What is a balaclava?

A balaclava is a knitted (or sometimes crocheted) head covering that is essentially a close-fitting cap combined with a tube-shaped neck, with an opening at the front for the face. It can be worn exposing only the eyes, or with the lower part of the opening at various points to cover or reveal the nose and mouth. The cap section may be pushed back off of the head in warmer conditions or as necessary. It is said to have originated sometime after the Battle of Balaclava in 1864, during which British troops wore handmade garments against the bitter cold because their own supplies had not arrived. The style of the cap is said to have been based on similar caps, the Uhlan worn by Polish and Prussian soldiers and the Templar cap worn by outdoor-sportsmen, earlier in the century. The earliest-known use of the term balaclava, though, was apparently in 1881; it was first called a helmet, and in pattern books of the early 20th century is often clarified as a "helmet (or balaclava)". Nevertheless, it is clearly a very practical garment for cold-weather wear, especially because it can be worn under larger hoods or protective helmets, and it is no surprise that it became a popular item to knit for soldiers and sailors during wartime.

(Franklin Habit writes about his search for a pattern, or even a logical description, of either the Uhlan or the Templar cap, and gives an updated pattern for Weldon's 1881 "Gent's Balaclava Cap" --

in his "Uh-la-la" post at Knitty. There is an "Uhlan Cap" as part of the instructions for "A Seaman's Outfit" in the Columbia Book of Yarns by Anna Schumacker, but this is dated 1915, long after the origin of the term, and clearly used there as simply a synonym for balaclava.)

Soldiers of the London Rifle Brigade with troops of the 104th and 106th Saxon Regiments during the so-called Christmas Truce, 1914. The soldier second from left at the front is wearing a balaclava; the soldier to his right is probably also. Non-commercial use permitted courtesy the Imperial War Museum, cat.Q 70075.

 

Knitted Comforts for Men on Land and Sea (Baldwin, 191?) provides two "helmet (or balaclava)" patterns, one with a split lower section that provides extra warmth to the front and back of the wearer's neck --

 and one with a plain ribbed neck --

(See also the post at "Knitting Now and Then" for some background information on this booklet and its pattern writer, Marjory Tillotson.)

The article "Knitting Comforts for the Troops" by Susan Strawn at PieceWork Magazine has another helmet pattern, with garter stitch flaps and a stockinette cap, from the Columbia Yarn company ca.1917.

This image, from the Jaeger Handknit series no.44, is courtesy the V&A's page on 1940s knitting, and a PDF of the pattern in modern terminology is available here. Interestingly, the Baldwin "helmet with flaps" pattern of a generation earlier says that "War Office Experts do not recommend apertures for the ears" which are especially vulnerable to the cold; presumably the development of radio technology in the ensuing twenty years made the additional openings necessary, one hopes not at the expense of the serviceman's ears.

Holly Shaltz has posted images from an American Red Cross booklet of three balaclava patterns for servicemen, and provided both transcriptions of the original "receipts" and updated instructions.

The Chelsea Bridge balaclava is undated but is most likely a 1940s pattern, as is the balaclava pattern from the "Guide to Knitting for Active Service" by the Australian Comforts Fund; the pattern in this link shows only the instructions rewritten in modern knitting terminology.

An American booklet of the 1940s that had at least one further edition post-war was Bucilla's "Warm Hand Knits for Servicemen".

See also the blog and online shop "Handmade WWI and WWII Reproduction Knits" for some interesting photos and background (though no patterns) on knitting for servicemen during those two wars.

Canadian cloud (1874)

In honor of Canada Day, here is a pattern from The Lady's Knitting Book (1874) by Elvina M. Corbould for a cloud, a fluffy sort of scarf worn draped over the head when outdoors, sometimes over the shoulders --

Canadian Cloud. 

Wooden pins, No. 1; 10 skeins of white and 2 of scarlet Shetland wool. 

Cast on 200 stitches, and knit backwards and forwards for 2½ yards. Cast off. Now with the scarlet crochet a border at the two sides. Double the cloud lengthways, and then draw up the two ends and finish off with a large tassel, made in the following way : -- Double a skein of white wool twice, then tie it round very tightly with strong wool about two inches from the end; cut the other ends, and join the cloud and tassel together with a crochet cord made of Berlin wool. It makes the cloud prettier to add a little scarlet crocheted cap to the tassel.

Two and a half yards (2.25 m) by 200 sts, even when folded in half, would be a Canadian-sized cloud indeed!

"Lonely Hours" by An American Lady

"The need which the writer has felt in common with many others, of a work on Knitting, adapted to American usage,

 combined with several years experience in and close attention to that beautiful and useful art, has emboldened her

 to place before the public, the following little book, with a sincere wish that it may be found to meet the wants

 of her fair country-women" -- from the preface.

Beth Chamberlain, knitter and librarian/historian, has tracked down what may be the first American knitting book -- not the first knitting book published in America (which was a reprint of Mrs. Lambert's The Hand-book of Needlework in 1842), but the first knitting book written in America for American knitters.

This is Lonely Hours : A Text Book of Knitting, by An American Lady, published by E. Gaskill of Philadelphia in 1849 -- you can read Beth's post about her research and discovery here. What is distinctive about Lonely Hours is that the patterns seem for the most part to be completely original to the author, not re-workings of existing ones.

There are not many libraries in the U.S. that own a copy of this book (see which ones do here), but happily, the Boston Public Library has digitized their copy, which can be viewed online at The Internet Archive.

Being an inveterate librarian myself, I followed one trail among the clues uncovered by Beth, and surmise that "E. Gaskill" was Edward Gaskill of Philadelphia (1811?-1866).  Sharp eyes will have noticed that unlike the copy that Beth located, the Boston Public Library's copy was published by M. Bywater, also of Philadelphia -- Maurice (or Morris) Bywater (1817-1870) was in fact Edward Gaskill's brother-in-law, who had married Mary Matilda Bywater (d.1879) in 1843.  It is unclear why the book would have two different publishers in the same year.  (The meaning of the title is also a bit of a mystery.)

It is certainly possible that the "American Lady" was Matilda Gaskill -- although sources indicate that she and her brother were born in Wales -- though of course it is also possible that the "Lady" was someone unrelated to either Edward Gaskill or Maurice Bywater.

 

Authorship aside, there are curiosities even at a first glance throughout the book -- see for example page 52, in which an "opera cap" is defined, either simply or dismissively depending on how you read it, as "merely a long and wide scarf, one hundred stitches wide, and two yards and a half long" in what would now be called a light fingering weight wool.  Also on page 52 is instructions for "zephyr balls" in what is still a common way of making what are now known as pompoms (the earliest-known use of the latter word is 1873!)

Note that the author has included a page of her knitting terms at the back of the book -- it will be interesting to compare, in a future post, these terms with those of other writers of the same period!

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).

Ladies' travelling cap (1847)

This pattern for a ladies' cap appeared on pages 25-30 of Miss Lambert's My Knitting Book, Second Series (1847). The transcription below is from the Gutenberg.org edition.

For those knitters with less time on their hands in which to work from early knitting instructions (!), Franklin Habit gives an updated version of this pretty cap in the Deep Fall 2010 issue of Knitty, as part of his "Stitches in Time" series.

A Travelling Cap.

This cap may be knitted with double German wool, in five shades of any light colour, and white.—Needles, No. 8.

Cast on one hundred and two stitches, with the darkest shade of colour.—Knit one plain row to form an edge. Then, commence the pattern (formed of four rows) as follows.

N.B. The first stitch of each row is always to be knitted.

First row—knit two together.

Second row—make one between each stitch, by taking up the wool between the stitches of the preceding row;—except between the two last stitches.

Third row—plain knitting.

Fourth row—pearl knitting.—The change of shade is always to be made in this row.

Repeat the above, four times, taking a lighter shade of wool for each pattern. Then work one pattern in white,—and repeat the five coloured patterns, reversing the shades, by commencing with the lightest. The fourth row of the eleventh pattern is to be omitted, in place of which one row must be pearled in white,—in order to bring the knitting on the outer side of the cap.

The front, or roll part, is now completed, which, when the cap is finished, should be turned over from the centre pattern of white.

Knit one pattern in white, leaving twenty stitches unknit, at the end of the fourth row.—Knit a second pattern, the same, leaving twenty stitches unknit, at the end of the first row; and, in the succeeding rows, making a stitch between the last two stitches; also, at the end of the second row, leaving twenty-two stitches unknit; and, at the ends of the third, and fourth, rows, leaving twenty-six stitches unknit.

Knit a third pattern in white, leaving twenty-six stitches unknit at the end of the first three rows; but, in the fourth row, pearl all the stitches to the end of the needle.

Knit a fourth pattern in white;—in the first row of this, knit all the stitches to the other end of the needle; but, at the end of the third row, leave twenty stitches unknit. Pearl the fourth row, with the third shade of the coloured wool, leaving twenty stitches unknit, at the end.

Knit three more patterns in colours,—(the centre being darker than the other two) leaving one stitch more unknit, at the end of each row. The fourth row of the third pattern is to be pearled in white.

Knit seven patterns in white, leaving one stitch unknit at the end of each row; and also, omitting to make a stitch between the first two, and last two, stitches of the second row.

When the seventh pattern is completed, there should be only eight stitches on the needle: with these eight, knit one pattern; and, at the end of the pearled row, pass the last stitch, before knitting, on to the other needle; then knit it, together with two of those before left unknit,—three in one.

Proceed in the like manner, at the end of the next, or double stitch row, and continue the same, until seven patterns are finished, from the above eight stitches.

Before commencing the last pearled row, fasten on the third shade of coloured wool, and pearl to the end of the row. Then, knit the last stitch, together with three of the unknit stitches,—four in one. Repeat the same, at the end of the next row.

In the next pearled row, knit again four together, as above, and three single stitches beyond, at the end of the double stitch row: also, knit four together, and one single, and two double beyond.

When two patterns, in the third shade, are completed, fasten on the white wool, and pearl a row;—at the end of this, knit three single stitches of the unknit beyond. In the next row,—knit, alternately, a double and a single stitch, throughout the row;—knitting the last stitch, together with one row of the unknit, and two single ones beyond.

In the next row, make a stitch between each, as usual; and, at the end of the next pearled row, knit three single stitches beyond. Work the three next rows as follows:

First—three double, and one single stitch, alternately:—the last must be a double stitch, and a single stitch beyond.

Second—a stitch between each, and three single stitches beyond.

Third—plain knitting, and three single stitches beyond.

Before commencing the next pearled row, fasten on the darkest coloured wool; knit a pattern quite to the end of each needle, and fasten off,—omitting the pearled row.

The cord for tieing this cap may be made by plaiting one light-coloured, and two dark-coloured, threads of wool together; each thread consisting of four plies of German wool. One cord passes across the front of the cap, under the chin, and another round the caul, with a bow at the side: the ends finishing with a tassel of white wool.—Ribands, which are prettier, may be substituted.

Yarmouth ear warmers and Fair Isle watch cap

"Yarmouth (Maine) Historical Society is pleased to offer knitters the chance to knit some Yarmouth history this winter. We have reproduced patterns for two original winter accessories, an ear-warming headband and a Fair Isle watch cap, that were crafted for North Yarmouth Academy students by a local knitter during the 1950s and later.

"This pattern is for headband-style ear warmers that tie under the chin. Strands of contrast color are woven through eyelets to create stripes. Several strands braided together form the ties." The watch cap is knitted in two colors, with a ribbed, folded brim.

These patterns are available for free via Ravelry -- earwarmers and watch cap -- and from the Yarmouth Historical Society.

"Melon hood for summer wear"

"Melon Hood for Summer Wear" by Mrs. Jane Weaver, Peterson's, August 1859

A melon hood looks from the illustration to be similar in general effect to this opera hood from Godey's a few years later --

Godey's lady's book, v.65, (Jul.-Dec.1862), p.122