Two Movie Reviews

As I did last year, I'm going to hold off on picking my best of 2007 movies until I've watched everything I've got in my pre-Oscar queue. I crossed another one off my list this past weekend: Atonement. I was very curious to see this movie, because I really enjoyed director Joe Wright's last effort, 2005's Pride and Prejudice. Atonement did not dissapoint. You've probably figured out most of the basic story from the many commercials that were playing around Christmas: a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) witnesses something scandalous which she doesn't understand, and promptly tells people about it. As a result, two young lovers (played by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) are separated, and they remain apart through the tumult of WWII in England. I was prepared for the movie to be really sad, which it was, but I was also struck by the quality of the film. It is interestingly constructed, jumping forwards and backwards in time (this reminded me a lot of Brian Michael Bendis's writing). The acting is tight, led by Ronan and McAvoy (though Knightley got top billing, hers is actually more of a supporting role). The design was excellent. I particularly liked the sound design and score, which cleverly incorporates typewriter sounds at key moments. Overall, it was a beautiful, well-made film. I'm looking forward to Wright's next project.

The other movie I saw recently was Shoot 'Em Up. This is a short, violent, ridiculous movie about a "Mr. Smith" (Clive Owen) trying to protect a baby from some bad guys. Really, that is most of the plot. It's just an excuse to show tons of stunts, which are actually quite cool. It's an 80 minute movie, more than half of which is gun fights. It's got every iteration: gun fight in the street, gun fight in a car chase, gun fight on a rooftop, gun fight in a plane, gun fight while skydiving, gun fight in a gun factory.... Don't expect anything cerebral, but it's fun for what it is.

Mittens for the Emma Knitalong

So, I've been sewing more than I have been knitting lately, but I did start a pair of cabled mittens. These are for the Emma (as in Jane Austen's Emma) knit-and-readalong on the Ravelry Austentatious Fiber Artists message board. The theme was "made for each other," meaning things that come in pairs. Since I've been needing some new mittens for awhile (I love my old cabled mittens, but they're beginning to look a little ratty), I started these. They're from the Vogue Knitting on the Go: Mittens & Gloves book. I wasn't sure about knitting so much reverse stockinette, but they're coming out fine. I'm using a ball of Cascade 220 from the stash (which was originally supposed to be felted sheep stuffie, but whatev). Maybe I can make a matching hat? (Though that would require me buying more yarn, and I'm trying to be on a yarn diet right now.)

Best and Worst of 2007: Installment One

So since we have just started a new year, I figured it was time for me to recap my favorite tv, books, and movies of 2007. I am by no means an accomplished or dedicated tv watcher, reader, or movie-goer. But I like to do this so I can look back over what I enjoyed the past year.

The Best:

1) 30-Rock. ER gets knocked down from the top spot by, of all things, a sit-com. This is the only sit-com I watch regularly (though I sometimes tune into Scrubs, and Mike is slowly introducing me to How I Met Your Mother). When I saw the first few episodes of 30-Rock, I wasn't sold on it. It seemed too random. But over time, the show began to weave together seemingly unrelated story lines, creating a hilarious whole.

2) Chuck. This was a total dark horse. When I heard the premise (guy gets a super-spy computer downloaded into his head and then gets drawn into international intrigue), I was more than a bit skeptical. But surprisingly, the show isn't too hokey. The actors (including Adam Baldwin of Firefly fame) give simple yet effective performances, and the plots aren't too over-the-top. I like that Chuck, the guy with the computer brain, isn't a total loser. He's a smart guy who has never quite gotten his life together. Sometimes he jumps to conclusions and does stupid things, but other times he comes up with brilliant plans that save the day. NBC gave this one a full-season pick up.

3) ER. Some of this past year's episodes have been perfunctory, but overall I am still impressed with this show. The Abby/Luka wedding episode was a standout. It combined poignant joy, zany comedy, and sadness, all in the trademark ER style. The current season has been focusing on Abby's alcoholism relapse, and it has been both painful and wonderful to watch. I particularly liked how they spread that story over several episodes, letting the events unfold slowly.

4) The Closer. Although I don't think the third season was a strong as the second, it was still very good. The cases were less predictable, and the oddball interactions between the many characters in Brenda's squad continue to be fascinating. My one qualm is with the show's portrayal of Brenda. She throws her all into her work, very often to the detriment of her personal life. Her fiance Fritz has been much abused on this point. I find this conflict interesting, but after a while it makes Brenda a very unsympathetic character. I'm all for the portrayal of strong women in the workplace, but sometimes she ignores personal obligations to an extreme extent. I hope that we will see her learn to better balance work and family in the next season.

The Worst:

1) Heroes. I lost all interest in this show. The first several episodes just dragged on, and on, and on. . . . There was very little action, and they decided not to explain anything about the ending of the last season until several episodes into this one. Plus, the new characters weren't that compelling, though Kristen Bell put in a good effort. Eventually I just stopped watching, though I did catch the final episode of the "half-season."

2) Veronica Mars. The first half of the last season was good, but after that it was clear that the show had run out of money. There were several episodes that used very few actors and took place entirely on one or two sets. This really limited what used to be a much more exciting show. The disappointing results aren't really the fault of the show's creators, since they were put in a tough place by the CW. It's sad that the show was canceled, but it was clear that the network wasn't being supportive.

3) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Eh. Aaron Sorkin has a lot of trouble writing compelling female characters. CJ was great on the West Wing, but I think that has more to do with the talent of Allison Janney than Sorkin's writing. That major weakness, combined with the indifferent plotting really sunk the show.

4) Big Shots. I only watched half an episode of this show, so it's really not fair for me to say much about it. Nevertheless, that thirty minutes was a horrible waste of my time.

Lace adventures

When I visited my parents for Christmas, I finally had room to block out my Highland Triangle shawls. They are just too big for me to do it in my apartment. (I don't have the floor space.) I picked up some aluminum hanging wires from Home Depot (look in the lighting fixture section). Then I threaded these through the points in the shawl edging. The wires helped me a lot in blocking the shawls out evenly.

As for my Shetland Triangle, I almost finished it over Christmas, but then my mother started complaining about how she thought it was too small. This complaint was raised when I had already begun the edging. As a result, I really had to work at pulling the edging out and ripping back. I ended up threading some sewing thread through a row right before the edging and using that as a lifeline. Now I've added another repeat of the body chart, and I may add another.

New year, new movie reviews

Happy New Year!!!!!

It's that time of the year where I frantically try to watch a bunch of movies before the Oscars. Although, since the writer's strike is still on, it's not clear if there will be a televised ceremony this year.

Here are a few things I caught recently. I'm hoping to see Atonement and Juno soon, also.

The Golden Compass
I have to admit that I have never read the series of books upon which this movie is based. I have listened to Mike and my sister talk about them, so I know some of the general plot. With that disclaimer, I thought this movie was good but not great. They clearly threw a lot of money into the project. The visual designs were excellent. But, it seemed as if they weren't sure what parts of the book they wanted to focus on, which left the plot really muddled. Although, the armored polar bear fight was awesome.

Charlie Wilson's War
This film was written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Tom Hanks (as Charlie Wilson). The result is slick and professional. That is both a strength and a weakness. For being a movie about the end of the Cold War and continuing tension in the Middle East (particularly Afghanistan), it has a surprisingly light and detached feel. You almost feel as if the entire thing was made up. One of the best sequences, where Congressman Wilson is holding a meeting with a CIA officer (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) while simultaneously writing a memo with his staff, is zany and brilliantly executed. But it's really staged and fake given the gravity of the base material. This mood was probably a conscious choice, but it did come off as a bit weird to me. We, as an audience in 2007, know that the story of Afghanistan does not yet have a happy ending.

Zodiac
I saw this on DVD. I was a bit afraid to watch it, because I am not a fan of gore. I feared the movie was really going to dwell on the Zodiac murders. However, that is not the case (though there is one particularly graphic scene). Instead, the movie focuses on the men investigating these killings, played admirably well by Jake Gyllanhall, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Edwards (who is, of course, one of my faves from his time on ER). Roger Ebert compares this movie to All the President's Men, and I agree with him (though Zodiac is not as good as AtPM). My one qualm is that the shift from when the investigation is handled by the police (Ruffalo and Edwards) to when it is handled by one journalist (Gyllanhall) creates a marked break in the film. It's almost as if they are two separate movies. My guess is this happened because the movie is trying to follow the way the investigation evolved in real life.

Snow time

We had a bit of a snow storm last Thursday, and I decided to take my camera out on my walk the next morning to snap some photos of the aftermath. The accumulation wasn't that much, just a couple feet, but it did snow for 10 hours straight.

This is the parking lot of my building. See that black Audi in the middle? It's parking space is no where near there. I think they just managed to drive that far into the lot and then gave up on actually getting into their spot.

This is Memorial Hall at Harvard. It was built in the 1870s. The freshman dining hall is located in there, along with Sanders Theater. This is Littauer, the Economics Building. I spend a lot of time here. If I'm not home, I'm here.

This is Memorial Church. It was built in the 1930s to honor those who had died in WWI.

Happy Hanukah!

Tonight is the first night of Hanukah. You have no idea the lengths Mike went to to get candles. For some reason, none of the local grocery stores had them until we hit the Auburndale Shaws last night. CVS was also a bust. We were considering stopping at a Synagogue or at the Israel Bookstore, but that would have required going farther afield. Also, it isn't particularly helpful when the clerks direct you to the full-size tapers when you ask for Hanukah candles.

Meanwhile, I have been crocheting up a storm, busting out a few more of the cupcake pin cushions from this pattern. I'm using them has holiday gifts!

Cupcake!

Crocheted this up last night, using up scraps in my yarn basket. I think it'll make a cute pin cushion. The pattern is from BitterSweet, here.


Plus, I have made some progress on the Shetland Triangle. I'm using Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in the color "Iris." I thought this colorway was more brownish originally, but now that I have given it a good look, I realize that it's much more purple. I think this is a good thing, because I'm making this for my mom and she had a brown/purple scarf that she wore for years when I was a kid.

Three Highland Triangles=Done!

That's right, I cast off on the last of my three Highland Triangle shawls this morning. Two of them need blocking, but they are so huge that I'm waiting until I visit my parents so I can block them in their huge living room. This pattern gets my hearty thumbs up for not driving me insane after knitting it three times in a year.

I promptly began a Shetland Triangle shawl for my mother this afternoon. I'm looking forward to having a different lace pattern to occupy my time!

Movie Review: Michael Clayton

I saw Michael Clayton yesterday. It is an impressive movie. Although it deals with a corrupt corporation, it's not trying to send a message about corporate America. It's just a well-crafted business/legal thriller. The leads, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Wilkinson, give understated and realistic performances that form the core of the film. If they weren't there, the movie probably wouldn't work. This is the directorial debut of Tony Gilroy, who also wrote the script. He clearly knows his way around thrillers, having written the three Bourne Movies (though I've heard that Paul Greengrass pushed a lot of improvisation during The Bourne Ultimatum). What I found most compelling about this movie was its attention to detail. They put Clayton (Clooney) in a Mercedes, a very "old money" car, but he's only leasing it. It's as if he's trying to exude classy swank, but that's not actually who he is. Clayton is also always well-dressed, but during one scene, you can see the creases in his shirt created by packing it in his luggage. He tries to look well-pressed and perfect, but he's actually living his life from day to day, out of his suitcase. There were times while I was watching the movie that I felt bored, and I wasn't sure what the movie was trying to do. But as I neared the end of the film, I realized that this bored, unattached feeling was exactly what the movie wanted to create, because it lulls you into a place of security. Then with the conclusion, that security is ripped forcefully away.

The Bind off!

Mike always tells me that "bind off" sounds like the name of a bad Steven Segal movie. As I'm knitting, I will tell Mike, "hey, I'm almost to the bind off," and he yells "THE BIND OFF!!" in reply. This has been going on for months now.

Weird stories aside, I am working on the bind off ("THE BIND OFF!!") on Highland Triangle #3. It seems like the closer I get to finishing this project, the farther away the finishing line gets. But fear not, I am persevering!

Taylor Wearing Taylor's Mitts

As promised, I now have pictures graciously provided by Taylor of her wearing the mitts I made her. The first two are of her at a reenactment at Saratoga, also showing off the beautiful wool cloak she made for herself. The last one is of her carrying firewood at a reenactment at Kingston. It's so great to see these mitts in action! Enjoy!

Where did October go?!

Thank you for your kind words about my field exams. I'm sorry I've been rather silent lately, but I've been plunging into my dissertation research. I've gotten a bit sucked into my work. But I have managed to do some fun things:

Knitting:
I've been plugging away at Highland Triangle #3. I made it to the bind-off edging this morning, so hopefully I will finish soon. I cannot believe I've managed to knit this pattern three times in a year. My plan after I finish this shawl is to try the Shetland Triangle shawl from Wrap Style. I've got some lovely Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud set aside for this project.

Reading:
I've been reading the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series by Pamela Aidan. It's a somewhat cheesy "Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's POV" trilogy. I've tried a few of these P&P reworks before, and they usually disappoint. However, Aidan has managed to capture Austen's characters well, and she adds some interesting touches to the already well-known story. I have read the first two installments and have begun the third. Unfortunately, the second book, which details Darcy's actions during the "lost year" between his time in Hertfordshire and Kent is poorly plotted. For some reason Darcy gets drawn into some crazy revenge plot involving friends from his university days. I felt like I was reading a historical mystery/thriller instead of an Austen drama. But the first book was quite good, and the third is shaping up well also.

Movies:
Bourne Ultimatum
I saw this a couple months ago, but I haven't had the time to write about it until now. This movie was awesome! The acting, the direction, the plotting . . . everything was perfect. I saw an interview with Matt Damon, in which he said they didn't really have a script while they were filming the movie. That seems utterly unbelievable to me. Paul Greengrass (the director) must really know what he's doing. Of course, I do think he deserved an Oscar for directing (and writing, for that matter) United 93. The only "bad" thing about watching this movie was that there was a rather loud lady sitting in the same row as me at the theater. She kept saying things like "who's that?!" and "wait, is he dead?!" all the time. This was amusing and slightly annoying.

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising
I went to see this with Mike, because he really likes the books this movie is based on, The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper (who, btw, is visiting Boston for a couple speaking engagements in November). This movie was okay. It did a really good job of setting up a spooky atmosphere early on, but the climatic final battle was pretty lame. The effects got murky and muddy, and the kid they had playing the lead (an actor named Alexander Ludwig) couldn't quite carry the scene. Ludwig was pretty good throughout the rest of the movie, though.

Across the Universe
This is another uneven movie. Julie Taymor (of the Broadway version of The Lion King fame) has put together a visually stunning film, but the plot is quite cliched. In that respect, it's just another movie about kids trying to deal with the trauma of being sent to fight the Vietnam war. And it doesn't have anything new to say about that topic. However, the use of the Beatles' music (in several inventive arrangements) and the creative use of puppets, masks, and visual effects is very powerful. Plus, I did think the fellow who played Jude (Jim Sturgess) was impressive. However, there were several other characters I could have done without (such as Prudence) and some songs that were superfluous (they were cool to watch in and of themselves, but they didn't further the plot at all).

Gone Baby Gone
The acting and the direction in this film are both very impressive. Ben Affleck shows amazing talent behind the camera. However, the script was not as strong (this was co-written by Affleck and Aaron Stockard). It is reasonably well plotted, and it does a good job of planting the clues that solve the final mystery without being obvious. Nevertheless, there were several voice-overs and speeches that felt stilted, especially when the performances and visuals were otherwise so realistic. There were some bits of "The Departed" deja vu, but that was probably inevitable given that these are both movies about the Boston underworld.

Good news

Last Friday, I passed my field exams. This means that I have now completed my masters degree in economics at Harvard. I'm still in a bit of shock (how could these past couple years have gone by so fast!), but I'm excited to be able to turn to my thesis research. Now, with a little luck, I'm aiming for my PhD!

Taylor's Mitts: Finished!

They're finished! I'm quite happy with the result, and I can't wait to see them on Taylor. Hopefully she will have some pictures from the Saratoga reenactment with her wearing them. For now, I have included photos of me wearing them with one of my regency dresses (sadly, I don't have a proper 18th century outfit to really show these off, but mitts similar to these were also worn during the early 19th century).

ETA: And now I have pics of them on Taylor! Here.

And of course, here is the pattern. Enjoy!

Taylor: A Pair of 18th Century Mitts

Notes: These were made for Taylor to wear to an American Revolutionary War reenactment. As such, I tried to make them historically accurate, but there are several modern modifications. (I am hoping to revise this pattern to be more accurate in the future.) First, so that I could finish these within a month, I chose to work the mitts at a corser gauge than was common during the 1700s. I chose 7 stitches to the inch, but period examples can have nearly twice as many stitches to the inch. Second, I worked a knitted hem involving a provisional cast on. I did this to give the mitts a strong edge and mimic the hem seen on these mitts at the MFA, but I'm not sure exactly how the lower edge is finished on the MFA example. My method of working a provisional cast on involves using a crochet hook, and crocheting did not become common in the West until the 19th century. You can work a knit hem without crocheting, but it would be way more annoying. Third, I sort of made up the construction of the top point. I wasn't sure how to sew on the facing. I looked at a couple period examples for clues, but I sort of improvised my solution.

Finished Size: These were made for Taylor's measurements (9" arm circumfrence right below the elbow, 6.25" wrist circumfrence, 9" length from wrist to elbow).

Materials: 2 balls of Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport (184 yards per ball, 100% wool) in color 720 Ash (I used only about 1.5 balls, actually)
1 set of four US 2 DPNs
1 set of four US 3 DPNs

1 set of four US 0 DPNs

Small crochet hook

Small bit of waste yarn

Darning needle

Gauge: 7 stitches, 10 rows to the inch in stocking stitch.

Left Mitt:

Using the waste yarn, a crochet hook, and the size 2 DPNs, work a provisional cast on of 70 stitches. There is a good picture tutorial on provisional cast ons here. Distribute the stitches equally on three DPNs. Join the stitches in a round, being careful not to twist them.

Work in st stitch for 1 inch. Purl one round. Switch to size 3 DPNs. Knit for another inch. Turn your knitting inside out, so that the purl side is facing you. Carefully pull out the provisional cast on and transfer these stitches to the size 0 DPNs. Fold your work in half on the purl row, so that the purl sides are facing each other. Knit the two sets of live stitches together. You can see pictures of this process here.

Place two markers, so that you have the stitches of the round divided into two equal halves of 35 stitches each. Work one round in st stitch. On the next round, you will work the decrease round. Decrease round: knit until three stitches before the first marker, ssk, K1, slip marker, K1, K2tog, work until the next marker, ssk, K1, slip marker, K1, K2tog, finish the round.

Work for another inch in st stitch, then work the decrease round. Continue in this manner (working in st stitch for one inch, work the decrease round, repeat) until the mitt is about 8 inches long, and you have worked the decrease round 8 times. You should have 38 stitches left.

Begin thumb gusset: knit until three stitches before the first marker. M1, k1, M1, knit the rest of the round. Knit one round. On the next round, knit until you reach the first M1 of the thumb gusset, then M1, K3, M1, knit the rest of the round. Knit one round. Continue increasing in this manner (increasing for the gusset every other round such that when you get to the beginning of the gusset on an increase round, you M1, knit the previous increase stitches, M1, continue) until you have worked the increase round 11 times. Knit for 5 more rounds.

Divide for thumb: Knit until you have worked three stitches into the gusset, transfer the next 17 stitches onto a piece of waste yarn, knit the rest of the round. You will be knitting over the gap created by skipping the stitches on the waste yarn, creating a hole for the thumb. Knit for five more rounds.

Bind off for the point: On the next round, bind off loosely all the stitches between the two markers on the thumb/palm side of the mitt (this is the side that has more stitches between the markers). You should have 19 live stitches left. You will now be knitting back and forth in stocking stitch on these stitches. Knit one row, picking up a stitch from your cast off edge at the end of the row, giving 20 stitches. Purl the next row.

Decrease for the point: On the next row, ssk, knit to the last two stitches, K2tog. Purl the next row. Continue in this fashion, decreasing two stitches on every knit row, and purling the purl row, until you have 4 stitches left. Bind off. Break yarn, leaving a 5 inch tail to weave in.

Finish the thumb: Transfer the thumb stitches from the waste yarn to three size 3 DPNs. Knit one round, picking up two stitches from the body of the mitt where the thumb meets the body. This gives you 19 stitches. Work 4 rounds. On the next round, knit 8 stitches, K2tog, and knit the rest of the round. Knit one more round. Bind off loosely. Break yarn, leaving a 5 inch tail to weave in.

Knitting the facing: Cast on 20 stitches onto one of your size 3 DPNs. Do not join in the round. You will be knitting back and forth. Knit one row, then purl one row. On the next row, ssk, knit to the last two stitches, K2tog. Purl the next row. Continue in this fashion, decreasing two stitches on every knit row, and purling the purl row, until you have 4 stitches left. Bind off. Break yarn, leaving a 5 inch tail to weave in.

Finishing: Whip stitch the bottom edge of the facing to the bottom of the tip on the mitt. Then sew the other two edges of the facing using a mattress stitch. Weave in ends.

Right Mitt:

Work as for the left mitt, but begin the increases for the thumb gusset 3 stitches AFTER the SECOND marker, instead of 3 stitches before the first marker.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Making progress

I'm almost to the thumb gore on the second mitt for Taylor. I was really busy last week, so I wasn't able to get as much work done on these as I would have liked. I'm in the midst of studying for my Oral Exams, which if I pass will mean I have finished the masters degree portion of my PhD. Of course, this has meant tons of studying. When I tallied up the hours I had studied last week, it came to about 50 hours. And I still have so much more I need to do! Argh! Well, back to work....

Update on Taylor's Mitts

Thank you, yet again, for all of the kind comments on my current project! I have been hard at work on the second mitt for Taylor. I finished the knit hem last night, and now I have started into the arm shaping. I even tried to take some close-up in progress photos:

Here you can see the provisional cast on:


Here you can see the purl row I worked so that you can turn the hem under:

Here you can me pulling out the provisional cast on and putting the live stitches on another dpn:

And here you can see me knitting the two sets of live stitches together:

Mitt #1 is Finished!

Thanks for all of your comments on the mitts I'm making for Taylor. I'm really enjoying this project.

Over the weekend, I finished the first mitt. It has a point on the back of the hand, as was common on 18th century mitts. It can be folded back out of the way if you need your fingers totally free for work. I also didn't do anything special to the top bound off edge, so it does roll a bit. However, it's actually not rolling as much as I expected. I guess the 18th century habit of not using ribbing isn't that big a deal in this case. Now on to the second one!

More Mitts

I have been hard at work on Taylor's mitts. I'm through most of the thumb gusset on the first one. It's relaxing to have a project that's all stocking stitch in the round, as I don't even have to purl!

And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Highland Triangle #3. I'm about 1/4 of the way through the border on that. I just decided I needed a break from all that shawl knitting!

Knit Mitts

I'm starting in on an exciting new mini-project. Taylor, one of my friends on livejournal, mentioned that she is afraid of freezing to death at the Saratoga reenactment in October. She said she didn't have mitts to go with her outfit, which got me thinking about knitting some. Long story short, I am now making Taylor some knit mitts.

I began with some research, starting with Richard Rutt's A History of Handknitting. This book deals mostly with European knitting, but I was able to confirm from it that most knitting was done in the round in the 18th c. The book also seems to indicate that bar increases for thumb gussets were common. Then I looked at No Idle Hands: A Social History of American Knitting by Anne Macdonald. This book is more about the social meaning behind handknitting, as opposed to talking about knitting techniques. However, there is is nice picture of an 18th c mitten, which clearly shows a worked thumb gusset.

With this knowledge in mind, I looked at some pictures of mitts on the MFA website. They have some gorgeous pieces here. Looking at these examples made me realize that 18th c knitters had one major difference when compared to modern knitters. 18th c knitters didn't mind rolling edges due to the way stocking stitch curls. The MFA site is littered with mitts where the top edge and the thumb edge roll in on themselves. Us modern knitters would freak out if this happened, and would instead use ribbing to finish off these edges. But I haven't seen any garments with ribbing from before the 1830s. So I guess I will have to suck it up and deal with the slight rolling. Maybe I can do something with the bind-off to make it less noticeable. At least I've found examples of mitts with turned under hems, so I don't need to worry about rolling there.

Anywho, after looking through these sources, I came up with a plan for Taylor's mitts. I got some lovely wool, Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport, in the color "ash." It's a sort of beigeish white. The Naturespun is made from US wool and is a plied yarn, which seems to be a good modern substitute for period yarn. It's a little heavier weight than would have been the norm, but not too bad.

I have now worked out a rough pattern, and I am a few inches into the body of the first mitt.