Eleanor of Toledo stockings

Recipient: Unknown - A&S Fair project
Designer: Camilla de la Reynarde
Pattern: Eleanor of Toledo's Stockings - recreation of actual 16th century stockings
Source: Tournaments Illuminated, issue #126, spring 1998
Due: October 2005
Colours: Red
Yarn: Silk, fingering weight when doubled
WIP status: Working on second motif of cuff
Pictures: None

2008-Jul-6

Here's another project that's seen a few rows here and there, but nothing more than that. However, it's still affecting me rather profoundly because when I put it in the bag with my other projects to take to work, it tangles up among everything like CRAZY. So annoying! So I've stopped taking it with me.

Tangling aside, though, it's nice.

2008-Jun-20

All the talk about this project (thanks very much, Keja - hi! - for your helpful comments and errata warnings) got me interested in knitting it again. I went back and found it - I still have the unfinished sock out of the original cotton yarn (unfortunately the picture I took of it came out really badly, I'll have to try again), plus there was the barely-started latest attempt in the silk. Wanting to start with a clean slate, I frogged the silk version and re-started. Haven't gotten very far yet, and it's pretty tricky and fiddly, but it's coming along.

2008-Jun-11

Lynette stopped by to say hi and ask for advice on the Eleanor of Toledo stockings. Unfortunately, I haven't finished them. I've started them at least two or three times (and frogged back), but finishing? Nuh-uh. There were a few reasons for all the frogging. I had originally bought red fingering weight cotton for this project instead of silk because the cotton was actually vaguely affordable. I got fairly far along in the first sock with the cotton, but lost interest after a while, I think. I was very new to the DPN thing, too, and probably found that rather frustrating.

Then I discovered a batch of recycled red silk yarn on eBay, realised I could at last make the stockings in silk like they were intended to be, and snapped it up. The cotton stocking was abandoned pretty quickly after that. However, the DPN thing was still very awkward for me and the needles were extremely thin and pointy. I also became frustrated with how the knitting started out very loosely right after the cast-on, but then tightened up after I got further along. I frogged everything I'd done and stuffed it away.

Now, however, I am extremely used to DPNs, am a much faster knitter, and have scads more experience with socks, so I think I should probably take the project out again and have another go, I'd probably enjoy it immensely.

Sorry I don't have much more help for you, Lynette! I do want to pop by the board again soon and see your garb - I just haven't visited in such a long while because I simply don't have the time these days. (Fortunately, some of the folks there read this blog, as you can tell from the comments. :) Please say hi to everyone for me.

As of 2004-Nov-08

Very annoying - the DPNS keep jabbing me, I haven't gotten the hang of using DPNs, really. I'm also a bit frustrated because the first few rows are much looser than the rest of it - I may frog and restart AGAIN (I had already done a fair bit in red cotton and then decided to be more accurate and go with silk).

Labels: eleanortoledo