Knitting is Art

Wow. My knitting has now been declared art by the City of Alexandria. I went to the artist reception tonight and got to take pictures of my knits hanging on the walls of City Hall. It was a very nice feeling to see my stuff right next to paintings, professional photography, and some other really great pieces. I can say though that artists are a strange bunch. I guess now that includes me. Oh no.

Below are pictures of my two pieces. The first is 18th Century-style knitting using hand dyed wool yarn. There's the Thomas Paine Mittens ("These are the times that try men's souls") made with Onion and Walnut, "Liberty or Death" cap using Madder Root, and my "No Search" stockings made with Indigo.

The second piece is my doll dress in 18th Century-style clothing. I made her to use as a demonstration model to show what small clothes (underclothes) and other clothing that they wore in the 18th Century. She is dressed from head to foot with knitted wool stockings, petticoat, apron, and even a set of linen pockets.

I also want to show my giant fern that I had brought back from Hawaii the last time. It is doing quite well and has another frond just coming up.

I also want to say that Gwen is now on You Tube. You can see her video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kOfqALCfNY. No, I don't let her eat that whole pile.

Finished Stocking Order

I have finally finished the stocking order from two weeks ago. Although I had problems with the indigo dye, the yarn knitted up beautifully.



Also, for the last week I have been busy making up two pieces to hang for a jurored exhibition: "Art in the City". Any art selected will hang in the Alexandria Virginia City Hall for the next six months.

I had to drop my two pieces off Saturday and then wait until Sunday at noon to find out if any of the two were selected. If they hadn't been selected, I would have had to go back and pick them up.

I called at 1230 and found out that they accepted both my pieces. They are having an artist open house on the 23rd. I will take pictures of the two of them and where they are being displayed. I am so excited.

Socks and Indigo

I have been trying to finish a sock order that I got last week: 2 pairs of natural, 2 pairs of Cochineal and one pair of Indigo. I dyed the Cochineal wool yarn last weekend.

Today I finished knitting them. Now they are wet and on the sock stretchers.

Now I just have the one pair Indigo to go. I put on a dye pot of Indigo last weekend. I thought it was ready to go on Saturday and tried to dye a pound of wool yarn. Everything looked like it was going well until the rinse after the dyeing. Almost all of the Indigo washed out.



I can't use that yarn for the socks - it is just too light. Not a good quality bath at all. I know I'll end up redyeing the wool.

So, I put more Indigo in the dye bath, added more lye water, and we'll let it set a few more days to see how it does. After only one Indigo bath previously, I am certainly not an expert and I guess I should expect some batches that don't go well.

A Dye Weekend

I did a cochineal dye bath this weekend as well as start an indigo vat and knitted two pair of socks. So, I feel like I got a lot of stuff done. I didn't get my taxes done though despite it being on the top of my to-do-list (I have only a couple of more weeks to get them done). Dyeing and knitting is always better than taxes right?

The cochineal recipe that I used uses 1/3 less bugs than the last recipe that I used. That will certainly save me money. The color turned out just as strong. However, this dye bath was a lipstick red rather than a scarlet as last time. But the color was so beautiful, I didn't want to mess around with it and possibly ruin it.


After dyeing a pound of wool yard, I then put in a pair of socks that I had knitted this weekend as well. The second dye bath turned them a wonderful rose color. I bet I could have dyed a few more articles and they would have come out a wonderful pink. I put a small batch of indigo dyed wool into the second dye bath and it came out a strange mauve color. I say strange only because it didn't dye evenly. I am going to try to sell the rose colored socks on eBay.

Linen Sock, 18th Century Touque Pattern, and Madder Red

We had a new visitor to our bird feeder. He's the middle one in the photo. We had to get out the bird book to find out what it was - a fox sparrow. It is bigger than a house sparrow with a lovely dark brown color, blue feathers on the head, and a lovely stripe pattern on the chest. I had never heard of one or seen one in my entire life. My bird feeder this year has certainly brought some new visitors.

I finished the 18th century toque pattern last week and knit up a sample in a dark red wool. My intention is to take this pattern, knit it up in hand-dye madder red, add in "Liberty or Death" in natural wool, and sell a couple. Mike loves his and he says he gets comments about it all the time.



So, now that I had the pattern, I just had to dye up some madder red wool. I started on Thursday night with a Tin and Cream of Tarter mordant bath for one pound of wool yarn. I also ground up the madder root (from Pakistan that I purchased from Aurora Silk) in the blender, added water, brought it up to about 180 degrees and then turned it off for the night. Friday evening I blended the madder again in the blender then put it in a dye bag made out of linen (I make my own by making a large tube, sewing up the sides with a small machine stitch, and then tying off the top). The wool then went in Friday night around 160 degrees for 90 minutes. I then let the yarn soak in the dye bath until Sunday afternoon. It is a beautiful red - not too orangey. But I am still partial to the cochineal red. But, the colonies just wouldn't have had a large access to cochineal and their reds would have been closer to Turkey Red or Madder Red, both of which come from Madder Root.


Saturday, I knit up a linen sock with 7/5 natural linen I purchased from R&M Yarns. The yarn smelled just like a fresh hay bale and brought back memories of haying in the summer in Northeast Ohio. Anyway, back to the yarn and the sock. I am finding linen hard to knit on the machine mainly because it is hard to weigh down enough for the needles to pass easily up and down. I believe next time that I will be trying the 7/2 linen thinking that it will be easier to weigh down. I ended up moving the stitch size up to 6 which made the sock much bigger than I wanted. But I am going to use this knitted sock to do some experiments. I have already washed it in the machine in hot water and it has shrunken and turned a lovely gray color. I am letting it dry on the sock stretcher and we will have to see if it will fit me after it is completely dry.

I also finished up a dye display that I had been working on to use at our 1st Virginia Regiment functions with the public. I believe that I will be able to open this up and lay out for the public to look and touch.

Hampton Virginia Quilt Show

I went to the Hampton Virginia Quilt Show last weekend. There was so much to see (and buy). My favorite quilt was really a wall hanging - a quilt made to look like a Crayola Crayon box. Very original and very nicely done.



I purchased some linen yarn at the show - bright red - and knit a pair of stockings. I definitely had the wrong weight of yarn. I have never worked with linen before and found that even though a wool of this weight (sport) would have gone through my machine easily, the linen didn't. The biggest problem was the fact that it didn't seem to care how much weight I attached, it just wouldn't hang sufficiently to let the needles work properly. I will definitely do more of these however. The stockings are beautiful and I know will only get softer with each washing. The color is striking and the sheen of the yarn is fabulous. I have ordered a lighter weight linen to try in the future.



The last picture is of the Giant Fern and Ti plant that I brought back from Hawaii. I brought the fern back last trip and it is really taking off. I know it will look terrific once the fronds unfurl. It is already 20" high.

Stockings with Back Cabling

Sunday, I played around with putting a cable pattern at the back of a pair of stockings. I spent most of the day trying to find a pattern that worked AND looked nice. I had one that looked nice but was nearly impossible to get right and it was easy to drop a stitch - which would leave giant holes in the stockings that were nearly impossible to fix.


I settled on a simple 10 row 4-stitch cable pattern. I used 7 ounces (188 grams) of the cochineal yarn to make the final pair. I wore them today at the George Washington Birthday Parade in Alexandria, Virginia dressed as a 1st Virginia Regiment camp-follower.


I am also posting pictures of the light blue stockings that I made last weekend. I made flat knitted fabric and then cut out the stockings and sewed them together. I used a pattern and the socks seemed a little big. So, I felted them a little. Now they are tight and they have lost their knitted stretch.

Hopefully you can see the way that they were sewn together in the photo. The fit of them, even when they were big, come no where close to the fit of my fitted socks. It was nice to try to make a period sock using fabric but I can't see me wearing them. The seam on the bottom of the heal is too distracting.

Cochineal Dye and Silk Socks

I made a cochineal dye vat and dyed 1 pound of wool yarn. I can't believe how beautiful and how strong the color is. The color can definitely be called scarlet red. I used an Alum mordant. One half of the dye vat was plain water and the other vat was vinegar. The vinegar was supposed to make the red color more vivid. But, both of the reds turned out relatively the same dark scarlet red. I am going to try to knit up a pair of stockings with this wonderful color yarn.

The two small skeins of lighter red on top of the spools are samples that I did of non-mordant wool. According to the dye recipe, non-mordant fibers would not take the cochineal. The fibers are much lighter than the Alum mordant fibers and the color does not have as much depth.


I ordered an 8 oz cone of 100% dark blue (Orient Blue) silk from The Woolery and knit a pair of silk stockings. I had to double the yarn. The pictures I have do not do them justice. They are very fine and stately. I knit these for my fancy 18th Century Dress and Petticoat that the Silly Sisters made for me. They will go well together.

Catching Up

I haven't posted a Blog since Gwen had her Christmas message. That is not to say that I haven't been busy.












I got a 9" Robert Raikes Hope doll and dressed her in handmade 18th century style clothing. I plan on using her for education examples of how a woman would have dressed - especially to show all the layers. I tried to make shoes but I just could not get those to look good. I also purchased and painted the box that she is displayed on with Pumpkin milk paint.



I also made a sign for my laundress "business". I designed it myself. The blue and white checked is actually fabric while the rest is wood. It is really eye-catching.


I have so much more to post, I'll try to keep you updated (I'm working on Cochineal dye and have a pound of wool yarn in the vat right now).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Gwen!

Mike and Leslie want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year but they are busy and are letting me do it this year.

I don't know exactly what to do so I am just going to show you some of my pictures. That should make you Merry and Happy! Enjoy!

Here is me playing on Leslie's foot. What a great game. She hates it though when I bite her toes.

This is me getting my blow dry after my shower. I love the hair dryer! Notice that Leslie takes care of drying me before she dries her own hair! Isn't she thoughtful!

And this is me enjoying my nightly Cool Whip snack. I love Cool Whip!

If you haven't already seen my video, I recommend that you visit this website at http://members.aol.com/lescarroll/Gwen_Movie.mqv. Turn up the volume really loud so you can hear everything that I have to say! You'll need the Quicktime Windows 7.1.3 viewer. If you don't already have it, click here, it's free.


This is a picture that I found on the computer that Mike and Leslie labeled Colonial Gothic. Don't they look funny?

Completed Martha Washington Cake

Here is a picture of one of the round 8" iced Martha Washington Great Cakes that I finished this morning before our Holiday Party. I believe everyone enjoyed the cake that tried it.

And althought the many people and kids stressed Gwen during the party, she seems fine now after everyone has left.

Martha Washington Cake

I had received a recipe at Mount Vernon for a cake that Martha Washington supposedly made (see Great Cake Recipe from Mount Vernon). It calls for 55 eggs, 4 lbs of butter, 5 lbs of flour, 4 lbs of sugar, and 5 lbs of fruit. Since I got that recipe I have always wanted to make it. I did that today. Well, at least the cake part. Tomorrow, I will do the icing.


I ended up with 3 complete two-layer cakes (2 8" round and 1 9" square) plus I have one oblong one-layer cake. When I cut the cake pieces to get it to lay flat on the layers, I got to taste it.


The cake is certainly different. I don't like fruit cake with all that sweetened fruit. There is none of that in this cake. I added just fresh fruit and nuts except for some dried blueberries and cherries (not dried sweetened cherries that taste like they were made by some chemical company found in fruit cakes today). The cake is moist, firm, and sweet. The icing is going to make it sweeter (and better). I plan on serving it at a holiday party that I am having at the house tomorrow.


I also finished my apple center piece and the stairway decorations. I finished the wreath the other day but only remembered to take a picture of it today. I put out the candles on the windows and the poinsettias at the fireplace. The house is ready for Christmas!


Happy Holidays everyone.

Gingerbread House

Pictures of this years Gingerbread House!

Tyranny Like Hell is not Easily Conquered

I finished my first mitten - the left - with the new design changes. I love it – it’s beautiful. This one, just like the right one contains quotes from "The Crisis" by Thomas Paine. How much more Revolutionary War can they be?

The walnut-dyed brown and onion-dyed yellow wool is a nice contrast and the lettering really pops. I've already started the right mitten.

I want to have this pair done by 2 December so that I can wear them to our Revolutionary War demonstration at the Carlyle House in Alexandria, Virginia. I should be able to get quite a lot done back and forth on the train as we travel for Thanksgiving.