Romano-Egyptian Stockings Part II

Well, that didn't work. The heel is way too poufy and the whole thing is a little bit too long. So I'm going to try again with the heel as an 8 stitch figure-8 and increasing 4 times every other row but for a few more rows. Hopefully that won't be an overkill of a correction, but the heel is basically gathered-looking right now, so it needs a LOT less increasing or at least slower increasing.

Romano-Egyptian Stockings

I'm knitting Romano Egyptian stockings, inspired by these and these. So far, I've knit the front part of the foot and the bottom of the heel of both stockings. As usual, I haven't tried to take a picture.

Here's the pattern so far:

Lang Jawoll, size 2 needles

work in twisted stockinette

figure-8 cast-on 4 stitches, inc 4 every row until 32 stitches, inc 4 every other row until 60 stitches

Work until 6" long, bind off VERY LOOSELY

figure-8 cast-on 12 stitches and one extra on right needle,
1. knit to end of left needle, k tog w/ back loop of bound off edge,
2. purl 12 sts, place marker, pick up 1 stitch, purl 1 stitch, place marker, purl 11 sts, p tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
3. k 12 sts, k bf in 2 sts, k 11 sts, k tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
4. p12 sts, p 4 sts, p 11 sts, p tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
5. k 12 sts, k bf in 4 sts, k11 sts, k tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
6. p 12 sts, p8 sts, p 11 sts, p tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
7. k 12 sts, kbf in 8 sts, k 11 sts, k tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
8. p 12 sts, p 16 sts, p 11 sts, p tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
9. k 12 sts, kbf in 16 sts, k 11 sts, k tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
10. p 12 sts, p 32 sts, p 11 sts, p tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
11. k 12 sts, (kbf in 1 sts k 1 sts)16 times, k 11 sts, k tog w/ back loop of bound off edge
12. p 12 sts, p 48 sts, p 11 sts, p tog w/ back loop of bound off edge

And so I have this all in one place, here's the friend's measurements:

Foot
length 9.5
instep 9
ankle 10

Works in Progress

Here is the update to the works in progress list.

• shoes - currently just a taped up foot, might toss and start over - tossed
  
• grey wool legwarmers - need to find - found, and likely to be abandoned as I don't think I need a pair this thick, but currently living in the SCA to-do box
  
• greyish cotton legwarmers - rip and start over wider - ripped and started over wider, but they're now too wide, I'll finish off this skein and try again. currently my on-the-go project
  
• disco kitty - needs to be sewn and stuffed - done
  
• Shimmer - needs to be blocked - done
  
• Jeannette - I think I'm going to rip this one and re-do it narrower - no change in modern to-do box
  
• velvet veil - needs to attach balls - started attaching balls, living in SCA to-do box
  
• red fingerless gloves - first glove, thumb gusset part-way done - done
  
• book - decide whether or not to re-sew it, if not, sand and attach boards - no change
  
• chemises - find out how many and if any of them are likely to fit - there was only one and it was way too small in the arms
  
• tablecloth - hem and embroider - no change
  
• napkins - embroider and hem - no change
  
• Roman socks - working on heel - no change
• Viking dress - need to finish the rest of the seams and sew the hem
• Romney - cleaning and combing

And as always, I don't have nearly enough pictures of my projects.

Belated MDSW Post

Since my last post, I've been doing a heck of a lot of craft stuff. The most notable was participating in the medieval textiles demonstration at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

I showed off sprang. There I am warping my cheap-ass sprang loom (picture taken by the other person doing sprang at the festival).

New Clothes
Because I have no evidence of sprang being used in early 16th century Spain, I decided to make a set of viking clothes. A new chemise/smock in 3.5 oz white linen and a new dress in lightweight yellow wool gabardine, and an apron dress in fulled black/olive wool that had a not-quite checkered pattern before fulling.

The chemise and dress both have rectangular construction and tapered sleeves. I now have a "good enough" pattern for making more smocks of this style. I want to check a few sources, but I think the pattern with a different neckline will also work for Spanish dresses. I could probably make these dresses fit a bit tighter, and still they'd be OK, and that might be worth working on for the next attempt.

I made the apron dress out of some lovely wool I had sitting around. I fulled the wool, which in hindsight was a mistake. The fabric didn't full evenly the first time around, so I had to try again, the dress is shorter than I really want it, and the lovely drape of the original fabric is completely gone. I think I'll be using this fabric for shoe mockups and hats and other sturdier things.

Festival Loot
While I was at the festival, I picked up a set of Viking combs and a big back of fleece from a black Romney sheep (cue Baa Baa Black Sheep song), and a handful of honey straws from the Bee Folks whose website is currently unavailable.

Related Projects
Since then I've been adding more finishing touches to the yellow dress for the Viking outfit. I'm finishing all the seams with a line of running stitch in red crochet cotton (it's what I had available), and when that's done, I'll hem it.

I've also been cleaning and prepping the Romney for spinning. A wash in the bathtub to get most of the smell off, then scouring a smaller batch in the sink to get most of the lanolin off, then a righteous combing to make it fluffy. I tried spinning some of that on my spindle last night. I'm either going to need to do more prep or use the wheel so I don't have to worry about the weight of the spindle as I draft the fiber. Since I want more of a woolen yarn than a worsted one, I think I shall go with the wheel because hand-carding takes AGES.