Cornflower

Lit. knits

  It just so happens that the two pairs of socks I've finished recently are book-inspired; what Jane Austen and Beatrix Potter would think of their characters ending up, as it were, on people's feet, I don't know, but I imagine they would be amused at the degree to which their creations pervade the world of craft. Anyway, if patterns and wool with literary associations are your thing - as they are many people's - here are Darcy and Jemima:

Top: To Darcy with Love by Kniterrarium, made with Fitzwilliam Darcy from Norah George.

Bottom: Jemima by Kay Jones, made with Snow Fields and Soft Cornflower from  Skein Queen.

Spring colours

The book: I'm no bird-watcher, but so far I'm very taken by this beautiful piece of nature writing*.

The wool: 'Lost Penny' (Zion merino/silk/cashmere) from here.

The flowers: Muscari - Valerie Finnis, armeniacum, and latifolium; Brunnera Jack Frost.

 

*Extract here.

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Socks for a fine day

    This is the fourth pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks* I've knitted, but on these I've omitted the garter stitch edge to the eye of partridge heel.

    They are made in Fondant Fibre's merino/cashmere/nylon 4 ply, and I like the marled effect the texure pattern produces with the heavily variegated yarn.

    The colourway name is 'One Fine Day' - also the title of a favourite book of mine.

*My adaptations for dpns are here.

South Riding mittens

    You may have seen this post in which I showed you a lovely skein of Great Woolly Owl Bluefaced Leicester/Baby Alpaca named after Winifred Holtby's South Riding. Here it is again, now a pair of very cosy mittens.

    If you're in the market for some of this yarn (and you're a Persephone Books fan), you may like the Miss Pettigrew colourway. The pattern is Susan B. Anderson's Waiting for Winter Mittens.

Lit. knit: South Riding

    Note to yarn dyers: name a colourway after a book, and some of us may not be able to resist ...

    This is a skein of aran weight Bluefaced Leicester *(55%) and Baby Alpaca (45%) called South Riding. It should be just the thing for a simple pair of mittens, and I love the colours; the book is pretty good, too, as you'll see here.

    The yarn comes from Great Woolly Owl where you'll find quite a few other literary favourites (some of which have also found their way to my house).

 

* Should you come upon a Bluefaced Leicester in the field, you will recognise it thus: "It should have a head like a solicitor"! That's according to a breeder quoted in Philip Walling's most interesting Counting Sheep: A Celebration of the Pastoral Heritage of Britain

Russian honey

    Another Honey Cowl (you can find the first one here), this time in Madelinetosh DK, colourway "Dr. Zhivago's Sky".

    It measures approx. 7" x 49", so can easily be doubled to keep out Siberian winds/the North Sea chill.

    As before, the wool came from Loop.

    Project details here.

Lit. knit: sheep may safely graze

    I've been in Lancashire, in the beautiful Forest of Bowland, staying at The Inn at Whitewell (you may have seen this post and this one from my last visit).

    I had a view of sheep and hills and river, a cup of tea, a novel about the wool trade in England in the 15th. century - Cynthia Harnett's excellent The Wool-Pack, and some knitting.

    Nothing more needed.

Lit. knit

     Another perfect marriage of books and yarn, this time two skeins of Skein merino/cashmere fingering (Wintertide and Gingko, bought at Loop),

and that wonderful book again!

Lit. knit

    Another 'Literary Hottie' from Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Knitting, this one teamed with a very good Mary Stewart (re. which see this post), and made with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in navy from What Ewe Need, and shell buttons from Wool & Buttons.

    Here it is with its fellows,

and there's a fourth example underway.

Lit. knit: pen & ink

    The Missing Ink: The Lost Art of Handwriting, and Why it Still Matters

    Juno Fibre Arts 'Alice': 'Ink Blot' (in the skein there, but now on the needles)

    Madelinetosh Sock: 'Ink' (already knitted up - proper pictures soon).

Lit. knit

    All the blues: kerchief, bag, book.

Lit. knit

    Another of Jane Brocket's literary hot water bottle covers from The Gentle Art of Knitting   (details of the first, the one on the right, are here). This one has been made with four balls of grey-blue Rowan All Seasons Cotton - a gift with a Rowan subscription ages ago. It has turned out a little bigger than the Cashmerino Aran version but still fits fine.

    I've paired the covers with some suitable comfort reading, Mary Stewart's Airs Above the Ground, one of the favourites listed here.

    This is such a simple, relaxing knit that I'm very happy to have had requests for a couple more of the covers, and I'll be reverting to the Debbie Bliss yarn for both.

 

Edited to add: as I write, What Ewe Need have the Cashmerino Aran at 25% off the usual retail price.

Cosy crime

    Four years ago I was knitting a cabled hot water bottle cover. Despite being beyond the half way mark, I put it down for some reason and didn't pick it up again until recently when I took a hard look and decided I should have gone up a needle size or two for it seemed to be on the scrimp side.

    Noticing that Jane Brocket's Literary Hotties pattern in The Gentle Art of Knitting calls for the very yarn I was using (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran), I decided to unravel my work and start again, and I'm glad I did for the results are much, much better.

    Simple garter stitch with the yarn held double makes for a very soft and snuggly cover and a quick and straightforward knit; I diverged from the pattern only at the neck where I worked fewer rows than prescribed but still sufficient for ample coverage.

    Jane explains in the book how her covers come to have literary associations, hence the picture of mine with my current reading, Laura Thompson's biography Agatha Christie: An English Mystery. Very cosy crime!

 

    (Click here for a lovely quote from Dame Agatha herself on what one might call 'the gentle art of becoming the best-selling novelist of all time'.)

Lit. knit

    The wool is from Sunday Knits (more on the project when it has advanced a bit), the cover illustration is by Carrie May, and for details of the book itself click here.

Lit. knit.

    For the moment, the wool matches the book jacket (though the colours will be changing soon).

    More on the knitting when it has grown a bit, for the book click here, and for other daft 'lit. knit.' posts scroll down here.