using a multi-colour spiral technique which I knew how to do but had not attempted yet.  So using a Finnish 2/2 F2 stitch I started some socks of my own.  The stitch goes pretty quick so it won't take long but I will have to put it aside and work on my bulky weight spinning for a while.

A Boobie Hat

Okay, so the running gag involves a woman breast feeding and someone else complaining about her being in public.  So apparently the boobie hat for baby is to bring attention to the completely natural act of breastfeeding and the fact that there's nothing wrong with it and nothing to be ashamed of either.  Anyways, I was asked to make a pattern for our charity group to knit.  Here it is:

The Baby Boobie Hat

Stephanie Goodchild

Yarn

Worsted weight or #4 medium weight

Example done with Vanna’s Choice “beige” and Bernat Waverly  “Bitter Rose”

Needles

5mm or US8 dpns

gauge is 5 to 6 sts per inch

Cast on 48 sts

Work in Stockinette stitch for 8mm or 3”

First decrease row: k2 tog, k4, repeat to end of round

Next row: k

Decrease: k2 tog, k3, repeat

Next row: k

Decrease: k2 tog, k2, repeat

Next row: k

Decrease: k2 tog, k1, repeat

Change to secondary colour

K row

K2 tog, repeat

K row

Cut yarn and use yarn needle to loop through remaining 4 stitches and tie off on the inside.

Weave in ends.

Voila! Boobie for baby ;-)

labourer's cap a.k.a. the Monmouth museum cap

So as my A&S competition entry this year I decided to work on a simpler and quicker project than the warp weighted loom weaving I did for last year's entry (which incidentally took a year's worth of weaving).  This is one of the largest gauges I've seen in pre-1600 knitting.  According to Richard Rutt, one stitch per centimetre.  As to whether this item was also fulled to the point of shrinkage or not seems to be up on debate.  That would mean the gauge was originally bigger.  However, the stitches are quite distinct so I'm inclined to think it was either fulled only to increase water resistance or simply fulled through use.  The image from the museum (http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/large/item/GTJ01788/) I have found to be very helpful in deciphering the construction.  The first of my attempts is based mainly on Rutt's interpretation and I've found some major oversights in his pages.  Such as cast-on method he thinks may have been used or where the cast on takes place.  Whether it's cast on at the inside part of the brim and knit as one piece, or cast on at the edge and picked up later to make the inside brim is not stated.  The "button" is not defined.
I decided to pick up at the bottom edge after a knitted cast on for the main body of the hat.  It does not produce the edge shown in the museum picture.  I knew it wouldn't but I wanted to show the progression of my research and experimentation.  Believe me, knowing this wasn't the right method did not sit well with my OCD, lol.  After speaking with several ladies on Ravelry my second attempt will look much more authentic to the original.

Post holiday lull

So I can post all of my project results now that the holidays are past.
The Polish coat is completed and delivered.  He'll be trying it out at tonight's fencing practice.  I'll be crossing my fingers that it isn't too bulky and annoying.

My sister posted that she's using the gauntlets I made for her.  I can't imagine Edmonton being very toasty warm this time of year so I made these for her and she seemed to love them.

The girls seemed to like their stuff as well.  I chose three patterns from "Vampire Knits" a book I bought for the purpose.  A tourniquet scarf, a werewolf hat, and pulse protectors or palm readers or something for the gauntlets.  They all have cutsey names but the patterns aren't too bad.  I do want to make the beer covers with the blood type based on the True Blood series ;-)

I also made some stuff for my honey including some nalbind socks.

No rest for the wicked.  I"m off to the next project and the charity knitting.

Polish Hussar fencing jacket

As a now belated Yule gift I'm in the painful process of making a fencing jacket for a friend of mine.  At each stage of this project I've had hurtles to jump and it's a good thing I'm patient when it comes to sewing.  I'm using the Russian Svita design as that seems to be the closest thing I can find for what the images look like.  http://www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Russia/KMC2.html

I had to start with a prototype to make sure it fit.  I had to resize it after that especially considering the freedom of movement preferred for fencing.  Then I discovered the fabric that I had used to make the jacket (fabric previously tested and passed) no longer passed the "punch test".  Adding a third layer to the body of the coat makes it quite bulky.  I'm annoyed at that but there's not much I can do short of buying new fabric and starting over.  Next the innermost layer was naturally reversed so that the seams went to the outside to be contained between all of the layers.  The coat design is assymetrical at the front so because I wasn't thinking I had to detach and reattach the two front body panels.  While attaching the bottom skirting to the jacket now I see that the side gores on the bottom where not enlarged with the rest of the coat and won't make it all the way around.  Sigh. I hope I have enough fabric to fix this next hiccup.