Trivia and Disturbing Thoughts
Did you know that the expression originated from a poem by Ernest Dowson? Being the geek that I am, I had to do a bit or research to find out more about Ernest Dowson. (My 2nd grade teacher always told us to look up words and things that we didn't know to 'open up our minds'. To this day, I still do this fairly often, so my mind is no doubt cluttered with useless stuff!)
I discovered that several noted saying like 'gone with the wind', 'Beyond the pale ', and 'in the fashion' were all attributed to his poetry. Dowson was not lucky in love and when the 12 year old girl, that he fell in love with, came of age at 14, she married a waiter in her father's restaurant. He quickly declined afterwards and died in poverty and squalor at 32. It's more than a bit disturbing to think that only a century ago, it would had even been considered acceptable for a 12 year old child to be courted by a 24 year old man.
The Mitts
I finished these a while ago in December, but avoiding writing about them as they were intended to be a Christmas present. You see, I wasn't only working on socks for Christmas presents. I started and finished the wine and roses mitts by Jolene Treace in record time. I love, love, love this pattern. I didn't have time to order and wait for the cashmere yarn used for this pattern to arrive so I used some merino/angora laceweight yarn that I had in stash. The knitting went incredibly fast, even though I botched the lacework on the hands several times and had to rip back.
The only changes that I did to the original pattern was to add a few rows of garter stitch to the edge, since I couldn't get the cast on edge to look neat and stop rolling.
Here's the artsy photo, with most of the colour saturation toned down.
Did I mention that I love these mitts? I hated knitting with the angora since the fibers seemed to perpetually make my nose itch and the stitches looked so irregular. Once it was washed though, the yarn was transformed. It bloomed marvelously and was just lovely to touch.
Lovely work. If I spent the time making such delicate gloves, my pets would likely eat or otherwise destroy them.
One note -- "beyond the pale" was in use long before Mr. Dowson's poetry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale
Posted by: Kristin at January 20, 2008 03:27 PMI've been working on these, too. I'm glad to hear that things look much better after finishing and washing. I also love your digger sweater. I've got that pattern book, and I think it's wonderful.
Posted by: Katie at January 13, 2007 02:24 AMI have one of these on the needles right now, and I love it. It's a surprisingly engrossing little project! I like the bramble stitch, or whatever it's called. That was fun to do.
Posted by: Beth S. at January 8, 2007 05:17 PMPolly, I just heard from a knitter who saw the mitts on your blog, so I popped over for a visit. They look just lovely. The garter stitch edge looks very nice. I love using garter stitch myself.
When I knit the mitts, the edge did not lay flat for me, either, until I blocked them. I always do wet blocking. Casting on with a larger needle and looser cast on can help as well.
The edge in question is a treatment used on Latvian Mittens.
Good for you, though. They look beautiful, and the garter stitch looks good with the stitches in the mitt. A good solution for your situation.
Posted by: JoLene Treace at January 8, 2007 05:02 PMThey are just beautiful!
Posted by: Shell at January 8, 2007 04:32 PMThose mitts look very soft and beautiful!
Posted by: laughingrat at January 8, 2007 03:53 PMThey are perfectly lovely!
Posted by: Wendy at January 8, 2007 11:56 AMjust beautiful! i love this pattern and the mitts look perfect in that shade and yarn.
Posted by: kris at January 8, 2007 06:53 AMI've finished one W&R mitt for my sister, and just started the second. I love the garter stitch edge you use -- wish I had thought of that!
Posted by: janna at January 8, 2007 06:25 AMThose mitts look so elegant and dainty.
Posted by: Kathleen at January 7, 2007 09:41 PMIt really is a lovely pattern and thank you for doing the foot work and delving into the meaning behind the name. I also tend to be a fountain of useless knowledge. He, what can I say, we are great people to have at parties and on your Trivial Pursuit team. Your Wine and Roses turned out just lovely and I think they will be around much longer than is mentioned in the poem.
Posted by: Tracey at January 7, 2007 04:41 PMThey are gorgeous, I need to finish up some stuff before I add anything else to my list though!!
Posted by: yvette at January 7, 2007 06:23 AMThose are such lovely mitts. They're definitely on my list of future projects.
Posted by: Sarah at January 7, 2007 05:10 AMThese are simply lovely.
Posted by: erin at January 7, 2007 04:56 AMBeautiful mitts, I bought some luxury yarn on my Boston trip to make some..... I am spurred on by seeing yours!
Posted by: Jacinta at January 6, 2007 11:21 PMThose look like just the mitts for my Mom!
Those look like just the mitts for my Mom!
I have been wondering about the origin of 'days of wine and roses' for a while now, thanks for going and looking it up for me! They are lovely mitts, and a great present!
Posted by: Meg at January 6, 2007 09:54 PMYours turned out beautifully Polly! I'm about to embark on my second pair....my SIL saw them when she was here for the funeral and I could barely get them off her!(they were earmarked as a gift for someone else) She wants the identical mitts too- same color, same beading! At least it's a quick knit :)
What are you using for your FPS?? I'm so excited!!
Posted by: Debi at January 6, 2007 09:17 PMThose are quite gorgeous. I've wanted to make these too.
Posted by: Wanda at January 6, 2007 08:08 PMoh gawd...and i just sent you angora yarn! whoops!
love the mitts though. they are just gorgeous.
Posted by: jacqueline at January 6, 2007 07:56 PMLovely mittens - very ladylike!
Posted by: AmyP at January 6, 2007 07:34 PMWhat, Jills now these? I really think I'll have to knit some now. They're gorgeous.
Posted by: dawn at January 6, 2007 06:28 PMLovely mitts! I usually don't enjoy knitting with yarns that make me itch... but if they get transformed after a wash. Hmm.... incentive to tackle that part of the yarn stash!
Posted by: Peggy at January 6, 2007 05:47 PMLovely mitts! The colour is so soft!
I know what you mean by angora making you nose itch ... I am like that too ...
I love the trivia. Fascinating and disturbing, as you say.
And beautiful mitts, too.
Posted by: Norma at January 6, 2007 04:43 PMI hate knitting with angora too, but I love the way it looks and feels when I'm done. The mitts are beautiful!
Posted by: Shanti at January 6, 2007 04:02 PMthey are gorgeous, must have a look at the pattern:)
amber in scotland