The silver birch trees leaves are turning gold. The maples flame a fiery red to burnished bronze and here and there true copper tones gleam among the steadfast dark green spruce trees. The autumn leaves are a trove of precious metals in recyclable format. It’s still too warm for the leaves to have fallen much, but if we are blessed with a few crisp clear nights and sunny days the world will be populated with birch bedecked in silver and gold. Anyone walking among these trees then will have a carpet of gold leaves underfoot and can enjoy a royal feeling of wealth and well-being that would pauper a king’s effort to translate into the real precious metals. Even my patio sports a vivid plaid.
Copper kettle
A week ago Saturday, Funlayo, Lilja, Sofia, and I went to a flea market. I found a few odds and ends. Among which are contributions toward Lilja and Sofia’s birthday presents. Two other items may end up as gifts elsewhere. But among the various cast offs and castaways was a bronze footed copper kettle with a wrought iron handle. I hemmed and hawed to myself, looked over the other copperware: it was either too small; lined with tin; or, too small AND lined with tin. I debated with myself: whether I will ever use this copper pot? I noted how pretty it is. I decided to get it. Perhaps I will never use it for dying. But if I do ever plan to use copper for dying this is the pot for it.
Last bit of Gardening
Thursday morning, after another spate of rain, I hove out of the house to tend the garden once more. First I trimmed back the herbs, then I uncovered my potato experiment. I need sand. And after that I settled in to locate the lost onions. Three hours later, shaking with exhaustion I made for home. I managed to get my onions out to dry off a bit. My potatoes were miserable and small. I need sand. And my herb harvest bountiful. I still need wire fencing to protect the cherry and apple trees from varmints. Also need to dig up those gladiolus bulbs… Can’t wait much longer. Today I am still very stiff and sore from those three hours digging in that rain soaked mostly clay soil. I need sand!
Onion crop
Inkle woven belt
I will be unwarping my inkle loom, selecting a different cotton thread and rewarping the loom. I had selected this particular thread based on the sample I had received. The sample was much thicker than the 2 x 50 Tex that the instructions specified. Indeed, I had wondered about that. The first few rows of weaving left me even more concerned, but once I started picking pattern, I became convinced. If I continue with this particular thickness of white, then the white will be the dominant pattern, whereas the blue should be. I do not relish this task of undoing, salvaging, and redoing, but it is necessary, or the finished belt will not be right!
Belt with some of the many family patterns
Sock
I’m knitting socks. This particular knee high pair is from Sukkasillaan by Kyllikki Mitronen and Liia Vilkkumaa . They are based on 19th Century socks from coastal areas of Finland. I know that because I attended a lecture they gave when the book was published. That detail is not in the book. The knitting directions are to cast on 80 stitches – two brands of Finnish yarn are named the slightly thicker one for men. Two needle sizes are mentioned 2.5 mm and 2.75 mm. I am using a much thinner yarn and the recommended needle size is 2.0 mm. After doing a sample swatch, thank you Elizabeth Zimmerman you have saved me great frustration, I decided that 80 stitches would not be enough.
Unfortunately Mitronen and Vilkkumaa did not anticipate someone needing to test for gauge so they did not include gauge in any of the directions. I cast on 100 stitches and will find out if it will be enough. If not, I have plenty more of the same yarn!
The first six rows should be worked back and forth to give a stockinet stitch. The seventh row is worked in reverse so that the top turns back on itself. Only then are the uppers joined and the sock reverses again to return to stockinet stitch and six more rows are knit. The idea is to create a tube into which either an elastic band or a proper ribbon to tie about the leg can be inserted and keep the socks up.
Elizabeth I
I’ve been watching Elizabeth I, with Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons and Hugh Dancy. It’s the second time of seeing it. Various elements strike me this time. It is a disquieting film; the intrigues and uncertainty of whom to trust run like the agonized wailing of a violin being tortured throughout the film. Yet it is a visually rich film with attention to detail from the layers upon layers of clothing, to the details of lavish garnishment. I do wonder if Irons’ and Dancy’s would really have worn their collar’s open in a court and during a fashion when noble gentlemen wore stiflingly high closed collars with ruffs. Especially when all the other characters were tightly buttoned up. Does that fly in the face of detail? Perhaps it is to show a degree of favour, or of the compromises they made.
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