Admin Post: The Poetry Page: On The Bummel with Mrs. Hudson

[scfrankles]

The weather is becoming a little chillier, and so this month I thought we wouldn’t go further than my parlour.

We shall light a small fire (hopefully in the grate but who can say in this household), make ourselves cosy, and do some…

Knitting!

Yes! It’s very popular at the moment of course, due to our dear queen’s enthusiasm for the pastime. And I have gathered together here some patterns that might inspire you—both with regards to knitting and for producing poetry.


Firstly, Mr. Holmes has started quite a trend with his ‘ear-flapped travelling-cap’ and I thought we could get started on Christmas presents for all the Scotland Yarders. The pattern dates from the 1850s but a good knitted cap never goes out of fashion!

Gentleman’s Travelling-Cap


Secondly, some lady’s fancy mittens—if you fancy that! (Sorry.)

Fancy Mittens


And finally, this intriguing article, which not only directs the reader to some information about the queen’s interest in knitting but also has photographs of knitted items that you might like to try producing yourself. I believe Gent's Knickerbocker Hose in Blantyre Plaid and a Beaded Purse are amongst those mentioned.

Knitting in the Contemporary Style



Before we all make our choices and get started though, I will offer you this quotation from Dr. Watson’s story ‘The Beryl Coronet’ as additional inspiration for your poems:


"Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire."



Here are the usual suggestions for poetry forms:

221B verselet, abecedarian poetry, acrostic poetry, alexandrine, ballad, barzelletta, beeswing, blackout poetry, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cherita, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, clogyrnach, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, débat, décima, descort, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, echo verse, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, enuig, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, hay(na)ku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, lies, limerick, line messaging, list poem, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, nonsense verse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, puente, quatern, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, riddle, rimas dissolutas, rime couée, rispetto, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, shadorma, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, tricube, trine, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle, xenolith


And so, everyone—let us cast on!

Comments

[smallhobbit]

Knit one drop one, pass the gin
Knit two, make two, will I win
….Rib two………………. rib two…
………drop ………………the ball…..
……….Purl one, …….knit one…….
……………it’s too small………………
Knit one, purl one, almost done
Just cast off, I have, I’ve won!

[mafief]

Oh! That's so cool.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ha! Well done!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you!

[scfrankles]

That's so clever and amusing ^___^ And rather catchy too ^___^

[smallhobbit]

Thank you - I can see the ladies singing it, although they may get stuck on the first line ;)

Mrs. Hudson's dropped stitch (221b verselet)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Knit two
Purl one
Uh-oh
BOOM!

Re: Mrs. Hudson's dropped stitch (221b verselet)

[smallhobbit]

Oops!

Re: Mrs. Hudson's dropped stitch (221b verselet)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yup.

Re: Mrs. Hudson's dropped stitch (221b verselet)

[scfrankles]

^________^

Re: Mrs. Hudson's dropped stitch (221b verselet)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

:)

The Knitting Circle - doggerel

[scfrankles]

Dear Mrs. Frankles,
Gather your wool and get dressed.
That... wasn't what I meant
When I said, "Cast off your vest."

Re: The Knitting Circle - doggerel

[smallhobbit]

And dear Mrs Small-Hobbit
I don’t think we can allow
That what looks like a small slug
Is really a knitted brow

Re: The Knitting Circle - doggerel

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh, goodness!

Re: The Knitting Circle - doggerel

[smallhobbit]

A failed attempt at knitting a disguise.

Re: The Knitting Circle - doggerel

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh my!

abecedarian

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

A week of contemplation passed
before choice made, resolve amassed.
Cold comfort mine, most befitting;
decision his, take up knitting.
Excursions ‘cross metropolis
for yarns exact to standard his.
God knows how many trips downstairs,
he took, upsetting Hudson’s cares,
in search of aid and sage advice,
just purling once, then knitting twice.
Know-it-all reduced to tatters;
long nights spent on loom-spun matters.
My fellow lodger’s furious
needling was quite curious.
Out-thrown from home by grave ennui,
pursuing woolen-free buoy
quayside, without mizzen-mast-toff
rum-purls eluding this cast-off
swine, I drowned my sorrow, turned cheek
towards Baker Street, met vision meek
unexpected on my return.
‘Very new tricks old hounds can learn,
Watson, for you, with high regards!’
X marked the trove: a scarf in yards.
‘You did it for me?!” I cried;
zealously, I donned it with pride.

Re: abecedarian

[smallhobbit]

Oh, how lovely! Watson's never had a scarf quite like it before.

Re: abecedarian

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you. I'm certain it's one-of-a-kind.

Re: abecedarian

[scfrankles]

*applauds vigorously*

Crikey - that's so clever ^^" I'll just pick out a few favourite bits:

Cold comfort mine, most befitting;/ decision his, take up knitting.

long nights spent on loom-spun matters.

My fellow lodger’s furious/ needling was quite curious.

rum-purls eluding this cast-off/ swine ^___^

Re: abecedarian

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I've started from the top of the list of forms this time.

acrostic poem + curtal sonnet

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Knowing is rather a solitary pursuit,
naught-knotting, false-fraughting the fray-ed, staid path;
in so much as one can ever know the other,
theosophic questions notwithstanding, astute
twists, arabesques, swan’s neck dives down the primrose bath,
evince truth, revealing one after another,
damned faint praise, the plodding craftsman’s satisfaction.
Be still and know. That I am verity’s godmother
rests with the fable-teller, not the after-wrath;
oafish world mistaking stillness for inaction,
watch I flames, leap, smother.

Re: acrostic poem + curtal sonnet

[scfrankles]

Oh, excellent ^___^ Perfect use of the quote ^___^

I particularly love Knowing is rather a solitary pursuit,/ naught-knotting, false-fraughting the fray-ed, staid path;

and

Be still and know. That I am verity’s godmother/ rests with the fable-teller, not the after-wrath;

Re: acrostic poem + curtal sonnet

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I think it's kind of a subtle acrostic. I like those lines, too.