A child's chest protector

Ann Budd updated the pattern for this child's chest protector from vol.7 of Weldon's Practical Needlework -- her version is published free on the "Piecework" magazine blog.

Budd's version is whip-stitched together at the sides, probably more practical for a modern child than the tabard-like original -- presumably it tied so that it would fit over however many layers in which the Victorian child was dressed that particular day, before being sent outdoors!

Knitting terminology in the 1840s

Here are glossaries from four early knitting-book writers, three of them English and the other American. 

Note that Mrs. Copley is the only one to not use or even mention the word "seam" for the purl stitch!

From My Knitting Book by Frances Lambert (1843), using English terms --

Explanation of Terms used in Knitting. 

To cast on.—The first interlacement of the cotton on the needle. 

To cast off.—To knit two stitches, and to pass the first over the second, and so on to the last stitch, which is to be secured by drawing the thread through. 

To cast over.—To bring the cotton forward round the needle. 

To narrow.—To lessen, by knitting two stitches together. 

To seam.—To knit a stitch with the cotton before the needle. 

 To widen.—To increase by making a stitch, bringing the cotton round the needle, and knitting the same when it occurs. 

A turn.—Two rows in the same stitch, backwards and forwards. 

To turn.—To change the stitch. 

To turn over.—To bring the wool forward over the needle. 

A row.—The stitches from one end of the needle to the other. 

A round.—A row, when the stitches are on two, three, or more needles. 

A plain row.—That composed of simple knitting.

To pearl a row.—To knit with the cotton before the needle. 

To rib.—To work alternate rows of plain and pearl knitting. 

To bring the thread forward.—To bring the cotton forward so as to make an open stitch. 

A loop stitch.—Made by bringing the cotton before the needle, which, in knitting the succeeding stitch, will again take its own place. 

To slip or pass a stitch.—To change it from one needle to the other without knitting it. 

To fasten on.—The best way to fasten on is to place the two ends contrariwise, and knit a few stitches with both together. For knitting, with silk, or fine cotton, a weaver's knot will be found the best. 

To take under.—To pass the cotton from one needle to the other, without changing its position. 

Pearl, seam, and rib-stitch—All signify the same.

 

From Miss Watts's Selections of Knitting, Netting & Crochet Work (1844) -- English terms.

From Lonely Hours: A Textbook of Knitting by "An American Lady" (1849).

From The Comprehensive Knitting Book by Esther Copley (1849), using English terms. The explanation on p.12 for "take in from the back" reads, "By reversing the right hand pin, so inserting it in two stitches, not in front but in the back of the left hand pin, and knitting them off as one" -- a modern K2tog tbl, or "through back loop".

"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!

"Phillipa" jumper (1941)

The "Phillipa" jumper appeared on the cover of the Saturday, 8 March 1941 issue of "The Australian Women's Weekly" magazine. The pattern (which appears on p.35 of the "Knitting Book" supplement) is only one of many in the "Weekly" available free through Trove at the National Library of Australia.

Doortje of "Just Skirts and Dresses" hosted a "Phillipa" knitalong in 2013 -- her posts include her thoughts about resizing this pattern and adjustments for the wearer's figure.

"The Columbia Book of Yarns"

The cover of the 1904 edition, with a lovely, rather Pre-Raphaelite illustration.

The Columbia Yarn Company issued a number of pattern books for knitting and crochet in the early years of the 20th century.  The first edition shows some of the articles in drawings and some in photographs, but the subsequent volumes are nearly all photographs.

All of the editions from 1907 to 1918 are credited to Anna Schumacker.

The Columbia Book of the Use of Yarns (1904)

Columbia Book of Yarns (8th ed., 1907)

Columbia Book of Yarns (9th ed., 1908)

Columbia Book of Yarns (16th ed., 1915)

Columbia Book of Yarns (17th ed., 1916) and another copy here

Columbia Book of Yarns (1917)

Columbia Book of Yarns (19th ed., 1918)

Columbia Book of Yarns : Women's Sweaters, Scarfs and Hats (22nd ed. no.2, 1921)

It is interesting to see the changes over time not only in fashions, but in the names of the garments themselves --  for example, the "Eton Waist" becomes the "Eton Vest".

For a helpful guide to relative yardages of Columbia yarns for those knitters now who want to find an equivalent yarn for the patterns, see the Columbia Yarns page at the Vintage Yarn Wiki.

I have not been able to find out anything about Anna Schumacker, who, by the entries in WorldCat, wrote (or revised) quite a number of books for Columbia besides The Book of Yarns, with publication dates from 1907 to 1919, including Columbia Cottons and How to Use Them: Latest and Most Practical Manual for Making ['Crocheting' on the cover] Infant's and Children's Caps (5th series, 1915).

Some time during or after the Great Depression, the Columbia company merged with Minerva Yarns to become Columbia-Minerva.

A Columbia Yarns ad from "The Dry Goods Economist" (a periodical for dry-goods merchants) of 25 February 1922, via GoogleBooks.

"Spitalfields Nippers"

Today's post on the blog "Spitalfields Life" is another selection of photographic portraits by Horace Warner, about which the Gentle Author writes,

Around 1900, Photographer, Wallpaper Designer and Sunday School Teacher Horace Warner took portraits of children in Quaker St, who were some of the poorest in London at that time. When his personal album of these astonishing photographs came to light six years ago, we researched the lives of his subjects and published a book of all his portraits accompanied by biographies of the children.

A number of the children are wearing knitted or crocheted garments -- Jeremiah "Jerry" Donovan, aged about five, has a dark woollen chest-warmer knitted in horizontal ridges, Adelaide Springett, aged about seven, is wearing "all her best clothes," including a crocheted shawl in a simple net stitch.  Dolly (Lydia) Green, age twelve, is also wearing a crocheted shawl, this one with wide stripes, perhaps in a simple treble crochet (double crochet in US terminology).

Jerry's scarf would have been knitted something like this: K 1 row, P 1 row, K 2 rows, P 1 row, K 1 row, repeat to desired length, which on every 4th row of the repeat turns the purl "ridge" to the other side.

Adelaide's shawl is very like the Square Mesh stitch from the 1940s Complete Guide to Modern Knitting and Crocheting, available at Free Vintage Crochet (adapted here to include both UK and US terms):

Make chain foun­dation to desired length, plus 5 more ch for turning.

Row 1: 1 TC (US = DC) in 7th ch, * ch2, skip 2 ch, 1 TC (US = DC) in next ch. Repeat from * across row, ending with 1 TC (US = DC). 

Row 2. Ch5 to turn, * 1 TC (US = DC) in TC (US = DC) of previous row, ch2, skip 2 ch of previous row. Repeat from * across row, and end with 1 TC (US = DC) in 3rd ch of group of 5 ch of previous row. 

Repeat Row 2 to desired length.

Some more Elsa Barsaloux patterns

 Five Elsa Barsaloux patterns appear in the all-too-brief blog "Elsa Barsaloux Patterns" posted in 2014.  They appear to be from one of Barsaloux's self-published books, probably Knitwear De Luxe of 1919.

A selection of photos from Sweater Style (1921) has been posted here.

Indian Slip-On No.13A (1922)

Indian Slip-On No. 13A by Corticelli.

One of the more vivid patterns in the "Corticelli Yarn Book No.18" (1922) is the Indian Slip-On No. 13A, pictured here.  The body is knitted, with the collar and sleeve cuffs in crochet.

This slip-on, one of the newest of the Indian designs, is made of Corticelli Flosola in Sand, with the odd designs in Red, Goldenrod, Marion Blue and Black. The slashes at bottom of sleeves, the collar made of square tabs, and the bone rings worked in the girdle all add to the charm of this slip-on.

There is also a matching tam-like hat pattern. The complete booklet is available at Antique Pattern Library.

Ravelry user Rox has knitted up this garment, and her notes can be found here (membership required to view).

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.)