Fair Isle coat, 1924

From "The Australasian" (Melbourne, Vic.), Saturday, 31 May 1924, page 48. Courtesy the National Library of Australia.

This very snappy lady's coat was originally published in Weldon's Sixpenny Series no.58, "Jazz Wear" and reprinted in the Melbourne, Australia newspaper "The Australasian" in 1924.  Note the early use of charted colorwork, the three-needle bind-off, and the imperative "Do not slip first stitch of any row," which clearly implies that the slip-stitch selvage edge was already well-known.  (We might also note with amazement that this injunction means that the entire coat was in stranded knitting worked flat.)

 

It would be interesting to know if Fair Isle was actually known as "jazz knitting" in the 1920s or if that is just Weldon's being au courant!

FAIR ISLE COAT. 

MEDIUM SIZE. 

DESCRIPTION. 

This effective coat is worked in jazz knitting in stocking-web stitch (i.e., one row plain and one row purl), with collar, and borders in garter-stitch (i.e., every row plain). The front and back are made separately, and afterwards grafted together on each shoulder. The sleeves are also made separately and sewn into coat.

 

MATERIALS 

Shetland Floss.-10oz. putty, 1oz. blue, 1oz. cherry, 1oz. brown. 

Four bone needles No. 8 two button moulds, l¼in. across. 

 

MEASUREMENTS. 

Shoulder to lower edge, 25in.; round lower edge, 49in. (back 21in., fronts 14in.); sleeve seam, 18in. 

Do not slip first stitch of any row. 

 

RIGHT FRONT. 

Commence at lower edge. With putty, cast on 80 stitches, and knit 20 rows garter-stitch, knitting into back of each cast-on stitch, then knit 6 rows stocking web [i.e. stockinette]. 

Next 5 Rows.-Work according to chart. Knit 7 rows stocking-web. 

Next 17 Rows.-According to chart. Work 3 rows stocking-web. 

59th Row (1st buttonhole row).-K. 5, cast off 6, knit to end. 

60th Row.-P. 69 cast on 6, p. Knit 2 rows stocking-web. 

Next 5 Rows.-According to Chart. Knit 7 rows stocking-web. 

Next 17 Rows.-According to chart. Knit 7 rows stocking-web. 

Next 6 Rows -According to chart. Knit 3 rows stocking-wcb. 

107th and 108th Rows (2nd buttonhole rows).-As 59tth and 60th rows. Knit 2 rows, stocking:web. Next 17 Rows.-According to chart. Knit 4 rows stocking web. 

132nd Row.-Cast off 6 for underarm, purl to end. 133rd Row (here commence slope for front).-K. 2 tog., knit to end. 134th Row.-Purl to end. Now work according to chart, decreasing at commencement of every knit row until 42 stitches remain on needle, then finish front, according to chart, and leave stitches on needle, ready for grafting. -Break off wool, leaving long end. 

 

LEFT FRONT. 

Commence at lower edge. With putty cast on 88 stitches. Knit 20 rows garter stitch, knitting into back of each cast-on stitch, then knit 6 rows stocking-web. Now work according to right front chart, but omitting buttonholes, until the 132nd row is reached (this being 1st row shown in left front chart).

132nd Row.-Purl. 

133rd Row.-Cast off 6 for underarm, knit until 2 remain, k. 2 tog. (this commences decrease for front slope). 134th row.- Purl to end. Now work according to chart, decreasing at end of every knit row until 42 stitches remain on needle, then finish front according to chart, and leave stitches on needle ready for grafting. Break off wool, leaving long end. 

 

THE BACK. 

Commence at lower edge. With putty, cast on 120 stitches. Knit 20 rows garter stitch, knitting into back of each cast-on stitch, then knit 6 rows stocking-web. Now work according to chart until armhole is reached. 

131st Row.-Cast off 8, knit to end. 

132 Row.-Cast off 8, purl to end. Work 2 rows stocking-web. 

Now continue according to chart until 3 more patterns are completed, then work 3 rows stocking-web. 

Next Row.-K. 42, cast off 20 for neck, k. 42. Break off wool, leaving long end. Now graft shoulders together as follows: Thread wool into wool needle place the 2 needles containing stitches together, right side outside, hold work so that end of wool is at the back needle, pass wool needle through first loop of front needle purl ways, but do not slip loop off the knitting needle, pass needle through first loop of back needle, as if about to knit, but do not slip loop off. * Slip off first loop, as if for plain knitting, in front row, but keep loop on wool needle [sic] until next loop is worked, pass needle through second loop as if for purling, but do not slip loop off knitting needle. In Back Row.-Slip off first loop as if for purling, keeping on wool needle, pass needle through second loop as if for knitting, but do not slip loop off knitting needle, repeat from * until all loops are worked off. 

 

THE SLEEVES. 

Commence at lower edge. With putty, cast on 100 stitches. Knit 20 rows garter-stitch, knitting into back of each cast-on stitch. Knit 6 rows stocking-web. Now work according to chart until 6 patterns are completed, break off coloured wools. Knit 7 rows stocking-web. Cast off. 

 

THE COLLAR. 

This commences with the facing up right front. With putty, cast on 10 stitches. Knit 44 rows stocking-web. 

45th Row.-K. 2, cast off 6, k. 2. 

46th Row.-P. 2, cast on 8, p. 2. (These 2 rows are buttonhole rows.) 

Knit 44 rows stocking-web, then repeat the 45th and 46th rows for 2nd button hole. 93rd Row.-Knit. 

94th Row.-K. 2. k. 2 into next stitch (by knitting into back as well as front of stitch before slipping it off needle), knit to end. 

95th Row.-Knit. Repeat last 2 rows until there are 40 stitches on needle. Knit 188 rows garter-stitch.

Next Row.-K. 2, k. 2 tog., knit to end. Next Row.-Knit. Repeat last 2 rows until 10 stitches remain on needle. Next Row.-Purl. 

Next Row.-Knit. Next Row.-Purl. Knit 92 rows stocking-web. Cast off. Covers for Buttons.-Cast on 10 stitches. Knit 16 rows garter-stitch. Cast off. 

 

TO MAKE UP. 

Press well on wrong side under a damp cloth with a moderately hot iron. Sew up side-seams. Sew up sleeve-seams, sew sleeves into armholes. Sew on collar, continuing stocking-web facing down each front, placing buttonholes over button holes in coat. Cover the two button moulds, sew on left front to correspond with buttonholes. 

-(From "Weldon's Jazz Wear.")

The cover of "Jazz Wear".  The Fair Isle coat in The Australasian is pictured at lower right.  (Image: Ravelry.)

"The School-Girl's Hymn" (1859)

"The School-Girl's Hymn" by William Holman Hunt (1859). 

"The School-Girl's Hymn" by the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt, described as a "pot-boiler" by the Ashmolean (presumably on Holman Hunt's authority!), shows "'a girl going to school in a smiling summer Sunday morning, singing her hymn as she walks along'. The model was Miriam Wilkinson, a labourer's daughter Hunt met while staying with Thomas Combe at a farmhouse near Hastings in Kent in 1858."  It is rather unusual in clearly showing the sitter wearing a knitted garment -- two in this case, as she has a knitted muffler as well.

Since a significant characteristic of the Pre-Raphaelites was an intense realism, it comes as no surprise that the stitch used in the girl's jacket is meticulously depicted, almost certainly brioche stitch. A similar jacket pattern is the one below, from The New Guide to Knitting & Crochet by Marie Jane Cooper (Cooper, 1847).

Note that the number of stitches to cast on should be 225, not 25.

A POLKA COAT, FOR A CHILD.

Cast on twenty-five [sic, 225] stitches, which will make seventy-five ribs, in the Brioche stitch, which is done by bringing the wool forward, slipping a stitch the purl way, and knit two together; bring the wool forward, knit twenty-four rows, or twelve turns of white; then commence the scarlet, by leaving eighteen stitches on each side, knit twenty-four rows, or twelve turns of scarlet; then begin to take in, which is done by knitting the first thirty on each side, without decreasing; then bring the wool forward, slip one stitch, and knit five together; repeat this till within thirty on the other side, which, knit without decreasing, until you have only forty ribs, or one hundred and twenty stitches; knit forty-eight rows, or twenty-four turns, in this manner, still leaving the white on each side; put thirty stitches on another needle for the front, knit those backwards and forwards for thirty-six rows, or eighteen turns; then knit all the stitches but one rib, turn back, and finish the row, and so on, leaving one rib more each time, till it is the proper length for the shoulder. Cast off, but be particular that the slanting side is not in front; finish the other side in the same way, then take up the stitches for the back; knit thirty-six rows, to correspond with the fronts for the arm-hole; then knit backwards and forwards, leaving one rib each way, until it is the same length as the slanting part in front, which are to be joined together; cast off; now take up the white stitches on each side, and knit till it is long enough to go up the sides; for the sleeves; cast on seventy-two stitches, knit thirty rows, then twelve more, leaving one rib on the one side to form the wide part; for the collar; cast on seventy-six stitches, and knit twelve rows, leaving one rib on each side; then sixteen rows of white; cast off; cast on eighteen stitches for the cuff, and knit till it is long enough to go round the bottom of the sleeve; twist a cord of the same coloured wool, and put in the waist behind, with a tassel at the ends; the same under the collar. These may be done in four-thread fleecy, but they look much better in double Berlin wool, No. 9 pins, by the Eagle gauge. For a lady's, you must cast on stitches in proportion, and larger pins.

Another online version of Cooper's book is available through Google Books.