Victorian Trellis Progress

I was starting to wonder if I'd bitten more than I could chew!  The tatting is ok but trying to film every part of the process is proving more of a challenge.  I've never made so many videos in quick succession!  Anyway, I'm getting there.  Just two more rounds after this one and the whole design is done and documented.

The round just before the one I'm working on ends up looking messy (this piece has not been blocked in any way so far) with its long chains and large rings but it all falls into place again with the round I'm working on now.

I was trying to do both the collar version and doily version at the same time but that became too complicated.  So I actually think I will remake it once more when I've completed this one and make sure to note all changes required to make it as an open collar.  The first one I made (the cream one) does fit over my head but this one, although I thought I was using the same size thread, has worked out smaller and doesn't fit over my head so that's what made me think that I really need to do another, open version.

Ok, to all those reading this, can I have your suggestions as to what colour I should choose when I remake it for a collar?

Best wishes,

Frivole

Victorian Trellis

I don't know if any of you have joined in but I now have several videos relating to the Victorian Trellis Doily pattern (find them on my channel and specifically in this playlist).  I've often had questions about this design over the years so I thought it might be a good idea to make videos for the whole doily from start to finish.  Along the way, I'm covering other things like how to fix mistakes (since I made two that needed correcting in the first round!).

I've now started on the second round last night which is much simpler that the first.  So if you fancy lots of Victorian Sets, I hope you'll consider joining us in tatting this piece!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Lace Collar

I can hardly believe it's back in 2013 that I made this doily.  It is meant to have a fabric centre but I never got around to adding one... which turns out to be a good thing actually!  Here's why...

Someone recently contacted me asking if I had any idea of how one could replicate Ruth Bader Ginsberg's white pearl collar in tatting (I'm not being political in any way here, just talking about her collars). :-) Funnily enough I actually used to make those collars with seed beads when I was a teenager, I have a blue one and a cream pearl one somewhere in a box in the attic.  So I've made that collar with beads, but how to make one with tatting?  Straight away I thought of what I called the "Victorian Trellis Doily".  It has that same criss-cross effect and I thought the whole thing might look great as a collar... and I think it does!

You could make it narrower or wider depending on how many rounds of this pattern you decide to use.  And it is indeed wide enough to go over my head easily.  I went back to look at one of my videos where I am working this pattern and even back in 2013, in the description box I mention that I thought this would make a nice collar. 

But it's only now that I've finally put it over my head to try it!

What do you think?

All this caused me to re-visit this pattern for which I had written out the first round in this blogpost.  There were mistakes which I have now corrected (I hope it's all good now!) and I also tried to improve the wording and description.  The first round has an unusual construction and the way it is described in the original pattern is rather hard to understand in my opinion.  You can find the original pattern on pages 15-17 of this online version of the vintage publication (now out of copyright).  There's always been interest in this pattern and I would like to make it more easily available for people to tat.

I've had several requests to make a video about this design... so finally I got around to it!  I just uploaded a video of the first round and will carry on making videos to describe the other rounds too.

I hope some of you will be interested in making it.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Fair Isle Sweater

I started on the sweater I am making my son for his birthday as per his request (isn't it nice that a young man wants a hand-knitted jumper for his birthday?).   He chose the design which is by Ann Feitelson (though the story reveals it was taken from an original design by Hazel Tindall from a jumper found in a charity shop!).

There must be a lot less demand for Shetland Wool nowadays as many of their colours are now discontinued.  I'm a big fan of all traditional techniques and crafts and always feel sad when some are found to be disappearing (as is happening with many).  I had to substitute three colours but I think it's worked out alright.  There used to be 151 colours in their range of jumper weight wool and now they have 97 (still a good number, but 54 colours discontinued, that's a lot).

This was my first attempt at the corrugated ribbing but I wasn't happy

with the colour in the middle which was breaking the run of colours

between the browns.

I ordered another colour (this was one of the substituted colours)

frogged back, and started again with the new colour:

Yes!  That's much better.

Here's where I'm at as of today:

An interesting mix of browns, orangey-pinks, orange, purple and plum.

Still a long way to go!

But I started early, I only need to finish it by May.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Kep Hat

I love Fair Isle knitting.  I love the patterns and endless colour combinations.  I find changing colours and patterns so often keeps the knitting interesting all the way through even though it's all stockinette stitch.  I also love knitting in the round which means you never need to purl and best of all, no sewing is required at the end!

Here is my hat finished.  I was only working with whatever leftover wool I had from other projects and improvising with colours as I went along so wasn't sure I'd like the end result... but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I like that you can wear the extra fabric on the side

or on the back for a different look.

I had fun making the big colourful tassel.

Keps were/are traditionally worn by Scottish fishermen.  I used Shetland wool which is renowned for being warm, strong, durable and has a "grippy" quality which is particularly good for stranded knitting.  And the best part with this wool is that you don't have to weave in your ends (there are so many!), you just knot, tear, and leave to felt into the fabric with use and washing.

I looked up Shetland to find out a bit more about the area... I didn't know it comprised of so many islands!  And that it is so far north.  There are 100 islands in the Shetland of which only 16 are inhabited, Fair Isle being one of them with about 65 residents nowadays (down from about 400 in the 1900s).

This particular pattern is from a book I recently got by Mati Ventrillon called "Knitting from Fair Isle".

There will be some more Fair Isle knitting going on as my son has now requested a sweater for his birthday.  I have made a start on it but this will take me several months to knit.  I'll be showing that in a future blogpost.  I might also make another hat or two (time and elbow permitting!), as family members would now like one too!  My son asked if I could make him a beanie version of this hat.  But I won't be remaking the same one, I'll look for different designs... or maybe even design my own as I have books that show many traditional Fair Isle patterns (peeries and border patterns) so that you can mix and match depending on the number of stitches you require.

Best wishes,

Frivole

New Year

I completed one project during the holidays and got it posted just before Christmas.  It was the blanket I made for my new niece.  The colour is really a nice duck egg blue (not obvious in the photos).

I'm sorry I didn't take better photos of it, they are evening/artificial light photos and the weather was too horrible to take any nice ones outside before I packed it up to ship it.  The square pattern is by Destany Wymore and can be found here on Ravelry.

And now I'm using up some odd and ends of leftover shetland wool to knit a Fair Isle hat.  The pattern is "Kep Hat" by Mati Ventrillon.  I've knitted several Fair Isle jumpers over the years... but it's the first time knitting a hat!

I send all of you my best wishes for a better New Year 2021, full of peace, love, joy... and lots of creative projects!

What's your first project of 2021?  Please let me know in the comments.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Holiday Wishes

Joyeux Noël!

My very best wishes to everyone for

a peaceful and healthy Christmas

and for a better New Year 2021...

when we can finally get together again.

Take care everyone.

Frivole