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!
6 comments:
I didn't know that Knit in Public Week started this Saturday! Thanks for letting us know. I am part of a living history program on Saturday (Sutter's Fort, Sacramento, CA) and have just put out a note to all the fort ladies to bring their knitting on Saturday!
There certainly is a lot going on there, isn't there?
I hope the weather is nice for knitting in public. We've been having rain rain rain until I'm starting to grow algae!
Fingers crossed here, too, when not knitting, for good weather! I plan to knit *in* two or three centuries over the next week, depending on where I am working.
Here's hoping that no one has to wring out his/her knitting!
So glad to have found your blog and look forward to see what you're discovering in the vintage patterns.
I think what look like dangling yarn ends are marks indicating texture on the man's coat. My guess is flat knitting, but she seems to be rearranging something, as both needles extend too far to be currently in use for actual knitting.
My feeling is that the implication is that the knitter is about as talented in her work as the gentleman are in their literary pursuits. She does seem to be rather flailing about with those overly long needles.
I really like these caustic prints even though they can be very nasty, and even when they poke fun at something I love, like knitting, as they are often so informative in many ways. I have to try and find more with knitting in them!
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