Romano-Egyptian Stockings Part VI

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=9130 Just dropping this link here because I wanted a good place to save it. I'm pretty sure this is a more complicated stitch and there isn't a knitting-style technique that can be done to get something that looks like this fabric.

Romano-Egyptian Stockings Part V

When there are 16 stitches across the instep, pick them up. (64 sts)
Work rounds for 8 rows.
K 58. Turn.
P 58.
K 64.
P 64.

Repeat last two rows 6 times
Bind off loosely.

Weave in ends.

Now to trim the ends, make ties, and send them to the person I made them for.

Romano-Egyptian Stockings Part IV

So, that plan didn't work. The heel is too shallow. So I'm doing some short rows.

After the heel increases, work 8 pairs of matching wrap and turns, one stitch from the end of the row.

K 46, wrap & turn
P 44, wrap & turn
K 43, wrap & turn
P 42, wrap & turn
K 41, wrap & turn
P 40, wrap & turn
K 39, wrap & turn
P 38, wrap & turn
K 37, wrap & turn
P 36, wrap & turn
K 35, wrap & turn
P 34, wrap & turn
K 33, wrap & turn
P 32, wrap & turn
K 31, wrap & turn
P 30, wrap & turn

K across, picking up wraps, K last st w/ bound off edge
P across, picking up wraps, P last st w/ bound off edge

K 47, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (48 sts)
P 47, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (48 sts)

for 14 rows

then start picking up the stitch from the bound-off edge instead of working it together

Romano-Egyptian Stockings Part III

Success!

Starting at the heel, in twisted stockinette...

figure-8 cast-on 8 stitches and one more on the right needle. (17 sts)
K 7 from left needle, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge. (18 sts)
P 8, pick up one st, P 8 tfl, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (18 sts)
K 8, PM, kbf twice, PM, K 7, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (20 sts)
P 19, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (20 sts)
K 8, kbf x 4, K 7 , K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (24 sts)
P 23, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (24 sts)
K 8, (kfb K1) x 4, K 7, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (28 sts)
P 27, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (28 sts)
K 8, (kfb K2) x 4, K 7, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (32 sts)
P 31, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (32 sts)
K 8, (kfb k3) x 4, K7, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (36 sts)
P 35, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (36 sts)
K 8, (kfb k4) x 4, K7, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (40 sts)
P 39, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (40 sts)
K 8, (kfb k5) x 4, K7, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (44 sts)
P 43, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (44 sts)
K 8, (kfb k6) x 4, K7, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (48 sts)

P 47, P last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (48 sts)
K 47, K last st tbl w/ st from bound-off edge (48 sts)

Repeat last 2 rows a bunch (I'll figure out how much later.

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

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.

A Break from Fiber

Tonight I made the sign to accompany the knitting guild's display at Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival this weekend.

I can't scan it until it is dry, but here are the steps I used to make it.

1. trace the clewe (ball of yarn) in pencil from the Pennsic Traceable Art Project
2. fought with my fountain pen to get the permanent black ink to flow through the calligraphy nib
3. wrote the name of the group with the largest calligraphy nib I have for the fountain pen
4. fought with the fountain pen to get the permanent black ink to flow through the non-calligraphy nib
5. wrote the description of the group with the non-calligraphy nib
6. traced the clewe with a marker brush
7. painted the clewe with undiluted cobalt-colored acrylic paint
8. painted a second coat of blue on the clewe
9. set in a safe place

After it dries, I will re-ink the lines on the clewe, covering them with black acrylic if I have to. Then I'll scan the final result.

Moorish Stockings for Summer

See that blue thing on my leg? That's a Moorish stocking used to produce the look recorded in Weiditz's Trachtenbuch.

They're just a long tube of blue wool. Rather warm, which is great at this time of year, but not so spiffy in the hot of an Atlantia summer.

Here are the details of the new stockings.

Yarn: 4 (?) skeins elann.com Camila. 50% cotton, 50% linen, 113m/50g
Needles: 3.25 mm
Gauge: 24 sts/36 rows = 4"

Cast-on 100 stitches. Knit stockinette stitch in the round. Bind off loosely.

Make 2.