Skip to main content

The Nightcap

So it is the eve of another of Paul's birthdays.  Last year I made him a pair of socks and he has carefully worn those socks whenever the weather requires it.

This year I decided to knit him a nightcap, you know, like the one from Twas the Night before Xmas.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

 The adventure began with a search for the pattern.  I wanted one of those old-fashioned type with a long tassel and the extended decreasing top.  I found a 1840 Nightcap by Franklin Habit, author of the blog named The Panopticon.  He is a wonderful photographer and now the redesigner of Paul's birthday nightcap.

The 1840 Nightcap pattern originally appeared in the 1840 edition of The Workwoman’s Guide, By a Lady.  Habit corrected the pattern and translated it for the modern knitter.  You might be interested in what he has to say about lace on men's wear and other knitting history.  If so click on the link for 1840 Nightcap.

Habit in his 1840 Nightcap

I started the gift a few weeks ago thinking I'd have plenty of time to finish it off, but I was wrong. The pattern calls for a cotton thread, but I thought I'd step it up a notch for Paul.  It is made with a Madelinetosh Merino Light, a 100% superwash merino wool in fingering weight.  (Fingering weight is very fine and the needles required to knit with it are very small, size US 0 or 2.25mm.)

The lacy start of the cap makes it comfy to wear.  The lace will help to keep the cap on Paul's head, and it was a very easy to knit yet complicated looking design element.  The wee openings on the forehead will allow the cap to breathe and once beyond those three vertical lines of openings I have to do 160 rounds of knitting to get the thing decreased down to only 4 stitches.  I have to admit it wasn't for a lack of trying, to get this cap done on time.  There were 5 hours spent on a flight going from Vancouver to Toronto last week:

On the plane heading to Toronto

While there attending a networking event for a day and one-half, the evenings in the hotel room were spent knitting:

The Holiday Inn Express International near the airport in Toronto

Then when the event was finished I headed back to the airport and knit waiting for my plane:

Knitting at YYZ


And finally I knit the 5 hours back to Vancouver and still didn't complete the thing.

Hard to get good photos in such tight quarters
No, I won't get the nightcap done for the birthday boy on time, but he'll have it completed soon.  Happy Birthday, Paul!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...
2 comments
Read more

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...
1 comment
Read more

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or h...
1 comment
Read more