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Patterns of Yore
Knit Together
Patterns of Yore
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I’m a person who values links to the past. For years, I participated in American Civil War era reenactments where I educated people about domestic arts of the period: knitting, quilting, embroidery, and spinning. Knitting patterns were scarce in the 1860s and those that were available were lacking, at best. Authors assumed that the reader had a full grasp of knitting concepts. In general, old knitting patterns offer us a link to our past, but they are often difficult to interpret. It’s not surprising – times change. After all, one wouldn’t expect a videogaming 16 year-old to know how to hitch a horse to a wagon! Written knitting patterns are actually a fairly recent innovation. Evidence exists of written knitting instructions as early as 1655; however, the first mass-produced volumes appeared in the mid-1800s. Prior to that time, patterns were passed along via knitted samples or by memorizing another knitter’s work. Today, many knitters lament the lack of standardized chart symbols, however, early knitting books lacked standardized instructions, let alone standard abbreviations. Patterns seldom gave needle size, knitting tension, or even garment measurements! The earliest knitting instructions were given in full text, without abbreviations. This was advantageous in that it reduced the chance for errors in typesetting and for misinterpretation of the pattern by the reader. It was detrimental in that full text patterns are tedious to read and take up a lot of page space. The advantages and disadvantages of full-text and abbreviated text patterns can be seen in the following example:
Full text instruction
Cast on seven stitches, slip the first stitch, knit three stitches, knit two stitches together, bring the yarn forward, knit one.
versus its abbreviated version
Cast on 7 sts. Sl 1, k3, k2tog, yo, k1. Abbreviations make it possible to absorb several steps at once. This reduces the number of times the knitter needs to refer to the pattern. Abbreviations vary from region to region. The abbreviation for wool forward (Wl. fwd.) in Canadian patterns is listed as “c” for ‘cast up’ in Shetland notation. Abbreviations vary over time, as well. Victorian patterns would abbreviate decreases simply as “N” for narrow, whereas Shetlanders used “T” for “together,” and mid-20th century knitting books used the more explicit “k2tog.” When designers started to show directional decreases in their patterns, more descriptive instructions for making a fabric ‘narrow’ became common. Yarn manufacture and terminology also vary over time and region. Pattern writing was further complicated by the fact that knit and purl were known by different names. Knit was usually described as plain or knit, but was occasionally given other descriptors. Purl is variously cited as pearl, purl, back, turned stitch, knotted stitch, or seam stitch. British knitting author Jane Gaugain is believed to be the first to use abbreviations in knitting. Despite her effort, abbreviations did not become popular until several decades later, near the end of the nineteenth century. Patterns of this era rarely listed tension or needle sizes. Even if needle sizes were listed, they remain a mystery, because there were as many as four systems in use for sizing needles. Nevertheless, any sock knitter will deduce that a baby sock with 98 stitches, using Number 40 crochet cotton and number 24 needles will be very fine knitting. Weldon’s Practical Needlework (first published in the 1880s) notes that, at that time, patterns were published by thread companies whose primary goal was to sell their threads. Weldon’s was unique in that they did not sell yarn or threads; their stock-in-trade was pattern printing. According to Jean Sowerby, author of Victorian Lace Today, Weldon’s “set the standard” for pattern writing style from the mid-1800s to the early twentieth century. Butterick, the sewing company, followed soon after, with The Art of Knitting, first published in 1892. Both publications offered basic knitting instruction and patterns. Interweave Press produced facsimile editions of the Weldon’s leaflets in a series of volumes beginning in 1999. The Weldon’s leaflets included a variety of crafts, including crochet, macramé, and ironwork. Piper Publishing released a facsimile reproduction of The Art of Knitting in 2003. It is solely devoted to knitting.
Charts are relative newcomers in the printed pattern world. Like abbreviations, chart symbols allow a knitter to view several bits of instruction at a glance. Early charts often used a black dot or “X” in a square to denote either a purl stitch (in the case of fisherman’s ganseys) or a contrasting color (in the case of Fair Isle, Shetland, or Nordic patterns). In color charts, color choice was left to the knitter’s discretion. Today, charts are also used to depict other knitting manoeuvres, such as twisted stitches and cables. Historically, yarn companies published patterns with the intent that they be used exclusively for their yarns. In times past, these contained dire warnings such as “Perfect results are only guaranteed when you work to exact tension with the specified yarn,” or “To obtain full dimension of the patterns, we suggest you use only [our] yarns which carry the highly respected ‘guarantee of performance’.” While this practice has relaxed to a degree, some present-day patterns still caution that best results will only be achieved by using the yarn prescribed by the pattern. Other independent pattern publishers sold knitting-related products. One such company was Lux soap, whose parent company, Lever Brothers Limited (now UniLever), produced knitting books annually from about 1938 through 1960, with a break following World War II due to a shortage of paper in Canada. Naturally, these books contained advertisements recommending that fine woollens be washed with their soap. Because printed knitting patterns are relatively new additions to knitting history, it is important to note that knitting patterns provide a link to our recent knitting past. For links to our distant knitting past, we must look to the collections of knitting artifacts in museums around the world.
Sources:
A History of Hand Knitting, R. Rutt, Interweave Press, 1987 Victorian Lace Today, J. Sowerby, XRX Books, 2006 A Facsimile Edition of Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 1, Interweave Press, 1999 The Complete Book of Traditional Knitting, Rae Compton, Batsford Publishing, 1983 The Art of Knitting 1892, Piper Press, 2003
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