Beekeeper Socks Started: 18 Feb 2021 Finished: 3 March 2021 Pattern: “His Last Bow” by Lotta Groeger Yarn: Haldecraft Yarns Andre in colorway, “None of your Beeswax” (80% SW Merino, 20% Nylon) Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm Notes: You know that a beekeeper who is also a knitter is contractually obligated to knit these, right? Read the fine print, it’s in there. These are toe-up socks which is something I try to avoid since I find the cast on fussy and, really, I’m just way more comfortable with cuff down. The little bee detail in some of the cells means they really do need to be knit toe-up, and they’re bees (!!!) so it was 100% worth forging ahead with a method that isn’t my favorite but produces a beautiful set of socks. As is usual with toe-up socks, I can never seem to gauge where to start the heel, so the foot is just a tiny bit too long. Then I got overzealous and knit the leg a bit too long, so it’s a little tight near the cuff. In hindsight, I could’ve added a few extra stitches around to accommodate my calves, but by the time one was done, I wasn’t going back to fix it since it wasn’t too-too bad. Can we appreciate though, the beauty of lining up the sock pattern and the yarn color and colorway name here? I’m absolutely delighted with how these came out and obviously am going to bee wearing them a bunch!
A few years ago, I came across a camera at a little vintage market. Usually cameras like this aren’t worth much now since they were mass produced and inexpensive, and not very complicated, making them pretty accessible. For whatever reason, it sparked my eye, and I picked it up only to find that it was still full of undeveloped film. Well, it obviously had to come home with me. The camera is a Brownie Starmite II and I’ll leave the folks at the Camerapedia to go into the details if you want them. The film inside was 127 film, probably still from the 1960s when the camera was made, so I knew the folks at Old School Photo Lab could handle it just fine. I saw there was a frame left, so I shot that off (last photo below), then wound up the film and sent it off for processing. In a matter of days, the scrappy Lab Rats at the film lab had emailed me the scans and popped the negatives (and reel) in the mail. The images are below. I don’t know anything about who owned the camera prior to my finding it or where it might have been used, but judging by the clothing, it’s probably about 1960s, and somewhere that it gets cold enough to ice skate, so it’s entirely possible the photos are of a family in the Philadelphia area where the camera was purchased. Maybe some day I might be able to reconnect these photos with the family who left them behind in the camera! Click any photo to see the full size. The camera is probably still usable since there’s not much to it in terms of moving parts, no battery, etc, and you can still find 127 film albeit at ~$13/roll. It would be fun to run a roll of film through this just for kicks someday.
Blue & Purple Speckle Socks Started: ?? Finished: 26 Jul 2021 Yarn: Skein band missing, though I think it’s from Mountain Laurel Yarns Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm Notes: I absolutely love the colors of this yarn. I think I had originally bought it to make a hat, but it makes a mighty fine pair of pretty socks.
Dutch Vacation Socks Started: Sep 2021 Finished: Oct 2021 Yarn: Malabrigo Sock yarn in colorway, “Indiecita” Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm Notes: Started these on the plain on the way home from a brief vacation to the Netherlands while the husband was actually home, before he left for the UK for 2 years (that’s a whole ‘nother story) and while there was a lull in Coronavirus cases. Yep, pandemic vacation socks.
Plain Old Socks Started: Oct 2021 Finished: 23 Oct 2021 Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in colorway “Good Luck Jade” Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm Notes: This is one of those yarns that looked really heavy variegated in the skein but actually knit up in a pretty even set of color values (light/dark) and probably could’ve handled a simple pattern pretty well.
Purple Storm Socks Started: 29 Oct 2021 Finished: 4 Nov 2021 Yarn: Wullenstudio Superwash Sock in colorway “Wooly Bully” Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm Notes: I picked up this yarn at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival in 2009, so it’s definitely on the older end of the stash spectrum. I really dug the purple and grey together and they pooled up every so slightly around the leg in wide stripes.
That wraps up the plain old socks catch-up! There’s one more that I need to post, but it deserves its own post since it’s actually a really neat design. There are other knits to post too that aren’t socks, so I’ll be busy getting caught up for the rest of the year probably!
We found a box of old books when my last living grandparent passed away that seemed to have been given to her by her mother-in-law and contained some pretty old books from even grandma’s mother-in-law’s mother (my 2x great grandmother). While there’s no indication whose writing is in the book or a name printed in the front or back, one of the pieces of paper stuck in the book certainly looks like great grandma Olga’s handwriting. My 2x great grandmother and her husband married in 1891, both immigrants from England – Alfred had come over with his adoptive parents in 1872, and Jessie had arrived in about 1890. It certainly feels like the most likely scenario, that the book belonged to Jessie and her family, given the other books in the box as well as the handwriting belonging to her only surviving daughter. The book has a copyright date of 1894, and this edition is marked on the front cover, “Compliments of the Pittsburg Press” (yes, Pittsburgh without the ‘H’ as the newspaper titled itself). The inside cover notes the book cost $1.50. I can’t be entirely sure when this particular edition was printed, but the newspaper did advertise the book in 1894, and by 1908, it was called, “The Standard Domestic Science Cook Book,” by the same author. I couldn’t find any information in the newspaper about it offering the book for sale at a discount or as a gift to subscribers. The book has clearly been used quite a bit since the leather on the spine has nearly completely separated from the rest of the book, held on by only two pieces of well-aged tape.
Inside the book are tucked random bits of newspaper articles containing recipes, notes on pages, and the end few pages were left blank to contain, “Recipes Gathered by the Way.” All those pages are filled in, so I’ve scanned them here for you because they’re pretty interesting. There were no oven temperatures listed, just “Moderate” or “Quick” oven, but fortunately there’s a temperature chart available here to help convert these recipes. I may even give them a try at some point! Small thumbnails here, click the images to see the larger version in case you want to try your hand at any of these.
The full book has been digitized by Google Books (available here), so you can have a look through the recipes in the book. Beyond recipes, there’s a section on napkin folding, one on meal planning, personal care, stain removal, and how to care for your home. The back quarter or so of the book involves a “Medical Adviser” which is obviously and somewhat hilariously outdated, but worth a glance if just to appreciate how far we’ve come in terms of medical knowledge in just over 125 years. I’ll leave you with what’s easily one of my favorite pages because it’s SO cringe inspiring today.
