NORMALCY? WHAT’S THAT?
I have now survived my week from hell, managed to recuperate (somewhat); and we have returned the house to something resembling order. It’s not a very close resemblance, as this family’s housekeeping skill set is rather deficient, but horizontal surfaces can now be seen, laundry is no longer threatening to avalanche, and a machete is no longer needed to find the front door.
Add to that some progress on my counterpane:
As you can see, I’ve finished the first meta-motif, including seaming in the corner triangles. It’s a bit smaller than my original estimate, but not by much. Plus it will be stretched a bit not only in the blocking, but also by the natural tension of the surrounding motifs once it is in place. One thing I’m pleased with is the lack of cupping in the center hex. Too tight blocking plus that extra seam between the bottom of the squares and the sides of the hex constrained the stretch of the thing the last time around. Working the squares directly onto live stitches around the hex appears to have eliminated that problem.
Now there’s a new thing to consider. I’ve got a dodecagon (a twelve sided figure) here. Right now the triangle units are knit base to tip. But if I figure out a way to flip the design over, it’s conceivable that I could translate the thing into a tip-out piece. AND if I can do that, it’s possible for me to add those units to the squares, already worked center out, and instead of a bunch of smaller seamed pieces, produce the twelve sided meta-unit as a single piece.
Food for thought here…
QUESTIONS – NORTH TRURO COUNTERPANE
How do you start the hexes?
There
are quite a few ways to start off a flat knit piece done both in the
round and center out. I keep gravitating back to the I-cord method.
This piece is a hex, so I start by casting on a three-stitch I-cord,
and working one round (I’d start off an octagon with four stitches). On
the second round of the I-cord, I take my first needle and knit one,
then make an increase in the space between the just worked and next
stitch. If I want a more open center I’ll do a YO. If I want a more
solidly filled center, I’ll do a make 1 lifted bar increase (a devil to
do on the second round of an I-cord). Then I’ll take another needle and
repeat the K1, increase 1 unit. And again on a third needle. Now I have
three needles in the work, each bearing two stitches, plus one in the
hand to work with. At this point I flip over and begin following my
pattern. For an octagon, I’d do much the same, but with a set of five
instead of four needles.
Why bother with the multiple units when you can just assemble the hexes into a perfectly good counterpane?
For pretty much the same reason I make cassoulet instead of being happy with franks and beans.
How big are your motifs?? How many are you planning on making?
It’s
difficult to get a gauge on this stuff, but if forced, I’d say I’m
getting approximately 6 stitches and 8 rows per inch over the
stockinette areas. Unblocked, my center most hexes are about 10 inches
across at the widest point. The squares are about 5.5 inches on a
side. The bases of the triangles are also about 5.5 inches across. One
entire meta-unit of hex surrounded by squares and triangles (unblocked)
is about 21 inches across. I haven’t measured my bed yet, but it’s only
a queen size. Given the vague bed linen sizes posted here
and there, my counterpane should be a square or a rectangle something
between 85 and 100 inches on a side. I’ll need at least 4 units across
and 5 units head to foot. Given my chosen layout, that’s about
four rows of four units, plus three rows of three units, or 28 units.
That adds up to 28 hexes plus 168 squares and 168 triangles. Plus
half hexes, and the smaller units needed to square out the edges
somewhat (they’re never going to be exactly linear), and an edging of
some unknown depth. I’m not quite sure how many of the other shapes
I’ll need yet.
Doing the same size counterpane using only the hex units would mean
making about 10 rows of 8 units, and 9 rows of 7 units – that’s 142
hexes, plus edge half hexes and a border.
This project should keep me busy for a while.
NOTHING DOING HERE, MOVE ALONG
There’s nothing like a flurry of activity at work to make one feel
appreciated. I feel very appreciated right now. My
priorities being in the right place, there’s been precious little
knitting here since my return from vacation. I anticipate things
returning to the chaos that passes for normalcy here by next week.
Even though I have no knitting or stitching goodies to share today, I can’t let you wander off unrewarded. Here’s another beach picture to contemplate.
This one was taken last Tuesday by The Resident Male, of a beach shack perched in
the dunes of the National Seashore near Provincetown, Massachusetts.
QUESTION GRAB-BAG
A few knitting and non-knitting related questions from the inbox:
How did Killer Bunnies go?
Tons of fun. We played as a mixed-age group, with the youngest
being 7. We had hoped to get the Red Expansion Pack at Puzzle Me This
in Provincetown, but they were out. We settled for Violet, the
next one in sequence. The game plays more smoothly if you add
them in order because each pack builds on the last, but we were able to
use most of the Violet cards anyway.
What size needles did you use for the two versions of your counterpane?
The old version in the heavier cotton was knit on one of my odd size
needles, it’s a set of old long steel DPNs, they’re probably antique 9s
– and just a bit larger than standard US #4s (3.5mm), but closer to #4s
than #5s (3.75mm). The new piece is knit on 3mm needles, which in
some makers’ lines is a US #2, and in some is somewhere between a US#2
and a US #3.
Did you finish that embroidery doodle while you were away?
Are you planning on assembling the counterpane in the same way as the last try?
No. These units can be joined in many ways. Last time I
butted the triangles together. This time I plan to join
squares. My goal is to do the layout shown at the upper
right. Last time I used the one at the lower right. Both
use some plain solid triangles in addition to the pattern bearing units.
Where did you buy the counterpane pattern?
I didn’t. I made it up, starting with a standard spiraled
star. I added the outline-like bars to emphasize the motif, and
played with several treatments for the ground behind the star.
This one like my Mountain Laurel counterpane plays with a textured
ground and smooth star, but unlike that piece, plays a bit more with
the ground. I also wanted to do a counterpane that was an
tessellation of more interest than a flat tiled hex or a plain octagon
and hex. That’s why there are four units – the center hex, a
patterned square, a patterned triangle, and a plain triangle. The
layout above is actually an early draft showing how I played with the
concept, looking at ways in which I could use the patterned units to
extend the lines of the center hexes.
Can you send me the pattern?
Be patient. I plan on posting it to wiseNeedle this year –
probably after I’ve gotten considerably more done on the thing and have
a decent representation of the piece’s final look. I’d also like
to noodle up a complementing half hex and border.
RETURN TO REALITY
The only problem with starting out the summer with one’s vacation is that while there’s lots for the kids to look forward to in July and August, to me it feels like summer is already over.
While we had great fun on our week away, the weather wasn’t ideal. I didn’t mind the wet and cold because I was at my favorite place on earth – the beach in North Truro on Cape Cod. This is sunset over Provincetown, as seen from the deck of our room on one of the nicer days.
We had a couple of good beach days at the start of the week, then the weather turned cold and nasty. Luckily we were there with friends, and between good companionship and copiously applied wine, were able to keep both warm and entertained.
I did get in some knitting, but progress was slow. I was re-creating my North Truro counterpane pattern – invented in the very same spot – from my sketchy notes. I got off to a couple of false starts, regraphed some probelm areas, made some of the lines of the piece crisper, and played with various methods of joniing that avoid some need for seaming. Here’s the result:
As you can see, I’m mid-motif. The initial unit is the hex in the center. I knit that starting on some 3mm DPNs, moving to a circ as it got larger. Instead of binding off, I purled my final row, and left the thing on the circ. Then I attached my yarn at what looked to be a good corner point, and holding the thing with the reverse side front, knit one side’s worth of stitches. That produced the appearance of two rounds of purl on the front at the base of my soon-to-be-knit side square. I then worked the side square out using two DPNs. I worked my side squares attached like this, one at a time. After I got a couple done, I knit a side triangle separately (it’s worked base to tip) and sewed it into place.
I also experimented with skewing the attachment of the square unit. Since it really doesn’t matter where on the center hex the sides begin and end, I knit one square on katywumpus – aligning its center to the point of the star instead of to the center of the leaf motif in between the star arms. You can see it above. It’s the lone square that I’ve pointed out with the arrow. I’ve decided I like the original orientation better and left it intact just long enough to photograph.
Well and good. Things look like they’re working out. I’ve avoided working all those squares separately and the seams joining them to the hex in the center. My bargain basement Webs-find yarn is working out well, with a very soft slubby cotton hand. I like it a lot. Compare it to my first iteration of this idea:
I don’t know if you can see it, but the older yarn is MUCH heavier. It’s a very dense cotton worsted – almost a twine. The newer yarn is a 90% cotton, 10% acrylic blend, and is somewhere between DK and sport in thickness, plus it’s much less densely structured than the older stuff. The lighter yarn drapes better, plus it shows off the motifs better. All in all, things look quite promising!
ALCAZAR – FINISHED. LESSONS LEARNED
That’s it! I grafted the final row of the edging to the first row to
make an invisible seam. I’m done except for blocking. That will have to
wait a bit as I am swamped right now, with no prospect for a large
block of free time with a floor to hand in order to play with the thing
before the latter part of July. Still, I’m done. Here’s a shot of my
Alcazar in all its rumpled, squished edge, pre-block glory that we can
use for comparison to the (eventual) post-block photo I promise to
plaster up here as soon as it is available.
Unblocked
it measures about 40 inches across. If worked in the suggested needle
size with the suggested yarn, this shawl is supposed to block out to be
56 or so inches across. I’ll probably make it to 48 or so, tops because
both my yarn and needle were smaller than those recommended.
Lessons learned:
- Read the pattern and make sure you understand it before embarking on a project.
- Faux
silk (rayon) is a very unforgiving and unstretchy material from which
to knit lace. Care must be taken with gauge because it’s very easy to
knit too tightly. - Did I mention the "read your pattern" thing?
- There
are some minor quibbles in the pivot charts. Occasional one or two
stitch fudging is necessary to make the edging and corners come out
right. While I’d rate the majority of this pattern as "quite
straightforward and quick to knit if you’re comfortable with charts"
and "a challenge mostly because of size, not because of complexity"
those little problems might be enough to set a beginner off his or her
feed. But even a lace knitting beginner, armed with the knowledge of
where those little nuisances might be and the courage to work through
them, could complete this project.
Now what?
I have
the opportunity for some serious knitting time over the next week. I
had hoped that I’d still be working on this shawl, but wonder of
wonders – I finished early. I might pick up the Rogue again, but it’s
not particularly convenient for my target window (why will become
evident in ten days).
To be truthful, I haven’t quite licked
the lace/non-wool knitting bug yet. There are lots of options. I’ve got
some lace-weight linen in the stash. I’ve got a Rachel Schelling
pattern collection here somewhere. I could play with them together. Or
now that I’ve got the cotton to knit my North Truro Counterpane, I could restart that project. Other possibilities are the doilies on Yarn Over.
I have as little use for doilies as I have for shawls. They look fun to
knit, but I haven’t the inclination to use them. I could use a table
runner though. Hmmm.
Round-up – Needle sizes and Kitchener Stitch
Finally,
for those that are asking – I will return to the needle summary as soon
as I have time. Those data notes take a bit of research to write up, and
time hasn’t exactly been plentiful.
And on the Kitchener
Stitch documentation project, I’ve been in touch with a couple of
people active in historical British military kit research. They’re
branching out to their own networks, and have recommended some sources
that might confirm (or debunk) the notion that Kitchener’s revised
clothing specifications included seamless toe socks. No one has offered
up any other citations. So I’m still looking…
EMBROIDERY QUESTIONS
From the inbox:
How did you draw the pattern on the cloth?
I
didn’t. I have the design drawn out on a piece of graph paper. I’m
copying that design onto the fabric, using the weave of the linen as
the equivalent of graph paper. Each unit on my ground cloth is a two
thread by two thread square. I worked from the graph to establish the
outlines in the center motif, then "colored in" the long armed cross
stitch background. I worked the first repeat of the lettuce around the
edges from the graph, but subsequent iterations of it from the piece I
embroidered (much less cumbersome than toting around a book).
Was this stuff actually done on the count in the 1600s?
A
vast amount was. There are a couple of caveats though. Some people
assert that a minority of counted thread pieces worked on very fine
linens used some other method to establish the evenly spaced graph-like
appearance. In particular, they suggest that some sort of evenly woven
but easily unraveled fabric was placed over the ground cloth, and used
as a stitching guide. The stitching was done over the placement aid,
and its threads were later removed from the work. Other people suggest
that pouncing, either over paper or another fabric was used to produce
evenly spaced dots, which were then employed as the spacing mechanism
for the ground. I’m kind of skeptical on the pounced dots thing. That’s
a ton of very smearable dots in a very small space.
Another
exception is theorized for other forms of voided foreground stitching.
(Yesterday’s piece is voided foreground). Some of the panels look more
like someone drew the foreground motifs freehand, then filled in the
background with the covering stitch. Again I can’t confirm or deny
this. Some panels (especially those with repeats) look quite precise to
me – too stitch-precise and weave-aligned to have been freehand
sketches. To my eye, the few pieces that might have been done this way
are pictorial panels that have almost a folk-art type naivety of line
and motif placement. One of these panels is pictured in Bath’s Embroidery Masterworks. While it’s not a probability that all voided foreground works were done this way, it’s not a impossibility that some were.
I’m
sure the total state of research into the origins of voided foreground
styles and Assisi embroidery has gnawed into this problem. I haven’t
kept up my reading in it of late. My long time pal and needlework buddy
Kathryn Goodwyn has an excellent article
on voided foreground stitching on line (this group of styles is her
specialty). She mentions the hand drawn outline variant as a curious
offshoot.
Are the colors accurate?
Green
wasn’t the most popular but it was used. However the natural color, brownish unbleached linen I had on hand wouldn’t have been used. A historical stitcher would have preferred a much lighter ground. The accompanying black
outlines in this piece are also open for debate. Few pre-1700 pieces
employ contrasting color outlining, although most later examples of the
style do. The original of this design clearly employs two different colors in the work. Even in the black and white photo of the original (dated
1560-1625), the background is clearly a different color from the
outlines. The original also shoed background area behind the lettuce
north and south of the main panel as being worked in long-armed cross stitch – something I don’t intend to do.
(Lettuce isn’t a technical term for the extra borders framing the main
panel, it’s just my own term of reference).
Linen thread?
It
is out there. DMC has some. There are linen threads made by other
makers, too. But sometimes expedience wins. I’m not doing this piece as
a totally accurate historical study. It really is a doodle. I’m
playing. I happened to have the Flower Thread on hand, and it worked
nicely with the weave size of my ground cloth.
I’m offended. My 11-spi stitching isn’t "coarse!"
For
me, 11 stitches per inch on 22 count linen is much less fine than the
gauges I usually pursue. I prefer the look of stitching on a really
buttery thick 50-count linen (that’s 25 stitches per inch). Compared to
that work, 11 stitches per inch is as large as logs. My doodle is a
quick study, again not intended for any purpose other than to let me do
some stitching at events, and for the fun of it.
What does the back look like?/Do you use knots?
My
backs are relatively neat, not because I’m a fanatic about making them
so and not because I believe that that’s the way they should be. My
backs are neat because that’s the way I stitch (historical pieces often
have absolutely chaotic backs that would make most modern needlework
judges recoil in horror). And yes – heresy of heresy – unless I’m
working something that’s intended to be totally two-sided, I do use
knots. No – if done carefully they don’t pull out or show through to
the front. Savage me if you must, but I reserve the right to ignore you.
What stitches did you use?
Double running (aka Spanish Stitch, Holbein Stitch, Vorstitch) for the outlines. Here’s a double running stitch mini-lesson
from the Skinner Sisters website. I could also have used back stitch, a
less represented but also historically accurate way to do them on
voided foreground works. Long armed cross stitch is less well known
than it’s X-like cousin with equal length arms, but it’s a very useful
thing. There’s a research article about it here
by Christian de Holcombe (another needlework pen pal), but a short
example of how to (along with quite a few related stitches) at this site.
Doodle?/What’s it going to be?
I
haven’t thought that far ahead. I’ll probably end up mounting this
piece for wall display. I called it a doodle because it’s an offhand
and trivial effort, a time-filler, and bit of life’s marginalia. It’s
not a Big Project, nor a planned project. It’s just… a doodle.
Your book is out of print, it’s o.k. for me to copy it, right?
No.
Absolutely not. Copyright doesn’t last until the publisher decides to
skip town, or drop the item from current inventory. US copyright lasts
75 years. Even if I get hit by a truck, that copyright is part of my
estate and would be owned by my heirs until 2070. Anyone who respects
authors, living or dead, should respect copyright.
I’m not an
ogre, hoarding rights and royalties (lord knows I’ve seen almost none
of the latter). I AM trying to get the thing back into print. One
publisher has turned me down flat in part because his research
indicated that illegal copies were being made.
So don’t do it,
as tempting as it might be. There’s more about copyright – in specific
your rights as a purchaser, as well as the author’s intellectual
property rights at Girl From Auntie and Yarnaholic Confessions.
DOODLES IN STRING
This weekend past we went to a local SCA event. We’re not very active
in the organization any more, but every now and again it’s fun to show
up and partake of the day. This particular day was quite warm, and we
arrived late – missing the most strenuous part of the planned
activities. We mostly sat in the shade and enjoyed various song and
story performances. In the evening a very ambitious dinner was served,
consisting of dozens of dishes from a recently translated 16th century
Italian cookbook.
I
keep a small sampler I work on when I go to events like this. Now that
I’m up to the easily replicated borders, I rarely stitch on it in
between events.
My doodle is worked on even weave unbleached linen, using DMC’s Danish Flower Thread. The
Flower Thread is a matte finish cotton. In construction this thread is a single
strand, as opposed to the more commonly seen multstrand
embroidery floss. Having used both, I find that for small pieces, this
thread mimics the look (but not the stiffness) of linen thread. I’m
working at at the extremely coarse gauge of 11 stitches per inch, on 22
thread count ground. It’s quick and easy to see.
All
of the black lines in the piece are done in double running stitch (aka
Holbein Stitch, Spanish Stitch). You can see the bit in process, where
I’ve established a baseline. All of the "growths" from that baseline
are traced out and filled in again as I go along. The background is
done in long-armed cross stitch, worked back and forth across the piece
to heighten the illusion of a plaited ground. Since I’ve already done a
full repeat of the border, I no longer need to refer to my original
printed pattern. Also, because the whole goal of this piece is "quick
and portable," I’m not working it in a large rectangular frame. Instead
I’m using a plain old 7-inch diameter round tambour-style embroidery
frame. My matte finish single construction thread stands up to the
hoop’s abuse much better than does silk or even cotton floss.
The design is another one from my New Carolingian Modelbook. It’s on Plate 74:1. I graphed it from a photo of a late 16th or early 17th century artifact, appearing in Adolph Cavallo’s Needlework.
(New York: Cooper Hewitt Museum, 1974). What I like about this design
in particular is the way the edges of the work pop past the internal
border. The meaty branches have an almost palpable vitality, as if they
can’t be contained by the formal constraints of the stitching. Working
a solid background (as was done in the original) heightens the effect.
I’ve
only tried out one repeat of the central design. The historical piece
repeated the S-shaped flourish, mirroring it at either end. Since this
is a self-contained unit, it can be either mirrored or it can be
repeated in the same orientation to make a longer length of patterning.
Period embroiders used both methods of composition to construct longer
decorative bands.
ALCAZAR – CORNER
I’m in the home stretch on my Alcazar. I’m about three quarters of the
way through edging the second side. That means I’ve worked one corner
and am about to work the second. I have to say that how to work the
corners wasn’t intuitively obvious in my first read through of the
pattern, and the original photo was of little help. It’s almost
impossible to see exactly
what’s going on with the edging in the photo because in the sample it
was knit in a
darker color which cannot be seen against the high contrast black
background used to display the rest of the shawl.
The pattern itself wasn’t too tough. It’s a plain variant of a
classic wave edging. It took me a couple of times through before
I realized that Carter was describing wrapped short rows for her corner
treatments. Now conceptual interference might have been in play thanks
to the glass of wine I had just before embarking on the corner, but
confusion remained even upon revisiting the instructions in the sober
light of morning. I admit I got the gist of the thing from the chart
and written accompaniment, and then (mostly) winged it. I’m not 100% pleased with Corner #1, but not so unpleased that I feel like tinking back and doing it again.
The
first step is to pause roughly one repeat away from the corner. Count
the number of live stitches remaining between your stopping point and
the absolute corner. There should be 25. Work that final repeat. If
there are too few or too many, adjust your rate of attachment by either
working one or more attachment points as sl 1, K1, psso instead of sl
1, K2tog, psso; or as sl 1, K3 tog, psso. The former should be done if
you’ve got fewer than 25 stitches remaining; the latter if you have
more than 25.
With luck and planning you’ll reach the absolute
corner stitch on the last row of the pattern repeat – the last row in
the first segment of Chart 4. You then work the plain return row, and
embark upon the next segment of the edging chart. Work across all the
stitches as directed. You’ll end up with one more stitch than is
accounted for in the chart. Wrap it short row style. Flip the work over
and slip this just-wrapped stitch, then finish off the plain return
row. On the next row work the stitches as directed. There will be two
left over. Wrap the first one, ignore the one further away from the
point of your left hand needle, flip the work, slip the just-wrapped
stitch and complete out your plain row. Do the same thing on the
remaining rows of the chart, only on each row the number of "sleeping"
stitches dormant at the end of the needle will be incremented by one.
Finish out this second segment of the chart. That last row will have
only two live stitches on it, plus a whole load of sleeping stitches
waiting for the next step.
And that next step is to begin the
next chart segment. Again work the stitches as directed. This first row
is two knits. The next stitch will be one that you had wrapped and set
dormant before. Knit it along with the loop around its base, then flip
the work over, slip this just-woken-up stitch and finish off the plain
side row. Keep doing this – following the chart, waking up the stitch
after the current row is completed, flipping the work over, slipping
that first newly woken stitch and finishing out the plain side row.
With
more luck, by the time you get to the last row of this chart segment
you will have woken up all of the formerly dormant stitches, and you’ll
be ready to march along Side #2 working the main edging repeat.
I
have to confess to one major error. Those plain side return rows? I
worked them as purls, yielding a stockinette-based edging. It wasn’t
until I was all the way around the corner and well into Side #2 that I
noticed that the directions said to knit them. A garter-based edging
would be a tad less curl-prone. I sat there and thought about ripping
back, but I decided to keep going as-is.
The flogging will commence in the morning…
ALCAZAR – EDGING BEGUN
In spite of the massive amounts of prose here over the last week or so,
I have been knitting away at Alcazar. Here you see progress to
date:
In spite of my blurry photo, you can see the fountain area at the
bottom of the outer band, surmounted by the alternating pierced and
flower-bearing arcade layer. The final edging is knit
horizontally across the top. The edging itself is very simple – a
wave edging that appears in many variants, both stockinette and garter
based (it’s stockinette here).
One caveat. If you have never started an edging that’s attached
across a needle full of live stitches, the instructions in Alcazar
might leave you a bit baffled. Here’s what happens.
First, you finish out the final row of the outer band but do not break
off the yarn. Set it aside. Then taking a DPN of the same
diameter as your circ, you cast on the requisite number of stitches
using waste string and some sort of provisional cast on (the choice is
up to you, but I crocheted mine directly onto my DPN).
Now you’ve got a DPN with a bunch of waste yarn stitches on it.
Break off the waste yarn leaving a small tail so the rest of it stays
out of your way.
Take the main piece, with the right side facing you (vast areas of this
one are in stockinette, so identifying the right side is easy).
Put some sort of needle tip cap, rubber band or other plug at the end
of what would have been the right hand needle of your original
circ. Trust me on this as leaving this end free is a recipe for
disaster.
Holding the DPN VERY close to the shawl and using what would have been
the left hand needle end of your circ, purl across the provisional
cast-on stitches using the main yarn. Now work the first row of
the edging chart using the DPN. At the end of it you’ll be back
at the side where the edging is being attached to the main body.
The last stitch of the edging is worked together with the next two live
stitches of the shawl body by slipping it, then knitting the two body
stitches together and passing the slipped edging stitch over the
just-completed K2tog.
You’ll find that most patterns that work an edging on like this direct
that every so often the rate of attachment be increased, to make up for
the fact that knit rows and knit stitches are rarely the same
height. In this particular pattern, the final row of the repeat
is attached by slipping the last two edging stitches, knitting two body
stitches together, then passing BOTH edging stitches over the just-made
K2tog.
Keep working the edging back and forth following the chart.
You’ll find that once you’ve finished the first repeat you can ditch
the DPN and use the two ends of your original circ if you prefer.
In my case, my only 3.0mm DPN was a non-slippy aluminum one that was
driving me crazy. As soon as I could I went back to using both
ends of my nice, shiny, ultra-slick Inox circ.
Although this method is most commonly seen in attaching lace edgings to
live edges, you can use it to knit any horizontally-worked strip to the
live stitches of vertically knit edge. You’ll need to play a bit
with the rate of attachment to make sure your edging lies as you like –
either ruffled (increase the number of edging rows per body stitches),
flat, or a bit cupped (decreasing the number of edging rows to body
stitches) – but not having a seam to work is always very much
appreciated.
String-Or-Nothing 