Exciting Wee Treasures coming in March.....

Happy Valentine's Day & Updates....

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day~ I myself have never held it in that high regard, as I don't need any specific day to tell someone I love them....but I will have to admit, I loved the little Valentine's Day parties at school when I was little, giving, and getting those cute little cards in the wee little envelopes.....and my Grandma Brown had the most gorgeous decorated heart boxes up on the top shelf of the built in cabinet in her kitchen... I always oogled those. Well, this morning, when I got the children up for school, look what was waiting for me! Tressa made this for me, and good grief, I just couldn't be more touched, more honored and proud
She did such a good job! AND she kept it a secret??? I cant believe it, and I was so surprised!!!! She knows I don't eat candy, and my card read "these have zero calories Mom". I love this, and I think, besides my husband asking me to marry him 20 years ago today, I think this is the best present I have ever received for Valentine's Day! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be having my little update on the TDIPT Mercantile tonight, of a few little precious triffles, but also wanted to show you a picture of my second round of beaded knitting~ aren't these so delicate? I have them all strung on in order and ready to start knitting...again.........
I love the colors, and am anxious to see how these will come out, not being exactly the same size, or even round...alot of the early teensy beads like this are more of donut shapes, or like thin saucer beads instead of little round balls. We shall see!

Getting what I asked for.............

aaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Look at this! What a mess! Yes, I am totally getting what I asked for. More patience. Yes. Need more patience...much more. ::::sigh::::: The above mess is what comes from using too large of beads on too small of knitting. It looked bad...no, not bad, h-i-d-e-u-o-s! I knew when I knit the first bead the beads were going to be too large, but thought, I can make it work. Nope. They are size 15/0, but still way too large for knitting on 6 ought needles. This ball is the only ball of this thread I have, so I unraveled the whole lot, over a weeks worth of knitting, and am going to start over. Have already sorted out those beads and ironed the kinks out of my thread...so ready to try again

This time, I am going to use my antique beads, that range in size from 18/0 to 22/0~ very very small. I didn't use them in the first place because I liked the uniformity of the modern made Miyuki beads, and they came in so many pretty colors! The early tiny antique beads are so hard to come by, and so expensive...but I have picked some pretty colors, and going to try and try again until I do it! Above, you can see the larger Miyuki beads, and the amber color bead center front, is an antique one~ quite a bit smaller

With the smaller outer diameter, comes also the smaller hole in the middle, but I think my thread will pass thru at least once, which is all it has to do the way I knit. The rose color bead is the Miyuki, and you can see how small the antique ones are behind it~ they look like microscopic caviar.

Beads & More beads!!!
Aren't they beautiful? I love beads~ these are tiny! not as tiny as my 22/0 antique seed beads, but still really REALLY small~ they are size 15/0, about 25 per inch strung. These are modern made Japanese glass beads, and I chose them for my knitting because they have a bit larger hole for my thread to pass thru, and, they are all very uniform in size. Did you catch that, that I said knitting???? Yes, I really am that crazy

I have been working on the other side of my little knit Quaker pin ball, and have chosen a wonderful late 18th c design I will be working in beads for it. When knitting with beads, they are strung on first in order, so that whilst knitting, when you need one, just just slip one up and knit it in as you go~ I think the colors look so pretty, really nothing like what the finished design is going to look like~ what do you think my design is, by looking at the beads all strung ready to be knit???

A Very Special 18th Century, 1750-70 Everyday Shoe...


I am honored and so excited to share this wonderful mid 18th century shoe with you all. It is a remarkable, rare survivor of everyday shoe, still remaining on its original wooden shoemakers last, or form. I really love early shoes, they are each a work of art....and I wouldn't mind having a pair of these for myself to wear around everyday, to be sure!

Now I have placed a date on these from 1750-70. Most definitely no later than 1770, when even then shoes were taking on a very different shape. The latchet & buckle closure was common for the mid 18th c , the Louis heel shape, and the rounded toe all date this marvelous, quaint example to the late 1750s, early 1760s. Have I taken out the wooden last? No, I have not, and probably will never do so, even tho the leather is still quite supple, soft and not brittle~ but as you can see, nearly all of its glazed surface has eroded away

In this front view, one can clearly see the 'rounded' tongue (later tongues were pointed), and quaint stamped steel buckle. One latchet is carried over the other, so this shoe looks now, exactly as it would have looked on the foot. The little shiny specks you can see, are bits of the glazed surface that remains....and by glazed, I mean, glazed or hardened with a leather tool, with fast hard rubbing to make the surface shiny and more waterproof~ and NOT by any application of paint or solvents.

A wonderful view of the Louis heel, its stitches can clearly be seen, along with the stepped side seam

I like this view for a couple of reasons~ love the stepped back side seam of coarse, but if you look below it, you can see the wooden heel, and how the shoe sits above it, and the leather of the sole transitions from the footbed to the heel, and even the stitches of heavy linen thread connecting them all...

The feint line around the sole is actually the channel the shoe maker cuts in the leather for stitching them together~ in a Louis heel the leather sole is a single, continuous piece from the tip of the toe to the base of the heel throat

The last piece of a shoe like this that is stitched, is the sole of the heel. Nearly all 18th c shoemakers were men, they were members of guilds but also, much strength in the hands was needed for the leather work. I can only dream where the mate to this very special shoe could be~ its not only special because it is a plain leather, every~day working shoe.....but,

as you can see, it is extremely small. Perhaps it is indeed a tradesman's sample....or better yet, one of a pair of shoes to the ever so elusive wooden Pandora fashion dolls of the period. In either case, it is a wonder & absolute work of art~ now I will leave you to go back and revisit the above pictures, realizing how small it actually is!

New eBay Specials listed this afternoon~


You can see what is currently on special by clicking the link in the right sidebar to my eBay specials~ got some really great dollys with some really GREAT, LOW prices! This week only!

Update on my lil knit Quaker Pinball...

FINISHED! YES!!
Well ok, this is just the first side, but still! I am most proud of it~ my first intarsa knitting e-v-e-r, and on 6ought knitting pins to boot! WOO HOO! Once I got past the first 5 rows or so, and there was a scrimp of something to actually hold on to, it got aLOT easier, and actually, I quite enjoyed it, very much so. More than I thought I would. I was only able to do a few rows at a time, then needed to take a break to let my eyes rest, I think I will look for a magnifier on a stand for my other half...which, in keeping with my insane tradition of always jumping in before I know how to swim....I think I should knit beads into the other side :) never done that before, but am quite excited to try. Ill let you know how it goes~

I hope you all try something you have never done before this year~ you may just find out that you love it, and wish you had tried it sooner~ I had always thought knitting a pinball would be too difficult~ but not so! You just have to go slow and steady, and eventually, you'll be finished. I am keeping notes of my time, and so far, for the first side, it took me 30 hours, 2 minutes to complete