Tuesday 12 April 2011

Another Pair of Mitts from 1855



This spring has been rather chilly so I whipped up a second pair of mitts for myself, in bright white and pale blue Templeton’s H&O Shetland Fleece wool, on 2.25mm/US 1 needles and 2mm/US 0 for the “bracelet.” The pattern is from Godey’s Lady’s Book, Knitted Mitten and Bracelet, Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, Volume 51, August, 1855, pp. 169-170.

For more information about these mitts and their pattern, see my blog post of 24th of November, 2009 (1855 Mitt Revisited.)

As usual, I loved working with this wool!

7 comments:

Dixygrl said...
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Dixygrl said...

I love your mitts. They are beautiful. I have to ask, is there a pattern available? I am not good at creating patterns, however I can follow them. Thank you for sharing.

Eileen said...

Those are lovely! Pattern, colors, workmanship and all.

Sewings and Goings; Love of Historic and Vintage Fashion said...

This is quite a lovely pair of mittens! The colors together are very pretty together too! I'll have to take note and use a light color on my next pair I knit! :) From one knitter to another- great job!
~ Samantha Jane

One More Stitch said...

Thank you, everyone, for all of your kind compliments!

Deborah - the pattern is available on Google books at
http://books.google.com/books?id=K8ZMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA169#v=onepage&q&f=false

If the link does not work, go to Google books and look up the issue in the search feature. It will show an illustration and the pattern is below.

A few things of note:The pattern gives no gauge or needle size so you may need to experiment with needles by knitting the lace pattern to see which size you need to cover your hand. You need to have 60 stitches to go round the hand (30 stitches for the lace pattern.) Don't worry about the distribution of the stitches on the needles when you get to the lace. I just use markers to separate the sections when I knit anything in the round and never follow needle/stitch distribution instructions.

When you increase for the thumb, knit 2, make one (either a yo or knit into the next stitch) and then increase every third row into the third stitch and the second from last within the markers for the thumb. I also put two rows of garter stitch at the top of the thumb and at the top of the hand which give a nice finish and also tighten up the glove so those parts don't roll back. Not too tight, though, just comfortable around your thumb and upper hand. The pattern suggests an edge but gives no pattern just as there is no pattern for the bracelet, either.

Remember the wrist is knit with a smaller size needle than the lace/thumb section. I also knit the garter stitch edges and the bracelet in the smaller size needle.

Here is the bracelet pattern I use which is a common 19th century one:

This should be knit in the round, after the mitts are finished. Pick up the stitches all around the cast on edge - 60 stitches according to the pattern or any combination of 4 stitches with 4 stitches left over for 2 edge stitches at the beginning and end of each round. This ruffle can be knit on straight needles, too – purl the even rows.

I find it useful to place markers between each set of repeat stitches

ROW 1 - K2, **K1, M1, K2, M1, K1, (repeat all round up to last two stitches),** K2

ROW 2 – Knit all stitches

ROW 3 – K2, **K!, M!, K1, M1, K2, M1, K1, M1, K1, (repeat all round up to last two stitches),** K2

ROW 4 – Knit all stitches

ROW 5 – K2, **K1, M1, K3, M1, K2, M1, K3, M1, K1, (repeat all round up to last two stitches),** K2

ROW 6 – Knit all stitches

ROW 7 – Cast/Bind off tightly

Kris said...

I was just looking at this pattern today! They are lovely.

Lynn Siprelle said...

Oh, that's so funny, I designed a pair almost just like this down to the ruffle on the "bracelet." Reinventing the wheel, that's me!