New collection: Twisted Strings

I’ve been dreaming of making this collection a reality for literally years, and I’m so happy to be able to present it to the world! Twisted Strings is a collection of five accessories inspired by the decorative tracery found on Baroque string instruments, in unapologetic celebration of my particular brand of nerdery. The names of the individual designs - the Dowland Wrap, Tielke Shawl, Playford Hat, Jaye Mitts, and Simpson Cowl - are borrowed from seventeenth-century composers, instrument-makers, and music teachers and publishers.

My interest in the seventeenth-century musical world is a long-standing thing - I studied various aspects of it in my university days, which I touched on in my earlier post Why ‘Baroque Purls’? At around the same time I took up playing the viol - badly - before moving on to singing, which happily was a much better fit for me. I still enjoy messing around with songs from this period, but my cats do tend to object.

A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to visit Europe for the first time, and one of the big highlights for me was visiting Leipzig and its Bach Museum, churches, and Museum of Musical Instruments. I took a ridiculous number of photos, some of which you can see below, and I took my inspiration for the cable patterns in this collection directly from a few of the decorative details I captured.

If you’re interested, you can find more examples of beautiful historical instruments in the Orpheon collection, and via the MIMO (Musical Instrument Museums Online) database, which I wish had existed when I was at uni!

A case full of viols, and an early edition of Playford’s Introduction to the Skill of Musicke (Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig, 2016)

This clavichord was one of the few instruments we were allowed to touch (Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig, 2016)

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Dowland Wrap:

Named for the composer John Dowland, famous for his melancholy songs and instrumental works for viols, the Dowland Wrap is a dramatic rectangular wrap featuring a central cable panel flanked by contrasting garter stitch.

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Contrabass, Italy, mid-17thC (Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig)

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From ‘Flow my teares’, a lute song from Dowland’s Second Booke of Songs or Ayres (1600)

Dowland Wrap features:

• a rectangular wrap worked from end to end

• a central cable panel inspired by the geometric tracery decorating 17thC string instruments, with wide garter stitch edges for textural contrast

• simple 1-over-1 cables, which can be knit without a cable needle (instructions for my favourite twist method are included)

• requires 5 skeins of Malabrigo Dos Tierras (50% baby alpaca, 50% merino wool; 210yds/192m per 100g skein), or 1050yds/960m of DK-weight yarn. Sample colourway: ‘Azul Profundo’

• 72.5”/184cm long and 17.5”/44.5cm wide, relaxed after blocking

• charts and written instructions are both provided in full.

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Tielke shawl:

The Tielke Shawl is an asymmetric triangular shawl featuring a garter stitch ground and a cable panel which grows in complexity as you knit: it flows from simple twisted cables, representing the strings of musical instruments, into a complex intertwining motif. The shawl is named for the Tielke family of musical instrument makers - Joachim, who created richly decorated instruments in his Hamburg workshop, and Gottfried, who made the five-stringed contrabass (now in Leipzig’s musical instrument museum), which inspired the shawl’s cable detail.

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Contrabass by Gottfried Tielke, 1662 (Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig)

Tielke Shawl features:

• an asymmetric triangular shawl worked from one point to the opposite side

• simple garter stitch with a cable panel running along one edge, inspired by the geometric motif decorating a 17thC contrabass

• simple 1-over-1 cables, which can be knit without a cable needle (instructions for my favourite twist method are included)

• requires 4 skeins of Malabrigo Washted (100% superwash merino wool; 210yds/192m per 100g skein), or 820yds/750m of worsted-weight yarn. Sample colourway: ‘Sunset’

• 74.5”/189cm wingspan and 31.5”/80cm depth, relaxed after blocking

• charts and written instructions are both provided in full.

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Playford hat:

The Playford Hat is named for the music publisher and bookseller John Playford, known for publishing music by various composers, the collection of dance melodies and steps The English Dancing Master, and instructional books for various instruments including the violin. The hat’s all-over cable pattern is inspired by the delicate latticework framed with hearts inscribed on a beautiful violin by Hans Krouchdaler (circa 1700).

Playford Hat features:

• a cabled beanie worked in the round from the bottom up

• an all-over cable pattern inspired by the geometric lattices framed with hearts on a highly-decorated Baroque violin

• simple 1-over-1 cables, which can be knit without a cable needle (instructions for my favourite twist method are included)

• requires 1 skein of Malabrigo Arroyo (100% superwash merino wool; 335yds/306m per 100g skein), or 205yds/187.5m of sport-weight yarn. Sample colourway: ‘Borraja’

• 18”/46cm circumference and 8.75”/22.5cm length, relaxed after blocking

• to fit 19-23”/48-58.5cm head circumference

• charts and written instructions are both provided in full.

From The English Dancing Master (1651)

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Jaye mitts:

The Jaye Mitts, named for the viol-maker Henry Jaye, are a pair of fingerless mitts featuring a delicately intertwining cable motif, and simple twisted cables on the palms representing the strings of musical instruments. Many modern viols being played today are careful copies of Jaye’s original instruments.

Jaye Mitts features:

• a cabled pair of mitts worked in the round from the bottom up

• cable motifs inspired by the geometric decoration on a 17thC descant viol, and plain twisted cables on the palm side

• simple 1-over-1 cables, which can be knit without a cable needle (instructions for my favourite twist method are included)

• requires 1 skein of Malabrigo Sock (100% superwash merino; 440yds/402m per 100g skein), or 196.5yds/180m of light fingering weight yarn. Sample colourway: ‘Teal Feather’

• 7”/18cm circumference and 7.25”/18.5cm length, relaxed after blocking

• to fit 7-8.5”/18-21.5cm palm circumference

• charts and written instructions are both provided in full.

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Descant viol by Henry Jaye, mid-17thC (Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig)

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Simpson cowl:

The Simpson Cowl is named for viol-player and composer Christopher Simpson, who wrote The Division Viol to teach players how to embellish and improvise on a melody or bass line. The short cowl is worked in the round, and features an all-over pattern of intertwining cable motifs which I extrapolated from the lattice motifs found on various seventeenth-century viols and other instruments.

Simpson Cowl features:

• a cabled cowl knit in the round from the bottom up

• an all-over cable pattern inspired by the decorative latticework on 17thC string instruments

• simple 1-over-1 cables, which can be knit without a cable needle (instructions for my favourite twist method are included)

• requires 1 skein of Malabrigo Washted (100% superwash merino wool; 210yds/192m per 100g skein), or 201yds/184m of worsted-weight yarn. Sample colourway: ‘Pearl’

• 22”/56cm circumference and 8.5”/21.5cm depth, relaxed after blocking

• charts and written instructions are both provided in full.

From The Division-viol, or The Art of Playing ex tempore to a Ground (1665)

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The cable patterns featured in these designs have some elements in common across the whole collection, most notably interwoven latticework motifs of varying complexity, combined with 2-stitch cable ribs which symbolise the twisted strings of musical instruments. The cable patterns are relatively fuss-free, and can be worked entirely without a cable needle - instructions for my favourite method are included in the patterns, and you can also find my tutorial here. You will come across a few stitches worked through the back loop (because they give a crisper look to the cable tracery), but I’ve kept these to a minimum for the sake of ease.

All five patterns are available for download on Ravelry and Payhip, where you can find additional photos and details, and purchase them individually or together in an ebook (with a reduced price per pattern).

New pattern: Folia Crescent

The first pattern in my new La Folia Collection is out! It's a sweet, simple one-skein shawl called Folia Crescent. This one was very quick to knit, straightforward and not requiring much attention after the first repeat or two. Watching the lace emerge kept things interesting, and of course knitting with such beautiful yarn is always a pleasure.

Features:

• a leafy lace panel surrounded by squishy garter stitch

• easy-to-wear crescent shape

• a garter-tab cast on and an i-cord bind off

• suitable for beginner lace knitters

• stitch markers keep track of the lace section so you don't have to

• a one skein project in fingering-weight yarn

• perfect for that precious single skein of sock yarn

• one size, easily enlarged by working extra repeats

• pattern includes full written instructions and hybrid charted + written instructions

I used one skein of Merri Creek Sock yarn from local dyer and colour genius Miss Click Clack. The colour is called 'Ambergris', and it's an absolutely stunning glowing gold. The beauty of a small (6 row) lace repeat in this shawl is that you can keep knitting and use up almost all of your yarn. I'd recommend putting a lifeline in first before doing extra repeats, just in case!

The remaining two patterns in the collection, a drapy cowl and a large triangular shawl, will be released in mid-September and late September, respectively. They feature the same leafy lace and garter stitch combo, put together in different ways to suit the different shapes of the cowl and shawl.

You can see all the details and download the pattern via Ravelry or LoveCrafts. An ebook is also available on Ravelry with all three La Folia patterns - the cowl and triangular shawl patterns will be added to the ebook as they are released.

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I chose the name La Folia for this collection partly because folia means 'leaves' in Latin (just right for a botanical lace design), and because it's the name of a famous musical form based on a standard bass line. You can read about the history of the Folia bass line here, and find the sheet music for various versions here.

More than 150 composers have used variations on the La Folia theme in their music, including Corelli, Vivaldi, Marais, J.S. Bach, Handel, Liszt, and  Rachmaninoff. There are all kinds of riches to be found by searching for 'La Folia' on Youtube! Here are a few that stood out to me.

A performance of Vivaldi's variations on "La Follia" (RV 63) with Baroque dancers:

A Folia in the Spanish style performed by the viola da gamba player Jordi Savall:

And the Australian group Latitude 37 recording their own set of variations on La Folia:

New pattern: Fretboard

This one's been a while in the making! Fretboard is a cabled and textured scarf which I designed last winter, as a present for Willie's brother Julian. He's an amazing bass guitar player, so I decided to knit him a scarf which looks like the fretboard of a bass. It has cabled 'strings', garter stitch 'frets', and a simple ribbed background. The frets start out widely spaced, and shift closer together as the scarf grows.

Features:

• simple cables and a knit-and-purl texture 
• fully reversible - identical on both sides
• two versions: for DK-weight and fingering-weight yarn
• adjustable length, to suit the wearer's height
• optional tubular cast-on and bind-off for beautifully-finished ends
• both charted and written instructions, so you can follow your preferred type.

The pattern includes two versions of the scarf: one in DK-weight yarn with four cables/strings (for bass guitar and ukulele lovers), and one in fingering-weight yarn with six cables/strings (for guitar and viola da gamba lovers).

Julian's scarf is the DK-weight version, knit in WOOLganic 8ply, a certified organic Australian merino (6 balls of the colour 'Charbon'). My scarf is the fingering-weight version, in Malabrigo Sock (2 skeins of 'Botticelli Red'):

A line-up of fretted string instruments (no prizes for guessing my favourite!)

 

Julian and Chloe's band Booty Pageant released an EP (mini album) last week. If you're interested in checking them out, you can listen and download here.

Consorting with viols

I had a rare treat last night - I got to sing with a consort of viols! A bit like this one, except wearing jeans and woolly jumpers:

Willie and I are staying with the Olivers, who are old-school early music enthusiasts. They play various string and wind instruments including viols, renaissance flutes, a shawm, a rebec, a psaltery, and virginals. They host a viol consort on Monday nights, and Robert invited me to sing some consort songs with them.

Elizabethan consort songs involve a singer plus a viol consort (hence the name), and they're quite challenging because the musical style is dense and complex - each player's musical phrases often overlap with the other players', which can make it tricky to find your place again if you get lost. The secret is to just keep counting!

William Byrd (c.1540-1623)

The songs we had a go at are all by William Byrd, and they are absolutely beautiful. I love that the voice part is really just another instrument - many of these works can be performed just as easily by all singers, or all instruments, or a mixture. The texts are melancholy (and in some cases moralistic), and I enjoyed making the most of the words once I'd got the hang of the notes. I'd like to learn Elizabethan pronunciation at some stage, to make the rhymes and word-play work as they should.

Here are recordings of three of the songs (I couldn't find any online for 'Blame I confess' or 'O that we woeful wretches could')...

'Ye sacred Muses' (1585) - a lament on the death of Thomas Tallis

'O Lord, how vain are all our frail delights' - with text by Philip Sidney

'Weeping full sore' - a 5-part madrigal from Songs of Sundrie Natures

A musical treat

Yesterday afternoon Willie and I went to a concert of 17thC viol music. Getting more than a couple of viol players together is rare in Wellington, so this was definitely a special treat! The performers were Loren Ludwig and Polly Sussex on both treble and bass viols, Robert Oliver on bass viol, and Douglas Mews on organ. For the five-part viol pieces, they were joined by Kevin Wilkinson and Susan Alexander on tenor viols. Last year, Olivia and I performed some consort songs with Robert, Loren, and Kevin. It was great to be able to relax and enjoy the music this time without being nervous about my own pieces. :)

My favourite items in the concert were the Christopher Simpson Fantasias 'Winter', 'May', and 'June'; the five-part Fantasia by John Jenkins; and the Suite by Anthony Holborne. Lively and well-played, and the sound of the viols together was just luxurious.

Seeing the treble viols in action made me want to take up playing again. During my past flirtation with viol playing, I went for the bass instrument, but I think part of my difficulty with it is that my arms and legs are really too short for it. I think a treble is more my size...