Linen and the Dead Sea Scrolls

I discovered this news article about how pieces of ancient linen found with the Dead Sea Scrolls has sparked a renewed debate over the possible authorship of the scrolls:
http://news.yahoo.com/mystery-dead-sea-scroll-authors-possibly-solved-122406229.html

I find this fascinating for several reasons.  One is that I have had the privilege of viewing portions of the actual Scrolls and appreciate their historic significance.  I also find this particularly interesting because the authors, at the end of the article, even go so far as to speculate whether or not there were women living at Qumran based on the lack of spindle whorls and/or loom weights found at the site.  I wanted to stand up and cheer when I read:  

"This is very, very important, because this is connected to gender," Shamir said, "spinning is connected with women."

So very true but so very often missed in archeology, at least in the past.   What first made me aware of that was Elizabeth Wayland Barber's fabulous book, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years, subtitled:   Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times.  Even though this was published in 1995 the information is still fascinating and relevant to anyone who is interested in textile history.  It's available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Work-First-Years-Society/dp/0393313484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321975122&sr=8-1.  Everyone serious about textile history should have this book on their shelf~ after having read it, of course!  I've posted the link to it on Amazon because all of the reviews, both publisher and reader, are themselves worth reading.

I hope you enjoy the article and also consider reading Dr. Barber's book.  What grabbed me about the Dead Sea Scrolls article was the connection to linen.  I love weaving linen and can't wait to get back to it.  Now, it's looking like it will be at least another couple of months before I will have access to my textile tools and supplies and, let me tell you, I sure miss it!  I immediately made a connection to Dr. Barber's book when I read the line:
"The textiles are of high quality and, based on the archaeological finds at Qumran itself, where there is little evidence of spindle whorls or loom weights, the team thinks it's unlikely they would have been made at the site."
The fact that they were even looking for that, let alone acknowledged it, is a huge step forward in archaeological research.  In fact, in reference to Dr. Barber's book, I found this on the Amazon site:
"it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture".  Good for Orit Shamir, curator of organic materials at the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Naama Sukenik, a graduate student at Bar-Ilan University for publishing research on the missing "half of the picture"!

Oh, my.....

Time does fly.  I'm sorry I haven't been very good at keeping this up, and can't promise that I will be any better in the future, but I won't abandon you altogether without telling you, I promise!  That being said, a quick update on the cashmere socks:  they were completed on time (just!) and gifted in July as planned.  They were short ankle socks but were well received by the one they were made for, so I was happy.  Unfortunately, no pictures!  Suffice it to say that they were beautiful and soft and I wish they had been for me! 

I did it!

I jumped in, abandoned all reason, and bought two skeins of beautiful Cashmere Sock Yarn by ArtYarns from Webs.  It's truly wonderful stuff ~ I just hope I bought enough!  Expensive, yes, but this friend deserves the best and I am not going to skimp on this project.  Here it is, in all its glory:

The colors in the photo are pretty true to real life - I love the subtle shading in the yarns.  It's producing some really neat variations in the knitted fabric, too:

Right now some stripe-y effects but we'll see how it looks over all once it's done.  I am MUCH happier with this project!  These are going to be a gift I will be happy to give.  They're not going to be very long in the leg, though, as I am watching with some alarm as the ball quickly diminishes as I go along.  I am kicking myself for not using a toe-up method but now that it's begun I don't want to rip it out.  I've never done toe-up socks before so I just didn't even think about it until I realized that my little ball of yarn seemed to be shrinking more quickly than I was hoping.  I may end up making a slightly panicked trip back to Webs to buy more...but we'll see.  I'll keep you up to date on the progress so you can see how it goes.  I did stop at Northampton Wools, too, but didn't see anything there that really caught my fancy for this project.  Plus, Webs had some lovely Kid Seta from Cascade Yarns on Closeout sale and I was planning to get some of that, too.  I did, but will wait to tell you about that some other time 'cause I really want to get back to these socks..... I need to have them done for the second weekend in July so there's not a minute to waste!

Moving on....

I've decided to abandon the Big Softie project for now and move on to another yarn.  Every time I look at that finished sock the though of giving it to the person I was making it for makes me feel bad, and I find myself avoiding working on it.  I'm taking that as a sign that I need to do something different.  I'll finish the other sock and keep them around here - I think, maybe, that they would make good socks to wear while I'm weaving in the winter.  That being said, I am off to Webs (http://www.yarn.com/) and, possibly, Northampton Wools (http://www.northamptonwools.com/).  I've never been to Northampton Wools, so it will be a new experience.  I'll let you know how it goes and post pictures of what I get.  Wish me luck!

Big Softie sock = big disappointment

It's been a rainy week and weekend here so I have finally had the time to finish the first sock and start on the second.  I did take a picture.... I'm almost embarrassed to share it with you: 

  

It is not at all what I had in mind.  It wouldn't be so bad, but the toe.... (I tried to cut and enlarge that part of the picture but can't seem to make it happen.)  Can you see it in the photo above?  It has this funky ridge that sticks out because the pattern has you bind off the toe by knitting the toe stitches together, instead of using the kitchener stitch.  Someone suggested to me that it would help keep you from being hurt if you stubbed your toe.  I'm pretty sure their tongue was firmly planted in their cheek when they said that.  The sock also looks like it will pill badly - the yarn is very soft and fuzzy.  And, it's probably a good thing that the pattern tells you to make a twisted cord and thread it through the stitches just below the ribbing (which I haven't done yet) because the darn thing would probably slide off your foot if you didn't tie it on!  So, what to do now?  I am really uncomfortable about giving these to anyone ~ the finished product really doesn't measure up to my gift-giving standards of quality.  I think I may just keep it and start all over again from scratch.  I really have to think about it, and give some thought to the person I was going to give them to, and think very hard about how I think they would feel if they got them.  Sigh.

The saga of Big Softie

The story of these socks is turning into a saga.  I Googled the definition of saga to be sure I was using it correctly and this is what I came up with: 

sa·ga/ˈsägə/Noun

1. A long story of heroic achievement.

2. A long, involved story, account, or series of incidents.

I laughed out loud when I read it because it really fits the situation.... at least in my mind!  First of all, there was all the trouble with getting them started in the first place.  Then, the color is wrong.  It was supposed to be blue, but it looks more purple to me in person than it did on the website when I ordered it.  Just goes to show, don't trust web pics for exact color!  I contemplated sending it back but decided to forge ahead because it would take too long to do that and I was anxious to get them going.   Ok, so... fine.   But then there's this crazy pattern.  I'd never heard of knitting socks on two needles before and, in many respects, it seems more trouble than it's worth.  I'll reserve official judgement until I have a finished product but, in the meantime, I grumble about it every time I work on them.  And that's the other thing ~ I haven't had nearly enough time to work on them because of school and I am frustrated by it.  They should be done, mailed, and on her feet by now but they're not.  I think all of that together fits the definition of a saga, although I wouldn't refer to myself as 'heroic', just stubborn and determined!  This is what they look like now:

I've got the leg part folded back so you can see that it is not connected and will need to be seamed.  At least it's starting to look something like a sock.  Obviously, top of foot and bottom of foot are knitted separately and will be seamed once they are finished.  Almost there with this one.  Here you can see the inside of the foot, sort of the "guts" of this sock:

the top of the foot is folded back here and you are looking down at the inside of the bottom of the foot.  There's a lot of "break off the yarn and...." stuff in this pattern, which is why there are so many ends hanging out.  This view shows the sock from the bottom (ie:  the 'flip side' of the one above):

and, hopefully, you can see that the back of the leg is open (above that 'bulge' in the knitting, which is the heel) and will need to be seamed.   As I said, I will reserve judgement until the project is done, so I won't make further comments except to say that I am looking forward to posting pictures of a finished sock soon! 

Warm, fuzzy....

Socks.  I find them comforting.  Which is why I am making a pair for a friend of mine who is ill and far away - it's my way of sending comfort when I can't be there in person.  I had the idea to make her a pair of what I call "bed socks".  You know, the kind of socks you wear to bed when your feet are cold.  Only, I wanted them to be the softest, most comfy socks I had ever made.  The lovely folks at one of my LYS's helped me find a really wonderful yarn: 

 The price sticker is right smack over the name of the yarn so I'll tell you ~ it's Heaven.  Seriously, that's the name of the yarn.  It's 100% Nylon, which isn't my usual style but I wanted to make them out of something that could be just thrown in the washer.  I thought at first that I could just use the multi-gauge sock pattern from Anne Budd's book, The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns, because I use it all the time with great success for a variety of yarns and feet.  Well.  Apparently, not this time.  The gauge was off the chart (on the low end of the stitch count) and I just couldn't get my act together enough to do the math to figure it out.  This brought me back to the same LYS to ask their help in finding a pattern.  Did you know that sock patterns for bulky weight yarns are few and far between??  No?  Well, neither did I. 

 After a lot of looking (and another book purchase, just because I couldn't resist it after following a false lead.... more on this later....)









we finally came up with Sirdar pattern number 9354 for Sirdar Big Softie yarn http://www.sirdar.co.uk/searchresults.

     

I really tried to make it work, but Heaven just wasn't cooperating.  The gauge was off and, no matter what size needles I tried, I couldn't get it to come out right.  So, back to the proverbial drawing board.  I gave in and ordered Big Softie yarn.  Yeah, it's pretty soft, but not as soft as Heaven and I will admit to some disappointment.  It's knitting up nicely, though, and behaving.  Funny how that happens when you use the yarn that the pattern is designed for: 

The needles feel huge in my hands ~ it's knit on two size 15 (US) needles.  Most of the knitting I've done in the past year or two has been on size 0 - 4 (US) except for the Schulana scarves, which are on 6's (US).  The up-side to this is that it's going quickly.  The down-side is that my hands cramp.  I don't know if it's from the weight of the needles but that's my suspicion.  At any rate, I finally have the heel turned:

The strangeness of knitting socks on two needles stays with me when I am working on these.  I am used to 4 or 5 needle socks and don't really understand why they wrote the pattern for two needles.  It seems to me that it would have been much easier to just go ahead and use regular double-pointed sock needles and knit them like regular socks.  But, I didn't write the pattern, I'm just knitting it.  I am, however, glad that I have lots of experience knitting socks because it certainly helps
                                                      while

navigating this pattern.  As soon as I have something that more clearly resembles a sock I will post more pictures.  In the meantime, it's late, I'm tired, and so I'm saying goodnight.  Sleep well, dear readers, and I hope your feet are comfy while you do.