Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Completed Socks
The blog has been rather quiet as we have all been busy knitting and creating our final socks. these are just a few examples from Angela and Sylvia . . . more to come:
Monday, 1 February 2010
Sock it at the V&A
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Last Wednesday the U3A group went along to the new Medieval Galleries at the V&A to look at a pair of their Coptic socks (Museum Number 2085-A-1900) and compare them to those at the Petrie Museum. A link to more information on the V&A socks is here.
The V&A socks have been conserved, padded out and put on display among other Coptic textiles. They are a striking red colour with some noticeable differences to those in the Petrie Museum, not least top of the sock, the way the different pieces have been put together and the slant of the stitch.
Mollie took some close up photographs:
The Conservation Department at the V&A had kindly let us take notes from their conservation report on the sock:
Description of Structure
Cross loop of knitting
At top of sock there is an opening at the front, beneath which the knitting is circular shaped to form the heel and the foot and divided at toe to accommodate big toe separately to others.
Left foot heel to toe: 23cm, division for big toe approx 5cm
Right foot heel to toe: 21 cm division for big toe approx 4cm
Bottom of heel to top of sock each 12 cm
Technique means that knitting started from the toe.
Stitch Count
Right Foot: Linear = 8, Rows = 9
Left Foot: Linear 8, Rows 9.5
Friday, 22 January 2010
Single Needle Knitting: Video and Information
The beautiful pair of Coptic socks, dated to 400-500 AD, are the centre of this experimental archaeology project at the Petrie Museum. This is our goal; the recreate a pair using ancient techniques.
To start off the single needle knitting – thread a needle with approximately a metre of wool and make a loop.
To make the first stitches pull the needle through the centre of the loop; this is one stitch. Repeat this step until you have the required number of stitches.
Then depending on whether you are knitting backwards and forwards or in the round wither straighten this foundation row into a straight line, or pull the short end until the stitches are in a tight circle.
Then pull the needle through each stitch creating a loop in the palm of your hand – the needle should go on top of the yarn creating something similar to a blanket stitch.
Continue doing this in the round until the knitting is long enough or if you are going back and forth knit to the end of your stitches and then turn the work and knit the other way.
Charlotte Booth
To start off the single needle knitting – thread a needle with approximately a metre of wool and make a loop.
To make the first stitches pull the needle through the centre of the loop; this is one stitch. Repeat this step until you have the required number of stitches.
Then depending on whether you are knitting backwards and forwards or in the round wither straighten this foundation row into a straight line, or pull the short end until the stitches are in a tight circle.
Then pull the needle through each stitch creating a loop in the palm of your hand – the needle should go on top of the yarn creating something similar to a blanket stitch. 
Continue doing this in the round until the knitting is long enough or if you are going back and forth knit to the end of your stitches and then turn the work and knit the other way.
Charlotte Booth
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Snow and Starting to Knit
Despite the snowy weather, a large number of the U3A group managed to make it into the Petrie Museum for the first session after the Christmas break. Charlotte Booth also came along to go through the main steps in Coptic knitting according to her research . . . watch this space for the first steps guide. In the mean time, this is a short (albeit blurry) film of Barbara doing it:
Over the break many members of the group had been busy knitting their own socks using 'normal' knitting techniques, as well as spinning their carded wool:
Working from home, Sybil sent some charts she had been working on of stitches for the Egyptian sock:
We had a brief distraction by examining Rosemary's crochet snow shoes, which she made to beat the icy weather. The crocheted top is fastened onto oven mesh as a base and then tied with a shoe lace over a pair of crocs and a kitchen bag with a bin liner over the top for aesthetic purposes. Rosemary says they are warm, keep out the wet and sturdy on the ice. They can then just be washed after use:
Over the break many members of the group had been busy knitting their own socks using 'normal' knitting techniques, as well as spinning their carded wool:
Working from home, Sybil sent some charts she had been working on of stitches for the Egyptian sock:
We had a brief distraction by examining Rosemary's crochet snow shoes, which she made to beat the icy weather. The crocheted top is fastened onto oven mesh as a base and then tied with a shoe lace over a pair of crocs and a kitchen bag with a bin liner over the top for aesthetic purposes. Rosemary says they are warm, keep out the wet and sturdy on the ice. They can then just be washed after use:
Monday, 21 December 2009
Did the Ancient Egyptians use Teasels?
We have not yet found evidence for carders in Ancient or Coptic Egypt and there has been some discussion as to whether teasels where used. Angela has been getting advice from a botanist friend, Ian, who says:
- Teasel, alias Dipsacus fullonum, is found naturally from Western Europe (mostly a line south of the Pennines eastwards), right across to Russia, and across North Africa and right into Turkey. It favours heavy soils, so I imagine would be very much at home on regions of the Nile Delta.
- There is no other plant I can find in the flora of Egypt that has dried flower (seed) heads that would do as good a job.
- My conclusion is that teasel was available and put to good use by the ancient Egyptians
- Teasel, alias Dipsacus fullonum, is found naturally from Western Europe (mostly a line south of the Pennines eastwards), right across to Russia, and across North Africa and right into Turkey. It favours heavy soils, so I imagine would be very much at home on regions of the Nile Delta.
- There is no other plant I can find in the flora of Egypt that has dried flower (seed) heads that would do as good a job.
- My conclusion is that teasel was available and put to good use by the ancient Egyptians
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
In a Spin!
Today we tried spinning but first some information from Charlotte about spinning in Ancient Egypt!
There were different methods of spinning in ancient Egypt using the drop spindle, all depicted in tombs from the Middle Kingdom onwards.
The ‘grasped spindle’ technique, shows the rove pulled from a basket through a ring or a forked stick, and spun onto the spindle which is rolled between the hands.
The ‘supported spindle’ technique, where the spindle rolled down the knee to twist it. This will be the method we will be working on today to create enough wool to include in our socks.
Well we tried it and found it very difficult to do in a skirt. Fortunately Sally could show other people in a far more expert way than me, but Angela manged it, just:
It gives us all a lot to do over Christmas and we got into a festive mood by eating home-made mince pies (I'd have taken a picture but we ate them all).
There were different methods of spinning in ancient Egypt using the drop spindle, all depicted in tombs from the Middle Kingdom onwards.
The ‘grasped spindle’ technique, shows the rove pulled from a basket through a ring or a forked stick, and spun onto the spindle which is rolled between the hands.
The ‘supported spindle’ technique, where the spindle rolled down the knee to twist it. This will be the method we will be working on today to create enough wool to include in our socks.
Well we tried it and found it very difficult to do in a skirt. Fortunately Sally could show other people in a far more expert way than me, but Angela manged it, just:
It gives us all a lot to do over Christmas and we got into a festive mood by eating home-made mince pies (I'd have taken a picture but we ate them all).
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