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.

Pouch

Here's what it looks like so far:

Pouch Notes

A few weeks ago I decided I'd make a pouch for the county fair. I wanted a pouch a little bit bigger than the felted pouch I normally carry, and I wanted a pretty design on it.

I wanted a sturdy knit, so I grabbed the Jaggerspun Maine Line merino from my cushion project (inspired by Las Huelgas grave finds and I hadn't put quite enough thought into the pattern, so I was disappointed in it) to knit the pouch.

A 5x0 needle gave me a firm, but not stiff fabric, which is just what I wanted.

The bottom is double-thickness with the outside black and inside red. I started with a 4x4 stitch square and increased in the second and second-to-last stitches on the needle until I had 256 stitches.

And then I started looking for pretty patterns. I was thinking of something from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush, and only 2 patterns I like fit in 256 stitch repeat. A lot of the patterns are 10 or 14 stitches instead, and I didn't feel like trying to figure out how to fit those onto my base and I definitely didn't want to go mucking with the bases now that I had them attached to each other.

After joining the two bottoms, I knit a black and red 2-color yarn-over braid, then a few rows of black, then I started the sheep's eye (Lambasilmakiri on the card was the best picture I could find) pattern with a black background, red circles, and yellow grid.

It is beautiful, but still so short it's rolling up all over the place. I am briefly considering switching the red and yellow in the pattern to make it more vibrant, but this way it's less likely to show dirt. I can always make another in different colors some day or maybe pick one of the other patterns from the book if I end up liking this pouch.

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

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.

Shimmer Progress - Part 2

Finished the knitting tonight. I had to re-do the ribbing because I picked up too few stitches the first time and it didn't lie flat. I also had to rip out the first few stitches of the bind-off row because they weren't stretchy enough. I re-did them with a bigger needle.

Tried it on (can't find camera) and the fit is much better with the new ribbing. I probably should block it, but it looks damn good as it is.

Now to weave in the ends, graft together the armpits, and wait for the weather to cool off a bit because I was sweltering when I tried it on over my tank top.

Current Project List

The active projects:

• Shimmer from Knitty
• Jeanie from Knitty
• turning a batt from String Theory Fiber Arts into string

When Shimmer is finished, I'll go through the WIP bin and see what's hiding in there.