Corsetry

Here is my first foray into full-blown steel corsetry. "What?" I hear you say. "You did RenFaires and SCA for umpty-zillion years, how can you say you never did corsetry before?" Well, it's true I did do RenFaires and whatnot as a starving college student, and put together some fairly nice fitted fabric bodices on a shoestring budget, usually out of whatever upholstery fabric I could find in the bargain bin. But by the time I was a little older and had become solvent enough to do serious period costuming, my persona had regressed from vaguely-middle-class-Tudor to the wife of an 8th c. continental Saxon mercenary -- tunics, not corsets, in other words.

So now, here I am trying my hand at 1855-era costuming for the first time, making a ball dress for Ali for the Sesquicentennial Ball coming up in November. I plan to make a gown for myself too, as well as a costume for Mike. (Hunter is not the slightest bit interested & will be sequestered with a babysitter on the night of the ball.) Ali's gown is the test case, since she is a standard right-out-of-the-pattern-envelope size. I am sure I will have to do some fairly extensive modifications for my dress & didn't want that to be my first stab at it.

When you make costumes that have some fairly serious underpinnings, like corsets, you have to make the underpinnings first since the gown will fit differently without it. Otherwise, if you fit the gown without the corset, and then put on the corset, the waist will hang all funny. (Mike tells me it's the same dilemma with armor -- more than one newbie fighter has made his armor first, then his gambeson; then wondered why it doesn't fit when he puts it all on.) So, anyway, I am making the costume from the skin out, so to speak.

Here is the chemise & corset. (Yes, I know this is a picture of my daughter in her underwear, but it's 1855 underwear, so I don't think it's that risque, do you?) There are 20 steel stays in this thing, plus the busk, so it's quite rigid. I made a couple mistakes I won't repeat on the second corset, but overall, I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt.

Next is the petticoat, then the dress itself. Ali (of course) wants a giant hoopskirt, but my usual haphazard research tells me that 1855 is just a hair before the time of full-blown hoops; skirts were full, but worn with very voluminous petticoats to give them the fullness, not hoops. Not that I doubt we will see a hoop or two at the ball in November. Heck, I won't be surprised if we see recycled Scarlett-O'Hara green-curtain costumes. You know somebody's got one of those floating around somewhere ;-)

MCE Sox Pattern

As promised, here's the pattern for the Mock-Cable Eyelet Socks (plus a better picture). I'm assuming a basic knowledge of sock construction & skipping a lot of the construction notes. Socknitters has a good tutorial on construction, good for beginners or just if you need a refresher.

Mock-Cable Eyelet Socks
by Kay Luke

To fit average-to-large sized woman's foot. (Written for my size 10s, in other words.)
Yarn: Elann's Sock It To Me Colori in color Spiced Berries, 2 skeins
size 2 needles

Cast on 60 stitches. Join in the round, taking care not to twist yarn, and work k2,p2 ribbing for one inch.

Commence working in pattern:
Round 1: *P1, sl 1, k2, pass slipped stitch over 2 stitches, p1*, repeat from *.
Round 2: *P1, k1, yo, k1, p1*, repeat from *.
Round 3: *P1, k3, p1*, repeat from *.
Round 4: Repeat row 3.

Work in pattern until sock cuff measures 4" or desired length, ending with row 4.

Start heel flap: The heel flap is worked over 30 stitches; place the remaining 30 stitches on a holder or on a separate needle for the meantime.
Row 1: *sl1, k1*, repeat from *.
Row 2: Sl1, purl to end.
Repeat rows 1 & 2 until heel flap is 30 rows (15 slipped stitches on each side), ending with a purl row.

Start heel shaping:
Row 1: Knit to last stitch, wrap & turn.
Row 2: Purl to last stitch, wrap & turn.
Row 3: Knit to last stitch before wrapped stitch, wrap & turn.
Row 4: Purl to last stitch before wrapped stitch, wrap & turn.
Repeat rows 3 & 4 until there are 14 live stitches on needle (not counting wrapped stitches), ending with a purl row.
Begin picking up wrapped stitches:
Row 1: Knit to wrapped stitch, knit wrap & stitch together, turn work.
Row 2: Purl to wrapped stitch, purl wrap & stitch together, turn work.
Repeat rows 1 & 2 until all wrapped stitches have been picked up, ending with a purl row.

Picking up for the gusset:
Note: I generally knit on two circulars, and I keep the 30 stitches on top of the foot on the top needle, and gusset & heel on the bottom needle. That way, all my decreases are on the bottom needle, and I can keep track of the pattern on the top of the foot easier. If you are using DPNs, place the 30 stitches on the top foot on a single needle, and divide the heel & gusset stitches over two needles. If you are using a single needle, place markers as indicated to help you keep track.

Knit across 30 stitches of the heel. Pick up and knit 16 stitches along edge of heel flap (once in each slipped stitch & one in the corner of the gusset, to help tighten things up.) Place a marker here if you are using a single needle. Knit the 30 stitches from holder IN PATTERN: *P1, sl 1, k2, pass slipped stitch over 2 stitches, p1*, repeat from * for a total of 6 repeats. Place marker if using single needle. Pick up and knit 16 stitches along other edge of heel flap (one in the corner of the gusset & once in each slipped stitch.) A total of 92 stitches is on the needles.

Begin gusset decreases:
*Continue knitting around heel until last 2 stitches before top; k2tog. Knit across top of foot IN PATTERN for 30 stitches. Sl1, k1, psso.* Repeat in this manner until total number of stitches is reduced to 60.

Continue knitting the foot (plain for the bottom 30 stitches, IN PATTERN for the top 30 stitches) until the foot measures 7.5 inches from heel or desired length, ending with a row 4 of the pattern and having knitted across the bottom.

Toe Decreases:
Round 1: *K1, sl1, k1, psso, knit to last 3 stitches of top, k2tog, k1.* Repeat for bottom.
Round 2: Knit.
Repeat rounds 1 & 2 until 40 stitches remain.
Repeat round 1 only (decreasing every row) until 28 stitches remain.
Graft toes & enjoy.

Independence Sit n Knit

Some photos from the Sit n Knit meeting today in Independence. I don't usually get a chance to drive all the way out there, but Ali & I were in Independence anyhow to buy a ridiculous amount of fabric & lace for Ali's gown for the Sesquicentennial Ball. I'll have lots more on that later, I'm sure.


Ali, Chelle, and oops, I forgot her name, Chelle's mom


Me, and Maenwyn


Mary & Jen, & the back of Chelle's head

I promised to post the pattern for the Eyelet Mock-Cable socks, which I happened to be wearing, so watch for that in a later post.

Queen of the Domain

Now that is a relaxed cat. I took this with our new HP Photosmart, just kind of playing around with it. Doesn't it pick up detail nicely? Our old digi camera wasn't able to get a clear shot of something like, say, fur -- the poor kitties always seemed to have that weird moire effect. Now I can finally do justice to Pyewacket's luxe coat. (Assuming, of course, your monitor is equally able to resolve it.)

Harry Potter Scarf

Here, as was correctly guessed earlier, is the start of a Prisoner of Azkaban-style Gryffindor scarf. The daughter of a dear friend of mine has a birthday coming up in October, and she is just wild about Harry, of course. I am most of the way through the first skein of red yarn and about 3 1/2 repeats in.

I was terrified that the movie folks would change the scarf style yet again for the upcoming 4th HP movie, prompting another round of scarf requests -- so I was quite relieved to see this promotional still from Goblet of Fire. The Trio on the Castle Steps

Mock Cable Eyelet Sox

Another pair of socks made with Elann's SITM yarn. Again, my own design, just playing with a mock cable. I used the twisted german cast-on for the cuffs, and I've decided I detest it! For a reputedly stretchy cast-on, it has almost NO give. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong, ugh.

I brought a couple of skeins of sock yarn to work on my second day, after I realized that the last few hours of the help desk's shift consist of monitoring the phones & servers against catastrophe, but otherwise a lot of dead time. When my co-worker (who was training me) started giving me tips about the best sites to download solitaire games, I quickly realized that there would be no objections if I knitted during the slow times. Heck, if the on-call guys are in the back playing EverQuest, no one's going to care if I have a sock in my lap, as long as the Nextel is turned on.

One of the student workers is fascinated by my knitting, not in a "Hey, can you teach me" way... he simply seems to be agog that someone can do such a thing with sticks & string. He comes by every few days to check on the progress of the socks. Today, as I was starting the toe shaping, he stood by my desk & watched me knit for a solid fifteen minutes, mesmerized by the movement of my fingers. I don't know if I remind him of his dear old granny or if he is just very susceptible to hypnosis.

The Postman Brings Goodies

Lookie what was in the post today! Five skeins of Nature Spun -- four of Brick & one of Sunburst. A virtual kewpie doll will be awarded to the first person who can tell me what I'm making. ;-)