The last month

Having finished my Reyna, the urge to start another project is strong. Especially as one of my recent trips to Shrewsbury hospital involved a detour to Ewe and Ply and the acquisition of further skein of their lovely Corrie-Mo yarn. Despite my substantial Ravelry queue, it's now caked up, and calling to be made into another Close to You.

Ready to go

The shade is called Leaf Peeping, and I can see why.

With an autumnal backdrop

But for me the colours are more reminiscent of carousel horses, like these ones.

Blurred, but you get the idea

As if that wasn't enough, I’ve also bought wool for my so-good-I-bought-it-twice cardigan. I knew exactly what yarn and shade I wanted to use for this, so when I discovered that my local fabric and wool shop was selling it at 15% off for Black Friday - well, it seemed rude not to!

King Cole wool aran in shade Cranberry

Despite all this, and the suggestion that there are psychological benefits to having multiple projects on the go*, I am trying to resist adding to my works in progress. Mainly because it's December tomorrow, and I don't feel that I've done a lot this year. So I'd really like to spend the last month of 2025 finishing a few things.

My shirtwaist, Butterick 7729, came to a halt when Royal Mail managed to lose the matching covered belt that I'd had made. Harlequin kindly made me a replacement (fortunately I had spare fabric), but by then it was a bit beyond cotton shirtwaist weather.

With belt, but without buttonholes, buttons or hem

I made a bit of progress on my black 1930s dress, Butterick 7598, but it has ground to a halt again. And my Wool Fair cardigan hasn't been touched since May.

So that just leaves my slate Wondrella. Realistically, I'm only going to have the time to complete at most one project in the next month, so I'm concentrating on this one. I completed the fronts, and to my relief, the cable pattern as I had calculated it fitted in very well with the shaped neckline.

It worked!

Now I'm working on the first sleeve. The sleeves are meant to be full length, but on both my blue and aloe versions, they came out as bracelet length. This didn't bother me as those are both summer cardigans, but for a winter cardigan I wanted something longer. I worked out how many extra rows were needed to fill the gap, and recalculated the rate of stitch decreases to make a smoothly tapering shape. I've also added a cable panel down the centre of the sleeve, to match the fronts. The sleeves are knitted top down, whereas the fronts are knitted bottom up. This doesn't make a huge difference to the cable pattern, except that I initially got the rows where the cable widens and then narrows the wrong way round.

Getting these two points mixed up was 'interesting'!

I've still got about 20% of this sleeve, plus the ribbing, to knit. Then there's the second sleeve, the neck band and the button bands, and the ribbon backing to add. Getting this done in a busy month is going to be a real stretch, but I can only try.

Sleeve progress

* - Dr Anne Kirketerp, a Danish psychologist and author of the book Craft Psychology, claims that having a range of projects to choose from gives you the freedom to select one that matches your energy level. I can see the logic of this; if you’ve had a busy day and just want to relax with something non-taxing, then trying to plough on with your complex lace or colourwork project is unlikely to benefit either you or your knitting. So depending on how things go, I may yet end up casting on another Close to You after all!

Reyna update

First of all, I must say a huge thank you to everyone who reached out to me after last week's post. As clearly many of you know yourself, caring for a parent can feel quite isolating at times, so your kind comments and messages of support meant a great deal to me.

Despite saying last week that a) I wasn't expecting to post many completed projects and b) fixing the mesh section of my Reyna shawl was going to be a major operation, here I am with . . . a completed Reyna. Clearly I should stick to sewing and knitting, and not branch out into fortune telling! To be fair, I was unwell at the start of the week (I suspect it may have been my body's way of forcing me to have a rest), and couldn't do much but sit quietly and knit.

The error which required fixing was nothing to do with the pattern. It was entirely self-inflicted, and due to my fondness for working on straight needles. Even when I had only reached rows of around 125 stitches, the work was starting to look a bit bunched up in places.

This is not going to end well

But I continued regardless, squashing the stitches up more and more. Naturally, the inevitable happened - a stitch slipped off a needle, and because it was in the mesh section, I couldn't work out how to pick it up correctly. My first attempt to fix it went badly, and my second attempt was even worse! The project got dumped in the Naughty Corner, and I seriously considered frogging the lot.

Eventually I decided to have one last go at a rescue effort. The first thing to do was accept the inevitable, and transfer the stitches onto a circular needle. Even on a 100cm circular, the almost completed shawl was bunched in places; there is no way that I could have knitted the whole thing on 35cm long needles.

Note to self - learn from your mistakes!

I knew that I needed to unravel back to before the dropped stitch, but I still had the problem that I didn't know how to do this accurately or what the end result should look like. So I turned to what I can only describe as 'stunt knitting'. Like its namesake, stunt knitting does the difficult bits so that the star of the show - in this case my limited supply of 'good' yarn - doesn't have to. I dug some leftover DK out of my stash, and knitted up a quick mesh sample on 6mm / US size 10 needles. This created large stitches, so I could see the structure properly, and I could undo and reknit it until I really understood what I was doing.

Stunt knitting, wrong and right sides

I unpicked several rows of the shawl (not fun, at more than 200 stitches per row) until I was sure that I had reached a row which was entirely correct, and started knitting again. And to my relief, this time it worked. From there it was plain sailing. I've discovered that long rows of k2tog aren't my favourite thing (although I'm fine with ssk), but the mesh pattern it produces is simple but effective, and really allows the colours in the yarn to shine.

Close-up of the mesh

I added a few extra rows of garter stitch at the end to use up the full skein of yarn. I ended up with a shawl which is 93cm / 36½" along the shorter sides, and 1g of wool left over from a 100g skein.

Blocking the completed shawl

Draped over my shoulders to show the full size

Realistically, I'm more likely to wear it wrapped round my neck.

It's a useful size

And would work well over a coat, too

Although when I'm wearing a shawl with my pinafore dress, I have been known to tuck the ends in like a fichu.

Going (very loosely) eighteenth century

I'm so glad that I persevered with this, and didn't just frog it. I still see myself as a beginner knitter, maybe inching towards intermediate, but every time I manage to fix a problem like this it feels that I am another step forward on my knitting journey.

The new normal

Tangentally-related knitting picture

I'm quite a private person in real life, and that's reflected in this blog; it very rarely strays beyond my little world of making, home dressmaking history, costume, and reviews of books or exhibitions which are linked to these topics. But as I prepared to write yet another piece which started with the words "Only a short post this week", I decided it was time to explain to my regular readers (thank you) a bit about what’s going on. If this isn't your thing don't worry, normal service will be resumed next week.

A couple of months ago I mentioned that my mum, who is 95 next weekend, had fallen and ended up in hospital. Mum's short-term memory had started to deteriorate before then but the fall, the infection which caused it, and the subsequent month spent away from home really exacerbated this. We are awaiting a formal assessment and diagnosis, but it's obvious that she has some form of dementia.

She has always been adamant that whatever happens she wants to stay in her own home, so she has carers coming in (who are excellent), and I go over to visit several times a week. It's not a massive distance but, depending on the traffic, it can take a while. The to-do list never seems to diminish, and Mum has good days and bad days - and I come home from the latter both physically and mentally shattered. And I'm well aware that from here things are only going to go one way.

None of this is to complain. I've been incredibly fortunate to have my mum in good health for so long, and both she and my dad were a huge support both during Mr Tulip's illness and after he died. But there's no denying that my life has entered a new phase, and it's one in which my privileges of time and energy to create, and even research and write blog posts, will be reduced. My promise to Mr Tulip to keep the blog going still stands, but I expect that posts will remain short, and there will be fewer completed projects.

Completing projects is further hampered by the fact that I'm often distracted, and so make more mistakes; both my latest Wondrella cardigan and my Reyna scarf have gone a bit awry recently. I managed to unravel the Wondrella as far as the mistake and then pick up all the stitches again (I impressed myself!), but undoing rows of the mesh section of the Reyna is going to be a major operation. Hence the picture at the top of this post - one thing which is definitely my new normal is lots more safety lines in my knitting!

I made a thing (sort of)

Strictly speaking, I finished a part-done thing. And only a small thing at that. But I have so little time for sewing these days that I'm happy to take any successes where I find them.

Does this look familiar? No, me neither

I had completely forgotten that I had posted about this skirt before; last October to be exact. Then I only had the skirt and lining hems to do, and was expecting to post the finished item the next week. Somehow, this didn't happen. I got distracted by other projects - I know, I know, I'm as astonished as you are - and it completely fell off my radar. It resurfaced recently, and I decided to get it completed for a quick sewing win.

It's not a colour that I wear a lot, so I’m a bit short of tops to wear with it, but it does go well with my blue Wondrella cardigan.

It works well for a fifties look

It also gave me a chance to update the Stashometer.

Not much, but every little counts

On the subject of stalled projects, this week my socials kindly reminded me of a story I posted three years ago.

A memory from 2022

Shamefully the project in question, Butterick 7598, hasn't been touched since October 2023. But as I just haven't got the time or energy to start a brand new project, it seemed a good idea to revisit it. The straight lengths of sleeve trim have now been machined in place with two rows of stitching down the centre. It's been so long since I worked on this dress that I forgot that the edges then have to be invisibly sewn down by hand as well.

Apologies for the blurry photo

Current Elaine has had stern words with Past Elaine about why she ever thought that this was a good idea! The next job is the curved trim on the sleeve head. This is going to be a real challenge, and was probably the reason why I gave up two years ago! Here goes . . .

The queue

How did this happen? How did I go from a person who decided to knit a single cardigan in a knitalong, with a definite possibility that I would never knit anything else, to a woman with a Ravelry queue that runs to double figures (as well as several WIPs)?

I find myself unexpectedly away from home, without access to any of my projects to photograph for the blog. But I do have access to my Ravelry account, and recently listed all the projects for which I have yarn and pattern on my queue. So here, in an attempt at accountability, it is.

I still regard myself as a novice knitter, so prefer to stick to tried and trusted names whose patterns I know will be well written. Or, in the case of Tasha Could Make That's Confidette bolero, a well-written pattern for a garment I would like to have in several colourways. I have yarn to knit it in navy with off-white contrast, chocolate with mocha, and pine green with a warm brown.

Expect to see more of these in the future

Aside from three boleros, a big chunk of my queue is taken up with patterns from Susan Crawford Vintage. Not due to any affiliation, just that I really like her designs, and feel confident knitting them. High on the list is the Helen shrug.

Image © Susan Crawford

This pattern from A Stitch in Time Volume Two - Revisited had slipped under my radar until it appeared on the SCV Instagram account. It's lace, which I love knitting, but also straightforward enough to be a take-to-my-Mum's-and-chat knit. At this year's Coastal Colours pop-up wool show in Port Sunlight I bought some beautifully soft alpaca/merino/silk blend from Town End Yarns, which will make for a super-snuggly shrug.

The Victorian Pennies shawl, on the other hand, is a lace pattern which I've wanted to make for a while. I have a skein of Susan Crawford Vintage Miranda yarn which I think would be perfect for it.

Image © Susan Crawford

My Poppy jumper is hibernating for now, partly because I am a slow knitter so the fine gauge makes progress painfully snail-like. My desire to try colourwork is more likely to be met with a Constant Companion cardigan in DK. I have the kit for the red version.

Image © Susan Crawford

Stepping away from the cardigans, but sticking with lace knitting, I also recently treated myself to the kit for Johnson.

Image © Susan Crawford

Susan Crawford recently released Jamieson, originally in the Vintage Shetland Project, as a standalone pattern. I really like the shape and the mixture of textures, so it became the one (so far) item on my queue for which I don’t yet have yarn.

Image © Susan Crawford

Two of the other patterns in my queue are by designers I'm not familiar with, but they came recommended by other knitters. When I was just starting to knit, someone suggested that the Elskling cardigan might appeal to me. I have a slate blue wool for it, but that's as far as I’ve got.

Elskling by Dianna Walla

I saw Lisa’s Puff shawl when I was knitting my Lothian, which also uses short row shaping, and promptly had Shawl Envy! The wool for it has been in my stash for a while.

Puff by Lisa Mutch

My yarns

The final item in my queue is a major project. I fell in love with the Tiffany shawl at the Port Sunlight fair, and bought the pattern without even being sure if I had the skills to knit it. I think it should be possible, but it's definitely not a take-to-my-Mum’s-and-chat knit!

Tiffany by Kath Andrews Designs

Rather than rainbow colours, I'm going to use the Frosted Berries yarns from Yarn Unique, which I bought at the previous Port Sunlight fair.

Finally found a suitably grand use for these

So there you have it, a queue of eleven items. Unfortunately, knowing my squirrel tendencies, there's every chance that it will get longer rather than shorter!

A new look for Simplicity 1866

So there I was one evening, browsing vintage patterns for sale, when I realised that I had seen the same pattern twice.

I came across this one first

Or so I thought.

Simplicity 1866, described as a "two-piece dress" with a princess line top and a flared skirt, was issued in 1946. A year later, Dior's 'Corolle' line, better known as the New Look, revolutionised fashion with its long full shirts and nipped-in waists. Simplicity seems to have realised that 1866 already contained many elements of the New Look, and reissued the pattern with a longer skirt.

New and old - the two versions side by side

Aside from the skirt length, the artwork is so similar that I feel it must have been altered rather than completely redrawn. The only real difference is that the figure on the right has been given heeled sandals rather than flats.

Heeled shoes and slightly shorter legs make the skirt look even longer

The illustrations on the instructions sheet have obviously been redrawn however, and the new version has been marked as "revised".

The revised version has a much more detailed drawing, with shading

Naturally, the actual instructions are unchanged. The only element which has been redone is the cutting layouts.

Original cutting layout at the top, and revised version below

Not much more fabric is needed for the longer length.

Yardage reqirements

I'm sure that most dressmakers would have been perfectly capable of lengthening the skirt pieces themselves, especially as the finished skirt length of the new version varies across sizes but is never more than 2" longer than the original. Nevertheless it was a shrewd move by Simplicity to emphasise the pattern's New Look credentials by revising it.

The season of the knits

There's something about this time of year which brings knitting to the fore in my mind.

Time to get knitting!

Actually, it's hardly a surprise. Much as I love my workroom, there's no denying that it's quite large, slightly draughty, and has north-facing windows. It's wonderful in the summer, and a welcome refuge in heatwaves, but as the nights draw in the lure of knitting in a comfy armchair close to a heat source is irresistible!

Last autumn, I was full of good intentions to work on my latest Wondrella cardigan which, as a 'winter' knit, had been put to one side in the spring. But I also wanted to get on with my Lothian shawl, and then I made my Express Line cardigan, followed by a second one as a Christmas gift. Add in my opal and green Close to You shawls, and the Poppy and Wool Fair knit-alongs, and my poor Wondrella just didn't get a look-in.

Part of the problem was my decision to add cable bands up the front. I had done a little of this in the bottom section of the cardigan, which is knitted across the full width, and found it tricky.

I had done this much cable, and all of the back

Of course, the longer I left it, the more the difficulty was amplified in my memory, and the less inclined I was to pick it up again. But the arrival of cooler weather reminded me that yes, I really would like to have a dark grey vintage-style winter cardi - and there was only one way to get one which fits!

When I actually started knitting it again, I discovered that the cable wasn't as hard to do as I remembered. It helped that somewhere (unfortunately I can't remember where, so I can't credit the knitter) I had picked up the tip to use a large locking stitch marker as a cable needle. Using an actual cable needle had been one of my big issues - I found it unwieldy and was always worried that it would slip out and drop the stitches - but this worked perfectly. Yes, I have to transfer the stitches back to the left needle rather than knit them off the cable needle, but it's a small price to pay for the confidence that they are going nowhere.

My cable 'needle' in action

Once that was sorted, I really got the bug again. The cable would make any mismatch in the fronts really obvious, so rather than knit one side to completion and then the other, I switched between the two. I knitted the left side to the start of the neckline slit, then the right side to that point and on to the start of the neckline shaping, then the left side to the neckline shaping.

Partway though the left front

Now I've got that shaping to consider. I had added three stitches to each front, to compensate for the way the cable section made them a little narrower, so those stitches have to be removed. I also need to think about how the cable pattern fits in to the shaping. I found it impossible to visualise any of this, so drew out the original pattern version of the necklines for each side on squared paper. Then I redrew them three squares wider on each side, and worked out how best to take out those extra stitches. I also drew out my version of the cable diagrams.

My chart (it makes sense to me!)

Once I was happy with all this, I wrote the instructions out line by line.

Part of my line-by-line instructions

All of this gave me a new respect for people who design knitting patterns; there were times doing this when my brain felt absolutely fried! The next stage is to knit my instructions up, and see if they work. I have, of course, added a safety line on each side - I have a feeling I might need it! But after neglecting it for so long, I’m really enjoying knitting this cardigan again.

Redingotes again

Sometimes I can't leave well alone, and sometimes that leads to unexpected consequences. After posting last week about coat patterns in a 1949 Vogue counter catalogue I continued to ponder why two of them were 'redingotes' but a similar one wasn't.

There's lots online about eighteenth century redingotes such as this one, and the always excellent Witness2Fashion has a fascinating post on how the term was used in the early twentieth century (including some great suggestions for 1920s dress styles if, like me, a horizontal line across your hips is not a look which does you any favours!), but I could find nothing on how the term was used in the 1940s and 1950s. So the only thing to do was go back to the source material.

Two redingotes and a coat

All three patterns are for single-breasted, V-neck, full-skirted coats which only fasten to the waist. However, the coat on the right has a one-piece collar, whereas the others have two-piece collars. As the term redingote originally came from 'riding coat', I suspect that the collar may be a crucial element. The redingotes also have pockets, which open along the seam joining the centre front to the side front. Historically redingotes tended to have a long slit at the back, another detail which came from the male riding coat.

So all things considered it's not surprising that when, a couple of days later, I was browsing Style patterns online, this one jumped out at me.

Style 2861, 1997

Single-breasted V-neck, check. Fullish skirt and only fastens to the waist, check. Two-piece collar, check. The back view shows a very high stitching line for the back vent, giving the long back opening.

The seam lines are clearer on the drawing

The back tab is a modern detail, and the front below the pocket flap is in two pieces rather than one. Conversely, the sleeve is cut in a single piece rather than two. But despite these differences, it's still got a definite redingote look to me. Naturally, it has since been added to my collection of Style patterns.

When it comes to coat making, my track record is really not good - Vogue 1266 has been languishing in my UFO pile for years! But if I ever want to make a redingote, I've now got the means to do so.

Coats, 1949

Brrrr. Storm Amy may have moved on but it's still pretty windy here, and chilly with it. So it seems the perfect time to look at coats in my August 1949 Vogue counter catalogue.

I had assumed that because it's from August there wouldn't be many coats in there, and certainly few that would protect you from an October gale, but I was wrong. I was also surprised by the sheer variety of styles. Many publications about fashion and dress suggest that any given time there is a single 'look', and that is that. But home dressmaking has always been a little more complicated. Yes, it reflects trends, but if patterns for a particular style are continuing to sell then they will remain in the catalogue, whether or not they are the latest fashion.

So here, there are fitted coats and loose coats.

S-4894

S-4923

And loose coats which can be worn belted - although I doubt whether a coat this full could be belted down to a waist this tiny!

S4966

There are raglan sleeves.

6328

Grown-on sleeves (I have added part of the cutting out schematic to make the shape clearer).

S-4973

And no sleeves at all.

6317

Not all of the coats are full length. To me, some of the shorter ones look far more modern than late 1940s.

6706

6841

Following on from a previous post, there is again a degree of confusion about names. This time it's over what makes a coat a redingote.

This is a redingote.

6299 - redingote

As is this.

6670 - redingote

But this is just a coat.

6753 - not redingote

There are a couple of coats with hoods - one detachable and one not.

6294, with detachable hood

6572, with fixed hood

Also detachable is the capelet on this elegant coat.

6586

Finally, I really like the way that the curved yoke on the front of this coat flows into the panel on the back.

S-4954

Almost any of these would keep me nicely warm on an autumn day.