Nana Knitting: A Hatter to the Grandson

Being a grandson's hatter has been more of a challenge than I anticipated. My first attempt was part of the first ensemble and it was obvious months before he was born this rabbit-eared hat was not going to fit even a newborn's head.

I had some deliciously soft angora leftover from a jacket and made a much bigger hat with attached earmuffs in a retro boys helmet style.

He wore the jacket home from the hospital but being a July baby it was way too hot for him to wear the matching hat that day.

Angora knit jacket

I selected a vintage pattern for this helmet with a built-in neckwarmer.

However, after enjoying a hot prairie summer, he had outgrown it long before he needed a winter hat.

The same happened to this traditional balaclava.

By this time what I was learning about knitting for babies was to make things much bigger than currently needed and work out the corresponding season.

I cast on to make a retro flying helmet to fit size 1 to 2 years.

It looked so adorable in the pattern.

Washed and blocked

Ready for embellishment

I made a hat in the pattern known as The Teabag. It was so easy - knit a rectangle then fold in half. I did add little ear flaps and made some twisted yarn ties. It was decided 'no pompoms.' They don't fit the Christopher Robin Chic style that guides all of my Nana Knitting for this grandchild.

I knit this traditional watch cap made famous by fishermen in many countries. I had to use the small ball of Croftspun Shetland yarn spun in the Seafield Mills in Keith, Scotland I had in my stash because of the family connections.  One of Osmund's dad's middle names is Keith and he has ancestral roots in the area.

You may have noticed most of the above hats are white which was part of a plan. When mother-to-be arrived for a visit she had the task of dyeing all of the hats, and the white garments I had knit.

The traditional balaclava dyed with a Bengala earth dye.

The Bengala dyed retro flying helmet with added sheepskin trim.

Another Tea Bag hat dyed with a mix of different Bengala dyes to give complex neutral colour. This hat became a favourite.

The Keith Watch Cap. The yarn did not soften after washing and felt itchy. 

My solution was to knit a soft angora inner band.

Unfortunately, with the washing and dyeing the yarn fulled and the hat became smaller which meant it didn't fit when it was needed when the weather started to get colder.

I learned a lot while making this first batch of hats for our grandson. The second batch has been more successful but still with a few more lessons learned, which I'll cover in a later post.

Nana Knitting: A Cobbler of New Baby Booties

Nana Knitting - 1st outfit

Included in the 1st outfit I knit as a New-Nana-To-Be was a pair of booties for a newborn. I used a Churchmouse pattern that most resembled the most successful booties my 3 cherubs had worn i.e they could not be kicked off. Churchmouse calls them Stay-on Baby Booties

I lined this first pair with the softest white rabbit fur.

After this initial success, I set up a cobbler bench and went into production.

 

The next pair got a soft, gray rabbit fur sole.

Then I worked with sheepskin. The wool was so thick I didn't think there would be much room for the foot but sewed on knowing they would be warm on a frigid cold Edmonton winter outing in the stroller/pram.

I made several sizes and varied the knitting stitch patterns to keep the knitting interesting.

The sheepskin ones got I-cord ties and longer turn-down cuffs.

The rabbit fur ones got twisted cord ties.

Osmund William Lackey

Here they are being worn by their owner, who had arrived by this time.

His parents have decided to give him privacy at this stage in his life. No images of him are put on the internet. However, I did get permission to show this much of him. I wanted to show how well the booties fit. The square box (cobbler talk for the toe area) allows plenty of room for feet to wiggle around unrestricted.

Here is another photo of Ozzie

Notice the grey rabbit fur sticking out around the join. I trimmed this off which solved the problem.

I'll write another post later about my experimenting and testing of toddler shoes but the next post will be about my work as Oz's hatter.

Nana Knitting: Pinterest Board, Vintage Patterns and Searching for Buttons

Previously I posted about my new project, Nana Knitting, here How this project began

The new mother-to-be, daughter Katherine gave me guidance - a Pinterest board she had loaded with the styles, colours and look she was after for her first born's knit wardrobe. She described it as 'Christopher Robin Chic.'

From the Pinterest board I could see vintage styles in low intensity, gender-neutral colours.

I started with a traditional wrap-around surplice (that's a really old word for this baby garment) worked in one piece.

In a past life when I taught knitting I was known to my face as The Swatch Queen because whenever anyone had a problem they needed help with I would first ask to look at their swatch. I began most workshops with a swatch. I suspect I was called other names out of earshot...

Now I must confess when working on Nana Knitting I don't make a swatch. Also, I continue with my habit of rarely ever working a pattern in the yarn it was written for. For Nana Knitting I make my choice of yarn, match the needles and make a bigger size the baby will grow into. It's then up to the parents to get the garment out of the closet at the right time. That is no problem with my daughter. She is an organiser.

The nursery in anticipation of baby's arrival.

I made a pair of traditional short rompers with crossed straps to go with the surplice. According to the the pattern it was for a 12-month size but instead because of my yarn and needle choices it ended up more like an 18-month size. This sizing was just as well because the combination of the all-over seed stitch and the high twist yarn made for a 'hard' fabric more suitable for an active toddler than a sitting baby. 

I found an amazing yarn for a cardigan using a 1960s vintage pattern. The yarn is Lang Magic Tweed Superwash, a soft spun, single ply that fluffs up after it is washed.

Blocking the garment pieces after the first wash.

Working the neck and front band edgings.

Another wash and block.

Christopher Robin Chic requires buttons with a specific understated look. None of those cute shaped Fimo plastic animal etc buttons will do. But I found Christopher Robin chic type buttons are hard to find. I have now added buttons to my shopping list when I travel.

The finely knit garment fabric itself does not provide much to secure buttons on safely so I add a circle of fulled wool on the inside to stitch the button securely to not wanting it to become a choking hazard.

Sewing on the button with a pad of fulled wool fabric at the back.

Finishing the cardigan with coconut shell buttons.

The finished cardigan fits age 6 to 12 months.

 Another characteristic I like about this Lang Magic yarn is it makes a very light and soft garment. This cardigan took less than 2 balls so it is economical too.

A note from the future: This cardigan was a favorite. It was worn and machine washed regularly until reluctantly it was retired when it no longer fit.

I am loving my Nana Knitting Project with reports on more results to come.

Articulation's Current Exhibition Connected Heritage, Gimli, Manitoba

The exhibition is on all summer at the New Icelandic Heritage Museum in Gimli Manitoba.

 Research for this body of work began with a study session covering Winnipeg, Gimli and the Inter-Lake area of Lake Winnipeg. I posted earlier about the trip here and here. When we Articulation members were back in our respective studios, we got to work sifting through all our research materials narrowing down a mass of images, stories and information to a focus which caught our imaginations enough to want to go deeper while being guided by the "Connected Heritage" concept the group had settled on.

While out and about exploring I was enamored with the boats and the unique way of fishing. The Icelandic people had brought with them their way of fishing and learned from the First Nations people how to adapt from the sea to an inland lake. Other settlers such as the Ukrainians and Scots also contributed their knowledge to make InterLake fishing the unique industry it became.

And I loved everything about the Icelandic horses. I watched all of the movies I could find where they starred and I found several documentaries on them.

But as is usual for me after an Articulation Study Session, once I got home and into my studio, my interest was piqued by a different subject. Part of my ongoing research involved reading about the history of the Icelandic people and I focused on their unique DNA heritage that has been studied in great detail. A long isolated human population with written records going back centuries can tell geneticists a lot. This knowledge can be applied to the benefit of other populations, for example, understanding the origins of genetic diseases enables diagnostics tests and drugs to be developed.

I became intrigued with the way a group carries its genetic identity with them no matter where they settle and their cultural identity is carried in their material possessions.

Recent genetic research has confirmed what the sagas have been saying for generations. Genetic research has come up with the statistics. Seventy-five percent of the males in the founding population was Scandinavian, mainly Norsemen. Fifty percent of the founding females were Celtic from the western coastal areas of the UK. It seems the bachelor Norsemen picked up Celtic wives before heading across the sea to settle in Iceland.

The Icelanders brought this genetic heritage with them when they settled in the Canadian Inter-Lake area. They also brought their cultural identity embedded in the few possessions they brought with them.

I decided to work with well-worn woolen blankets, essential items they may have brought with them. I projected an image of an old woodblock print onto the blanket then cut the image away suggesting how their cultural identity is embedded in their material culture.

Stitching the design

Cutting out the design to show the backing blanket

Blanket stitching around the design lines

Genetic research has noted people of Icelandic descent are very likely to have blue or rarer green eyes: 89% of males and 87% of females, with green eyes being more common in the women.

 

 I illustrated this genetic trait by colouring the male's eye blue and the female's green. This genetic trait is still very evident in the current population.

Each Articulation member explored a different aspect of the Interlake population. Visit Articulation's Blog here to see what others have worked on.

If you find yourself in Manitoba this summer, I do hope you can take a trip out to Gimli to see this very interesting exhibition and to take in the sights in this unique town.