Carolina Bell Shawlette...free pattern

I am happy today to celebrate my wonderful state of South Carolina, and the wonderful diversity here, not the least of which is expressed in alpaca genetics!

My brother lives near an alpaca farm in upstate SC, in Inman. When I visited two years ago I was happy to discover that the owner had a shop. The shop was HUGE with a vast supply of commercial yarn, but what I zoomed in on was the yarn from their own alpacas.  Here is the creative result:

Carolina Bell Shawlette

Have you found yourself in a yarn store picking up…say 3 skeins of yarn, one of a contrasting color to the other two, that you thought were beautiful with no plan in mind?  Well…here’s the plan…

This is a shawlette with vertical garter stripes and a lace border.  My finished shawlette is 60 inches in width and in 13 inches in length at the longest point.

Yarn Requirements: 3 skeins of yarn, two of the same color (color A), and one of a second color (color B). I used 3 skeins of alpaca from a local (in state) alpaca farm.  For me, this was Northwoods Farm in Inman, SC.  I had 2 skeins of 183 yards each in Carolina Bell (neutral)  and 1 skein from Guyson,  210 yards(chocolate brown).  Each skein was 4 ounces.

I used half of color B for half the striped section of the shawl.

My shawlette is very heavy and warm in the yarn I used, however you could use a lighter weight yarn and looser stitch at the same gauge and produce a lighter, more summery shawlette.

Gauge: Knit a gauge swatch with your yarn and find a fabric drape using garter stitch with the size needle that pleases you.  My gauge in garter stitch for the body of the shawl is 5 stitches per inch. I used a size 3 circular needle. Be warned however: if you stray from my yardage, gauge, and yarn halving technique, you may need more or less yarn, so be sure to use the technique here:

Yarn halving technique for Color B: take your skein of color B.  You can do this by weighing it and wind two balls of half the whole weight. If you have a yarn measuring tool, you can use that.  

Directions:

Cast on 10 stitches in color A.

1)   Knit 1 row Color A

2)   Knit 1 row Color A

3)   Knit 1 row Color B

4)   With color B, k1, increase 1 by loop method, finish row in knit.

Continue in this way until you have 52 stitches. Continue knitting straight: 2 rows color A and 2 rows color B. When you have used half of color B, or perhaps a little less to be on the safe side, begin decreasing:

1)   Knit 1 row Color A

2)   Knit 1 row Color A

3)   Knit 1 row Color B

4)   With Color B, decrease one stitch by psso method (slip one, knit one, passed slipped stitch over knitted stitch) and finish row with Color B.

When you have returned to 10 stitches on the needle, bind off loosely.

Lace border:  at this point you should have a serious amount of Color A left for the lace border, which is done in garter lace.  Proceed with the lace border this way:

 With the shawl on your left, right side up and lower edge in your lap, with the same size needle that you used for the body of the shawl:  Cast on 4 stitches onto left needle.

Row 1: S1, k1, yo, k1, pickup stitch from in between the garter ribs, knit that stitch together with the 5^th cast on stitch. With all odd rows, continue picking up a stitch between knit “ribs”  and knitting 2 together for the final stitch.

Row 2 and all even rows through row 16: turn and knit.

Row 3: S1, k1, yo, k2, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 5: S1, k1, yo, k3, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 7: S1, k1, yo, k4, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 9: S1, k2 tog, yo, k2 tog, k2, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 11: S1, k2 tog, yo, k2 tog, k1, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 13: S1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border

Row 15: S1, k2tog, k1, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Here is a graph if you prefer:

You may need to “fudge” a bit to add or subtract stitches that you pick up to end the lace at the end of the shawl.

Northwoods Farm, my "local" alpaca farm

My LYS is 30 minutes away (I think that's a long ride...) and I have no local local sheep or fiber farms, seeing as how I live in a fairly hot climate (that would be gardening zone 8...).


Several months ago my brother moved from western North Carolina to upstate South Carolina.  He called me excitedly and said "Wendy, there are llamas on a farm nearby!"  I assured him that the animals were probably alpacas not llamas.  The name of the place is Northwoods Farm.

On a visit to see him recently I went to see the alpacas.

I think that this is a group of youngsters. 

 I knew that there was a yarn shop there as well, I figured that it was a small shop selling wool from their animals.

WRONG!  Teri's shop is a vast cavelike treasure trove of fibers and equipment.

Teri also offers many classes, check her out on Facebook.


However, I stuck local, and bought some alpaca spun from their flock

Lovely stuff...will find a project soon for this

Civil War Sock Knitters

I recently listened to an interesting podcast from public radio.  Walter Edgar is a professor of history at the University of South Carolina and  he has a public radio program on all topics South Carolina.  

We all recall Mary Chesnut from Ken Burns' Civil War series on PBS from 1990, right?  And Mary's diaries were often quoted;  Julie Harris read the quotes.  Mary was a South Carolina blue blood. She was the wife of General James Chesnut, an  aide to Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Several different annotated versions of her diaries are available at Amazon.  Here is a nice synopsis of Mary's life and writings from Elisabeth Showalter Muhlenfeld, her biographer.  Dr. Muhlenfeld also edited and published two of Mary's unfinished novels.

On the particular podcast I listened to, Dr. Edgar (we treat him with great reverence down here) was interviewing Julia A. Stern, author of Mary Chesnut's Civil War Epic.  She is a scholar from Northwestern University who has published a book, which considers Mary's so-called diary to be more of a nonfictional epic.  This she helped to realize by examining earlier less simplified versions of Mary's complex work, and delving in to its details.

To add to my interest, in a more recent podcast, Dr. Edgar interviewed a descendent of Mary Chesnut, Martha Daniels.  Apparently Mary had a vast collection of photographs.  At some point, the photographs were separated from her diaries. Amazingly, the photographs were located (on ebay!!) and purchased by Martha's family.  The description in the podcast of Martha's Grandmother recognizing unlabelled individuals in the photos brought tears to my eyes.  The photographic collection is donated to the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina, and a new edition of the diaries combined with the photographic images will soon be published.

Here is the SCETV link to Walter Edgar's Journal Podcast;  scroll down and you can listen to these two podcasts, or locate them on itunes!

Well and yes, of course, Mary was a sock knitter.   The more I read about knitting, the more I realize that small garments:  hats, mittens, and socks are the items often knitted through history, as larger garments are perhaps more easily made of woven fabric. Marys quote: " I do not know when I have seen a woman without knitting in her hand. 'Socks for the soldiers' is the cry."

Here is a link for an authentic pair of Civil War socks, suitable nowadays for reinactors!  More discussion is here.  I am trying this pattern using some Guernsey wool that I have had in stash for waaaaay too long;  see the photo, above, of the one I am working on.  I will avoid second sock syndrome as it is a holiday gift!  My gauge is a little larger than that called for.

Yahoo's Civil War Needleworker's Group has a collection of sock patterns as well, but you must be a group member to join (that's easy, however).

Book Report: Eliza Lucas Pinckney

In thinking about acquiring a second spinning wheel, I thought perhaps it would be interesting to learn about wheels used in early South Carolina. In trying to learn more about the history of spinning in SC, I found a book that really caught me up that I want to share.

The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney 1739-1762. University of South Carolina Press, 1997, South Carolina Historical Society, 1972. I don’t recall how I found this book. I didn’t learn what I thought I would from it. So at this point I’m diverging largely from the subject of fiber to talk about Eliza.

Now, if you hail from or visit the South Carolina Low Country, you know the name Pinckney. Folks with the last name of Pinckney are everywhere.

Eliza Lucas (1722-1793) was English; she was born in the West Indies. Her father, George Lucas, served as a major in the British army in Antigua. She was schooled in England, and George moved the family to South Carolina in 1738. Major Lucas’s father, John Lucas, had owned three properties in SC which presumably Major Lucas inherited. These included

1) Bluff plantation on Wappoo Creek, 600 acres, which is 16 miles from Charleston

2) Garden Hill Plantation, 1500 acres, on the Combahee River

3) three different packages of land on the Waccamaw River, totaling 3000 acres, which produced rice

In 1739 Major Lucas returned to Antigua to resume his military duties. Eliza, aged 17, became responsible for overseeing the Wappoo Creek plantation and had responsibilities for supervising the Garden Hill and Waccamaw River properties. Her two brothers were being schooled in England, her Mother and younger sister lived at Wappoo Creek. Her Mother was not well.

Now at this point, have no doubt (if you had any) that African American slaves were involved in the maintenance of these properties. I offer no apologies, and understand that slavery and women’s rights do not mix. I have read my Belle Hooks, and I'm right there with her. But that was then and this is now. And Eliza is way too interesting to drop this discussion.

In 1744, at age 22, Eliza married Charles Pinckney. Charles was 45, and a widower. Charles has the distinction of being South Carolina’s first “native” attorney. After their wedding, Eliza’s mother and sister returned to Antigua; Eliza was the only member of her family left in SC to manage her father’s three properties. Charles built a mansion for the couple in Charleston. He also had a properties of his own

4)Belmont Plantation on the Cooper River, and

5)Pinckney Island and neighboring properties, Port Royal Sound

Eliza had four children, two of whom, Charles Cotesworth and Thomas, were schooled in England at Oxford. They returned to SC in 1758, after the death of their father Charles. Both Charles and Thomas were to become preeminent South Carolina politicians and farmers. But first, they were two important patriots serving in the Revolutionary war: Charles as a Colonel and later brevet Brigadier General, Thomas as a Captain and later Major General in the Continental Army.

Eliza was a perfectly sane individual and despite her fervent Christian faith, she understood that occasional dancing and card playing were not sinful as long as that was not ALL one did. She managed numerous properties and plantations largely on her own; recall that her father died in 1747 and her husband died in 1758. In additional to those listed above are these:

6) Auckland Plantation on the Ashepoo River

7) Marshlands Plantation on the Cooper River

8) Pinckney Plains Plantation on the west Ashley

9) Pinckney House, Colleton Square, on East Bay Street in Charleston.

And there were more. All this without air conditioning.

After suffering loss of much of her life ‘s accomplishments and properties during the Revolution due to British raids, Eliza died in Philadelphia where she was seeking cancer treatment in 1793. President Washington, who had been a guest at Hampton Plantation (not owned by the family, but Eliza had taken refuge there during the war), was one of her pallbearers. She is buried at St. Peter’s Churchyard in Philadelphia.

Eliza’s existent letters are housed in Columbia at the University Library in a fireproof room. (I was delighted to learn the USC HAS a fireproof room for precious historical items. ) Her letters are thoughtful, and full of love and concern for others. She loved botany, and delighted in plant life both near her homes for enjoyment, and the crops that she raised. My son is taking South Carolina history in 8^th grade this year; according to his teacher, his class is reading some primary sources, and I hope this will be one of them; it had not yet been published when I was in that class.

So, I delved in to all of this thinking I might learn about fibers grown and used in prerevolutionary South Carolina. It’s clear that flax culture was critical as linen provided the coolest garments, although flax is not discussed in any depth in this book. However, I found more information in another book on Eliza and flax. Alice Morse Earl's excellent research for Home Life in Colonial Days revealed a letter from Major Lucas to Eliza dated 1745; in which he documented sending her via sloop (from the West Indies, presumably?) two Irish servants, a weaver and a spinner. He ordered flax seed sent to her from Philadelphia. The two Irish women were charged with training slaves to spin flax and weave clothing for the slave population. Eliza had spinning wheels and a loom made, and a "sensible negro woman and hundreds of others" had learned to spin. Mrs. Earl's followup comment is "excellent cloth has always been woven in the low country of South Carolina, as well as in the upper districts, till our own time" (p. 183). (Mind you, the book was originally published in 1898. She may have been alluding to the textile industry that is still active in upstate South Carolina).

Obviously, Eliza was successful with flax production. Her letters hint that she experimented with hemp manufacture. Silk production in SC has never been a serious enterprise, but Eliza did produce silk fiber at the Belmont Plantation on the Cooper River. There are white mulberry trees still in Belmont that have naturalized from her stock. The American History Museum at the Smithsonian museum has a silk dress made from fiber from Eliza’s silk worms. Here is a photo of the dress:

Eliza was actively interested in indigo culture and early in her life her father sent her indigo seeds from the West Indies. Her family’s properties were early growers of South Carolina indigo, which became a major export crop in our state.

Sources for this post are:

The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney 1739-1762. University of South Carolina Press, 1997, South Carolina Historical Society, 1972.

Earle, Alice Morse. Home Life in Colonial Days. Originally published in 1898. American Classics edition c. 1993 by Berkshire House Publishers.

Information on Charles Cotesworth and Thomas' military careers was located at wikipedia.

More information on Eliza and her family abounds on the internet including here.

More information on South Carolina plantations including the ones mentioned in this post are available here.

More information on visiting South Carolina's plantations is available here. No, I'm not on the payroll.

Now, I’m off to find an indigo dye kit.