dream job

I had a dream job earlier this year... and I couldn't say a peep about it. I was designing and knitting two items for The Unofficial Downton Abbey Knits, which was just released by Interweave. Huzzah!

If you go to today's blog entry for Knitting Daily, and scroll down, you will see my beaded purses. All that beading was quite a different skill set and tremendous fun, once I managed to find the right beads.

Excuse the crappy iPhone photos; I didn't take any better ones

before I shipped off the finished items.

The pictures on the Knitting Daily website are much nicer!

The first one, which looks and feels like chain mail, is an almost-exact duplicate of a pattern from 1912. Almost exact, because I discovered a large error in the pattern. The chain-mail effect is the result of stringing ever larger numbers of beads between knit stitches. All of my boys were fascinated by the feel of it, and the little one wants it to store "little things in, like maybe Legos" once it is returned to me.

Needless to say, he will not be getting it for those purposes. As a matter of fact, one of my friends has already called dibs on it. It is a surprisingly quick and easy knit, once you string all those beads. More on how I did that tomorrow.

The second one was inspired by a crocheted bead purse, also from 1912. The size was altered slightly so it can be used as a cell phone case; it was originally intended for opera glasses, but not too much demand for that these days. Whenever I do something remotely historical, I am caught in a bind. Make something that is a faithful recreation of a pattern? Or make something that would be useful to a non-reenacting member of contemporary society? Having two patterns chosen for the issue meant that I got to do one of each.

The green, purple and white colors were inspired by Sybil and Edith's interest in the suffragette movement; to learn why those particular colors are significant, you'll have to buy the magazine. Or just ask me the next time you see me. Or google it.