Just over a month ago I was spinning a beautiful braid of Wensleydale fibre from The Thylacine’s November fibre club, and I’m happy to say that I’ve finished. Being a longwool (and a Google image search will make the meaning of that term abundantly plain) it has a lovely sheen and a good deal of strength. It’s not as soft as a shorter fibre like merino, but it’s very hard-wearing. I haven’t the faintest idea what I’ll make with it, but am quite happy to admire the skeins for now.

Where I live it’s getting darker, colder and snowier—just the setting for curling up with a book and a hot drink. The brains behind the advertisements for Carte Noire (an instant coffee, two words which should never exist in the same sentence) think so too. They’ve got Dominic West, Greg Wise and Dan Stevens to sit and read book extracts of ten to fifteen minutes in length. If you can ignore the occasional soft-focus shots of coffee mugs and focus on a) the wonderful prose and b) the lovely men reading them, I think you’ll enjoy these little videos. I know I did. Here is the link; I recommend Dominic West’s reading of a certain infamous scene from Pride and Prejudice in particular.

I’m going through the initial stages of designing something. As is evidenced by the photos above, this involves trying out stitch patterns, reading up on good design practice, and a fair bit of maths. The process is slightly hampered by the fact that I’m resting a sore arm and am therefore not doing any knitting, but I can at least crunch some numbers while I’m waiting. My graph paper notebook is my best friend. (I have three, and have managed to start them all, which is fairly normal for me. I have a slight notebook obsession.)

No knitting means more reading, because I’ve not yet worked out how to read and knit at the same time – unless it’s an ebook. Theoretically, I am being firm with myself as regards books. No new books will pass the threshold until I have read and/or gotten rid of some (preferably both!). I’ve gathered together a pile of historical non-fiction with the intent of blitzing through it in a few months, although I don’t think I’ll be donating any of these. (My other slight obsessions are the 18th and early 19th centuries, and the books shown below are, thus far, very good indeed.)

At the moment I’m reading Harriette Wilson’s Memoirs, which is, apart from the lengthy introduction, entirely in the lady’s own words. She wrote and sold the memoirs in her middle age when in need of money. Before doing so she wrote to all her lovers, offering to refrain from mentioning them if they’d pay her £200, to which the Duke of Wellington famously replied “Publish and be damned!”. The book must, by necessity, be read with a rather large pinch of salt, but it’s an entertaining and fascinating insight into the everyday (and not-so-everyday!) goings-on of Regency life.

I won Vogue Knitting Book 35 on eBay a few weeks ago. It was a fairly quick purchase but I’d been thinking about it for a while. I love vintage knits but own very few actual patterns, which seemed silly, and this excellent post on needled reminded me that I really ought to go back to the original vintage designs if I want to understand them. So, a lucky bid later (okay, it wasn’t lucky – I planned my bid strategy like an army General) and this lovely book was mine. I believe it to be from 1949, based on their numbering system, the date on the American version, and some calculations, but I may be slightly off. I’ve posted some photos of my favourite patterns, plus my notes and thoughts, into the rest of this entry.

(It may be worth mentioning that this is the British version, and that the American one seems to differ in terms of pattern content. The cover is slightly different too.)

Cover – stocking stitch jacket Although this is knitted in the simplest of stitches, I love it. It’s nicely finished with turned hems, pockets and a flared double-thickness collar, and it would be a peach to accessorise.

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The nights are drawing in (they seem to start at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon), the weather is worsening (we had snow on Sunday!) and it is the perfect time of year to stay indoors with a book. Or indeed several books. I have a to-read pile that’s beginning to rival the Eiffel Tower, so I really shouldn’t be looking for more reading material, but I can’t help it! I think it’s my version of hibernation. Anyway, it seemed like an idea to share some of my recent online findings. Some of them are rather good.

I think most people are familiar with Project Gutenberg, a site with over 25 000 free ebooks (mostly older texts whose USA copyright has expired), but I recently discovered ManyBooks.net and like it even more. It has most of, if not all, the PG texts, but allows you to download them in almost any format you like. (Since most PG texts only come in .txt or html formats, this is a real boon.) Where applicable, it also links to the LibriVox recording of the book.

I love old books and the richness of their language, so I leapt at The Castle of Wolfenbach (written in 1793 by Eliza Parsons) which is seriously Gothic and mentioned as one of seven “horrid novels” in Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I also liked The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe. Both feature copious amounts of gloomy castles, strange men, and fainting women. They’re a wonderful escape from modern life, enjoyably thrilling, and not a little silly.

There is a fine collection of P. G. Wodehouse, always a treat and a joy to read. I’ve just finished Mike and Psmith and am about to start Psmith in the City. I could sing Wodehouse’s praises for days, but suffice it to say that he is a very funny, witty writer of clever, light-hearted books.

The whole Pirate Tales category looks fascinating, ditto the Nautical one – but I have just been reading Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander, so am particularly susceptible to anything involving backstays, t’gallants and studding-sails (all parts of a ship).

Continuing the theme of old books, the site fromoldbooks.org has a good collection of online reference books and images. Of particular use to the modern reader might be the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – “a dictionary of the slang of the British underworld produced in 1811″ – which contains definitions for such delightful words and phrases as “captain queernabs“, “frummagemmed” and “malingeror“. I’m also enjoying Nathan Bailey’s Canting Dictionary.

A recent and wonderful discovery is Real Life in London, published in 1821 in two illustrated volumes. (Although it’s available at ManyBooks.net, it didn’t come with any of the pictures which the Project Gutenberg version contains.) The full title is in fact Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. Or, The Rambles And Adventures Of Bob Tallyho, Esq., And His Cousin, The Hon. Tom Dashall, Through The Metropolis; Exhibiting A Living Picture Of Fashionable Characters, Manners, And Amusements In High And Low Life, which I think says it all, really! An extract that made me laugh follows below:

A vast crowd of dashing young Beaux and elegantly dressed Belles, calling about them for oysters, lobsters, salmon, shrimps, bread and butter, soda-water, ginger-beer, &c. kept up a sort of running accompaniment to the general conversation in which they were engaged; when the mirth and hilarity of the room was for a moment delayed upon the appearance of a dashing Blade, who seemed as he entered to say to himself,

“Plebeians, avaunt! I have altered my plan, Metamorphosed completely, behold a Fine Man! That is, throughout town I am grown quite the rage, The meteor of fashion, the Buck of the age.”

He was dressed in the extreme of fashion, and seemed desirous of imparting the idea of his great importance to all around him: he had a light-coloured great-coat with immense mother o’ pearl buttons and double capes, Buff or Petersham breeches, and coat of sky-blue, his hat cocked on one side, and stout ground-ashen stick in his hand. It was plain to be seen that the juice of the grape had been operative upon the upper story, as he reeled to the further end of the room, and, calling the attendant, desired her to bring him a bottle of soda-water, for he was lushy, by G—d; then throwing himself into a box, which he alone occupied, he stretched himself at length on the seat, and seemed as if he would go to sleep.

(I think it’s the phrase “It was plain to be seen that the juice of the grape had been operative upon the upper story” that really gets me.)

I can’t finish without mentioning a valuable non-fiction resource: the Antique Pattern Library. In their own words, “This ongoing project is an effort to scan needlework pattern books that are in the public domain, to preserve them, so we can keep our needlework heritage in our hands”. Truly a worthy goal.

Christmas is over. I survived just fine, my hand-knitted gifts (a Palindrome scarf for dad, and a Coronet for mum) were very well-received, and I got some lovely knitting-related pressies. Hurrah! To be honest, there wasn’t much to survive. My holiday has been quiet and comfortable, which is just the way I like it. I’m glad I restricted myself to only two small knitted items, as it cut down on stressful knitting time (though I must admit I was knitting on Xmas Eve!) and it meant that I could splash out on some really delicious yarn for the scarf and hat (RYC Cashsoft Aran and Cascade 220, respectively).

Now, of course, I’m free to knit for whoever I please, and at the moment I’m pleased to knit entirely for myself! One of my presents was “Heartfelt”, the new pattern book from Kim Hargreaves. (It’s available from her website and eventually should be in stock at amazon.co.uk.) This book is my pattern Mecca. It contains twenty-one patterns and so far I definitely want to make fifteen of them. This should come as no real surprise to me, because Kim is my favourite knitwear designer, but I think she’s outdone herself here. The shapes are classic and flattering, chic and sleek without being too avant-garde. Everything is wearable, even the asymmetric poncho, Nightshade. I have a horror of ponchos, but I can imagine myself wearing this one (it really is more of a capelet in my mind). The garments all have little touches of femininity—delicate cables, hints of lace, the occasional flounced hem—but don’t descend into frou-frou.

So, armed with a bag of RYC Cashcotton DK that I snatched up in the Liberty sale, I’ve cast on for Erin. The recommended yarn is Rowan Calmer, but Calmer was not on sale in colours I liked, and I can meet the gauge requirements with the Cashcotton. I am a little concerned about the width of the back at the moment, because it seems awfully wide! The ribbing will pull it in and there are some decreases later on, but I’m worrying more about the shape than the pattern. I think it will be flattering on me, but I don’t know for sure. (I should perhaps mention that I’ve never knitted anything for myself bar a pair of fingerless gloves, so I’m a little nervous!) It’s a pretty big ‘first’ for me.

The other ‘first’ would be the colour… as shown in the photo above (taken when I was swatching), my Cashcotton is a rather luminous turquoise-blue. I like it a great deal, but I have this tendency towards a monochrome wardrobe that I’m trying to break out of. It’s taking some doing. Black is a safe and flattering colour-stroke-absence-thereof. I like black. I have been wearing mostly black for years and years. Introducing colour—in fact, even realising that there were colours I liked—has been a slow process. I realise I’m jumping in the deep end with this yarn and the eventual cardigan, but it’s quite fun. (Every so often I find myself glancing at my knitting and thinking “Turquoise! Wow! You rebel, Rhian! You daring, adventurous person!”. I am clearly in need of much, much more excitement in my life.)

I’ve got another cardigan on the needles too, but I’ll talk about that one another time.