Author: Rebecca Tyrrell

At The End of My Yarn > Articles by: Rebecca Tyrrell

Knitting Lingerie Style 2.0

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

Yeah, I know I’ve done this one before. But I was never happy with it. Reading the first few sentences of the post from two years ago shames me. I love this designer, I knit her patterns all the time, and yet I never share the post because there is a lady in her underwear on the cover? C’mon, me! Get it together! The thought has been in the back of my mind to re-write the review, but I finally got the kick-in-my-pants to do it when I saw how many readers were finding my site (thanks!) by searching for this book. Let’s do it proudly and properly this time.

“Quite simply, lingerie is the very first layer of clothing a woman puts on and the last layer she takes off. It holds and shapes a woman into whatever form is dictated by the trends of the day and also symbolizes femininity, eroticism, and the mysteries of intimacy.” –Knitting Lingerie Style, Joan McGowan-Michael

I read that first paragraph back when I first got this book, and noticed immediately that McGowan-Michael took her underwear far more seriously than I ever have. I appreciate that level of dedication in a person, even if I only care about whether my undergarments are clean or not. You’re welcome for that mental image.

Knitting Lingerie Style is split into chapters, each one focusing on an item of underclothing. Chapter one features the bra, with both an actual, well-written pattern for knitting your own bra with a matching bottom, moving on to a twinset with similar front shaping, to a 1940’s inspired design for a tailored crop-top, and more. Each pattern in this section focuses on bust shaping. Chapter two focuses on the concept of the slip, but also contains a lovely knitted trumpet skirt as a play on a half-slip. This chapter also contains the cover pattern One-Piece Wonder, which is designed to be a bra, underwear, slip, and garter belt in one. Before you look at this and think what occasion ever on earth would I wear this, McGowan-Michael sees you coming and suggests you wear it with a skirt and cardigan (jeans might also be cute) and treat it as a top.

The following chapter centers on the concept of the corset, with one actual corset pattern (complete with boning), and the others with the basic shape as the focus. Chapter four (my personal favorite) contains designs focused around the camisole, including the Shaped Lace Tee (also known as the Krista Tee, which is one of her most popular designs). I knit one years ago, and it’s on my list to knit again now that I…uh…understand the concept of matching a yarn to a pattern. Used a rough, thick cotton, wearing the finished tee wore (and draped) like a cardboard box. Cute!

There is also a chapter on stockings, and you know how I feel about socks. Naturally, the book contains a pattern for a pair of knee-high fishnets, but there is also a pair of more solid knee-highs with a cute lacey edge. Chuck in a design for short summer socks and also an underwear set with adjustable garter straps. And yes, despite how far I’ve come with body positivity between now and the first post about this book, I still struggle with saying the ‘p’ word. You know, the bottom half of your underoos! Undergarments. Bottom-half containment devices. A pair of…panties. Eee-yuk! I’ll get over it. Baby steps. Hate that word. Honestly not sure why.

Knitting Lingerie Style finishes up with a section on lounge/night wear, with a knitted baby doll, mesh leggings, a matching tank top, lacy wrist-warmers, and a bed jacket.

If you’re into clothing with a lacey, feminine edge, you can’t go wrong with Joan McGowan-Michael. Just saying, if she ever feels like coming out with another book I’ll get right on it!

And by the way, if you’re interested, I now have a Patreon! I’ll be sharing progress photos, musings, yarny-thoughts, and possibly ghostly sightings. It sounds like a whole lot of fun, and if you can hang with me I would really appreciate it. Check out the link on the main menu of this page.

Speaking of ghostly, next week I’ll be on the USS Wisconsin! Nothing like a really haunted battleship to kick spring into gear!

Lotus Mandala Duster

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

Finished my Lotus Mandala Duster! In no way was it done in time for my Hanover Tavern investigation, but it was also cold as all get out that night. It wasn’t meant to be. I made a few modifications to the pattern. I didn’t do the full, flared sleeves made for dramatic gestures as called for in the pattern because full, flared sleeves made for dramatic gestures also get caught in things. Instead, I took inspiration from the Carly Waterfall Duster by White Lies Designs and ended the sleeves at the elbow with a few rows of single crochet to make a tighter sleeve cuff. I had intended to knit the Carly Waterfall Duster originally, but when I cast on with the intended yarn (Mirasol Yarn Usun), I decided I wasn’t going to enjoy the process. Carly calls for a thicker cotton blend, and I bought a thinner cabled yarn thinking I could make it happen. Better to choose a new pattern than to suffer and never finish the project. I’ll go back to Carly one day armed with a more suitable yarn. The original yarn used for Carly no longer exists, unfortunately.

I’m pretty pleased with the finished product. I found it difficult to photograph from the front, mainly because it is in essence a large doily with sleeves, and I haven’t found a flattering way to take a front photograph without the cardigan looking like it should be slung across the back of a couch. ‘Walking away from an explosion’ photographs look cool enough, for a given value of cool.

I do recommend that if you want a Lotus Mandala Cardigan of your very own that you buy the pattern from the designer. She does have a free version on her blog, but the paid version (which is not that expensive) contains clear photographs every step of the way for each round, and that really comes in handy, especially at the beginning.

Colette

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

I’m a massive nerd, if that comes as a surprise. When I plan a trip, I like to have made a special project for the occasion, such as my West Virginia Penitentiary Para-Con pair of Almondine socks, or this example, my Hidden Marietta Paranormal Exposition (sensing a theme) Colette cardigan. Having a specific project to work on before the event gives me something to occupy my mind in the meantime, and helps the wait time go faster, especially if it’s a loftier project goal. By the way, if you’re in range and are of the inclination, the 2022 West Virginia Penitentiary Para-Con just got announced, and it should be the weekend of August 13th. Ticket information isn’t on the website yet, but it’s being ran this year by my favorite paranormal group Paranormal Quest so you know I’ll be there!

Back to Colette. To be honest, she had been languishing in the bottom of my knitting basket for a while. I powered through the back, knocked out the left front, then stalled out on the right. Picking it back up months later after I noticed I needed a project for the Marietta trip, I powered through the right front. It wasn’t until I started to seam the shoulders that I discovered the reason I stalled out. I hadn’t mirrored the lace panel that runs up the edge, and it wasn’t until I was laying it out to seam it that I discovered that it didn’t quite match up. Mostly my fault. The pattern is written using the standard ‘reverse the shaping’ for the opposite front, which is easy enough on a fairly simple pattern like Colette, but doesn’t specifically mention to make sure you place the lace panel on the other end. If you’re a bit of a dim bulb like me, it doesn’t hit you until you’re flipping the pieces around, furiously trying to figure out where you went wrong until the truth hits you like an on-coming train. Didn’t help that I knit the majority of the right front long after finishing the left, and without taking a good look at what I was doing. Luckily this cardigan is knit at a fairly large gauge, so it didn’t take long to re-knit. I did intentionally deviate from the pattern in that I attached the sawtooth lace edging as a knit-on edging, attaching the border to the cardigan as I knit, instead of knitting the border separately in two strips (flipping around one strip at the center neck so it mirrors) and sewing it on at the end. Pretty pleased with how it turned out! At first I thought the shoulders fit a bit awkward but it grew on me quickly, and I haven’t taken it off much since. I used Plymouth Galway in a pretty light lavender.

Next in line is a Lotus Mandala Duster by Regina Weiss which is a lofty goal indeed, considering my investigation to Hanover Tavern with Transcend Paranormal is this Saturday. Yikes!

The Minerva Knitting Book Volume IV

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

This weekend I was in Marietta, Ohio for a paranormal convention at the Lafayette Hotel. During the break between speakers, I ducked across the road to a nearby antique store. The owner greeted me and my mother, and as soon as he lost sight of us, cranked the volume of the music to concert level, which cracked me up a bit. I had gone in to find a new piece of colored pressed glass because I am a colorful magpie, but as I rounded a corner I came face to face with a knitting magazine! Naturally, I snapped it up. It’s The Minerva Knitting Book Volume IV, apparently from 1920, but it’s in such good condition that I have trouble believing it’s that old. Supposing it is, it’s a bit alarming that I have something so old in my ham-fisted possession, but I will do my best. I can’t seem to find any definitive history on the Minerva company, other than Minerva, which is a sewing supply site, and that may be how the company evolved. I’ve found a few mentions of the Columbia Minerva yarn company, but the dates ranges I’ve found center on the 1960s to the 1980s.

Reading through the magazine makes me understand how spoiled pattern-wise the modern knitter/crocheter is. The 52-page magazine contains 72 patterns, all with brief descriptions serving as directions, often only a paragraph, and there is no sizing. There is a photograph of a model wearing the garment, so apparently if you hit gauge (they do tell you what it should be, mercifully) correctly, you’ll end up with a garment the size of the one worn by the model, which is less than helpful considering they don’t tell you the size the model is wearing. There’s nothing approaching a schematic, or even measurements other than gauge, so you’re really trusting to luck. The patterns themselves are very ’20s in style, but I found myself considering a few. One of the features I found endearing was a section in the middle with (presumably) the knitter modeling her own creation, with the bare bones instructions beneath. I wonder how exciting it must have been to be photographed modeling your own work.

End as you want to begin

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

I’m not usually one for sentimentality, but I do like to end each year as I want the new one to begin. This year, I decided I’d spend the time working on my stack of WIPs, in the hope that I’ll finish a few in the coming weeks. I worked a few rows of my Charlotte’s Universe blanket, then moved on to the next. I’m headed up to Ohio for my birthday for the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo, and like the massive nerd I am, I’m hoping to have my Colette cardigan done in time to bring it with me. It’s been a good few months since I grabbed it from the WIP basket, so it had sunk to the bottom. I’ve finished the back and one of the fronts, so I powered through the other front today. It’s a pretty large gauge so I was feeling pretty optimistic, until I bound off the second front, went to seam the shoulders, and couldn’t get it to match up. Remembered why the cardigan had been in time-out for so long. I forgot to mirror the lace edge. Sighed, frogged, and cast on for the sleeves instead. Keep heading along, and happy new year!

Shlumpy, slouchy nesting baskets!

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

 

Interior decorating! Otherwise known as what I do with my time rather than use it to clear off the horizontal surfaces in my house. Crochet a trio of baskets to hold the stuff covering the surfaces!

Do you have any random yarn in your stash? Maybe left over from a commission that was perfectly suited to the project at hand, but otherwise really not your style? It seems to me that I always end up with extra yarn, and it’s never something I would use for a personal project. Honestly, I got a little annoyed with having to look at it every time I went on a stash dive, seeing all these spare skeins that I wouldn’t choose for myself taking up space in my yarn storage. Finally, I decided I was going to do something about it, pulled all the problem skeins and balls out of my stash, and set to work.

Not much of a pattern, and I didn’t put much thought into color-mixing, but simply grabbed multiple strands of different weight and fiber contents, and grabbed a smaller hook than I would normally use to make a denser fabric that stood up by itself. I single-crocheted a flat disk to start, by starting by chaining a few stitches (three or four should do it, although I suppose you could use a magic ring), then joining into a circle, chaining one stitch, then crocheted eight (or ten, whatever suits your fancy) single crochet stitches into the ring, and slip-stitching the last stitch into the first. Then I made a flat disk by first doubling each stitch, and on the next row doubling every other stitch. So, for instance, the first row you could work two single crochets into each stitch to double your stitch count, and on the next row work double the first stitch, next stitch just one single crochet, then double the next. Each subsequent row has one more stitch between the increases until you get a disk as wide as you want your basket base to be, radiating out like wedges, then work a row plain. To get the shlumpy (technical term) sort of ridge I did a few rows of slip stitches which makes a much tighter fabric, then switched back to single crochet until the basket was as tall as I wanted. Very technical and precise pattern, that. The smallest basket has a scalloped edge just for the hell of it.

Even better, they nest! That doesn’t much matter, and I didn’t plan on it but it makes for a cute photo. The largest basket is about ten inches tall. Now I wait for Better Homes and Gardens to call.

2-at-a-time Socks

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

“Why two socks at once? Well, why not? Think about it, Two socks started and finished at the same time. They’re still portable, still fun, but no ‘second-sock syndrome’. For those who don’t know about this knitting curse, it’s what happens when a knitter completes the first sock and thinks, ‘Oh, no. Now I have to make another one…’ Often times the finished sock and the yarn for it’s ne’er-to-be-knit pal get stuffed in a bag, never again to see the light of day. I’ve been whipping out socks two at a time for a few years now. And trust me, the rewards are great. All my socks are the same length. When I’m done with one sock, I am done with both. This might not be the method for everyone, but I think it’s an excellent one for most people. Although never confronted with second-sock syndrome myself, I have seen its cruel effects on many a knitter; those victims deserve this technique. ” — 2-at-a-time Socks, by Melissa Morgan-Oakes

Knitting both socks at once is a trick that has always amazed me. It’s one of those techniques that I wish I knew how to manage, and after a trip to the book store, I decided now was the time. Today, however, is not the day. The weather down my way has sudden flipped into frigid winter, and my winter coat is not quite finished. Progress has certainly been made, but I’ve been reduced to wearing my really heavy coat where I would normally wear a lighter one (I put a lot of thought into categorizing winter clothing, apparently) and I look and feel like a puffy marshmallow waddling down the sidewalk. Having said that, a time will come (hopefully soon) where I will be back to knitting socks, and I’m going to knit both at once!

I’ve bought more than a few sets of long (Melissa suggests 40-inch cables) circular needles in the smaller sizes in the hope that it will encourage me to cast on for both socks at once. The technique involves casting on both socks at once on the long circular needle and essentially knitting both socks at a time, row by row. Reading through the first few patterns, the gauge calls for a larger needle than I would normally use, but that might work out easier for my loose gauge. Larger needles usually means fewer stitches per inch, and that should be easier to adjust for when it comes to hitting the gauge correctly. Even better, the patterns all come in multiple sizes, which is very helpful for knitting socks that fit, especially when you have a comfortable stitch gauge that doesn’t quite hit the recommended gauge,, you can chose an already-adapted number of cast-on stitches without having to do the math yourself. That line of reasoning may have made more sense in my head.

There are clever tips and hints in side bars throughout the book, and the instructions are clearly defined with plenty of progress photographs. If you are one of those people who knit for kids, there are cute patterns to chose from, and in plenty of needle sizes and gauges.

Now all I have to do is knock this coat out…

Modern Crochet Mandalas

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

“‘Mandala’ is the Sanskrit word for circle. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the mandala symbolizes the universe. Their spiritual origins aside, mandalas appeal to the aesthete in all of us. Their beauty comes not from striking combinations of colors and patterns, but also from their radiant symmetry.” Modern Crochet Mandalas, by the editors at Interweave

When I first saw this book at my local used bookstore, I was drawn to the colorful cover. I see bright colors, I go ‘oooh!’ It reminded me of an adult coloring book cover. What could I do but take it home with me?

Modern Crochet Mandalas contains 53 circular crochet motifs, each unique. There are all sorts of different crochet stitches and techniques, from lacy circles like a traditional doilies, to a fascinating slip-stitch labyrinth design. As a matter of fact, my crochet Sea Glass Tee became a July 1969 by Sandra Eng when I realized about four inches in that I had misread the pattern and felt no desire to frog and restart. It’ll happen someday.

The only thing I wish this book contained is ideas on how to join the finished mandalas. Now, I’m a huge fan of doilies; they live under most of my house plants and lamps (and antique rose dishes), but it is possible to have more than you need. Rather than buy more rose dishes in order to utilize more mandalas, which is a distinct possibility, it would have been nice to get inspiration for joining mandalas into a blanket, or a curtain, etc. Oh, well. Why else would Pinterest exist?

Compromise

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

I’ve been having a conversation with myself, recently. Don’t tell me you never have, sometimes you just need a good, long talk with yourself about your recent behavior. Me? I’ve noticed that all my WIPs are long-term projects. Such as my Scholar’s Jacket, which is proceeding pretty well, it’s up past the pocket split and headed towards the armpits but sometimes you need to break it up a bit. Get a touch of instant-ish gratification. No, I told myself, be a grown-up and finish something first! So I compromised with…me…and cast on a new project. However, since it’s the crochet version of my Sea Glass Tee, it’s related in a way to a current project! Which is what I told myself. The knit version, by the way, is also proceeding pretty well, it’s a few inches past the armpits (top-down construction) so I’m on the slog towards the bottom edge.

Regarding this version, which will definitely not be as quick as I think it will, but does use up stash at a quicker rate, I’ve chosen to take a leaf from Modern Daily Knitting‘s book and use a ‘juicy’ color and a ‘blah’ for contrast. Both the knit and crochet versions of this pattern are worked with two strands of yarn at a time, using one-by-one colorwork. I haven’t been swapping yarns every round like the pattern calls for, preferring to work a few rows in each pair of yarns for a striped effect. For the knit version I’ve keep a blue-ish tone in my left hand and a green in my right. With the crochet version I’ll have a muted shade (whatever pops out from my stash) paired with a bright colored yarn. I really should also knock off a few dishcloths, that really takes the edge off.

Selbu Mittens

Posted on by Rebecca Tyrrell

“There are many who are interested in Selbu knitting. For an artist and handcrafter, it is an natural choice to focus on the artistic and handcrafting side of Selbu knitting. The knowledge of hand-knitting has traditionally been transmitted orally and with the help of drawings and knitted demonstrations. I have been preoccupied with bringing this subject to a wider audience. Selbu knitting has been and still is a profession, and it has been essential to collect some of the great technical knowledge involved, which extends beyond the basic fundamentals of knitting.” — Anne Bårdsgård, Selbu Knitting

When I saw this book at the library, I was immediately drawn to the cover with all the gorgeous black and white stranded mittens. I’m a simple girl with simple tastes. That was enough for me, so I took it home. When I opened it up and started to flip through it, I discovered I had underestimated what I held in my hands while at the library. This book is a history guide, charted stranded knitting pattern library, and detailed mitten pattern book all in one. The history section reminds me of Alice Starmore’s books on Aran knitting and color-work, but with a more concentrated topic. Get drawn in by the gorgeous cover, and stay for the knowledge! If I were more of a mitten girl, I might have bought my own copy. However, since last weekend I was up in West Virginia for the West Virginia Penitentiary Para-Con and came away with a stack of books I will have to bend the laws of physics to fit onto my bookshelves, I think I’ll need to come up with some self-control. That being said, she does have glove patterns….

There is a section on basic knitting techniques, which isn’t something I was expecting in a book that reminds me of Alice Starmore, but I’m glad to see it. Bårdsgård has also included a large section on charted patterns to use if you are designing your own mittens, but the fully-developed patterns at the end of the book are excellent. They are often replicas of mittens found in museums and during the course of Bårdsgård’s research, and she’s included engaging biographical information on the original knitter. This section includes a pair originally knit by a woman named Brynhild, who after immigrating to America, changed her name to Belle and married a man with the name of Gunness. She became known more famously as Belle Gunness, a prolific serial killer. But one hell of a knitter.