Hoopskirts

The undersleeves are completed! I wore them to a reenactment and they helped keep my arms warm, which was the goal. If I made these again, I think I would chose a color, perhaps brown or gray. Woven undersleeves were usually white, but knit ones did not have to be. White is not as practical for camping and cooking over an open fire. Despite the dirt issue, I was very pleased with the way they turned out. I used (American) size 2 and 5 needles and fingering weight wool to knit them. (For the pattern and the beginning of the saga, see the September blog) I did discover a different problem with the undersleeves. The coat sleeves of my wool dress are fairly slim, so I selected this undersleeve pattern because they are snug on the arms. Unfortunately, the coat sleeves tended to push the sleeve down my arm and make them bunch up around my wrist area.

The undersleeves are coming along. I have lost count of how many times I ripped out the pattern part on the cuff - 10? 12? - but now I'm working away on the main part of the sleeve. Which doesn't explain why I took a detour to learn the brioche stitch. I was searching through period knitting patterns on Google books and kept running across the brioche stitch. It didn't sound all that hard - throw the yarn to the front, slip one, knit 2 together, repeat to the end. Repeat for the 2nd row. It took me most of the evening to reach the "aha!" moment and figure out how to do it. It is used in many garments for warmth with flexibility. The problem is that it sounds like you would be decreasing all along - and if there was a yarn over to keep the number of stitches equal, it should make little picot holes. Off to modern instructions to decipher the period ones! But, every set of modern instructions I could find involved knitting with an even number of stitches; the perio...

My current project is a pair of knit undersleeves from The queen's winter knitting book , by Mrs. Mee & Miss Austin. I am part of a knit-along that worked on this project, however, due to a broken arm in the spring, I am woefully behind. I am now at the stage of "knit behind" rather than "knit along." Oh, I know I could simply start the new project, but I am more interested in this one. I am making mine out of white fingering weight wool. So far I have ripped them out twice, largely because 2 mysterious stitches keep showing up on my needles. An undersleeve is a second sleeve worn under the outer dress sleeve. Warm weather sleeves are made from light-weight white fabrics such as organdy or lawn. Undersleeves serve a practical purpose; they keep body oils off of the fashion fabric and can be washed and bleached (the reason for using white fabric). Many dresses are made of wool or silk and cannot be washed, so protecting the fabric is very important....

White snakeroot is starting to bloom in northern Illinois. Snakeroot is a common plant that grows in almost (if not all) counties in Illinois. I was gratified to find out that another name for the plant is Tall Boneset, since my first guess was that it was a boneset. The common name of this species derives from the erroneous belief among early settlers that the bitter rhizomes were beneficial in the treatment of snakebites. In fact, the foliage and rhizomes are highly toxic, causing fatalities from 'Milk Sickness' because the toxins can pass through the milk of dairy cattle to humans. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/wh_snakeroot.htm Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, died from milk sickness. A thick stand of white snakeroot is very fragrant and attracts a number of insects. I am constantly torn trying to decide if I should pull it out of my garden. So far historic interest has won out!