Gunnister Knitting

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?

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....

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

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

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

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!

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.