Friday, October 29, 2021

Ladies' knitted square shawl (1892)

This pretty shawl from the 1892 "Delineator" magazine has a center field worked in blackberry stitch, still a popular choice for shawls etc. today. Somewhat unusually, a measurement for a finished section is given -- on the other hand, eighteen inches (45-46 cm) for the center, even allowing maybe half again for the borders, seems on the small side for a shawl, but perhaps it is meant for the shoulders.

Blackberry stitch is known by many names: trinity, bramble, raspberry, cluster. Slight variations abound, as one might expect!

Blackberry Stitch à la The Delineator

Over a multiple of 4 sts.

Row 1 (RS): *(K1, P1, K1) all in the same st, P3tog, rep from * to end.

Row 2: Purl.

Row 3: *P3tog, (K1, P1, K1) all in the same st, rep from * across. 

Row 4: Purl. 

Repeat these four rows for pattern. 

(A "Delineator" reader was apparently confused by this stitch, as a paragraph appeared in the "Answers to Correspondents" column of a later issue, viz., "[To] Miss M. R. : In knitting ladies' square shawl, first row knit 1, purl 1, and knit 1 out of 1 or next stitch, thus making 3, which you will find take the place of the 3 stitches purled together. This will neither widen nor narrow, but keep the shawl square. Treat the third row in the same manner" [v.41, p.xvi].)

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