Two sonntags

Sontags -- or sometimes, though rarely, "sonntags" as here -- apparently had a revival in the 1910s, when Lion Brand Yarns included two patterns, one knitted and one crocheted, in their 1912 book A Manual of Worsted Work. Both featured the faux ermine border so popular with their grandmothers in the 1850s.  It's a shame that this useful garment didn't catch on (again), but perhaps that is because in 1912 it doesn't quite suit the very-fashionable "pigeon breast" puff at the waist of the S-curve figure as modeled by Miss Crochet in these photos -- but historical knitters now might appreciate the Lion patterns for their more explicit instructions than the earlier generation's!

What is a cephaline?

Esther Copley, in her Comprehensive Knitting-Book (1849), writes of the cephaline, "A very simple and useful article of this kind is merely a straight piece of knitting worked in wide ribs, and gathered in at the ends to ribbon strings, by which to tie it under the chin. It suits equally well as a ruff for the neck.  It may be made merely as a wide band to cover the ears, or to spread out as to cover the head.  The only difference is in the number of ribs" (p.146).  A netted version in Miss Lambert's 1840 The Ladies' Knitting and Netting Book ("second series"), notes that it is "to be worn on the head on leaving heated rooms", and various encyclopedias of the day (such as Alden's in 1888 and the Columbian of 1897), presumably having copied wholesale from each other in those days before copyright, defined it as "a knitted woolen band passing round the head and over the ears, as a preservation against cold, worn by ladies" (though note that these two at least were long after patterns for a cephaline disappeared from knitting receipt books!).

I have found a few instances of "Cephaline" used as a first name, for American girls born here and there throughout the 19th century (all in Southern states) -- in one instance at least, it was possibly a feminized version of her grandfather's name, Cephas, a Biblical name meaning "rock" in Aramaic.  However, the prefix cephalo-, used in another definition of "cephaline," means "head" -- Dictionary.com gives "<Greek kephalo-, combining form of kephalḗ head; akin to gable," so this seems the more-likely origin of the word for this particular garment.

The cephaline sounds quite like a melon hood or an opera hood except that the latter, at least in Godey's 1856 version, is longer, sort of a cap/muffler combination (though, to add to the confusion, sometimes it isn't), where Mrs. Copley says that the cephaline is tied "under the chin", much like Mrs. Weaver's melon hood of 1859.

In addition to Mrs. Copley's pattern, one for "A Sontag, or Cephaline" (sic!) can be found in Frances Lambert's My Knitting Book of 1843 (Ravelry link here), and one in Miss Watts's Selection of Knitting, Netting & Crochet Work (1844).

"A Manual of Worsted Work" from Lion Brand Yarns, 1912

An "automobile or aviation turban" (pp.74-75) for those exciting new modes of transportation! Note, too, this early use of chunky yarns.

Lion Brand Yarns' 1912 A Manual of Worsted Work for Those Who Knit and Crochet includes illustrated sections on how to knit and crochet, with useful and clearly-illustrated stitch dictionaries for both knitting and crochet (including crocheted borders), patterns for garments to suit babies, children, men, and women -- though do note that most of the women's patterns are sized to fit a 34 to 36-inch bust (86 to 92 cm) only -- and patterns for afghans, "couch robes," etc. and "novelties" from leading reins to a dog coat. A treasure trove!

The entire book is available free through Archive.org.