One More Stitch

2012

2012-01-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

A new year and lots of projects although if I made any resolutions, they were to keep chipping away at the ufos. I took some time over the holiday break to have a good clear-out and re-organise all of my knitting, sewing, quilting and stitching. A series of lists have been made, including one labeled “Priority.” Two things have already been crossed off of that one but since they were not of an historical nature, they will not be featured here in spite of the seasonal non-historical knitting* and quilt in the photograph. I did also take some time to start a project which is historical, and not from a period pattern but is a museum reproduction. I hope to have it up on these pages by the end of the month.

*For the last year or so, I have knit miniature items out of left-over yarn from larger projects, and these make sweet little decorations and a nice memory set.

Birthday Quilt for Jane Austen

2011-12-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

Today is Jane Austen’s birthday. This year is the 200th anniversary of her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility. I have been reading Jane Austen’s novels since the age of eleven, and then her other works, letters, biographies and critical works (books, essays, etc.) in English about her and her output for most of my adult personal and professional life. I have also made her or her work the subject of some of my needlework.

As I currently do not have a stand-alone embroidered piece quoting or depicting some aspect of Sense and Sensibility as I do of some of the other novels, I thought I would commemorate the beginning of the anniversaries of the publication of Austen's works with a small quilt that I made in 1996. The quilt is entirely hand pieced, hand quilted and hand embroidered. It is made of 100% cotton fabrics (including the wadding/batting), 28 count linen, quilted and pieced with cotton threads, and embroidered with DMC 25 Mouline Special cotton embroidery floss dark green (500) and pale blue (519) after the colour of Austen’s clothing in a painting of her by her sister, Cassandra. The Pineapple blocks were foundation pieced and are just under 4” square each, and the entire quilt measures 17 ½” x 12”. I chose the Pineapple block pattern not only because it is the perfect way to use various fabrics in one block but because it is multi-layered, as are Austen’s works. The pineapple is also a symbol of welcome and hospitality, and a widely used artistic medium that would have been familiar to Austen. The edges are not “pictures of perfection”* but I am not fussed by that.

I like to “write in thread,” stitching freehand, without any pattern on the linen, and have done many pieces over the years with extensive embroidered script since I enjoy playing with thread as much as I do with dip pens and ink and paper. I also usually stitch in this shade of thread to symbolically keep the memory of the words green and fresh. This little quilt lists the titles all of the written words by Austen, except one**, currently in the public domain – there is always hope of a newly discovered letter, story sketch, etc. The squares name her novels and, in the border, the titles of the scholarly-designated Minor Works – unfinished, Juvenilia, Prayers, Letters, Detached Pieces Verses, Scraps and A Fragment. The fabrics in the Pineapple layers of each square, as mentioned above, reflect aspects of the novel, and so, Sense and Sensibility, with its serious beginning has dark fabrics at the edge with lighter coloured fabrics moving towards the centre of the block with red (financial security) at the inner edge, near the heart of the block. All of Austen’s novels have prominent serious themes but some, like Pride and Prejudice and Emma, have more of the “light, bright and sparkling,”*** about them than the others. All have women in them and clothes are always discussed so I used fabrics that were like but not necessarily reproductions of those of the 1790s-1816. I was also hampered by the small scale of the blocks and so had to use tiny prints that are suggestive rather than completely accurate. The outer edges of the Pineapple blocks are in a cream fabric which has a white Copperplate script printed on it.

The outer green border has a print of gold leaves, flowers and birds. I chose this fabric as my favourite colour is green and that, and the motifs, are symbolic of Austen’s beloved countrysides. The gold is for her words – timeless, entertaining, enlightening, comforting and luminous.

*Letter to Fanny Knight, 23-23 March, 1811
**Play of Sir Charles Grandison
*** Letter to Cassandra Austen, Thursday, 4 February, 1813

P.S. Apologies for the shredded thread in the Sense and Sensibility block - it should have been snipped before the photo was taken.

Knit Pen Wiper

2011-12-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

This useful little item is from “ Chapter XI, Knitting” in the The Workwoman’s Guide by A Lady (1838), (London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Stationers’ Hall Court, 1838.)

No needle size, gauge/tension or material is suggested apart from the colours black and red. I used 3mm needles and KnitPicks’s Palette in Black and Pimento. The edges are plain knitted and the interior is in the recommended “embossed hexagon-stitch” whose pattern is “No. 14” in this section of the book.

The finished object meastures 4” across by 2 ½” down.

Two identical pieces were to be knitted and sewn together. I knitted both in one piece and folded them over to “Double it like a book” and sewed “a bit of ribbon down the inside, under which may be passed bits of silk or rag to wipe the pens upon.” This double or even triple layer doubled over would help to keep one’s fingers, hands, cuffs, work, furniture, carpets, etc., free of ink stains. I can appreciate this only too well, having spent a lifetime in the company of ink and pens, and many accidents concerning drippy pens and spills from overturned or improperly capped bottles of ink.

Knitted Lace Collar No. 2 – Part Three

2011-11-30T05:04:00.000-08:00

I am almost finished with the second part of the Knitted Lace Collar No. 2 from Mrs. G.. J. Baynes’s booklet (The Knitted Lace Collar Receipt Book {Fourth Edition}, 1846.) The Lace Pattern, like the Fancy Pattern, is another 8 row sequence, and I have knit 48 points so far with probably another twelve or more to go. The Lace Pattern is being sewn on with a double strand of cotton quilting thread.

When the Lace Pattern is finished and completely sewn on , the third, top and final part has to be knit.

Not Inspired By

2011-11-20T14:42:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of discussion out there on the internet about authenticity, reproductions and patterns “inspired by” original objects and clothing, historical eras, figures in history, etc. This little bag, purse or lace reticule belongs to no era but uses patterns, not for its construction but for the elements of its designs from the past.

The base is a circular pattern from the Double Rose Leaf Night-Cap in Weldon’s Practical Knitter/Twenty-Sixth Series and also appears in Volume 9 of the facsimile series of Weldon’s, published by Interweave Press as well as Knitting / 19th Century Sources, edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot, Lacis Pubications (no date.) The original night cap dates from the 1880’s and can be found at on this blog at http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2008/07/double-rose-leaf-lace-nightcap-finished.html

The circular piece was knit first and the Rose-Leaf border attached, every other row, as I knit it.

The Rose-Leaf pattern is from Exercises in Knitting by Cornelia Mee, 1846.
(http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21032/21032-h/21032-h.htm)

This bag is knit in white DMC Baroque Crochet Cotton, the circular section on 3.25mm/US 3 needles and the Rose-Leaf pattern on 2.25mm/US 1 needles.

I made a double-layered lining from a pale blue imitation satin fabric, in turn lined with a double layer of light, non-stretch interfacing. The blue section was stitched to the lace bag at intervals on the inside at the bottom of the stockinette neck section, and thin blue ribbon for closing was run through eyelet holes at the garter stitched top. The bag measures 13 ½” around the middle, 4 ¼” across the base at the bottom, 3” tall in the lace section with a top band of 1 ¼” in stockinette, garter and eyelet stitches.

Lest We Forget

2011-11-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

Pattern by Erssie Major from Erssie Knits.*

The finished piece measures approximately 4” square.

I used DMC 817 and 321 for the reds, 158 for the blue, 937 and a darker(label lost) green from my stash for the greens and 310 for an added three row black edge all round. The piece was knit on 2.25mm needles.

I will make this again but use reds that will contrast more with one another; these, all my own choice, were too similar. Embroidery floss also needs more attention to wrapping or carrying behind as the threads, unlike wool, do not become flat or felt with one another. I admit that this piece was hastily knit to make a deadline but I feel twice as guilty as my work can be better and such a commemorative piece deserves better workmanship. Next year's version will be so.

*http://erssieknits.squarespace.com/knitting-charts/free-colourwork-charts/7544046

Catching Up

2011-10-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

La Tricoteuse, c 1816
Madame G. Busset-Dubruste, (fl. 1806-17( (attributed to)
French
Coloured engraving (by Duthe)
Private collection; the Stapleton Collection
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: STC 428338

I have not posted many projects lately but that is because so many are in progress. I do suffer greatly from Startitis but I have also been slowly finishing off my 2011 list of Things to Make. This list was more about Things to Finish since I took a private oath last January to have no WIPs on my Ravelry page by December 31, 2011 and a finished stack of quilts that are WIPs accumulated over the last twenty years.

The Dressmaker
Fernando Botero (b. 1932)
Colombian
Medium (unknown)
Private Collection
(Photograph: Copyright Christie’s Images)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: CH 27259

Hand, arm, shoulder and neck pain has considerably cut down on my quilting progress (I do every stage by hand), and I have also been doing more Irish stitch canvas and crewel work and embroidery these days. The historic wardrobe needs some replenishing, too, and a few doll beds are calling for new linens with knitted edges. Other knitting includes the shawl for the neighbour, the three green garments and that short quasi-cloak for me, buttons for The Garment, seven or eight historical items etc, etc. – hmmmm, I think I need to cancel that oath.

Games, 1939
Charles Walch (1898-1948)
French
Oil on canvas
Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: XIR 209962

Although I truly do have some sort of sewing/needlework/knitting needle in my hands every day, my output can be frustrated when Life interferes, with or without warning.

Girl Knitting
John Parker (1839-1915)
English
Watercolour on paper
Private collection
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: BAL 19343

I seize every opportunity to work on projects, knitting being the most portable. I love to go to the nearby beach and parks and work in the open air and pure daylight. Stretching my eyesight, looking far into the distance, is also therapeutic, particularly as my profession, as well as my interests, requires a good deal of close work.

The Felixstowe to Ipswich Coach, c. 1939
Russell Sidney Reeve (1895-1970)
English
Oil on canvas
Ipswich Borough Council Museums and Galleries
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: IPS 72921

Public transport often allows for an hour’s catching up, giving me an excuse to indulge my passion for those extremely portable projects, namely socks and fingerless gloves or even that lovely green linen cardigan I have been trying to finish since the spring.

Best of Friends
Emile Munier (1810-?)
French
Medium (unknown)
Private collection
(Photograph: Copyright Christie’s Images)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: CH 27496

Back at home or visiting with friends, there is often well-meaning canine/feline assistance that then changes into sitting on the project or my lap which slows down progress.

The Concert
Georg Jacobides (1853-1932
Greek
Medium (unknown)
Private Collection
(Photograph: Copyright Christie’s Images)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Collection
Image ID: CH 27091

And the other kind of domestic interruption.

The Veranda at Villerville
Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)
French
Oil on canvas
Musee des Beaux-Arts Andre Malraux
Le Havre, France
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: XEH 53834

Lunch-time at work, with fellow-enthusiasts, lets me to catch up with simple projects such as charity knitting, that I can work on, and chat and eat, all at the same time – more or less!

A Girl Reading
Charles Edward Wilson (1853-1941)
English
Watercolour and gouache on paper
Private collection
(Photograph: The Mass Gallery, London)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: MAA 80673

Research into all aspects of historical textiles (and paintings with knitting, like these) never ends and that takes up hours and hours of non-stitching time.

These are some of my recent choices.

Popular Wireless, 3 June 1922
(front cover)
English
Colour lithograph
Private collection
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: XCF 307304

My favourite way of working on just about anything is in the company of the radio. Thanks to the internet, I can listen to stations from all over the world and can be entertained, educated, and kept alert and productive, twenty-four hours a day.

The Cottage Door (1866)
Henry Bright (1810-1873)
English
Oil on canvas
York Museums Trust (York Art Gallery)
Source: The Bridgeman Art Library
Image ID: YAG 23480

So I shall continue to chip away at that List, hoping to knit and stitch and sew outdoors for a few weeks more, enjoying my favourite season of all – autumn with all of its glorious greens, oranges, bronzes, golds, browns, reds!

Famous Knitters - Ingrid Bergman

2011-08-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

Ingrid Bergman (August 29, 1915 – August 29, 1982)

One of the queens of the motion picture industry, and a knitter behind the scenes, too!

Lovely lacy pattern - a sleeve or could it be the back of a child's garment? There seems to be an armhole cast/bind off or is the knitting just falling that way, creating an indentation? One of those lovely puffy short sleeve pullovers or cardigans?

Knitted Pinball with a Ship Design

2011-08-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

I am knitting a partial reproduction of this item:

http://www.malleries.com/a-continental-circa-1800-knitted-pincushion-with-ship-and-sentiment-i-19895-s-120.html?images=true&mall1SID=23cd46b2e18d1449c7f252a10a92ccf9#img3

The ship side of my pinball will be fairly faithful to the original but the reverse will be different. Letters and numbers but no animals or that text. Both sides are knitted flat and then stuffed (I will use fleece) and the two pieces are then sewn together with a cord or ribbon around the middle, and a longer one for attachment.

I drew a chart of the ship and the surrounding design from the photographs on the link. The original pinball was knit in silks and measures 1 ¼” wide; mine will be around 3” across – considerably larger. I am knitting on 0.75mm/6-0s needles at 22 stitches to 1”, with vegetable dyed crewel wool in a greenish-gold and natural from Textile Reproductions. The working and end strands can be seen hanging below the knitting. They will be trimmed and the remaining ends will be part of the stuffing.

It takes about ten minutes to knit a row on the right side but over twenty minutes to knit a row on the reverse side. Purling with such fine needles and such fine wool is more of a challenge than reading the chart backwards. Using a metal board with a magnetic strip for a guide is a big help. I did plan to mark in the chart with dark ink and then enlarge it but I was too keen to start knitting so I have been using the original sketch. In my rush, I also forgot to knit the extra rows at the bottom to match the side “hems” and the one that will be knit at the top but I can pick up stitches from the cast on edge and knit the lower hem later on.

The knitting so far is pinned onto an antique pincushion which is stuffed with very stiff fabric. The knitting rolls up on the needle and cannot be seen at all so I pinned it out for the photograph. The rolling, as I knit, also adds to the uncomfortable and time-consuming purling. If I ever knit another pinball, I will use strongly contrasting colours of wool or silk to better see the pattern and speed along those purling rows.

This kind of knitting also cramps my hands so this project will take some time to complete as I can only manage one or two rows a day.

Long Red Knitting

2011-08-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

Katherine Bigelow (Mrs. Abbott Lawrence) (1855)
Chester Harding
(1792-1866)
American
Oil on canvas
(27 3/8” x 22 3/8”)
61.240
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, Massachusetts
Gift of the Misses Aimee and Rosamond Lamb

Thanks to one of my favourite blogs, 19th century American Women (http://b-womeninamericanhistory19.blogspot.com/ ), I found this wonderful portrait with one of the largest pieces of knitting I have ever seen in a painting. By clicking on the following link, readers can zoom in on the knitting, work basket, etc.:

http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/mrs-abbott-lawrence-katherine-bigelow-33681

What is Mrs. Lawrence knitting on two needles, flat/back and forth? She might be knitting something of her own design but she would, by the date given to the painting, 1855, have had access to numerous patterns for capes, shawls, lap rugs, counterpanes, pelisses, nubias, spencers, chest protectors, and hoods, perhaps one similar to the two I have featured on this blog. The copyright protection of printed materials was often difficult to enforce at this time and patterns were ruthlessly purloined and reprinted, sometimes with the audacious addition of the word “new” to the name.

The Illuminated Ladies’ Book of Useful and Ornamental Needlework by Mrs. Henry Owen (1844) contains a pattern for an Opera Hood, knitted in “Two-thread fleecy or double German wool” on “No. 3 needles” (6mm/10 US) With “ninety stitches,” knit in “rows of any light open pattern” (with a suggested pattern.) This hood is not a long piece but the pattern illustrates several clues to the knitting in the painting. Fleecy wool was a thin, fingering weight as was German wool, the latter also being used for Berlin needlework. The range of dyes or colour selection was enormous. One of my favourite examples of choice at this time is a pattern from Mrs. Cornelia Mee’s Exercises in Knitting (1846) in which knitted chair covers call for “Sixteen shades of scarlet, four-threaded German wool.”

Although I am always thrilled to see them, I don’t place much faith in accurate depictions of knitting in paintings as pieces of work range from fairly recognizable stockings (which could have been “modeled” by an independent piece of clothing that had nothing to do with what was on the needles or in the sitter’s hands) to a hazy group of brush strokes depending on the style of painting. This piece of knitting almost looks lacy or airy and is being knitted with two strands of wool seen emerging from the sweet little delicate basket with the interesting base, located on the floor beside the sitter. Is the darker wool, passed under the knitting, being used for a border, on the sitter’s left side, and the lighter shade for the body of the object?

If this is an accurate rendition, the wool is wrapped around Mrs. Lawrence’s right forefinger – a clue to her style of knitting? One of the “English” methods of knitting, the way I knit, in fact, although I use my middle finger to wrap and flick the wool. Mrs. Lawrence’s right hand is, however, too high, to be in the action of knitting; rather, she looks as though she has been interrupted, as so many knitters in paintings have been, and her right hand is arched above the right needle.

The needle on view is wonderfully thin but since its end is hidden by Mrs. Lawrence’s full sleeve, we cannot see if the needle is double-pointed or has a knob or flat end. This is odd if she is indeed knitting one of those airy items mentioned above as they are usually knit on rather large needles in contrast to the suggested thin wool or cotton in order to create the lacy effect.

Painted with her knitting in her hands, seated on a fashionable Gothic Revival chair beside a table covered with books and what may be her correspondence, and lovely fresh flowers, (perhaps from her garden?) as well as the bucolic view beyond the curtain we see a woman who is devout (the cross), elegantly but modestly dressed and an industrious member of a comfortable level of her society. To find out more about Mrs. Lawrence, go to this site: http://bigelowsociety.com/rod/kat69521.htm

As always, I walk away from this kind of painting with new information but many more questions, too.

Another Peterson's Hood and Princess Royal's Scarf

2011-07-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

A second, much lighter weight Knitted Hood from Peterson’s Magazine, September, 1861. I knit this one in Templetons’s H&O Shetland Fleece in Dusky Blue and White on 6.5mm/10 ½ US needles. The monotony of knitting this hood was greatly relieved by the fact that I love this wool so I was quite happy to have it flowing through my fingers.

My other hood turned out rather heavy but was so very warm during last year’s bitter winter. I had used a thicker wool than the original pattern’s 19th century’s “Shetland wool,” which is closer in weight to the Templeton’s. Two separate, identical pieces are to be knit and then sewn together but for this second hood, I only knit one piece and folded it over to sew it up. I kept to the original number of rows but added stitches on both sides to the long bands for tying so I could wrap them around my neck and then tie them in front. I made tassels again, as suggested in the text of the original pattern, and used blue and white wool as stated in the pattern.

The photo below shows another Princess Royal’s Scarf from Godey’s Lady’s Book, March, 1856, knit, again, in KnitPicks’s Palette, this time in Edamame and Mustard, on 4.5mm/7 US needles. I had to add thirty-two stitches to each side again to make it long enough and to match the illustration. I went with long tassels again, and not the spikey pompons (called "tassels" and "balls") as in the illustration. Although I modeled the last scarf I made, I gave it away so this one is for me!

Knitting in a Summery Picture

2011-07-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

La Tricoteuse
Lionel Percy Smythe
(1839-1918)
English
Watercolour on paper
Trustees of the Royal Watercolour Society
London
RWS137244
Source: WikiGallery.org

This painting, undated (late 19th/early 20th century?), is full of hazy summer light and a gentle breeze which blows the skirt and apron of the knitter forward, along with the wool. She seems to have paused in working on a stocking or a sleeve, which, though knit in the round, has only two needles visible in the painting. I hope the other two or three needles are just out of view. I would also have liked to see where the wool is coming from – a basket, workbag?

Gentleman’s Drawers – Finished!

2011-07-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

This is the summer of completion – I hope! Another project is off the needles at last, the Gentleman’s Drawers from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Eleventh Series (c. 1880s.) I worked from Interweave Press’s facsimile edition of Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume Four.

The drawers were knit in just under six skeins of Nature Spun Worsted, Silver Sage and one skein of the same in Red Fox on 4.5mm/7 US needles. The legs were knit in the round, and the hips to the waist back and forth on straights.

The original pattern called for “light grey or natural colour wool” and “one skein of scarlet wool,” both in “petticoat weight” knit on “four steel knitting needles No. 12” (modern equivalent 2mm/2.5US.) “Should petticoat wool be considered too heavy 5-ply fingering may be employed.” These drawers are described as “very thick and warm.” Petticoat patterns from earlier in the century, however, usually called for the equivalent of fingering weight wool. Hence my choice of Nature Spun Worsted which is a 3-ply wool, perhaps coming closer to the 5-ply fingering. I would have, however, have had a very difficult time knitting with the 3-ply on 2mm needles and if I had knit in a fingering weight wool on 2mm needles, the drawers would have come out in a size to fit a boy and not a man. Swatching in the beginning was essential when playing the all too frequent guessing game of wool equivalency weights during various eras, even within the same century.

This pair of underdrawers measures 49” from waist down to and including the red border of the ankle cuff, the inside leg is 27 ½” and the ankle cuff, including the red border, 3 ½”. The button band is 11 ½” long. The legs are is 20” at the upper thigh, 15” at knee, and 8” (unstretched) at ribbing of ankle cuff. The hips are 40” as is the waist. The drawers were knit in two separate leg and hip pieces and then sewn together up the back. The roominess in the seat of the drawers was created by half rows every sixth row on each side or leg/hip piece. Stitches for a square gusset were picked up from one of the inside crotch sides and sewn onto the other three sides when completed

The final touches include knitted eyelets in the waistband (for braces/suspenders), red flannel lining at the waist down to the hips, scarlet tape and braid for trimming, and stitching in silk thread around the flannel/knitted buttonholes as well as the decorative stitching in the front from the button panels outwards as seen in the original illustration. I did not do any of the above.

Bastille Day and Knitting

2011-07-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

Madame Sans Culotte
Lesueur/Le Sueur Brothers
French, 1789
(Stipple engraving?)
Musée de la Révolution Française, Vizille , France, 88.179

I have no French blood in me but I have spent most of my life studying the late18th-early 19th century so July 14th always puts me in mind of literature’s most famous knitter, Madame Defarge (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Weekly serial in All the Year Round, 30 April 1859, to 26 November 1859). The knitting on the needles in this image is a Bonet Rouge. I have seen versions of this image with more vivid colour at (http://www.bridgemanart.com/image/French-School-18th-century/Madame-Sans-Culotte-c-1789-colour-litho/f8e7f97fc3f746abaa037908e76ff4e1?key=knitting&filter=CBPOIHV&thumb=x150&num=15&page=207) and a larger, sharper image at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ucl-views/0801/madame

For an interesting analysis of this print, see
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/imaging/essays/hickman2.html

Knitted Lace Collar No. 2 - Part Two

2011-07-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

I am now knitting the "lace" section of this collar. Once again, it is an eight row sequence which is clearly written and enjoyable to knit which led me to reflect that in less than ten years, the art of pattern writing, including the suggestion of needle sizes and materials, had become vastly improved. The Workwoman's Guide (1840 - Second Edition), which I use for knitting and sewing, still relies upon intuitive knitting and background skills in design whereas this little pattern book for collars, published some six years later is highly specific and includes illustrations which are, so far, accurate. The illustration for this collar, which is a drawing, is, however, truncated in length. I wonder if visual sizing was sacrificed so as to make a larger image of the knitted stitches for which I am grateful.

By the way, this book of collars was in its fourth edition in 1846.

Lady's Knitted Under Petticoat - Finished!

2011-06-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

It came out, however, rather too big in the body and much too big in the waist. I am thinking of letting the ribbed part fall down on my hips and sewing on a wide satin waistband, probably drawstring. If it is all still too big, I will have to make another one, this time in a fingering weight wool which I already have. That weight is closer to the original in the pattern but I wanted a dense, warm petticoat so I decided to use the sport weight instead.

There are, of course, what seems like hundreds of ends to sew in! Tedious as that sounds, I spent about an hour working on just that and got half of one seam finished so another four or five hours should do the trick. I will have to space this part out over a few days or I shall run mad! Even though I am a quilter and do 98% of my piecing and quilting by hand, and also do canvas work, crewel and embroidery, I hate the sewing part of any knitting project. The panels are meant to joined in “single crochet” but that, combined with my skill in crocheting, would truly drive me over the edge.

The petticoat was knit on 3mm/2.50 US needles, in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport, using five skeins of Scarlet and two of Snow. The original pattern is from Godey’s Lady’s Book, December, 1864. It does not suggest a needle size, gauge or garment size but does recommend “four-thread scarlet fleecy” (laceweight modern equivalent)

Knitted Lace Collar No. 2

2011-06-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

This piece is from “The Knitted Lace Collar Receipt Book,” “Arranged by Mrs. G.J. Baynes, “ “Fourth Edition,” “1846.” These are the “Fancy Row(s)” part of the collar. After this, I have to knit the “Lace” section and then some finishing rows.

The eight row pattern is logical and, without interruptions, I can knit six sets in about an hour. It is still, however, slow going; note the yellow wool markers that are close together which mark one set of eight rows and measures just under 3/8”. The other, longer yellow wool marker is at the half-way point of the collar, approximately 9 ½” long. The width is just over 1”.

Mrs. Baynes suggests “Needles, No. 16” and “Clarke’s Paisley Cable Laid Thread, No. 38 or Boar’s Head Cotton, No. 44. There is also an illustration for each of the four collars. Such an abundance of information! All that is missing is gauge/tension.

I am knitting this collar with DMC Cébélia, Blanc No. 10 on 1.75mm needles which are roughly the equivalent size of the “No. 16” of the pattern. I say “roughly” as my printed guide to conversions lists the Bell Gauge sizes of 15-17 as 1.75mm and my own Lacis Gauge is letting my Inox 1.75mm needle jiggle around a bit in the 1.75 opening but will not allow more than the tip into the 1.50mm hole.

I need to do more research on collars from this era to see if I am close enough in size. I do not feel as though I have captured the delicacy of lace in the illustration which, so far, does resemble the stitches that I am knitting.* The pattern is visible but will probably need a dark garment underneath to show it clearly. The collar also feels a tad heavy. The next one I knit will be in a thinner cotton weight.

*Some illustrations in 19th century printed patterns differ from the finished item or show features not included with the pattern as in the “bracelet” of the 1855 Mitt (http://books.google.com/books?id=K8ZMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA169&dq=godey%27s+magazine+knitted+mitt+bracelet&hl=en&ei=sEz_TaF31N2BB8X3hN4L&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)

Worldwide Knit in Public Day/Week 2011

2011-06-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

Fisherman’s Children in Zandroot (1882)
Fritz von Uhde (1848-1911), German
Oil on canvas
60 x 80 cm
Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
Source: Bridgeman Art Library

My thanks to everyone who reads this blog. I hope some of you are out there today and through this coming week, knitting in public!

Stockings from 1817

2011-06-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

This pattern is from The Knitting Teacher’s Assistant Designed for the Use of the National Girls’ School, printed in 1817. The facsimile edition, which I used, is available from Robin Stokes (www.robinstokes.com) In the introduction to the facsimile edition, Ms. Stokes writes that she believes this instruction book is the earliest printed pattern currently available. As of May, 2011, there seems not to be anything earlier that has survived in English. Ms. Stokes also writes that “The original purpose of this book was a charitable effort to teach the poor to knit for extra income.”

There are patterns for five sizes of stockings and three sizes of socks with a “scale” (sizing/stitch chart) at the end for both stockings and socks. The pattern, itself, is presented in a question and answer format, e.g., “Q. How do you cast on the stitches? / A. I take the worsted that is on the ball in the right hand…” The stocking is not difficult to knit and the older knitting language is easily interpreted.

I knit the smallest size stocking. There are also patterns for a man's stocking and socks, respectively, knit in lambswool.

In keeping with the times, there is no tension/gauge or needle size stated although “coarse worsted and large needles” are suggested. I followed these instructions by using 3.25mm/3US needles which are larger than the usual sizes I use for reproduction stockings. I also chose Harrisville Designs’ Shetland (two ply) as it is twice the thickness of the usual finer weight wool I use for 18th/19th century stocking; it gave me 7 ½ stitches to the inch. I adore knitting with this wool and, in this case, the gorgeous Marigold color was so bright and cheerful, a definite antidote to Second Stocking Syndrome.

There is no welting or rows or panels of garter stitchs. "Six rounds ribbed" (italics in the original pattern) of "three stitches plan and turning three" (knit three, purl three) instead. Do the italics stress the departure from the older style of stocking top? The narrowing or decreases were knit two together on the right side of the turn or seam stitch, right leaning as is typical of the era, and on the left of the seam stitch, a knit one, pass the next (unknitted) stitch over the knitted stitch. A single knitted stitch, as usual (although I have seen two), was left on either side of the seam stitch on the leg.

The foot had and extra stitch knit “in the loop” either side of the instep “to prevent holes in the corners.” There were also instructions for widening the “heel sides,” as is evident in the photographs from the outward slope on the bottom of the flattened feet.

The toe decreases are not the usual every alternate row but are done in different numerical sequences.

When starting a new ball of wool, it is suggested that the "end of the worsted" be "knit in with the first three stitches."

I followed the exact directions throughout (which is unusual for me) and thought that the leg was a bit short in proportion to the size of the foot. I am 5’3” and have legs in proportion to that height but the stockings only come up to my knee and do not go over them at all. On the other hand, or foot, so to speak, my shoe size is 37 ½ mm/7US, and the foot of this stocking is a good 2 ¾” longer than my foot. It is also a bit roomy on either side of my foot as a result of those added side heel stitches.

The final measurements for the stockings are 10 ¼” around the leg under the ribbing, 8” around the ankle, 10” around the widest part of the foot and 8" around the narrowest part of the foot, between the two sets of decreases. The stocking, from the top of the ribbing to the bottom of the heel measures 18 ½”.

I plan to make the socks, next, but will adjust and fit them more to my foot so I can wear them.

Princess Royal's Scarf

2011-06-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

This is easy and quick to knit. The pattern is from Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, March, 1856, page 264 (http://books.google.com/books?id=R8dMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA264&dq=godey%27s+princess+royal%27s+scarf+1856&hl=en&ei=njzoTZHOBYbZgQfql7SoAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)

The technique is similar to the Sortie Cap in that it is striped and stitches are dropped and pulled to create the lacy effect. I did a swatch to estimate the length based on the image in Godey's and one that would fit me, ultimately adding 64 to the original 130 stitches.

The original pattern did not specify the weight of the wool but did state "No. 15" sized needles (modern equivalent is 1.75mm/00US. After experimenting with the smaller needles and working my way up to a size which gave me that lacy effect in the image, I ended up with 4.50mm/7US needles - quite a difference. I also did not like the "tassels" in the original image, which looked like fuzzy plants of some sort and opted, instead, for the stranded style.

The wool is Knit Picks Palette in Blush and Silver, using one skein of each, with about a third of both left over.

18th Century Man's Pocketbook

2011-05-19T10:44:00.001-07:00

The reproduction18th century man's pocketbook is finished. It has mistakes in the stitching and I am not happy with the initials and their box but overall, I love it! I greatly enjoy doing this type of work and just have to be more careful in the future or catch my mistakes sooner than six rows afterwards or summat like that!

The pocketbook measures 7 ½” across and 7" long, opened flat. The interior is lined with cardboard and handwoven green silk. The tapes are woven wool and all of the sewing was done by hand with linen thread. The pocketbook, itself, was stitched on 30 count linen with naturally dyed wools from Textile Reproductions. The linen and the wools are from a kit purchased about twenty or more years ago but I did not exactly follow the colour chart in the kit.

My thanks to my father for holding open the pocketbook, and please excuse the Christmas tablecloth in the background which has finally been put away for the year!

Early 19th Century Knitting

2011-05-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Eunecia Street Stebbins (1759-1817), 1805-1806
Reuben Mouthrop (1763-1814), American
Oil on canvas under glass
30" x 24"
Owner: Howard S. Ranson, Connecticut
(according to the Art Inventories Catalog
Smithsonian American Art Musuem
Smithsonian Institution Research Information System)

I love portraits of the American colonial era and I particularly like this painting. I have a large photograph of it from a catalogue from Christie's (1998) which shows the beautiful green fabric of the gown, the black lace shawl, the fabulous cap and, of course, the stocking on the four exquisite thin needles. The sitter, as in many paintings that are called primitive or folk art has a misproportioned body in that the arms, in this case, are too large and low for the body, and are far forward in the image. The hands are very big and the skin is a dusky pinkish-white with grey shadows all over. The face, though, is kindly and sweet, with more expression than is usually found in this genre. Mrs. Stebbins looks out directly at us, a hint of a slightly lop-sided smile about to break out, and no suggestion of annoyance in being disturbed at her knitting. On the contrary, she looks pleased to see us unlike other painted knitters who have graced this blog.

The knitting is of great interest and right there in the foreground, nice and clear. Four medium-length thin needles with a stocking begun in a very fine yarn - wool, silk, linen? There are no slubs in this yarn but, since it is in a painting, this means nothing. One can, however, almost count the stitches, 48 and about 10 more or so on the nearest needle, and 28 and a few more on the back needle. There are some, though not too many, on the needle closest to the body and none, as far as I can see, on the remaining needle, as if Mrs. Stebbins was just about to start working with that empty needle. Even though this is a painting, and so the accuracy cannot be trusted, the stitch count is not far off from a stocking I am currently knitting from The Knitting Teacher's Assistant, dated 1817, which is held to be the earliest collection of printed *patterns* currently available, at least in English. Mrs. Stebbins is knitting with very thin needles and fine yarn whereas the pattern suggests "coarse worsted and large needles" so I am using 3.25mm/3US needles and Harrisville Designs 2 ply Shetland wool in Marigold. I adore the texture and colour of this wool so I am whipping up these stockings fairly quickly and will discuss them in another post very soon.

Gunnister Stockings Finished!

2011-04-26T17:59:00.001-07:00

Both stockings finished. I just wish I could capture the true shade of the greenish-brown of the wool. It is such a lovely, warm colour but it just does not appear as such on camera indoors or out of doors.

Irish/Flame Stitch Huswif Completed!

2011-04-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

Not perfectly stitched on 30 count linen in vegetable and plant dyed wool from Textile Reproductions. Unlike many surviving examples of this type of stitchery, I did not have a repetitive colour pattern but mixed the sets variously in a vain attempt to use up my stash of embroidery wool. The woven wool tape is from Wm. Booth Draper. The interior fabric is hand-woven silk in that wonderful shade of green and the exterior binding stitching is in linen thread. The embroidered initials and date are worked in vegetable/plant dyed silk thread purchased from Textile Reproductions many years ago.

There are three pockets filled with sewing supplies which is why the huswif folds rather than rolls when wrapped up and tied. The pin-cushion is made of green felted woven wool fabric and filled with picked and rinsed fleece which still contains a fair amount of lanolin in it.

The finished measurements are 4" wide and 13" long.

Another Pair of Mitts from 1855

2011-04-12T05:05:00.000-07:00

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!

Spring Stitchery?

2011-03-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

I made this piece many years ago, as a teenager. It was, unfortunately, damaged in a move - the brown water marks are still visible.

This was a kit, purchased at The Needlewoman in Regent Street, London, one of the most fabulous shops ever and now, sadly, gone. Every trip there always resulted in wool for knitting or stitching kits or supplies for some sort of hand work - there was so much to choose from and plan to buy the next time! Alas, I no longer have the packaging or directions for this kit nor can I remember the name of the piece of art it was based on although there is a nagging sliver of a memory whispering, "Spring" and, though it seems unlikely, Salvador Dali. If anyone can identify the original sketch, please let me know.

This piece was difficult to photograph as it is framed under glass, hence the sideways angle of the photograph.* The design was stamped on linen and stitched in wool. The finished area measures 15 ½” x 19 ½”.

P.S. April 5, 2011: The image is Autumn (1970) by Salvador Dali - at least I had part of it right! His signature appears, in reverse, near the pointed foot of the woman. Many thanks to members of The Gunroom of HMS Surprise for their assistance in identifying the original drawing.

*Click on the image to enlarge

More Muffatees

2011-03-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

This is a steampunk version of the 1840’s muffatees or wristlets in a swirling pattern knit in the round on 3.5mm/US 4 size needles in the round on Lang Yarns Lanalux, a metallic brown/rust coloured yarn.

One skein makes the two muffatees with a little bit left over. This pair was not made for me so they are a little big.

The wool pair was knit in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted in Pomegranate on 3.5mm/4 US needles in the round. They were featured in an earlier post on this blog. The corkscrew pattern is very easy to memorise and can be knit flat, too, with a little bit of working out and care taken with the direction of the spirals. Working out a tension/gauge (none is given, of course, in the original pattern) is essential for a snug fit for different sizes of wrists, and it is not difficult to adjust the stitch count.

In both pairs, I added two rows of garter stitch at the top and bottom to create more elegant and tidy edges.

The pattern is Corkscrew Muffatees from Exercises in Knitting by Mrs. Cornelia Mee (1846.)

Still in a 17th Century Frame of Mind

2011-03-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

A Woman Knitting with a Basket of Fruit on a Carpet-Covered Table Beside Her

Caspar Netscher
(Dutch, 1639-1684)
Location/ownership unknown

A stocking in her lap and a gentle warning look on her face. Perhaps she was counting and did not want to be disturbed. One of these days, I will do tallies of knitters in art who look annoyed, slightly put out or are fully concentrating (or appear to be) on their knitting.

If anyone knows of the ownership or location of this painting, please let me know. I like to give full credit and details of any piece of art I post on this blog.

Gunnister Knitting

2011-02-21T08:43:00.001-08:00

The Gunnister Man find is a fascinating archaelogical story and a precious gift to knitters. If anyone reading this is not familiar with it, there are numerous links on the internet. Piecework magazine also had an article by Deborah Pulliam, Gunnister Man’s Knitted Possessions in the September/October, 2002 issue.

This Gunnister Purse is knit according to the pattern* by Alison Milton from Midland Spinner’s Ravelry Downloads. The gauge is 10 stiches to the inch on 2.25mm/1US needles, in Morehouse Farm Merino Merino Lace, a single ply which resembles handspun. The tension/gauge of the original purse was 11 ½” stitches and 16 rows to the inch and my purse is 10 ½” stitches and 15 rows to the inch . The colours are Natural White, Natural Brown Heather and Henna, as close as I could find to the original purse’s ones. Knit in the round, I marked off the sections for the “intentional” errors in the ribbed top section, as stated in the pattern.

This finished purse measures 3 ¾” across and 5 ½” tall, just a tad off the measurements of the original purse which is 3 ¼” by 5 ¼”. The bottom edge was knit in a three needle cast/bind off. The cords are not of the same length, are braided/plaited with short tassels and are on a knitted chain of loops which are knitted from the top edge.

The Gunnister stocking is knit from Jacqueline Fee’s pattern, (Piecework, Volume XIX, Number 1, January/February, 2011), accompanying her article on reproducing the stockings in that issue, Re-Creating the Seventeenth Century Gunnister Stockings. I knit this one on 2.75mm needles for a gauge/tension of 7 ½ stitches and 10 rows to the inch, with almost three skeins of Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in Wood Moss. I love this colour; it is a dusky greenish brown. I followed Ms. Fee’s advice and added four more rows to the leg after completing the clock design but departed from her pattern by knitting an historical square heel and finishing with a drawstring toe instead of a grafted one. I also did all of the decreases in a right slant as I have seen on surviving period stockings. The stocking measures 26” long from the garter stitch welting to the bottom of the heel, 16” wide around at the top and at the calf and about 9 ½” around the ankle. The foot size is a Men’s 10/10 ½ /44.5.

The second stocking is well under way.

*This pattern for the purse also includes a detailed analysis of the purse and helpful comments about its construction updating the official report on the Gunnister find in The Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland of the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, Scotland, Volume 86 (1951-52)

Spinning Romance?

2011-02-13T07:55:00.001-08:00

Man and Woman at a Spinning Wheel
(c.1570)
Pieter Pietersz (Dutch, 1540/41-1603)
Oil on panel, 76 x 53 cm
Object number:SK-A-3962
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Purchased with support from the Stichting Jubileumfonds Rijksmuseum 1958

The air of romance in this painting does not bode well. The young lady does not seem to welcome the advances of the man seated beside her. Does she doubt his sincerity or should she or would she rather be working on her spinning and all that that entails? She looks a tad fed up - does he, in fact, frequently interrupt her work? Whatever the case, I like this painting for the detail of the tools even though we cannot see very much of the wheel.

When I am not knitting....

2011-01-31T10:23:00.001-08:00

I am stitching.

Different things, often a reproduction. I am particularly fond of doing Irish/flame stitch items in the 18th century manner. All of the wool yarns used are naturally dyed ones from Kathleen B. Smith/Textile Reproductions (Massachusetts.) Some of the wool is about twenty years old, some was purchased in 2011.

Featured here is a needle book on 25 count linen, measuring 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" (flat.) This was a kit from Textile Reproductions, based on a piece in the collection of Historic Deerfield, Massachusetts, purchased and made many years ago. The interior is lined with a layer of fleece, covered by handwoven felted wool fabric which holds the needles.

The pincushion, also a kit from Textile Reproductions, from a past time, is worked in the elongated diamond or lozenge pattern on 25 count linen, measuring 4" x 4 1/2" , stuffed with fleece, and backed with handwoven silk fabric.

The hoop contains the body of a pinball of my own design on 28 count linen . The stitching is finished and currently measures 3" x 3"; the pinball will be smaller and will be backed with the same green silk used for the pincushion.

The frame holds two projects on 30 count linen. A needle roll of my own design worked in different version of a diamond pattern, measures 3" wide with a projected length of 12". The man's pocketbook on the left is another vintage kit from Textile Reproductions but I am not following the colour guide that came with it. There are evident errors in my stitching. I am also not happy with the background stitching around the initials. I will probably change the placement of the initials and add a date on the next pocketbook I make which will most likely be a smaller woman's one based on several in the collection of Winterthur Museum, Delaware, possibly in the carnation pattern. I am also have a double sectioned man's pocketbook, a woman's pocket, a Bible cover and a handheld firescreen on my to-do list.

I love working on this kind of project. The vivid dyes and their arrangement are such fun to reproduce or design. The research on and documentation of specific objects is is some of the easiest to do as there are so many surviving pieces in this kind of stitchwork from furniture to very small personal items. Best of all, it is another way to work with wool!

A Bag to Hold Wools

2011-01-26T09:52:00.001-08:00

This pattern is for a bag to hold wools, most likely for needlework. It is from The New Guide to Knitting and Crochet by Marie Jane Cooper, published by J.S. Cooper, Royal Marine Library, and Parry, Blenkarn & Co., London, 1847.

In keeping with patterns from this era, there is no needle size or gauge/tension. The wool suggested is six skeins of “cruels” (sic.) I chose a fingering weight (KnitPicks’s Palette) which is a tad heavier and 3.25mm/3US needles. Six panels of different colours are need with the “centre double the number of rows” all in “the plain stitch of knitting” (knit every row.) The bag is knitted as a wide piece and then folded over and sewn at one side, with a finished measurement of 8” long and 10 1/2” wide. Two different types of ribbon are needed for the drawstring sleeves and the drawstrings but no lining is recommended.

Godey's Sortie Cap

2011-01-08T12:45:00.001-08:00

I have knit five of these caps (four are featured here) from Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, April, 1858.

The pattern for “this useful little article” is very easy with alternate five row sections and colours of stocking and garter stitch. I put in an extra row in the beginning for support. Since there are five rows, the new colour cannot be carried up or over the section so I left a long loop behind the knitting each time I changed wool. I cut these in the middle when I finished and the tails became the gathering knot on each side at the end.

The puffy, lacy texture is created by knitting and dropping alternate stitches on the row before the cast/bind off row. The finished row, with fewer stitches, creates a firmer edge although the original pattern suggests that the cast-off row should be done loosely. The next step is to pull, from the middle of the cap outwards on each side, the dropped stitches. It is best to work the middle, then one side, then the other, and then back to the middle, repeating the process down the cap. I did not enjoy this part – it just feels dreadful to be tugging and pulling at the stitches. I would also recommend leaving two to three stitches unpulled on the sides as there is too much puffing out at the gathered section near the ears. The fringe was not much fun to make either but then I don’t like fringes and making them is extremely tedious. Other than that, this cap couldn’t be easier to knit and can be worked up in few hours.

The pattern suggests rosettes at the top of the ribbons although the illustration shows some sort of bow. Perhaps this is a style of mid-19th century rosette? I am not that fond of rosettes so I chose bows for my cap (burgundy/white, no fringe.) All of the other caps have rosettes that are more like small cockades as my skills were limited here. My cap rests around or over the bun of hair at the back.

The pattern required “the smallest size ivory needles” and “single Berlin wool.” These caps were knit on 3.25mm/3 US needles using Knit Picks’s Palette and Shadow Kettle Dyed (my cap.) The gathering on either side brings them up more narrowly than in the illustration. I am planning to make another one, with longer ribbons and a fringe, and not gather it tightly but let it drape more in the back to resemble the one in the original illustration. If anyone can suggest how I can create a shaggier fringe, as in the illustration, please let me know.

For A Muff

2010-12-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

This is a very easy project from Exercises in Knitting (1846) by Mrs. Cornelia Mee and works up very quickly. The colours are meant to imitate five shades of sable or chinchilla fur. The original pattern calls for “double German wool” whose modern equivalent would be a double knitting or sport weight wool. I used Knit Picks’s Palette. I experimented with various sizes of needles and settled on 4mm/US 6 size needles to get the gauge/tension I needed to make a muff that measured 14" across. The knitting actually measures 15", that extra inch providing the half-inch seam on each underside. The pattern runs from light to dark and then back down through the dark colours to the lightest. Each set comprises a stripe and four stripes “are required.” The lining should be “satin put underneath the knitting of the same colour;” I used a silver imitation satin fabric, and all of the sewing was done by hand.

I hate blocking and did not block this piece, even though it was slanted, when finished. I was able to avoid this step as the knitting was to be sewn onto the satin. I first made a four layer lining with a cotton pillow or sack on the inside, filled with washed and carded merino fleece, and the “satin” on the outside. I basted all four layers together before sewing them and, in fact, basted the pillow every step of the way which, especially when the knitting was attached, helped to shape the stripes and straighten out the slant. The knitted piece was sewn on the satin pillow with the strands of carried wool folded under the interior seam. The pillow was then rolled and sewn along the long edge and the final step was to sew the two white knitted edges together.

I used the muff today in very, very cold weather and it was lovely and warm. There is no extra room on the inside so my hands, in lace mitts, were snug and cosy.

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

2010-12-16T05:00:00.001-08:00

Knitting is my primary passion when it comes to handwork. It is the first kind of handwork I learned, growing up in a knitting household and being taught when I was about five years old. I knit very simple (and often odd-looking) garter stitch items for my dolls and stuffed animals and then around age ten, began to knit hats, gloves (two flat sides with cast ons and cast offs for fingers and then sewn together), scarves for myself and family members. This led to Arans in my early teens and any other type of stitch variation I could learn and use. At the same time, from about age eight onwards, I was clumsily constructing doll clothes of all sizes. None of these, rightly so, have survived but some of my early tandem attempts at stitchery have in various conditions. This is all leading up to explain that a lifetime surrounded with wool, embroidery floss, fabric, linen, canvas and needles of all sizes and shapes has refined itself into a concentration on knitting, quilting, Irish/flame/bargello and cross stichery, most of which has a lean towards reproduction.

I have no other electronic venue to display my work, apart from Ravelry, so I have decided to sprinkle this blog with an occasional piece of alternative handwork. Since today is the birthday of Jane Austen (235 years young), and she is, for many reasons, my most revered author of all time, I have posted a picture of a white work quilt I made in the late 1990s. It was also my first and last attempt at appliqué, an technique obviously to be ranked with my limited skills in drawing. I do, however, greatly enjoy wholecloth quilting. As much as I am in love with printed fabrics, I think my favourite part of the quilt making process is the quilting which comes at the end, and which, like the rest of the production, I do by hand. This little quilt, measuring approximately 20” x 14”, was marked in light pencil using two different stencils. It may not be very apparent but there is stippling (tiny squiggly stitches) all around the appliquéd piece. Another first and last experience as stippling was not unlike knitting the Peterson’s garter stitch hood or flying for many, many hours. Millions of stitches in a feeling of suspended animation, in a twilight zone where nothing seems to be advancing towards completion.

As with almost every kind of stitchery, except knitting, I am self-taught and perhaps that was not a wise choice when it came to appliqué. Nevertheless, after reading and practicing, I chose the classic silhouette image purported to be of Jane Austen and owned by the National Portrait Gallery in London. The fabric is a an imitation silk; the rest of the quilt is made from 100% cotton and the batting/wadding is Fairfield Soft Touch cotton. I use this and Warm and Natural Needled Cotton Batting for my reproduction quilts as they result in a fairly similar texture to the cotton or combed fleece fillings used in the past. They are also pure heaven to stitch through.

This quilt is, however, not a reproduction but a tribute one using cross-hatching, stippling and feathers as motifs reflecting the complexity and yet seemingly effortless gracefulness of Jane Austen’s writing.

Peterson's Hood - Finished!

2010-12-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, it was tedious, to put it milldly, to knit, and, yes, it is bulky but is it ever so warm! I have worn it during the day, and on several evenings in freezing, breezy temperatures on the banks of a very large, windswept river and have felt nice and cosy all wrapped up in it. With the very cold weather that promises to continue, the hood will be put to much use in the weeks to come.

The photographs show a very ungraceful line on the sides but the hood fits around the neck with these.

In spite of the mindless pattern, I am planning to make another in a laceweight wool. It will be a good summer project and give me a chance again to catch up with reading, DVD backlogs, etc.

Fourth Needle

2010-12-01T05:34:00.000-08:00

Serving Girl Knitting
Attributed to André Bouys (French, 1656–1740)
Oil on canvas 36 1/4 x 28 1/2 in. (92.1 x 72.4 cm)
Mr. and Mrs. Isaac D. Fletcher Collection, Bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917 (17.120.211)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

I have written about this painting before (http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2008/03/knitting-in-art.html) I like the it very, very much, not only because of the knitting but for the details of 18th century clothing. The image of it from the Met’s site was, at that time, however, small and only available in black and white which not only did not let us clearly see the fabrics’ colors and textures but also hid the fourth needle from my eyes on my laptop’s small screen. T he current image from the Met's site, used here, is now much sharper. In an effort, though, a few years ago, to get what I hoped would be a better version of the image, I ordered an electronic version of the painting directly from the Met or, rather, the linked service which provides such things. I cannot legally use that image on this blog so the images here are, again, from the Met’s regular Internet site*, including the section showing the knitting.

The “ordered” image, although also in black and white, is, however, richer in the details of the painting. I can now see the beautiful cap and handkerchief of the sitter as well as a huge ball of wool on the table next to a basket containing a work bag with striped ribbons. Both of these items previously looked like food to me in the smaller image on the Met’s Internet site and I was wondering about that dangling thread from the table. With the zoom feature, I can get an even better look at them and hope to reproduce the work bag at some future time. I was also amused by the size of the ball of wool as it is larger than most in most paintings from that and the surrounding centuries.

Most exciting of all was the fourth needle. It lies against the girl’s inner arm where, thin and bent, in the smaller image, it had looked like a crease in her sleeve if it could be seen at all in that older image from the Met’s site. The girl has just started a new row with it so it is largely empty, perhaps only holding a few stitches which are covered by the hand clutching the knitting. What is, though, the curious curl at or near the end of the needle? A wrinkle in her clothing or something attached to her clothing – a part of something similar to a chatelaine?

Oh, dear – a needle found but another mystery, too.

*http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/a_serving_girl_knitting_attributed_to_andre_bouys/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=26&sort=0&sortdir=asc&keyword=&fp=1&dd1=11&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=11&OID=110000323&vT=1&hi=0&ov=0

Hervor Cap and Mittens

2010-11-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Although I define most of my passions dating from the long 18th century, I am also interested in Celtic and Viking history and culture. The first garments I made, after leaving off knitting for my toys, as well as simple caps, scarves and mittens in my teens, was a series of Arans. Thus it is an easy leap to Elsebeth Lavold’s book, Viking Patterns for Knitting (1998) which contains many, many beautiful things to knit as well as lots of fascinating reading. Like the pattern for the Sideways Spencer (http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2008/02/sideways-spencer.html), Lavold’s patterns blend history with knitting. I knit the Hervor cap in Tahki Yarns Kerry (sage green/2 skeins), 5.0mm/8US needles. I am not all that keen on lots of purl side fabric on the outer side so I reversed the pattern and did a plain/stockinette stitch for the outside of the cap, made the top a tad puffier (in an attempt to avoid *hat hair*) and widened the outside band by two extra rows, also not in purl. I would, however, like to do the hat again, this time in a tweed wool, following the original pattern more closely as I think the purl stitch outer fabric would look better with a tweedy wool. As I was working, however, with a blend of alpaca and wool with a bit of a halo, I preferred a flatter stitch. In finishing, instead of the purled and tacked hem around the face, I knit four rows and folded the edge over, and knit that into a existing row giving the cap a rolled brim.

I love this hat, the wool, the pattern. I first wore it, in fact, before I had sewn in all of the ends, tucking them inside, during a snow emergency. It is very, very warm and snow resistant. I couldn’t just wear the hat, though, so I made a pair of matching mittens using the same cable pattern, “Lattice repeat” on the same size needles Instead or a ribbed cuff, I gave the mittens the same rolled brim as I did with the Hervor cap. The thumb has a draw-string top closure and the palm of the mitten is plain , the whole ending in a point which rounds out around my fingers when I am wearing the mitten.

Peterson's Hood from 1861

2010-11-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

Peterson’s Magazine, September 1861, Vol. XL, No. 3, pages 223-224

I have sudden need of a warm, mid-19th century head covering. Since this hood with its long “strings” does double duty as keeping one’s neck wrapped up, too, I settled on this pattern especially after reading it through and finding out that it is all mindless knit rows (garter stitch) one after another. Quick and easy project, I thought.

I have a new procedure before I start any new pattern, namely, check on Ravelry to see if anyone has already knit it. This I did and compared various yarns, needle sizes and experiences of several people who have made this hood. A run through the posts on this hood in the two CW Needleworkers Yahoo groups yielded more useful information.

The original pattern calls for “Shetland” (lace weight) wool in blue and white. I happen to have loads of that in my stash but I didn’t want to use it as a) I need this hood very soon and the Shetland was not immediately accessible at 10 pm on the night I was starting this project, b) I worried that it might come out too small (as one person had complained) and there was/is no time to rip and knit the hood again and c) I recently purchased some Lion Brand’s Fishermen’s Wool which is actually more of a DK weight rather than a heavy one, and could start knitting immediately as I had it at hand and, perhaps, more reliably in terms of tension/gauge. The colours are Oatmeal and Brown Heather, two natural wool shades.

"No. 4 wooden pins of the bell gauge size are used for this knitting” states the pattern. The modern equivalent would be 5.5mm/9 US. I tried that size and worked my way up to 6mm/10 US with a tension/gauge of 4 stitches to the inch which, gave me the needed measurements to go round my face and strings long enough to tie comfortably. To do the latter, however, I had to add 20 more stitches to each side of the strings, increasing from 40 to 60. Longer strings match the illustration, too.

Still thinking that I could whip the hood up in a few days, I started knitting and four episodes into Brideshead Revisited, plus the mini-documentary, and quite a few Radio 4 programmes later, I am almost finished with the first piece of mind-numbing knitting, which is why my choice of electronic companionship and encouragement had to be stimulating and gorgeous to look at (language, clothing, architecture, furniture, landscape and the young Anthony Andrews.) Once completed, I get to knit the whole bally thing again but at least this time with the added excitement of changing colours in the middle of the piece.

With five days to go.....................................

Non-Historical October Knitting

2010-10-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

October is my favourite month of the year. I love autumnal colours and I usually end up knitting something that reflects the season. Pumpkin Man was this year’s project. His head and leaf is from Autumn Pumpkins by Jan Lewis (a free Ravelry Download.) I embroidered the eyes and mouth. The bat on the pullover is from Monica Gausen’s Bathat
(http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bathat.) I had to place it sideways as the bat would not fit across the chest. The pullover and body parts are my own design which I made up as I knit.

The body is stuffed with a Soft Touch Polyfil Supreme. Every part was knit on 2.50mm/1 ½ US size needles except for the pullover which was knit on 2.0mm/0 US needles. The wools were Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering (Pepper), Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull (Bright Orange, Green and Dark Brown, Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (Gold), Knit One Crochet Too Gourmet Collection (Creme Brulee), Morehouse Farm Merino Merino Lace (Henna.) . I used a vintage, unknown crewel yarn for the leaf.

Pumpkin Man stands 6 3/4” high, not counting the stem.

A friend who has one year old twin girls asked me to make the hats below and I was happy to oblige – more autumnal knitting! The pattern for the hats is my own - just a simple ribbing and a knit 6/seed stitch repeat. I decreased at the top with the brown and knit an I-cord stem. I used Julie Dietz’s Leaf Knitting Pattern For Pumpkin Hat (http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/holpumpkinleaf.htm)
for the leaves on 4mm/6 US needles, and added an I-cord vine from the crocheted edge around the leaves to wrap and sew around the stem. The wool was Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted 1233 (green) and 1383 (orange), Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (Butterscotch.)

Godey's Knitted Garters

2010-10-11T05:44:00.000-07:00

This pattern comes from Godey's Lady;s Book, June 1862 and came out 10” long in the cream part, stretched out. I need ones a tad longer to go around my leg twice and then slip through the loop and then have enough length left to tie, so I will be making a second pair, possibly in grey and red. The pattern is very, very easy, and the tassels can be made in five minutes.

I knit these in Morehouse Natural and Wedgewood on 0.75mm/US 6/0 needles.

September and School

2010-09-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

The Benevolent School
English School
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol, England
Image from The Bridgeman Art Library

I love this piece of art because it is simple, charming, fascinating and dates from the late 18th century, possibly early 19th century.* I have not seen it in person nor can I find out much more about it so I cannot list its dimensions, etc. I also cannot get a really close look at what everyone is doing in it in spite of zoom features on two of the sites where it is available. I think one of the girls may be knitting at the top of the picture and two woman may be winding wool in the foreground. Nevertheless, it is fun to follow the line of pupils and instructors around the room and look at the hats and bonnets on the walls and the view of the building outside of the window.

Click on the image for a larger version.

*I seem to recall the date of 1800 assigned to this but I cannot remember where I read that, and that date may be one of creation rather than representation.

18th Century Long Wool Mitts

2010-08-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have knit two versions of these mitts inspired by the pattern, 18th Century Women’s Knitted Mitts, by Mara Riley (2006 - http://www.marariley.net/)

I knit them in two different weights of wool and adapted the pattern to fit my arms. The grey pair, in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted Charcoal used two skeins although there was a fair bit left over from both. Mara Riley’s pattern calls for two skeins of Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport wool which is what the second pair is knit in Burnt Sienna. The Charcoal pair was knit in a few days (one of those emergency projects which only allowed for a quick choice from whatever was available from the stash) on 3.25mm/US 3 needles with
7 stitches to the inch.

They are 15 ¾” inches long and 5” (10” around) wide at the top, tapering down to 3” (6” around) at the wrist and 3” (6” around) across the fingers. The Burnt Sienna pair has the same measurements but was knit on 2.75mm/US 2 needles with 7 ½ stitches to the inch. In both cases, I had to cut down Mara Riley’s original number of stitches to two different sets. The seam stitch runs along the inside of the arm, extending along the hand and thumb, and is reinstated along the side between the forefinger and the thumb.

The mitts look tight but since they are knit in wool there is a lot of give and they are completely comfortable to wear and very warm.

Now I am inspired to make linen ones like the ones on the lady holding the upright rake in this lovely painting with its haymakers fancifully garbed:

Haymakers (1785)
George Stubbs, British
(1724-1806)
Oil on wood
Tate Collection
Tate Britain, London, England
Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery, the Art Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and subscribers 1977

Click on this link to see the complete painting:

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=13991&tabview=image

Summer Knitting

2010-07-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

Dutch Girl Knitting by the Sea
Christopher Dean
(British, fl. 1895 – 1924)
Oil on canvas, 10” x 14”
Location unknown

I like this painting because it shows something I do quite frequently, that is, sitting and knitting by the water. Not only in the summer but whenever it is warm enough to do so. If it is cool and I have to wear fingerless gloves, I cannot use dpns but I always have plenty of wips on various kinds of needles to choose from and I never punish my overworked fingers if it is too cold to knit outdoors. As I knit through the current grueling summer with its relentlessly soaring temperatures, I can only do so with wool, the coarser the better. Cotton or acrylic just wilts in my damp hands. As Jane Austen wrote “What dreadful Hot weather we have! -- It keeps one in a continual state of Inelegance.” {Letter to Cassandra Austen, 18th September, 1796.}

The girl in the painting, though, looks crisp and cool. She seems to have just started a blue tubular object, perhaps a stocking or sleeve. Alas, this seems to be another three needle painting unless I just cannot see the fourth needle.

More information about the artist and the painting may be found at

http://www.mpfa.ie/eugallery.htmhttp://www.mpfa.ie/eugallery.htm

Red Under Petticoat - One Panel Finished!

2010-07-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

This was surprisingly fast to knit. I also added four "stripes" to the top section below the ribbing so the petticoat will fall just at mid-knee. It also looks as though I will only need three panels as stated in the original pattern.

Also on view are some of the numerous ends which I will work into the seams as I crochet the panels together.

Red Under Petticoat Update

2010-06-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

The Red Under Petticoat is growing. I will do a thorough discussion of it when it is finished but for now I have to say that it has been fun to knit. The puckered lower edge is created by extended slipped stitches. Once I was past the lower edge, this became my World Cup knitting as I only need to keep count of the stocking stitch rows and not really look at them as I knit.

Unlike England's Flag Flying*, designed by Erssie Major, which required more attention. I worked on it as fast as I could but didn't have it quite ready for the first match! I knit this on 2.25mm/US 1 needles with DMC Six Strand Embroidery Floss in the Portrait version of the pattern. The finished piece measures 5 1/2" wide and 3 3/4" down, not counting the garter stitch edge I added. The gauge/tension is 12 stitches to one inch.

*Free pattern at http://erssieknits.squarespace.com/

Worldwide Knit in Public Day/Week

2010-06-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

An Outdoor Literary Salon
French School, early 19th Century
Private Collection
The Bridgeman Art Library
Creative Image #79108854

Saturday, June 12th, kicks off this year’s celebrations of Worldwide Knit in Public which have been extended from one day to a full week! Seize upon your latest project, wips or start something new, and dash outside as often as possible over the coming days! Follow the example of the lady in the lower left corner of this image who calmly wields her needles in the midst of a volatile literary discussion. As usual in this genre, there is a great deal happening and even more being implied in the image but I am, for this post, just interested in the knitting although happy to have an illustration from one of my favourite eras in history. The industrious lady seems to have ony two needles in action – is she knitting something flat and, if so, what? A comforter, part of a shirt? Or is that the beginning of a stocking on four or more needles and we cannot see the others? There seems to be several strands of yarn hanging down from her work but she is only knitting in one colour. Could these strands and the fact that she does not seem to be holding her knitting in a very capable way suggest that her knitting skills are as pretentious or limited as the literary ones of those of her fellow members of the society? Or is this yet another example of an artist being unfamiliar with knitting, its tools and its hand positions? At any rate, the picture is bright and funny, and there is a knitter in it so I cannot really complain!

Lady's Knitted Under Petticoat

2010-05-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

This pattern comes from Godey’s Lady’s Book, December, 1864, page 533, with no suggested needle size or gauge and calling for “four-thread scarlet fleecy” and the same in white; its modern equivalent is lace-weight. It is easy and fun to knit, and very hard to put down which is good as it calls for several long panels that will then joined with a “single crochet.” I am knitting it on 3mm needles, in Nature Spun Sport weight 100% wool (Scarlet and Snow.) I did try it first in lace weight wool on both 3mm and 3.50mm needles but the result, with my tension, was too airy and loose.

The photograph shows the beginning of the border hem of a panel.

The Brewster Stocking

2010-04-24T06:30:00.001-07:00

The Brewster Stocking by Jacqueline Fee was featured in the magazine Piecework, January/February, 2010. The pattern for her modern adaptation of the spiral stocking is available by request, from Jacqueline Fee, and is not the sock pattern that appears in the issue of the magazine. It is based on a stocking owned by Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts and is dated from the 17th century. The article and the photograph of the original stocking stirred up debate on several electronic forums devoted to historical knitting with questions raised as to its dating and previously documented use of the spiral pattern on stockings in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. No one, unfortunately, including me, could immediately produce a photograph of or pattern for a spiral stocking although I seem to remember seeing a photograph of such a stocking on a museum website in the past few years. The relative shapelessness of the stocking also gave rise to comments and speculation as to the skills of the original knitter and the owner, believed to have been “William Brewster (1567-1644) of the Plymouth Colony,"* his leg and his health, gout being one of the suggestions due to the width of the leg and shape of the foot.

Since this was an adaptation of a period object, I decided to follow the pattern exactly and not make any changes. The heel flap had been modernized from the traditional long square one of the original stocking but the spiral patterns had been left in the new design much as they had appeared in the original. There is also no seam stitch although there appears to be one in the original stocking, based on the photograph in the article. Ms. Fee has been very helpful since the publication of the article, according to those on the net who have shared their questions and her responses. The pattern was worked from notes and a sketch she did some twenty years ago.

The top of the original stocking also intrigues me. It appears to have two rows of welting that may have been folded over from the inside over to the outside, visible thanks to the part that has rotted or torn or been eaten away. The original stocking had a tension/gauge of 11-13 to the inch and was knit in wool. The size of the needles could only be determined by matching gauge with a similar weight of yarn.

My finished measurements came out a tad different than the pattern suggested ones in spite of swatching. My adapted version is 12 inches in width at the leg, 12 inches around the foot at its widest at the base of the heel, its length measuring 11 inches and the stocking, itself, 10 inches around the garter stitch section near the toe and 25 inches from top to heel. The adapted pattern calls for 2.75mm/2US needles using Bartlett Sport Weight 2 ply-wool to get a tension/gauge of 7 stitches to the inch. In keeping with my oath to stash bust, I swatched with a nameless laceweight, Blackberry Ridge laceweight, Brown Sheep Nature Spun laceweight, and, finally and successfully, Harrisville Design’s New England Shetland (394 yards per skein) in Russet. The stocking used two skeins with just a yard or so left over.

The leg looks wide and unshaped but there is some decreasing. The spiral pattern does not work out evenly round and round the stocking but the difference is minimal and easily adjusted as one knits. I tried to stay true to the pattern (unusual for me) but gave in at the toe which is supposed to be grafted. I simply do not like grafting and do not do it well so I made a drawstring toe.

The spiral pattern does not, unfortunately, really come across that sharply in the photographs. It is easier to appreciate the rippled effect it creates on the sides. Click on the photographs for a larger image.

The stocking was fun to work on, partly because of the spirals and partly because I didn’t have to write the pattern! I decided to make only the one stocking as no one will wear it because of the shape. This modern version was also a dry run in case I want to go back and make a more historically accurate version of the original stocking with more shaping in the leg, a period heel and seam stitch. Knitting with Harrisville Designs Shetland was terrific, too – I adore that wool!

* Fee, Jacqueline. The Brewster Stocking. Piecework, January/February 2010, p. 29

Knitting Before and Behind the Camera

2010-04-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

I mentioned my fondness for old films some time ago here, and named Bette Davis as one of my favourite actresses. Apart from all of the legendary lines she delivered and her place in film history (not only as an actress), she was a keen knitter. April 5 would have been, her 102nd birthday so I would like to feature her in different photos that I have studied for information about knitting in her lifetime. There is a tad of knitting history if we look at her knitting bags such as the one on her lap in the photo of her in sunglasses on the set of, I am guessing, The Old Maid. I also always try to get a good look at her needles in the films where we do see her knitting.

Here she is knitting off-camera with co-star Ann Sheridan (who appears to be crocheting) on the set of The Man Who Came to Dinner.

I haven’t watched Now Voyager for some time but I do seem to remember an early pivotal knitting scene as well as knitting while cruising later on in the film.

She also knit in Phone Call From a Stranger.

Look at the knitting container (case/bag/cylinder – what was this called?) next to her as she works on a contribution for the Red Cross during World War II. If she was knitting in between takes in this photograph, I have yet to identify the film.

Bette Davis’s most famous filmed handwork, though, must be the crocheted lace she worked on throughout the film, The Letter. She is seen here, crocheting on that set, alongside her stand-in, Sally Sage, who is knitting an Argyle sock. I wish we could see their work bag and basket more clearly.

Davis’s character’s crocheting and her supposed finished work are again, important elements in the film. I just wish, too, in this one of my favourite films, let alone favourite films of Bette Davis, that her character had, instead, been knitting lace!

Credits: Images from The Old Maid, Now Voyager, The Man Who Came to Dinner and The Letter owned by Bettman/Corbis? They can all be found on various Flickr accounts.

Image from Phone Call From a Stranger is from The Complete Films of Bette Davis by Gene Ringold, New York: Citadel Press, Inc. (1985, 1990), page 157.

2010 Knitting Resolutions

2010-03-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

It is almost April and I have not reconciled last year’s list of knitting resolutions, let alone drawn up the 2010 list on paper although the list, such as it is, continually grows by leaps and bounds in my mind.

I listed fourteen wips last year (http://historyknits.blogspot.com/search?q=resolutions) and completed the 19th century garters* (one only as I ran out of DMC yarn and I cannot find exact colour matches for it now), the child’s handspun and marled stockings, the handspun gloves, the 1855 mitts and the Vanity Fair purse. Six out of fourteen projects is not terribly respectable but added to the projected and unexpected items, the numbers do go up. Not just one but three 19th century under or half caps were made (although none of them completely satisfactory) and the man’s 19th century nightcap became a boy’s. The projects that did work out well were the Gunnister purse*, long 18th century woolen mitts*, another 19th century miser’s purse, the 17th century red and blue mini-stockings, Stephen Maturin’s blue mini-stockings, the Norwegian morning cap/hood, two different pairs of 19th century undersleeves and a linen bookmark in lace from the 1830s-1840s. The clamshell coverlet continues to grow in clamshells and I think I have found a filler section pattern for the edges. Not content with knitting masses of pieces for one coverlet, I started an octagon/squares one*, too. Tiny 19th century lace samples* needed a place for display so I created an album* out of 19th century reproduction fabric to house them. And then there was that 19th century lace fish serviette* that I just couldn’t resist starting just to see what the pattern looked like, of course.

The Garment is not languishing but still very much nearly finished. More on that soon. Contemporary projects and various commissions usually take precedence over the historical knitting and the historical knitting creates delays of its own. I am very lucky if the first version becomes the final version. I sometimes knit a miniature version just to work out the pattern, especially if I am knitting blind, that is, from one of those delightfully laconic, illustration-free early patterns or trying to reproduce a surviving item, or will knit several “life-size” versions before the final one, if there is a final one, works out. The half-caps were a case in point and I am still not satisfied with the wool and am working on a fourth one that I hope will be more historically accurate.

On the 2010 list are, of course, the uncompleted 2009 projects as well as the following:

1. Gunnister gloves
2. Blue mini-Maturin comforter (half completed)
3. Another Weldon’s nightcap (which I am re-knitting for the fourth time as I write this)
4. 19th century lace collars
5. Second pair of long 18th century woolen mitts (one finished, one to go)
6. 19th century knitted veil
7. 19th century double-knitted wristlets
8 Mid-19th century under-cap
9. Sortie cap
10. A muff or two
11. 1855 mitts in white and pale blue
12. 19th century pen wiper (that I have twisted my brain into knots over twice already)
13. 19th century knitted petticoat

and because I like a challenge, this 18th century pincushion* whose own work box with materials is in the above photo. It is cast on but I can only do one row a day or so as the work is very, very fine and hard on the hands as well as the eyes, not to mention the charting of the pattern on paper (more on this project soon):

http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/features/knitting/objects/object.php?id=31&id2=0&action=&hits=&page=&pages=&object_type=&country=&start_year=&end_year=&object=&artist=&maker=

I daresay there will be another miser's purse this year, too, as I just cannot resist them.

*Items marked with an asterisk will appear soon on the blog.

Knitting and Walking

2010-03-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

Knitting in the Fields
Charles Sprague Pearce
(American, 1851-1914)
Private Collection

This is me yesterday. The weather is improving and I can take my gloves off outdoors and knit as I walk. Although this painting is called "Knitting in the Fields," the subject may be walking along a small river. I did the same for about two hours yesterday though by a much larger river (and on a smoother surface) in the first, fine sunny and warm yet breezy day this year. I was also working on a long piece, an 18th century long mitt, adapting it to fit me, and so ripping and re-knitting the thumb and upper hand as I went along, any frustration dispelled by the glorious weather, the breeze in my hair and wool, and the sheer delight of knitting outside in pure daylight and fresh air.

The weather in this painting does not look as nice as mine, and the knitter seems to warding off the chill with her outer clothing. She may, also, not be walking but standing as the leg in front is bent and the other is straight. Has she stopped because something we cannot see has caught her attention or is she simply pausing? Her hands have stopped knitting, too, and there is no strand of wool attached to her work. Has she run out of wool and so the stocking production has also halted?

We do see, for once, FOUR knitting needles - huzzah!

Godey's 1877 Blue-Bag

2010-03-06T04:23:00.000-08:00

This pattern comes from Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, Vol. XCIV - January to June, 1877.

It is very straightforward and easy to knit. I omitted the final set of five repeats without decreases as the bag was already the size it should be by the time I got to that part in the pattern so I just continued with the decreasing rows to the end.

The bag is knit in Blackberry Ridge Lace Weight wool (Medium Wedgewood) and is a lovely dusky light shade of blue and not as grey as it appears in the photographs. The dpn's needle size was 1.75mm/00US. The original pattern called for "Scotch fingering wool" and "four needles No. 16 (bell gauge {sic})." which I matched to the modern size.

The draw strings were crocheted on a 2mm/0US hook. No hook size was suggested in the pattern.

Please see the comments on the possible use of this "blue-bag" in the comments which follow or are attached to this post.

“Pine-apple” Purse from The Lady’s Stratagem

2010-02-17T22:22:00.000-08:00

The Lady’s Stratagem - A Repository of 1820s Directions for the Toilet, Mantua-Making, Stay-Making, Millinery & Etiquette, Lavolta Press, San Francisco, 2009, 755 pages. Edited and with Additional Material by Frances Grimble.

This book is a delight to read from cover to cover. There are sections on health, etiquette, beauty, cosmetics, servants, courtship, clothing, millinery, accessories, needlework and much, much more. It is highly defined within the period of time variously known as the “Extended Regency, American Federal Period, Fur Trade Era, Colonial Canada, Bourbon Restoration.”

Chapter XVII, The Art of Knitting, pages 431-458, does not have a great many patterns but does include some things I had not yet seen in publications from this era such as a Beret, Pantaloons, Waistcoats and Night Jackets, and a discussion of “Open-Work Knitting,” which, as a keen knitter of lace patterns from 1830’s-1840s, made me very happy. There are also instructions or patterns for knitting stockings, slippers, gloves, petticoats, mitts and purses.

The pattern for “A Purse knitted like a Pine-apple” appears on pages 445-446. As with other early knitting patterns, there is no recommended needle size or gauge. “Green” and “orange silk” are the suggested materials. There is no illustration of the purse but the final line of the pattern states that when “the purse is closed at the top with drawing-strings, it has altogether the air of a pine-apple” (page 446.)

The pattern is typically, of the era, intuitive. In addition, two different counts of the ultimate number of stitches needed for the top of the bag are given although only one of them is divisible by six and neither by eight, one or both of which is essential for the eyelet openings and the leaves. I increased to a number in between the two suggested numbers that gave me the correct division later on.

The bag begins with the five leaves at the bottom which “take the place of the tassel,” and are knit upside down, one at a time, narrowing the total numbers of stitches down to the very small number of the base of the star which is how the lower green part is knit. No directions were given for the leaves, only that they should resemble “…a little tab like the strap of a slipper.” Shoes were dainty in the 1820’s so these leaves are too. I did not make them very long, though, as they would have been flopping all over the place and the upper ones would have then hidden the small section of orange knitting. This part’s openwork contains a choice of a hole à jour (which I used) or à crochet; explanations of both techniques are given elsewhere in the chapter.

The “drawing strings” are a “flat braid au crochet…made by a kind of knitting, or rather a chain-stitch…(using) a hook, which is an iron instrument two or three inches long terminating in a curved point, and fitted into a wooden handle.” (page 539) I determined their length and the size of the tassels by one of the illustrations of a purse or reticule elsewhere in The Lady’s Stratagem and other period clothing prints. The first ones I made are in the photograph but they came out too long when I gathered the purse's top so they will have to be shortened.

Since silk is out of my price range, I substituted DMC Six Strand Embroidery Floss in Green 935 (16 skeins) and Orange 742 (3 skeins) and knit the bag on 2mm/0US double pointed needles at a gauge of 10 stitches to the inch. The leaves are just over 1 ¼” long each and the purse’s body measures 6” long in total and 6” across at the widest top part of the orange section.

The “flat braid” was badly crocheted (my talents lie elsewhere) on a 2mm/0US hook. I am going to line the lower green part of the purse, perhaps with “white taffety” as recommended later on this chapter (page 450.)

I plan to make more items from this book but I also want to try and track down the exact source of each pattern. The bibliography is helpful and I have also been pointed to the Manuel des Demoiselles ou Arts et Métiers…. whose edition from 1830 is available on Googlebooks and which contains directions for the “Bourses en ananas” on page 176.* My next task is to translate that section and compare it to the pattern above.

*My thanks to Alwen.

An Award!

2010-02-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

Much to my surprise, I am a recipient of The Beautiful Blogger Award, nominated by Bygone Knits – thank’ee, ma’am! ‘Twas most kind of you to do so! Please take a look at her wonderful blog - the link is on the left of this post.

In return, I must change the usual theme of my posts and list seven random facts about myself, and then choose seven blogs for nomination.

Part I

1. I like good, plain cooking – and Indian, Thai and Chinese cuisine.

2. I love black and white films from the late 1920’s-early1950’s, especially anything with Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis or Kay Francis. I also like late 20th/early 21st century literary and historical films and series with fabulous and not too fanciful period clothing.

3. I love art, theatre, ballet, opera, early and classical music as well as traditional fiddle melodies, and have studied ballet and five instruments.

4. I have a large book collection made up of history and biographies (both mostly 16th- early 20th century), naval (more history, biographies, novels), 17th-20th century plays and novels, historic clothing, knitting and quilting, Golden Age mysteries, ghost stories, 19th and 20th century books of fiction about dolls and dolls’ houses, and quite a few of the recent various series of future children’s classics. I also like the works of Barbara Pym, Muriel Spark and Anita Brookner, and one of my absolute favourite novels is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier – time travellers, take note.

5. Although my intellectual home is firmly fixed in the Long 18th Century, I also enjoy studying the Tudor/early Stuart and Edwardian/World War I periods, and the 1930’s as well as the clothes from those eras.

6. In spite of my passion for the past, I am an avid Stargater (SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis) and dream of introducing knitting to other galaxies far, far away.

7. I really do go outdoors sometimes, and I like swimming, kayaking and taking long walks, even outside of museums!

Part II

Nominating just seven blogs was very difficult as there are so many wonderful ones out there. Here are some of the ones I read on a regular basis (and apologies to my internet friends I did not include on the list – I was told only seven!!!)

Travels in Time
http://bauhausfrau.livejournal.com/

18th century blog
http://18thcenturyblog.com/

A Homely Heroine
http://ahomelyheroine.blogspot.com/

Lost Arts studio
http://lost-arts.blogspot.com/

In The Past Lane
http://inthepastlane.blogspot.com/

Joyful Molly
http://joyfulmolly.wordpress.com/

The Duchess of Devonshire’s Gossip Guide to the 18th Century
http://georgianaduchessofdevonshire.blogspot.com/

The Romance of Knitting

2010-02-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

Winding Up (Alternate Title: Courtship) (1836)
William Sidney Mount (American, 1807-1868)
Oil on wood panel, 18 3/8 x 14 15/16 inches (46.67 x 37.94 cm)
F77-39
Gift of the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City, Missouri

With February upon us, and St. Valentine’s Day approaching, I chose a romantic painting with knitting to start the month. Is this, however, another three needle painting like some of the others I have discussed in this blog? The knitting, on the stool behind the girl, appears to be a tubular object – a stocking, undersleeve, long cap, perhaps? Three needles on the knitting are clearly visible but the fourth, and, possibly, a fifth, may be loose and lying on the stool, under the knitting. There are two long dark lines in the middle of the stool but I think they are decorative elements like the work around the side edges of the stool. I can also just see another light line just to the left of the knitting coming out almost over the front of the edge of the stool - could this be another needle peeking out from under the knitting?

The young woman is winding wool that she will use to continue work on the dropped knitting as there is no ball of wool on the stool and only a strand of yarn from the knitting, waiting to be joined on, can just be seen hanging over the edge. She appears to be holding another skein of blue yarn on her arm. I have not read analyses of this painting so I may be repeating what has already been written but I see the skeins and the knitting as highly symbolic. The names of the painting, Winding Up and Courtship should, perhaps, be listed in reverse order. The courtship seems to be at an end, winding up, and the couple, bathed in warm daylight but snug inside of the house, are situated by the hearth, which is suggestive of home and passion. The young woman, dressed in a gown of red (a color of love) and in her apron, engaged in creating clothing, is thus visually promising a future as a dutiful wife. Her knitting, tossed down on the stool, is, however, a progressive object begun, as is her adult life. The wool of her work is hanging over an edge, waiting to be attached to another ball just as the young woman has also reached a possible precipice in her life but seems to be, from the expression on her face, inclined towards the ultimate attachment. Her suitor, who is assisting her with winding her light coloured (natural, undyed, white (the colour of purity)?) wool, will not only help her to complete what she is knitting but the story of her life, this continuation suggested by the second blue skein waiting to be wound up. Could the sharp points of the needles and the dangling strand of wool also be foreshadowings of unpleasant things to come? Let us hope, instead, that the ball of wool that is being wound will soon be attached to that dangling strand on the stool and the future joined life of the two young people in the painting will be as secure and firm as the knitting on the needles.

Click on the painting for a larger view and for an even better image, click on this link: http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=21893

A Statement in Knitting

2010-01-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Knitting history is what I try to do and so, with lots of leftover skeins, partial and whole, of Paternayan Pesian crewel/tapestry/needlepoint wool, I knit this piece, randomly using colours. History is random and ever-changing, too, but also repeats itself, as do the wools. The letters are in evergreen, because history is alive, and green is my favourite colour. I considered doing an outline stitch around the letters to make them more prominent but decided against that for two reasons, namely, I do not like to mix techniques in my work, and the lessons of history are not always evident, and thus, to use the cliche, it is doomed to repeat itself. If we could all clearly see the lessons of history all of the time, that would not happen, a theory, of course, which ignores the human factor. The corners are not beautifully and invisibly sewn as they are scars that all history leaves behind.

The piece measures 16” across and 10” down and the capital letters measure 2” high. It was knit it on 2.75/2US size needles.

I am still blocking the piece and will probably knit a plain back piece and attach it to the front to keep it flat as the edges keep curling inwards, no matter how much I block them. The knitting on the edge/frame sections is flatter probably because I was not changing colours as much nor was I carrying the green strands behind. I probably should have made the edges/frame sections wider but I was just about out of wool so I had to stop. In fact, if you enlarge the photo and look very carefully at the bottom row of the piece, you will see an almost complete row of brown as I ran out of black at the very end.

Flat-End Miser's Purse

2010-01-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying experimenting with different miser's purses. This one was knit on 1.75mm/00US size needles and used approximately twenty-four skeins of seventeen different colours of DMC Six Strand Embroidery Floss. The same flat-end trellis pattern is knit on the reverse side in similar but different colours in an effort to stash bust. The two shaded green section was knit in the round and the floral part in two flat sections which were then sewn together. (Click on the photograph for a larger version.)

The purse measures 2" across at the middle of the flat end and 2 ½” across at its bottom end. The floral section, not including the blue rows on the top and bottom, is 1 ¼” long. The circular green part measures 3 ¼” at its widest part when laid flat. The slit in the middle (not visible) is 2" long and the length of the purse, not including the pompom, is 12".

I based the floral design on an early 19th century French purse from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=47438&coll_keywords=miser+purse&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=0&coll_sort_order=0&coll_view=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=21. The original purse was knit in silk with glass and metal beads.

The pompom at the dark green edge was suggested by the Nelson Purse (see a previous post) and plastic rings were wrapped with silver thread to mimic silver rings.

1855 Mitt Revisited

2009-11-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

I have been re-working this pattern for Knitted Mitten and Bracelet, Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, Volume 51, August, 1855, pp. 169-170 which can be found at

http://books.google.com/books?id=K8ZMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA10...=onepage&q=godey’s%20august%201855&f=false

I used the same wools as before (vintage Beehive Moorland and Morehouse Farm Merino Lace) on 2mm/0US dpns for the cuff and bracelet, and 2.25mm/1US for the hand.

The pattern suggests a “bracelet” for the wrist but does not include instructions for one. I looked at and tried out several patterns for ruffles and frills (which is what the Bracelet really is) from periodical patterns of the 1850’s-1880’s and found one that comes close in words to a ruffle in the “frill” pattern for a Legging for a Lady or Child by Mrs. Jane Weaver, Peterson’s Magazine, Volume 50, No. 3, September, 1866, pp. 205-206. The frill pattern is on page 206 but it does not resemble the illustration of the one on the Legging:

http://books.google.com/books?id=4iHQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA20...=onepage&q=knitted%20frill&f=false

It also does not resemble the bracelet in spite of its similarity to the six row pattern for the ruffle of the 1880’s Night-Cap in Double Rose-Leaf Pattern, published in Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Twenty-Sixth Series: (http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html Scroll down to July 15th, 2008.)

The nine row Peterson’s pattern, due to the combination of knit and purl stitches in each set, produces a rather flat edging. I first knit this frill on 4.50mm/7US needles in Nature Spun Worsted (so I could really see the stitches, and then on 1.75mm/00US in Nature Spun Lace Weight, and it came out completely flat in the heavier yarn. The white Morehouse Farm Merino Lace on 2.25mm/1US needles sample was more delicate but needed encouragement to stand up or buckle. It still did not really resemble the tight, rippling Bracelet of the 1855 mitt pattern which is interesting as the increase method resembles the Weldon’s frill/ruffle pattern except for the combination of knit and purl stitches in each set (which provides the flattening effect), the added number (usually two) of non-increase stitches in each set of increases (there are more in the Peterson’s) and the repeat rows of non-increase rows.

The grey Morehouse Farm Merino Lace sample is the Peterson’s pattern with only one non-increase row in between the increase rows. There is less flatness but still not as much ripple as in the Weldon’s pattern.

In conclusion, the Weldon’s ruffle pattern (on the brown mitt here) from the 1880’s most closely resembles the illustration of the Bracelet of 1855 which leads me to believe that the Weldon’s pattern is a basic ruffle pattern that was in use for quite a few decades throughout the 19th century since the 1855 pattern’s writer assumed it was a technique that was generally known and there was, therefore, no need to include it with the pattern for the mitts. The search continues, however, to find it in print in a publication from an earlier part of the 19th century.

Halloween

2009-10-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

The history of Halloween has interested me since childhood. I have always loved stories of ghosts, haunted and spooky places. No horror, gore or violence - just the mystery, legends and general autumnal atmosphere and glorious colours associated with this season.

For some years, I portrayed an 18th century witch at an annual fun-filled, campy Halloween festival. Knitting, of course, had to be part of the act. I found large orange plastic needles (19mm/35 US) to whose ends I glued the decapitated heads of small plastic dolls. With their now messy hair and eyes that opened and closed, the dolls’ faces now took on a rather stunned and confused expression.

I then knit a scrappy piece, complete with holes and dropped stitches, out of Silver Berrrocco yarn which shimmered in the lantern and candle light. At the Halloween event, dressed in ragged 18th century clothing, I would ask the children if they liked my knitting. Some would say yes but when they said no, I informed them (in a suitably crackly voice) that I once knew two little girls who didn’t like my knitting but “I dealt with them!”, as I furiously knit, making the dolls’ heads move up and down and those eyes flutter all of the time. This would produce laughter, some of it nervous, from the children.

I am not, however, reprising the Halloween role this year so I decided to decorate a pointy black hat with the witch’s knitting, all sewn on with nylon invisible thread.

Trafalgar Day

2009-10-21T15:30:00.001-07:00

The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizen Starboard Shrouds of the Victory (1806-1808), J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851)
Oil on canvas, 1708 x 2388 mm frame: 2181 x 2860 x 190 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest, 1856
British
Tate Gallery, London, England

18th Century French Knitting

2009-09-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Madame Lepage
Dominque (Guillaume Dominque Jacques) Doncre (1743-1820)
(French, 1797)
Oil on canvas; 91 x 77 cm
(867.2.1)
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Arras, France

I have mixed reactions to this painting. I like it very much because it dates from one of my favourite decades in history and of clothing, and it contains knitting with visible needles. What I do not like about it is the fairly flat quality of the furniture and hangings. They are simple, and look worn and old. The face, clothing (wonderful pleating on the bodice) and the knitting have been addressed but like the partially knit stocking, the painting seems unfinished to me. Like many paintings of knitters, the subject appears to have been interrupted in her work but her expression is calm, almost contemplative, as if she has put her knitting aside for a few moments and is now holding a pose or turning her face a certain way for the painter. She does not look annoyed as does the serving girl in another one of my favourite knitting paintings:

http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2008/03/knitting-in-art.html

I have tried to find out who Madame Lepage was but without success. Did she live in Arras? Was her family or husband active in the textile business since her gown is the most vivid part of the painting? It captures the viewer’s attention at once and the eye (unless one is a knitter) travels upwards from it to the face. Her powdered hair speaks of a fading fashion but her gown is an indication of the future. Her straight-backed pose is unlike those flowing, vibrant ones of her contemporaries painted by
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun or some of the sensuous classical poses of Jacques-Louis David’s ladies. Why did she, perhaps a lady of some social standing, choose to be painted with her knitting? Did she come from a humble background? Is this a post-Revolutionary statement that shows a person of position who is connected to the common people by doing her own knitting or did she just enjoy knitting and so wanted it to be included in her painting or is this a message that she is industrious? The ball of wool and the knitting certainly have pride of place in the painting; the garter stitch edge/welting of the stocking lies on the subject’s lap, facing the viewer and at least a third of the stocking is on the four fine metal needles which, pointing upwards and bisecting each other become a functional part of the painting, forming a V shape which is repeated above in the neckline of the gown and framed by sideways V shapes in the position of the arms on either side. The subject is ultimately set in an oval (in this image, at least; I have not seen the original) which, with the puffed up, rounded hair style and full folds of the background hangings, ultimately softens those mirror sharp angles of the sitter’s arms and gown’s neckline and the knitting needles in her lap.

I am reminded of another favourite contemporary (1791-1792) work by David:

http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Rococo/pages/5david.shtml

The subject in this painting wears infomal clothing, and sits sewing beside the cradle of her child, without any decorative furniture or background detail at all although this painting is considered unfinished. Unlike Madame Lepage, Madame de Pastoret barely pauses in her work and, characteristically, looks the viewer straight in the eye. How I wish the latter had been knitting or had some evidence of it included in the painting, such as an open workbox with wool and needles spilling out, perhaps, on the floor beside her.

NOTE: The link to the painting of Madame de Pastoret and Her Son is courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago®  by URL: www.artic.edu/aic. I also recommend reading more about the life of Madame de Pastoret.

Vanity Fair Purse - Finished

2009-09-01T04:29:00.000-07:00

In my first post about the beginning of this project, there is little description of the purse in Vanity Fair that is being knit by Becky Sharp. (See http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2008/07/vanity-fair-and-history-of-knitting.html) We do not even know if she finished it after her attempts to use it to ensare Jos Sedley. I think she might have, either for something to during the next part of her story or for her own future use. Not having any money, herself, however, I am supposing that it would have been simply finished. I doubt Becky could have afforded the traditional silver closure rings so she may have used thread or hair wrapped ones. I am still researching substitute rings (bone, horn?) and in my case, I used plastic rings covered with silver embroidery thread. The ends are decorated with simple, traditional tassels of the same green thread that was used for the body of the purse.

Lace Linen Bookmark

2009-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

This bookmark, knit in Pattern Number 36 (c. 1830's) from Susanna E. Lewis's Knitting Lace, was a perfect project for experimenting with DMC's linen embroidery floss. I used three skeins on 3mm needles.

19th Century Undersleeves - Construction

2009-08-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here are two kinds of knitted undersleeves (literally, worn under indoor clothing) from the mid-ish 19^th century. Both are knitted flat or back and forth, and then sewn up.

The first photograph shows one set still in progress on HISTORICALLY INACCURATE NEEDLES but the only ones from my vast collection that gave me the correct gauge/tension. This pair, the very full sleeve ones, were improvised from the daguerreotype below, with the upper arm ribbing and bands from tighter fitting patterns I have seen and making the lower puff very large so as to show under the wide, open sleeves of the top garment or dress. This set was knit from the wrist up. The wool is Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (Scarlet (2 skeins) and Silver Sage 1 skein) on 4.0/6US needles with a gauge/tension of 6.50 stitches/inch in the full part of the sleeve and 6 stitches/inch in the ribbing. The same size needles were used throughout.

The second, closer-fitting pair are from an original pattern ( Knitted Under-Sleeve by Mrs. Jane Weaver in Peterson’s Magazine, January, 1859, Volume XXXV, No. 1) which called for two sizes of needles (“1 pair steel knitting needles, common size, 1 pair bone knitting needles, small”) I had to use the larger sized needles throughout but still did not, however, achieve the puffs as shown in the original illustration, especially when wearing them (see below.) This set was knit from the upper arm down to the wrist as directed in the pattern. Brown (for the puffs) and crimson (ribbing) “single zephyr” wool was suggested in the original pattern. The wool for this pair is Morehouse Farm Merino Lace (Midnight (2 skeins) and Natural White (2 skeins) on 2.75/2US needles with a gauge of 9 stitches/inch on the puff parts and 10 stitches/inch in the ribbed parts.

Knitted Undersleeves in Daguerreotype

2009-08-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

Unknown Baby with Hiding Mother, ca. 1855

Daguerreotype, sixth plate Plate: 3 ¼” x 2 ¾ “

Image: 2 5/8” x 2 1/8”

Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

2005.27.56

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Kansas City, Missouri

http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/Exhibitions/DevGreat/CollectionDatabase.cfm?id=52548&theme=Photo

Hold Fast Gloves

2009-08-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is the second pair of these gloves that I have knit. The words on the half-fingers mimic the tattoos on Joe Plaice’s fingers in the film, Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World (2003.)

I made the first pair, in the round, from the wrists up but the letters did not knit evenly. Same colour scheme and both in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted. The letters were swallowed up in every other row which may have been due to their having been knit in the same kind of wool or knitting the lettered fingers flatly (the stitches came out slanted on every other row.)

This is the second pair, knit from the fingers down to the wrist (fingers and hands in the round) with fingering weight wool in an Aubrey-Maturinesque appropriate choice of “wine-dark” maroon. This wool was purchased about 30 years ago in New York and comes from my stash. The letters are knit in the heavier Nature Spun Worsted so this time they would stand out against the fingering weight.

Although the letters appear distinctly in these gloves, the S did not really knit up clearly; it looks more like an E. I did not like knitting from the fingers down (I also dislike toe up, neck and crown down knitting) as I felt as though I was swimming against the tide all of the time. In spite of all of that effort and all of the knitting going in the same direction, there is also a slight scar around each finger at the join rows to the hands.

Knitting in Art for a Summer Afternoon

2009-08-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

Viennese Domestic Garden (1828-30), Erasmus Ritter von Engert (Austrian, 1796-1871)

Oil on canvas, 32 x 25 cm.

Nationalgalerie, Berlin

I love this painting for its light, cool summer garden and, of course, the quasi-invisible knitter tucked away in the lower left corner, working on what looks like a stocking. The overall effect is elegant as is the woman's cap and grey gown. I also like the fact that she is knitting and reading at the same time, something I enjoy doing whenever the knitting is easy enough to just follow with my fingers.

1840s Half-Caps

2009-07-26T06:39:00.001-07:00

Working on these caps reminded me of the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first one (pumpkin) I knit was too small, the second (white) was too big and the third (burgundy) was just right (scroll down to see all of them.) The pattern, Half Cap for Wearing Under a Bonnet, is from Exercises in Knitting by Mrs. Cornelia Mee, 1846. It is knit back and forth on spns but needs dpns (preferably longer than sock or glove ones) or a small circular for the final stage. Mrs. Mee’s patterns are fairly reliable; I have knit quite a few things from this book and the few mistakes I have found I have put down to typographical and not constructional knitting ones, and are thus easily fixed. As usual for this era, no gauge or tension was given. This pattern calls for “Pins No. 14” (modern 2mm) which used for the first cap but it came out very small and so became a child’s size. The white and green adult size was knit on much larger needles, 4mm, but that one came out too big, I then went down to 3.5mm for the third rendition, took it off the needles after I did the first section with the ribbon run-through and the main body of the back and measured it against the white and green cap. As there was very little difference in size, I went down to 2.5mm needles, and this time the cap looked juuuuuu-st right. During all of this needle hopping, I experimented with and used the same brand of needles, Aero. More on that subject in a future blog entry.

Here is a link to the kind of 1848 bonnet this half-cap would have been worn under, thus providing a layer of insulation (scroll down): http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/content/view/604/75/

Mrs. Mee does not suggest any kind of wool but does state that the body should be white and the edges in a “coloured wool,” the choice of that being left up to the knitter. In keeping with my stash-busting resolution, I choose Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted’s Snow, Grecian Olive, Sunburst Gold, Cranberry Fog and Blueberry from the bins. Dusky pink, brick red and sage green ribbons added the finishing touches.

PATTERN NOTE: Mrs. Mee does not state that the stitches will increase from 119 to 120 after the first eyelet row. I incorporated the extra stitch into the main part of the cap and left it there – it makes no difference. This is a very fast project. It took me about six hours to knit each cap with another 5 minutes for weaving the ribbons!

Norwegian Morning Cap/Hood from Godey's, 1861

2009-07-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

The pattern for this variously called cap, hood or bonnet comes from Godey’s Lady’s Book, February, 1861.

This project was a KAL in the CW-Needleworkers Yahoo group this year and since I have sworn to stash-bust, I am happy to report that this project ate up three Lilac and a bit of one White skein of Morehouse Farm Merino Lace. The knitting needles were 2.75mm/US 2 and a 2mm crochet hook for the looped edging. The knitted gauge/tension is 9 stitches/1".

I had to knit the bonnet/cap/hood twice. Following the instructions in the original pattern resulted in an object half the size of this one, more like a 1960’s dolly bird's headscarf. For the second attempt, I kept to the same size needles but doubled the number of all of the rows in the pattern. This meant that I began with 480 stitches instead of 240 but luckily the pattern decreases four stitches every right side row and the knitting is simply all garter stitch with the four sets of eyelet rows so it is diminishing all of the time. Nevertheless, this is a tedious knitting project, especially with such fine wool.

I cannot really crochet so the wavy edges look ragged to me. I am sure a crocheter could have whipped around the bonnet/cap/hood's edges in a trice but they took seven hours to do (with lots of ripping, tears, chocolate and several dvds of my favourite science fiction series for stimulating high energy(apologies for bringing in a contemporary/futuristic element.)

The ribbons are deep navy blue.

Literary Knitting

2009-07-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

The Wine Shop by Phiz (Halbot K. Browne (1815-1882)), A Tale of Two Cities, Book II, Chapter XVI [Still Knitting],(1859), by Charles Dickens, (1812-1870)

Each year on July 14th, Bastille Day, I always think of literature's most famous knitter, Madame Defarge. Before I began deep studies of the era in which A Tale of Two Cities is set, I had read the novel several times and seen various films of it as well. I have always had a soft spot for the 1958 version with Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin and one of my favourite actresses, Rosalie Crutchley (who has the distinction of playing Madame Defarge twice) and was my first Madame Defarge off of the page and a brilliant one at that. So brilliant that I have tolerated being called Madame Defarge by family and friends (mostly trying to be amusing) on and off over the years, preferring to link myself in my mind to Rosalie Crutchley rather than the real Madame Defarge.

The famous illustration by Phiz somewhat softens the character who terrified me. I do, however, like the way she is described by Dickens:

"No crowd was about the door; no people were discernible at any of the many windows; not even a chance passerby was in the street. An unnatural silence and desertion reigned there. Only one soul was to be seen, and that was Madame Defarge--who leaned against the door-post, knitting, and saw nothing." (Book I, Chapter VI)

Once again, we have the knitter who apparently sees (or hears) nothing. Twice over as the following paragraph ends with the same nine words. Leaning against a door which equals fading into the background is often how knitters are perceived. I have mentioned Miss Marple before and here is another, seemingly, uninvolved knitter, lost in her work. Phiz's rendition, too, portrays a woman looking at her knitting although the accompanying text in the chapter describes Madame Defarge receiving compliments about her knitting, discussing it and composedly "looking at him with a smile while her fingers moved nimbly," all in the midst of a situation of espionage and she never drops a stitch or loses count of the chilling project on her needles.

More importantly, the knitting never stops in this novel, features in the titles of three of the chapters but is symbolic in far too many ways to discuss in a short post like this one. Perhaps another time as now I have to get back to my knitting!

The Garment - Update

2009-07-11T10:57:00.001-07:00

After six weeks of intense mid-ish 19th century knitting, I am finally able to return to The Garment. Cool, rainy days are perfect for porch knitting as are my Gull Wings socks (pattern by Vivienne Shen, from Socks - Socks - Socks published by Knitter’s Magazine, 1999.) The socks are thrice over appropriate ones being knit in Damselfly Yarns Seaside Sheep, Apricot Blush and hand-dyed by a fellow-POB enthusiast.

The Garment is comfortably stretched out beside me, listening to Post Captain (its favourite Canonical tome, of course) as I knit “the woolen roll at the top.”

Knickerbocker Stockings

2009-07-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

These mini-stockings were made to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Diedrich Knickerbocker’s A History of New York by Washington Irving. 2009 is also the 150th anniversary of the death of Washington Irving. In this satirical work, Irving describes the Dutch women in New York knitting and wearing blue worsted stockings as well as Peter Stuyvesant’s one “sound leg” which was “always arrayed in a red stocking…” (see my other post below on this subject.)

The red stocking is 4” in length and the blue one (minus those red clocks), 5”. Using crimson and dark dusty blue Morehouse Farm Merino laceweight wool, the red stocking was knit on 1.50mm needles and the blue one on 1.75mm needles. Both have the long, squared-off heel, a seam stitch up the back, a drawstring toe, and space between rows of garter stitches at the tops.

New York Anniversaries

2009-07-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

"Household in the old Dutch Colony times" from the History of the City of New York from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time (New York: Clark & Meeker, 1859), Booth, Mary L. (Mary Louise) (1831-1889), Author; PC NEW YC-Lif-16; Record ID: 693395; Digital ID: 805606, New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection (New York City -- life --1669 and earlier)

Washington Irving (1809) by John Wesley Jarvis (1781?-1839), oil on wood, SS.62.2 a-b, Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, New York (image from http://www. hudsonvalley.org/)

2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of A History of New York From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich Knickerbocker, but really by Washington Irving (1783-1859) as well as the 150th anniversary of Irving's death on November 28th. A History of New York is a satirical, sometimes biting, account of the early settlement of the Dutch colony. It set in stone, however, as Irving's works often did, language and traditions we still hold today, such as St. Nicholas "riding jollily among the treetops, or over the roofs of houses, now and then drawing forth magnificent presents from his breeches pockets, and dropping them down the chimneys of his favorites." (Book III, Chapter II.)

Irving, who grew up in a New York which still retained Dutch influences and elements, wrote very detailed descriptions of the colony's first households and its inhabitants. He describes the families as "generally" living "in the kitchen", enjoying the warmth and light of "the fireplaces" which were of "a truly patriarchal magnitude where the whole family...enjoyed a community of privilege..." and the "goede vrouw...would employ herself diligently in spinning yarn or knitting stockings." (Book III, Chapter III) Even at "tea-parties," "the young ladies seated themselves demurely in their rush-bottomed chairs, and knit their own woolen stockings...behaving, in all things, like decent, well-educated damsels." (Book III, Chapter III.) These stockings are further described as "generally of blue worsted with magnificent red clocks" (Book III, Chapter IV) and as "The wardrobe of a lady was in those days her only fortune...she who had a good stock of petticoats and stockings, was as absolutely an heiress..." (Book III, Chapter IV.)

One of the most distinguished members of the colony was Peter Stuyvesant, who had only one leg but "was especially noted for having his sound leg (which was a very comely one) always arrayed in a red stocking and high-heeled shoe." (Book VII, Chapter I.)

The post above above this one (since I cannot seem to squeeze in a third photo in this post) describes my knitted commemoration of these anniversaries. 2009 is a busy year for it also marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival in what is now New York, the 200th of the patent of Robert Fulton's steamboat and and the 100th of the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration. I have not yet decided if and how I will commemorate those events in stitches although anything to do with ships is intensely inviting to me.

Other Sources

2009-06-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest challenges in recreation of objects from the past is colour. Textiles from the past can be faded or have dyes which have unrecognisably changed. Paintings in good condition, and preferably seen in person, are an excellent source although the skeptic in me sometimes wonders about artistic license. Fabric companies in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands have, however, provided me with another source over the last ten years or so by reproducing lines based on quilts or other objects in excellent condition from the collections of major museums, supported by reliable research. I have made many reproduction quilts from the late 18th century through the 19th century using these lines, some of which are featured in the photograph which, unfortunately, appears here as a little cloudy or faded; the fabrics are much more vibrant in person. Of course, simply because a fabric was dyed with a specific blue or red does not always mean that one could have found wool, silk, cotton or linen in that shade but research about fabric, clothing, household and decorative arts objects, and the dyeing techniques (including longevity) related to them are always a good place to begin when I am planning a new project.

Worldwide Knit in Public Day (Weekend)!

2009-06-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

Wensleydale knitters from The Costume of Yorkshire, 1814, illustrated by George Walker (1781-1856)

This is one of my favourite images of knitting. I love the colours and the clothing (old and new styles of the time.) It also has sheep, and it dates from near the end of my era of speciality. The gentle, calm scene is, however, a contrast to the activity of the knitters who, are, no doubt, not engaged in a leisurely but rather, an economically necessary business. Spare a thought, then, this weekend for those who came before us and had to wield needles whereas we now mostly knit for the sake of pleasure and art.

Young Gentleman's Cotton Nightcap

2009-06-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

The Workwoman's Guide, by a Lady (London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 1838; second edition, 1840) has an entire section called "On Knitting" with patterns, including " A Gentleman's Night Cap." These laconic instructions, in most cases, assume percipient knowledge of knitting and the construction of garments. There are no gauges/tensions and few suggestions (e.g. "fine needles and cotton") as to materials or needles all of which is typical of the era. Using Franklin Habit's recent re-working of the pattern in Knitty (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall08/FEATfall08SIT.html, and , yes, I know that was lazy but it appeared so why not seize upon it?), I knit the cap with J&P Coats Royale Classic Crochet Thread (cotton), Size 10 on 2.25mm/US 1 dpn needles for a gauge/tension of 10 stitches to the inch. My cap came out a bit on the small size, measuring 19" around the brim and 9" from edging to peak. That is why I have called it a young gentleman's night cap.

I am also a quilter, specialising in reproduction quilts, and the cap is photographed on one I made with mid-ish 19th century reproduction fabrics.

Mini-Maturin Stockings

2009-05-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

"'...and pull on your stockings, I beg. We have not a moment to lose. No, not the blue stockings; we are going on to Mrs Harte's party - to her rout.'

'Must I put on silk stockings?...Was I to put the silk stockings over my worsted ones, sure the hole would not show: but then I should stifle with the heat.'"

Master and Commander, Chapter Six

While The Garment was growing apace and outstripping me in height by more than a foot, I knit these stockings for a change of pace. I am still working on the life-size blue stockings related to the above quotation but these were a test pair for some future mini-stockings. They are long enough to go over a mini-person’s knee, have the welting/garter stitch rows at the top, the long, square heel with a three-needle cast off, a gathered toe and a seam/purl stitch up the back (see the flattened-out stocking on the left.) I have also embroidered “S M” in red embroidery cotton (standing in for silk) at the top of the stockings although not in cross-stitch as I am doing on the life-size pair.

The stockings measure 5" long from top to sole and are one inch wide at the calf. They were knit with Morehouse Farm Merino laceweight wool on 1.50 mm needles. The gauge/tension is 13 stitches to the inch.

The photograph of these stockings, ironically, refuses to open up in a larger version when clicked on.

The Garment - Its Wool

2009-05-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

I have, perhaps, been an unconscionable time knitting The Garment. Designing and creating something to fit someone I have never met has been one reason. The other one is, however, a purely selfish one. I love, love, love, love, love this wool and I do not want to ever stop knitting with it. Sure, it is the Wool of the World! Three ply, a gorgeous shade of brown (which refuses to come across in the photograph at left), strong and smooth while still holding surprise bits of straw, etc., it proudly sits on my needles and wraps around and glides through my fingers, creating a fabric that is both sturdy and elegant. It smells like wool should and it almost looks good enough to eat!

I have knit with all kinds of materials from sewing thread to shredded strips of fabric and plastic bags. We live in a great age of knitting; the choice of yarns, strings, wire, etc., is limitless. No matter – I always yearn to return to pure wool. It is what I learned to knit with and grew up with, not making the acquaintance of acrylic, let alone cashmere, angora, etc., as knitting yarns until I was in my twenties. I miss wool if I spend too much time away from it, working on socks with a nylon blend, soft cotton for baby clothing or stained glass ladder scarves. Perhaps that is another reason I am attracted to historical knitting, most of which I do in wool.

I recently reviewed my stash of twenty- two oversize plastic bins which contain wool, cotton and synthetic yarns, some dating back to the 1950’s. Most of it I adore, some of it I cannot recall purchasing or receiving, some of it I wonder at, confused as to why I ever bought it or so much of it! There are, however, many old friends in those bins, including a skein or small ball left over from something my mother knit for me as a child or my early attempts at clothing my toys. Some of it was given to me (that fabulous mid-20th century sock yarn that works so well for mid and late 19th century knitting), some of it is rough, dull-coloured 1960’s Aran wool which is just as treasured as the undyed handspun laceweight wool or gloriously hand dyed sock yarn from last year. Looking at it all at once, bins opened, lids scattered, I felt as though I had a museum of yarn, spanning almost 60 years and the products of many countries. Each skein or scrap has a history, and, very soon, what little will be left over from The Garment, will join them – with its own special story within a story

The Garment - Out for the Day

2009-05-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

The weather has been glorious and just right for sitting by the water while knitting. Even the Garment, with its neck/head in progress and still awaiting its left arm, took advantage of a bench in the sun, facing the lapping waves and enjoying the sun on its back.

The Garment - The Neckline

2009-05-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

The neck and head of the Garment are, perhaps, its most controversial parts. Stephen Maturin gives a hint of the their constuction: "...I can withdraw my head entirely..."

In interpreting the above, I designed a long cowl neck which would be wide enough to go over and around the head, estimating 12-14" long (it is still on the needles.) The neck line and cowl would also, however, have to pull the whole garment together to give the impression of a one-piece, "single tight" garment and not one made up of three parts, that is a lower body, torso and headpiece.

The upper body of the Garment buttons down the front. The photograph shows the two button bands (minus the buttons - more on those in a future separate post), the button placements marked by gold pins and the neck joined by a pin for the pickup, and the neck/cowl stitches picked up around the two fronts and the back neck with a few inches knit. The Garment will, thus, have to be stepped into, the legs and hip area pulled up, then the back pulled up from behind up so the head can go through the cowl, the arms put on one at a time, and, finally, the fall, waistband and front bands buttoned. A deeply rational manner of dressing, is not it?

All quotations are from Post Captain, Chapter Twelve

The Garment - Upper Section

2009-03-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

The Garment has really taken on a personality of its own. Like Stephen Maturin, it is polite and pleasant company but also like Stephen, it often seems to have secret missions of its own. It leaves my lap of its own volition and loves to tangle the three working balls of wool no matter how much I work at keeping them all separate. It is also now taller than I am which is the first time I have made anything so large. The two blankets I knit years and years ago were only 5' and 6' long, respectively.

Here is The Garment's upper sections being measured from the waistband up. I pinned the back and fronts together from the underarms up and then pinned the whole upper part to the bed. Also on view are some of the many ends which will have to be woven in when the knitting is finished.

The Garment - Stretching Upwards

2009-03-12T13:44:00.001-07:00

I am up to the underarms where I split off for the back which is now knit up to the base of the neck. This photograph shows The Garment about halfway up the back. It has become rather unwieldy to knit, the creature! There is now so much of it, I have to lay it alongside me if I am sitting with my feet up or have it almost sitting next to me if I am sitting upright when knitting. It has also just about outgrown its cloth water bucket home. I have been taking advantage of the change in weather and although it is still chilly and windy, I can now sit by the water and knit in the glorious sunny daylight, listening to the waves and doing some long distance eye exercises.

The Garment - Double Waistband

2009-03-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

I have decided that a double waistband would be deeply rational as well as a more supportive link between the upper and lower parts. To do this I knit the outer waistband with the button hole and then ran the stitches onto the red wool as seen in the photo. Using a 1.50 mm 40 inch circular needle, I picked up the stitches of the waistband on the inside (purl side.) At this point, The Garment was sent to my model for a fitting, hence the red wool. Upon its return, I knit the inner waistband on the regular 4.50 mm needles to match the outer waistband (upper photograph, outer waistband curling forward) and afterwards ran the 1.50 circulars through the stitches on the outer waistband (lower photograph) so I could knit the two together and close the gap. The result is a nice firm waist area from which the upper part of The Garment is growing. I had, sometime ago, began to knit an upper part with live stitches at the bottom but did not like its shaping so I ripped it out and am now knitting this part directly from the double waistband, increasing twice at both sides every inch.

The Garment - The Lower Half

2009-02-09T13:39:00.001-08:00

The main part of the lower half of The Garment is finished and has been sent to my model for a fitting. He is 6’2”, hence the long legs. The foot sections will be knit down from the ankles.

The photo at left shows this part of TG in its final stages, minus the fall. The legs were knit in the round but then I switched to back and forth for the upper part. The open (not yet sewn) inner seam is just visible. Following the pattern of men’s breeches at that time, the seam is on the inside of the leg. There was an outside seam, too, but "it don't signify" in this case. This photo also shows several sets of needles on TG. The fall (front flap) is on a small circular needle and green wool, holding the stitches until the needle was put on but left on for clarity in the photo. This was knit back and forth with two garter stitches on either side and across the top to flatten the edges, and with a button hole at either upper side. Decreases were made on both sides for the waist as I knit up the hips, also, at this point, back and forth, with stitches both cast/bound off and some replaced, at the front for the waistband. The waist area shows two pairs of long circular needles. The larger, wooden set is knitting the outer waist band, including the stitches added for the front of the waistband which will also have a button. The thin, metal long circular needles are holding the stitches at the base of the waistband which will become the inner waistband, offering double support, therefore, to the upper part of TG which will be knit upwards from the lower part pictured here and from both waistbands, incorporated into one knitted row.

The Garment - January 2009 Update 2

2009-01-25T14:30:00.001-08:00

The Garment - January 2009 Update

2009-01-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

I know that I am taking a long time working on this project. One of the reasons is that I keep adjusting the design. The legs have been knit several times as have the rows which join the two legs and sides at hip level just below the fall. I think, however, I have finally got it right this time. There are the legs, hanging out of the cloth bucket which makes a perfect knitting bag. That photo also is the most accurate representation so far of the shade of brown of the wool.

The other reason I am moving slowly is that I adore this wool. It is strong, feels good in the hands and on the needles, and rips and re-knits beautifully. The colour is gorgeous with flecks of lighter wool that show up from time to time.

2009 Knitting Resolutions

2009-01-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

It isn’t as bad as it looks and it is, in fact, much more organised. There are currently no socks on the needles in the sock/Crabtree & Evelyn bag, the latest pair being finished last night and posted on Ravelry tonight. The contemporary wips number about five at the moment with the reproductions far outnumbering them:

1. Lady's 19th century garters
2. Cord and tassels for a completed sontag
3. Knitted counterpane shells (one a day or at least five a week – they only take twenty minutes each to knit) and design the sides and corners and think about the edging
4. THE GARMENT – finished as a birthday present for Stephen Maturin (March 25th ) which that is the goal
5. Child's handspun 18th century stockings (one foot and a complete stocking)
6. Child’s marled 18th century stockings (same as above)
7. Handspun gauntlet gloves (one down, one to go)
8. Lady's 19th century fingerless gloves (second one)
9. Vanity Fair purse
10. 1918 Dutch baby cap
11. Infant's 17th century jacket
12. Gentleman's 19th century underdrawers (only the top on the second side)
13. Stephen Maturin’s blue stockings (peeking out of the 18th century pockets)
14. Lady's mid-19th century brown stockings

Planned reproduction projects include

1. Lady's 19th century underbonnet cap
2. Man's 19th century nightcap
3. Child's 19th century nightcap
4. Lady's 18th century mitts
5. 19th century purse (yes, another one!)
6. 1918 boudoir cap
7. 17th century red stockings to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Washington Irving’s satirical first book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Dietrich Knickerbocker in which he describes the stockings (also blue) of the inhabitants of New Amsterdam.
8. 18th century stockings with re-knitted foot
9. Lady's 19th century undersleeves
10. More Aubrey-Maturin miniatures

I would also like to reproduce one of the little knitted shawls from the television production of Cranford.

Well, that’s the plan. Finishing is not difficult. Resisting starting new projects (contemporary and historical), including the unplanned, will be the challenge!

19th Century Handkerchief Case - Finished!

2008-12-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

I have been searching for a reproduction button to put at the center of the lower part of this handkerchief case but have not been able to find a suitable one. The case could be used as is, without a button and loop to close so I am considering it as finished. The body is 10" long by 11 1/2" wide, and is lined with an imitation pink satin. The stitch and thread details may be found in my earlier post of March 3, 2008.

Desolation Island Mittens - Finished!

2008-12-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

These are the warmest mittens I have ever worn and I would like to think that Louisa Wogan knit with similar wool for Stephen Maturin or those American whalers who brought her back to the United States. I finished them three ways, first with a squared off top, then a pointed one and finally settled on a rounded edge by knitting two together around in the last three rows until there were only three stitches left which I ran through with the tail of wool. Since we have no description of the mittens, let alone Louisa Wogan’s knitting techniques, the mittens are open to interpretation and are more of a tribute to part of her seagoing output than a reproduction of an early 19th century style. The wool, handspun, from an unknown breed (it was a gift to me), is dense and thickly spun.

The mittens were photographed on a nearby beach. Not quite resembling Desolation Island (http://www.discoverfrance.net/Colonies/Kerguelen.shtml#) but looking appropriately bleak, I quite like it in the winter, when the wind is blowing and the air is so invigorating.

Matching Materials

2008-11-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

The Wool Winder
(probably 1759)
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
(French, 1725-1805)
Oil on canvas, 74.6 x 61.3 cm
ID Number: 43.1.148
The Frick Collection
New York, New York

Finding the right materials with which to knit a reproduction of an item is, perhaps, the most difficult part of the process. I knit over four and a bit centuries, from the 16th to the present day. Many of the objects that I reproduce are made using the original one as inspiration or a model whether I can examine the piece myself or am working from photographs or paintings. The 16th through early 19th centuries are the most challenging. I am continually searching for wool, linen, silk and cotton that will resemble those of the past. Contemporary versions possess a very taut twist, all very much looking machine made. If I am knitting in the Industrial Age, I am still wondering if my materials resemble machine spun threads of that era.

Wool offers more choice and accessibility. I can spin or have wool spun for me to my weight or plying specifications. I am also able to obtain naturally dyed wool, that is, wool being dyed with indigo, cochineal, vegetables and plants using 18th century methods. It is possible to find commercial wools that will pass in reproduction knitting. Jamieson’s, Morehouse, Blackberry Ridge, Harrisville Designs offer fine weight wools in acceptable colours after careful research. I have also recently added some glorious undyed Wool out of Wales to the reproduction stash.

Nineteenth century knitting is, of course, much easier to replicate as by the late 1830’s and early 1840’s, patterns, although laconic, were appearing and knitting materials (type of needles and wool or cotton) were often suggested. This continued throughout the century even, sometimes, with the suggestion of colours for their durability to retain their dye through wear and washing and not always as a fashion statement. The range and accessibility of materials were, thanks to mass industrialization, much wider. Wools, silks and cottons were specifically named and needle sizes begin to be standardized. Books and periodical publications about needlework from this era are still widely available online, in facsimile and original editions in libraries. The last mentioned often have a section describing materials, in less or more detail, such as found on this site

http://www.robinstokes.com/yarn_names.htm

Some of my reproduction knitting takes me through the early 20th century right up to the 1930’s and by then it is much easier to match wools and cottons if not actually find them sometimes. Damaged vintage garments can be unraveled for period knitting. I was lucky enough to have inherited wool in different weights from the 1950’s and 1960’s and poking about in antique shops has yielded vintage fine cotton. My dream, however, is to find some (silk) twist from c. 1800!

The Garment is Growing!

2008-08-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

One leg, almost up to the knee, and the second one cast on. A similar item has been sent to the model, who lives quite far away, for fitting, and knitting will resume as soon as the sample garment is returned. Having ripped out the leg eight times and almost worn holes in the pages in my pattern log while editing it, I am hoping that this fit will be the required snug one.

Although a great deal of contemporary knitting is currently making demands on my knitting time, I have also begun the upper body of TG with a false cast on using scrap yarn so I will have live stitches to connect to the last row of live stitches on the waistline of the lower part of The Garment. This upper body part will be knit back and forth, the two fronts and back as one piece, up to the underarms. The original Garment was probably constructed out of loom knitted pieces and then cut and seamed to fit Stephen Maturin's body but I cannot I bring myself to cut steeks in my knitting, I will knit the upper part of the fronts and back separately as I do when making Icelandic, Scandinavian and Fair Isle garments after knitting them in the round up to the underarms.

More Aubrey/Maturin Miniatures - Spoilers

2008-07-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

"My wool garment? You have noticed it, have you? I had forgot, or I should have pointed it out. Have you ever seen anything so deeply rational?"

Post Captain, Chapter Twelve

This miniature version of the life/man size version that I am also knitting was worked in Dritz Sport (sock) yarn which I believe is from the 1950’s, on 1.50mm needles with 14 stitches/inch. The mini-Garment is 7 ¾” long and the sleeves and legs are extra long and there is a cowl for the neck and head. It would be stepped into pulling the legs up to the hip, then slipping the cowl over the head. The arms would be slid into next, pulling the torso section up over the shoulders and fastening, like a shirt, down the front, pulling up and buttoning the fall last. As Stephen Maturin further explains, “See, I can withdraw my head entirely: the same applies to the feet and the hands. Warm, yet uncumbering; light; and above all healthy – no constriction anywhere.”

The black headed pins are simply holding The Garment in place and are not part of it.

“’But no exposure to the sun as yet – I recommend the wearing of a close Welsh wig.”

Master and Commander, Chapter Eight

This was knit in Morehouse lace weight wool on 1.25mm needles at a gauge of 15 stitches/inch. It is 1 ½” wide and almost 1 ¾” long.

“Jack…put on a comforter knitted by his wife, still full of warmth and love though somewhat mangled by Brazilian mice…”

The Far Side of the World, Chapter Five

I knit this in tapestry/needlepoint wool from the 1970’s on 1.50mm needles with 12 stitches/inch. It is almost an inch wide and 8 ½” long. I cut holes and pulled it about a bit to create the mouse damage.

Vanity Fair and the History of Knitting

2008-07-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Vanity Fair, Chapter IV - The Knitted Purse

Beware Spoilers

“…this arrangement left Mr. Joseph Sedley tête-à-tête with Rebecca, at the drawing-room table, where the latter was occupied in knitting a green silk purse… And as he talked on, he grew quite bold, and actually had the audacity to ask Miss Rebecca for whom she was knitting the green silk purse? ….”For any one who wants a purse,” replied Miss Rebecca, looking at him in the most gentle winning way.

[And the next day:]

“…Jos was left alone with Rebecca, who had resumed her work, and the green silk and the shining needles were quivering rapidly under her white slender fingers… “What a beautiful, byoo-ootiful song that was you sang last night, dear Miss Sharp...…my dear Miss Sharp, do sing it”…”Not now, Mr. Sedley,” said Rebecca, with a sigh. My spirits are not equal to it; besides, I must finish the purse. Will you help me, Mr. Sedley?” And before he had time to ask how, Mr. Joseph Sedley of the East India Company’s service was actually seated tête-à-tête with a young lady looking at her with a most killing expression; his arms stretched out before her in an imploring attitude, and his hands bound in a web of green silk, which she was unwinding.

In this romantic position Osborne and Amelia found the interesting pair, when they entered to announce that tiffin was ready. The skein of silk was just wound round the card; but Mr. Jos had never spoken.”

Two highly significant scenes in one of the masterpieces of English literature. A young lady engaged in demure yet useful work about which questions may be asked and conversation made without impropriety in an atmosphere fraught with tension, unease and expectation. Rebecca is knitting a purse, a mindless project, which, retrospectively, is amusing as Becky Sharp is one of the most calculating and ruthless women in literature, completely worthy of her surname. The purse may serve as an innocent (that is, a not too personal) gift and a display of her domestic talents apart from its monetary and sexual symbolism. That she chose to knit this specific item while husband-hunting is appropriate especially since she can only provide the purse and not the fortune thus handicapping her in the marriage stakes. Her attempts, however, to entrap the foolish Jos Sedley with her carefully planned “gentle winning way” and later with “his hands bound in a web of green silk, which she was unwinding” fail miserably for Rebecca but those interested in the history of knitting gain quite a bit of information. The “shining needles” which “were quivering rapidly under her white slender fingers” must refer to metal needles. I picture those commonly seen in paintings from the 18th (see my posts from March 4th and March 18th, 2008.) The silk was purchased in skeins and was then to be wound around a card. Was this a card of home production or a shop or distributor’s card? Was the “web” merely a literary analogy or had Rebecca dropped the skein (conveniently, I would think) and then had to request assistance to untangle it, or was she merely winding the length of a regular skein around a card. What was the length of these skeins? Becky had already knit a considerable part if not almost all of the purse for she refused to sing again (a coy trick) in order to finish the purse, implying that she preferred a productive instead of an entertaining use of her time. She was, perhaps, winding the last needed skein unto a card. How many skeins did a purse require? As for the colour, green was a traditional choice for this kind of purse in the belief that it brought good luck though not for Becky in this case.

In A History of Hand Knitting (Interweave Press, 1987), Richard Rutt mentions that modern editors of Thackery suggest that since Vanity Fair was published in 1847, this image of Becky knitting may not be an accurate one of a young woman's drawing room activity of thirty some years before. This interests me especially in relation to other knitting in the novel which I shall discuss in a future post.

I cannot find a knitting silk that is fine enough to reproduce Becky’s purse so instead I am using dark green DMC 25 Mouline Special embroidery floss on 1.75mm needles at a gauge of 10 stitches/inch.

Double Rose Leaf Lace Nightcap - Finished!

2008-07-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

This nightcap is from Weldon's Practical Knitter, Twenty-Sixth Series in the book Knitting/19th Century Sources, edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot, Lacis Publications (no date.) The pattern also appears in Interweave Press's facsimile series, Weldon's Practical Needlework, Volume 9.

The pattern was easy to follow except for a few typographical errors in the rose leaf section. The three layer frill was made by first knitting a ribbed section with a frilled edge (fourth photo.) This section was folded back and stitches were picked along the folded edge for the second frill of six rows plus a bind/cast off row. The third frill was picked up at the base of the ribbed section, near the hairline, as well as around the rest of the cap. I did not care for the decorative edges on the original long knittted tapes so I left them off.

The cap was knitted in white J&P Coats Royals Classic Crochet Thread (Size 10) on 3.25mm double point and single point needles with a gauge of 11 stitches/inch.

Tools and Totes

2008-07-13T21:24:00.001-07:00

Mademoiselle Brongniart (1788)
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
(1755-1842)
Oil on oak, 65.1 x 53.3 cm.
The National Gallery, London

Over the course of knitting for many, many years, I have amassed a huge collection of knitting tools. (We will not even begin to discuss that other component of knitting, “the stash.”) Needles that number in the hundreds, made of different types of woods, horn, bone, bamboo, plastics and metals. Just as the wand chooses the wizard, the project, in my case, always chooses the needles. My Aran sweaters have always demanded strong (now vintage) Aeros, fine lace work those sharp metal Inoxes and socks now glide into existence on recently acquired glorious Harmony Wood dpns. Reproduction knitting over two centuries in historically accurate ways in public also requires specific needles. At this point in my knitting career, however, I know what I like and what I need so many needles have been passed on to other knitters as my new policy concerning everything in life is to only keep what I absolutely need or will expect to use.

By extension, I have picked up some interesting knitting accessories along the way. The waist hook, which attaches to one’s pocket, belt or apron waistband, the knitting belt from the Shetland Islands and the knitting sheath from I cannot remember where. I just seem to have had it for a long time. Needles do not come in standard sizes and neither do needle gauges so many are needed.

Once the knitting is on those needles, I like to keep or carry it in some sort of textile storage such as reproduction workbags of Indian cotton prints and velvety cotton, 18th century pockets, and modern bags from the gift shops of various museums and institutions. Two of my current favourite carriers/storage bags are a gardening bag with extra tool pockets for the three or four pairs of socks always in progress, and the cloth bucket which stands so tall and holds so much and is the current home of The Garment as well as the Desolation Island mittens. The latest pair of half-gloves, historic or modern, make excellent walking or exercise knitting in their weatherproof nylon bag that clips onto clothing A zippered toile bag or the fold-over clasp bag made from left-over chair upholstery fabric, holds miniature knitting or the latest miser’s purse on the needles. Favourite reproduction fabrics that might never become parts of a quilt are either lining my needle boxes or are turned into more workbags of various sizes.

Nelson's Purse and Another

2008-07-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Martyn Downer’s book, Nelson’ Purse (Corgi Books, 2004) tells the story of a museum or antique professional’s let alone an historian’s dream. A collection that “was not a lost collection because no-one had ever looked for it or missed it” (page 56) comes to light and within it is discovered objects that prove to be of extraordinary historical value including the green purse featured on the cover of the book.

The appeal for me lies in the history (my specialty being the late 18th century/early 19th century with a serious interest in British naval history) as well as the creation of the purse which I have reproduced. It is described as “’Nelson’s pocket purse’…made of woven green silk…” (page 40) and “about 12 inches long and shaped like a tube with a tassel on either end. Coins entered it through a 2-inch horizontal slit halfway along. Two steel rings, each apparently covered in fine strands of hair, were then evidently slid down to the ends of the purse, gathering the material and capturing the contents.” (page 56)

In Appendix I, the author theorises that the purse may have been knit by Fanny Nelson. Allow me at this point to recommend Frances, Lady Nelson – the Life and Times of an Admirable Wife by Sheila Hardy, (Spellmount, Staplehurst, 2005.) Working with letters discovered in 2001 from Fanny Nelson to her husband’s agent, Alexander Davison, Ms. Hardy presents a very different woman from the one previously portrayed in books and on film. There is, however, no mention of knitting purses in this biography but that does not mean that Fanny Nelson might not have knitted the purse in question. In his book, however, Mr. Downer variously describes the purse as knitted, netted, and woven without regard to the fact that these are three very different techniques. I have also received a suggestion that the technique used was nålbinding which raises another interesting set of questions as to its origin. If Fanny Nelson did knit the purse, Mr. Downer suggests that she may have “purchased the necessary silk, or ‘twist’, from Thomas Gardom who owned a shop on St James’s Street which specialized in ‘Purse-Twist, Tassels and sliders’.” (page 465) Another, blue, purse of “doubtful provenance” is also discussed on pages 466-467.

Working with the measurements from the book and by counting the stitches on the purse in the two available photographs as best I could, I was able to reproduce the purse using approximately six skeins of dark green DMC Anchor Pearl Cotton Size 5 on 2.50mm needles, knit in garter stitch in the round, at 7 stitches/inch. It is very difficult to find knitting silk let alone affordable knitting silk. I am, therefore, not satisfied with the result using this cotton as it feels rather bulky. I could not find appropriate metal rings so I used plastic ones, wrapped with dark brown DMC Mouline Special embroidery floss to mimic silk although the rings on Nelson’s purse were wrapped with hair. What Downer calls tassels appears to me to be very small pompoms with curled ends, probably the natural twist of the silk. My pompoms do not, unfortunately, have that attractive twist.

Another purse was knit in stocking/stockinette stitch in nine colours of DMC Anchor Pearl Cotton, Size 5 at 7 stitches/inch also on 2.50mm needles. The plastic rings are covered in silver DMC Mouline Special embroidery floss. I am not fond of jewelry or hanging beads so I did not use either for the ends as was commonly done. I did, however, find a reference to thread ends on page 144 in Labors of Love by Judith Reiter Weissman and Wendy Lavitt (Alfred A. Knopf, 1987) and the ones on this purse are simple knots and tassels. I am currently working on two more purses using the thinner DMC Mouline Special embroidery floss, the challenge being to create a purse with the sheen of silk while not obscuring the delicate patterns by knitting with fine needles and thread.

“Why did you knit that strange thing?”

2008-07-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

That was the question asked of me the other day during a demonstration and display of 19th century knitted items. The strange thing was a kneecap warmer and it was one of a varied collection of other strange things. To be fair, the question had been preceded by compliments and intelligent enquiries about the knitted items, and I do not think that the kneecap warmer was being singled out. It happened to be the last item viewed and discussed. The same question has been asked of me many times in a less descriptive way. What it comes down to is, simply, why do I knit these reproductions?

My reasons are several. First of all, I knit. I sleep, eat, wash, dress, work, read, etc. and knit. Knitting is part of the pattern of life. I come from a knitting family and I learned to knit when I was four, and, during childhood, I knit hats and variations upon garments for my toys. My earliest memories of being seriously interested in history date from about age eight and it was not long before a triumvirate of reading, handwork and imagination was born. It is still thriving to this day though now it has years of research as well as trial and error under its collective belt. What it also has is endless curiosity. My interest in history, both professional and personal does involve the major themes of government, battles, architecture, art and music but also, and just as importantly, daily life. Clothing and household items fall under the last category and how better to understand something than to recreate it. As I have said in an earlier post, we cannot truly experience the past but we can catch a glimpse of it here and there. This seems to be the explanation that satisfies most people, especially people who do not knit or do any type of handwork. Speaking of hands, though, on the other hand, why is any explanation necessary? The original question, is after all, rather rude. What is really implied, and sometimes asked, is why do I waste my time doing this kind of knitting? Is knitting objects that may be worn in select environments or never worn at all and are just demonstration pieces or exercises in threads or wool a waste of time? The next question usually is, “Do you knit contemporary things, too?” Replying in the affirmative seems to be reassuring. Is my historic knitting, then, even when it is presented in an historic setting, disturbing or am I just facing a more intense version of the “Why knit it when you can buy it?” query encountered by many knitters or, indeed, by anyone who makes something that can be purchased ready made be it a table or a pair of mittens. What I find unsettling (and sometimes annoying) is just that glint of concern in the eyes of the enquirer (and betrayal when it is a fellow knitter!) as they look into mine and ask, “Why?”

“Why not?” I reply. If anyone can come up with a better answer and not an apology for one’s art, please let me know.

Late 19th Century Double Rose-Leaf Nightcap

2008-06-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

This nightcap appears in Weldon's Practical Knitter, Twenty-Sixth series. I found it in Knitting / 19th Century Sources edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot, Lacis Publications (no publication date.) The pattern also appears in Interweave Press's facsimile series, Weldon's Practical Needlework, Volume 9. It is being knit on 3.25 mm needles, dpns for the back circular piece and spns for the rest of the cap. I am using J&P Coats Royale Classic Crochet Thread, Size 10.

The back piece and the main part that will go around the head are shown. I am currently about halfway through the Double Rose-Leaf pattern. Still to come is the frill around the bottom and then the ruched frill around the front.

Aubrey Maturin Miniatures Update (Contains Spoilers!)

2008-06-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here is TA, the miniature giant tortoise wearing Stephen Maturin's comforter, knit for him by Louisa Wogan [Desolation Island], and knit by me in Appleton’s crewel wool Red 203 on 2.25mm needles. At the lower left is William Mowett's Guernsey "shirt" [Master and Commander] in Morehouse lace weight wool, blue and natural, on 1.50 needles. This did not turn out to my satisfaction as both the stripes and neck are too broad. I modeled the neck on a woven wool under shirt of Nelson's (more about that in the future), and it should be flatter and narrower. I plan to make another one with adjustments.

Stephen's Garment [Post Captain], in brown Dritz Sports Yarn (wool) on 1.25mm needles, is being knit in two pieces, a front and back, and they are pinned out over each other on a cushion like one of his dissecting projects. I was comparing the waistlines so as to know where to end the fall which can be seen folding backwards with the knitting needle still in it. The two pieces will be sewn together and I will then knit the arms from the shoulders down.

Still on the needles is a Monmouth cap, another Guernsey shirt, Desolation Island mittens, Stephen's blue stockings and Jack's comforter knit by Sophie [The Far Side of the World.]