"The Artist's Mother Knitting in a Flat in Paris"

"The Artist's Mother Knitting in a Flat in Paris" by Albert Ranney Chewett (1877-1965).

Maria Susan Chewett (1836-1918), née Ranney, knits in the English or "drawing-room style," with the right needle extending over the hand, much like holding a pen; this style was the "posh" way of knitting from some time during the Victorian period to the 1940s at least.  Mrs. Chewett was born in England, spent much of her married life in Canada (where her six children were born), and returned to England to live out her widowhood with her artist son and a number of his siblings.

Note that this is not what is now generally called English-style knitting, in which the wool is held in the right hand and "thrown" or wrapped around the working needle (as opposed to continental-style knitting, in which the wool is held in the left hand and "picked" or scooped up by the working needle) -- here it has more to do with the way that the needle itself is held.

This style of holding the needles was almost certainly much earlier than this Edwardian-ish painting, but for the time being this post will have the "earliest known usage" label -- more on the "drawing-room style" to come ...

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.)

"Each rib of the design measures about half an inch"

"Lady's Knitted Under-Vest" from Harper's Bazar [sic], 10 December 1870, pp.789-790.

Anne L. Macdonald, in her No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting (Ballantine, c1988) writes that

The first mention of gauge seen by this author, in Harper's Bazaar in 1870, was a "Lady's Knitted Under Vest ... to be worn under high-necked dresses instead of a vest."  Instructions called for "heavy wooden Needles in the common patent* stitch," the needle size to be determined by whatever produced this result: "Each rib of the design measures about half an inch, 8 rounds in length being 1 1/4 inches."  In 1885, "Jenny June" finally advised knitters to make a swatch (though she didn't use that term): "Knit a few rows, and then measure them carefully.  You will see thus how many rows of your work make an inch and can calculate exactly how many stitches will be needed."

The bibliographic note on p.390 gives the citations as 10 December 1879 [sic], p.789 for the Harper's Bazaar, and "Croly, p.14" for the Jennie June (the pen name of Jane Cunningham Croly), though the only title by Mrs. Croly in the bibliography is her Sorosis: Its Origin and History, and I confess I cannot find the quotation there.  It does, however, appear in her Knitting and Crochet: A Guide to the Use of the Needle and the Hook (Ingalls, 1886), on p.14 --

Gauge, or more accurately the lack thereof in period knitting patterns, is probably the bane of historical knitters' existence -- as it was very likely to many knitters in the past, as well. It seems astonishing now that it took some thirty years' worth of knitting "receipts" and books before a pattern writer took pity enough to include a note on gauge, so let us send a grateful sigh of thanks to the unnamed Harper's Bazaar author who not only included an illustration of the finished piece but gave an idea of gauge!

* For "patent knitting," note Mrs. Croly's "No. 37a. BRIOCHE, OR PATENT KNITTING. Cast on a number of stitches divisible by three. First (and every) row.— Cotton forward, slip 1, knit 2 together," which is not the modern "brioche" stitch but produces a similar thickly-ribbed fabric.