my kingdom for a pocket

Posted on annePosted in lace/shawls, projects

a quick note before i get started on other topics: deb kessler tells me that this is the last week to sign up for the fearless fibers whisper of spring lace club. one of the wonderful packages in this short-term club will include a reintroduction deb’s beautiful cashmere laceweight yarn (i’ve knit with it a couple of times—it’s gorgeous and very wearable). so if you’ve been thinking about joining, now is the time; signups close at the end of the week.

so yesterday, after i unpinned the shawl and taught my morning class, i sorta had a free afternoon on my hands for the first time in a while. i hauled out david’s christmas sweater to acquaint it with some long-awaited pockets (i know—shameful, right??).

first, i marked out on the flat sweater the approximate size and placement i thought the pockets should be with the yellow pins

there are two pockets on each side front that will be the same width; the top one is not as deep and will have a flap and top entry. the bottom one is much deeper and will have a side entry
once david made an appearance, i had him to try it on to make sure we liked the layout

i originally had it one inch too far from the center and about the same too high, so i adjusted those lines till i was satisfied.

i spent the late afternoon and evening knitting the four pockets and two flaps. i left some edges in live stitches to be grafted on to the jacket. for the outside edges of the lower pockets i worked the slip-stitch edge that i used along the jacket fronts, to add stability.

this afternoon after class i started sewing them on—naturally, i had a couple of false starts, but after a while i got into a rhythm. nancie wiseman’s knitter’s book of finishing techniques is a great resource which outlines the techniques i used to apply these pockets.

i got two pockets and a flap sewn on before my late afternoon class began. i’m pretty happy with how they are going on, though i may go back and tweak that very first one along the left side (or maybe not, heh).

now that i’m on a roll, i would love to finish this project tonight, but i don’t know if it’s possible. i still haven’t packed for our trip tomorrow or decided what knitting i’m taking along. i mean, i DO have a couple of main projects ready to go, including the new boxleaf shawl i started the other day (actually i worked on that in classes today and it’s growing; unfortunately, there was no light left when i finally thought about taking a picture).

but i’ve got no socks, scarf, or emergency projects planned, and leaving home with just two projects during the height of blizzard season in northern NY state seems like sheer idiocy. gotta fix that (in fact, even though david says he’s not ready to start another knitting project yet, i have an overwhelming urge to pack just-in-case yarn for him, too—maybe some nice chunky tweed handspun?).

the shawl is off to new hampshire, but i got a few shots while i had it on the dress form yesterday before packing it up to go (sorry, i wasn’t in the mood to model it myself; we’ll do that when it comes back home).

thank you all for playing the name game again—i have it narrowed down to four that i like.
i wanted to stay away from bird names for a couple of reasons—the main one being that this shawl was truly inspired by fall foliage (particularly the maples of new york state) and is related to the autumn arbor stole. i think of it as a tree shawl.

so i had a short list of tree-related names and once i removed ones that had already been used to name other designs (sugar maple and maple swirl) i had these remaining:

autumn mantle
autumn song (chorus, or symphony)
maplewing

BUT then teli made a suggestion in comments that sorta knocked my socks off. she suggested the german butterfly name,
kaisermantel, which translates to “emperor’s cloak”

and i love that. i’m wavering over maplewing too, though, contributed by barb o. david likes autumn song.
in other words, we cannot come to a consensus.

so let’s vote . . . tell me which one you like best (from just those four, please).

now i really do have to go pack and wind some yarn. we are leaving in the morning and traveling all day, so i won’t be around most of tomorrow. but hopefully, i’ll be back wednesday with news from the north (and, if nothing else, pictures of knitting . . .).

146 thoughts on “my kingdom for a pocket”

  2. After much thought, I have to go with Maplewing. This title gets tree/fall/butterfly all rolled into one.

  8. kaisermantel as not everyone will knit it in fall colors.

    In the current colorway and design I do think Autumn Mantle is very descriptive.

  9. It’s got to be Autumn Song. The piece was made to celebrate the fall season. It reminds me so much of home.

  12. i liked “kaisermantlel” when i saw it in the comments. but maplewing is a good second.
    i’ll be knitting this, whatever you decide to name it.

  14. Kaisermantel – i do not know about butterflies, i am german and the shawl is so wonderful, majestic, for an empress that this name is exactly m favorite

  15. Maplewing! When I read Maplewing while looking at this shawl I just thought “of course!”

    Autumn song and Autumn mantle are ok, but don’t match as well for me. Kaisermantel makes me think Keyser Soze (from The Usual Suspects), and violent criminal masterminds don’t tend to wear lace shawls…

  16. I like Maplewing,because the shawl has the color and organic forms of autumn maple leaves. Autumn Mantle would be my second choice, for the same reason (and because I’m Sooo decisive!) I would save Kaisermantel for something more reminiscent of the Emperor’s Cloak butterfly.

  19. I love AUTUMN Symphony. Sorry if I am the only one. I think since this is a creation – you need to give it a name that acknowledges the artists’ imaginative process – it truly is a masterpiece.

  21. As someone who loves real maple syrup and grew up in the Empire state, I cast my vote for Maplewing.

    Thanks for the chance to vote! It is surpassingly lovely.

  22. Hi, hope you had a nice trip!
    My vote is with David.
    I’m not much of a lace shawl girl, but I must tell you I really like this one: the technical structure is brilliant! Thank you.

  23. Kaisermantle is interesting except for “emperor” which feels too heavy and masculine for this shawl.

    I vote for maplewing.

  25. I really like how kaisermantel sounds, but emperor’s cloak doesn’t seem to go with the tree theme. To keep the two pieces grouped together it needs to be either Autumn Mantel or Autumn Song.

    Autumn Mantel just seems like it belongs with Autumn Arbor, so that’s my favorite. But no matter what name you give it this is a gorgeous shawl, the stitch patterns and shaping all just seem to flow together.

  27. I love Maplewing. My Knitspot wishlist is growing and the Knitspot patterns I have already require their own notebook. Another gorgeous piece.

  28. i was wondering just the other day if you’d gotten pockets on david’s jacket yet. i’m sure he’s happy to see them.

    oh, and my vote is for kaisermantel.

  29. Ooh, it’s such a lovely shawl and they’re all good names. But I think Kaisermantel has a really nice ring to it. And it’s really different.

  30. Maplewing. And Anne, thank you so much for sharing your talent with all of us. It really brightens my day to read your blog and wonder at your incredible touch with fiber. Thank you.

  39. My vote = maplewing.

    I bet this group won’t reach a consensus, either, with such lovely names!

  43. As an historian living in a Germans-speaking country, Kaisermantel seems too stiff and military with negative connotations to me….

    Maplewing sounds wonderful – my vote! 😉

  44. In my neck of the woods, we call those floaty maple seed things “maple keys”(often the kids call them “heli-maples” or “maple-copters”)–I can definitely see them in the shawl along with full grown leaves swirling down to the ground!

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