Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2016 i PieceWork

Can this really be true? Our tenth annual historical knitting issue is here already? Seriously, it seems like just a few years ago when our first one appeared. Knitting has played a key role in the magazine’s content since the premier issue (March/April 1993). It continues to do so. When we started to put this issue together, I thumbed through the previous nine issues, and I wanted to share my trip down memory lane! All of the previous covers are featured here—what a glorious array of knitting. Each of these issues illustrates how very lucky I am to have the opportunity to work with the stellar contributors who fill the pages of every issue of PieceWork. This issue includes the amazing story of the “So-Called St. Adalbert’s Glove from Prague”—a…

The grand opening of Colorado State University’s Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising in Fort Collins, Colorado, is Saturday, January 30, from 2 to 5 p.m. The museum will celebrate the renovation of about 8,000 square feet (743 m2 ) and the addition of 10,000 square feet (929.0 m2 ), allowing for two galleries, classroom and seminar space, a library, a conservation laboratory, and expanded collection storage and management areas. Four opening exhibitions feature the work or collections of a few of the museum’s dedicated supporters: • The Power of Maya Women’s Artistry (January 30–May 20), funded in part by the Don and May Wilkins Charitable Trust, the Avenir Museum Education Exhibition Endowment, and Cooperativa de Alfombras de Mujeres Maya en Guatemala. • Mr. Blackwell: “artist of subtle witchery” (January…

Here is my vante opskrift, Danish for “mitten recipe,” incorporating the centuries-old carnation motif. The Supersoft Lambswool yarn makes these mittens perfect for keeping hands toasty all winter long. MATERIALS Knit Rennie Mill of Scotland Supersoft Lambswool 2/11Nm, 100% wool yarn, fingering weight, .9 kilogram (2 lb) cone, 1 cone each of #190 Charcoal (MC), #380 Blaze (CC1), and #1197 Clover (CC2); www.knitrennie.com Needles, size 0 (2 mm) or size needed to obtain gauge Marker Stitch holder Tapestry needle Finished size: 8 inches (20.3 cm) in circumference and 10½ inches (26.7 cm) long Gauge: 40 sts and 41 rnds = 4 inches (10.2 cm) in charted patt INSTRUCTIONS Notes: See page 54 for Abbreviations and Techniques. Mitten Cuff With MC, CO 80 sts. Pm and join in the rnd. Work…

KIT AVAILABLE! Visit www.bit.ly/pw -leg-warmers-kit for details. The first winter I spent in Wisconsin after moving from Texas, I had the recurring problem of going for a walk only to quickly realize that my legs were cold. I’d look down below my skirt hem and see that, once again, I had forgotten to wear any leggings. I eventually stocked up on full-length wool leggings, but on some days, I needed even more protection against the cold. I knitted a couple pairs of heavy wool leg warmers to cover my lower legs, ankle to knee. Several years later, I became enchanted by the wonderfully patterned Estonian leg warmers from the island of Muhu. They were covered with design motifs in pink, orange, and white. A visit to Finland and some background reading…

• The Knitter’s Casket (probably 1847 or 1848) in the Richard Rutt Collection, University of Southampton Library; www.vads.ac.uk/collections/WSA.html. • The Knitter’s Friend, corrected edition (the British Library gives the date of this edition as 1850, but that date seems too late, given that the publisher is listed as I. Hope in Ramsgate; I would date it to 1848 at the latest) available via Googlebooks. • Ladies’ Needlework Knitting and Crochet Tales and Poetry: A Melange of Instructions and Amusements (an abridgement consisting of George’s farewell to the bimonthly magazine and the patterns in the magazine); see “PieceWork and Ladies’ Needlework” sidebar. • Hope’s Pictorial Guide to Hastings and St. Leonards (1849?) Available via Googlebooks.…

The Hopes produced a number of patterns for muffatees, which were simply straight-knitted tubes to cover the wrist. Most books have a couple of patterns, at least one with an interesting stitch pattern or technique. I enjoy trying out these patterns and seeing how they look—as well as whether they match their illustrations, when illustrations are given. Because the patterns are extremely brief, I have adapted two of them for modern use in these projects. Plaited Wrist Warmers A “plaited muffatee” appeared in The Ramsgate Knitting Book, published in 1848, complete with an illustration. It was knitted sideways, with a garter-stitch hem section, turned in under the plait. Interestingly, the plait is constructed by crossing the stitches on rows four and five, not four and eight as we would expect…

Stitch and Sip Away Phillipa Turnbull’s The Crewel Work Company offers stellar crewel embroidery kits, gifts, and tools. Shown are the “Jacobean Idyll” kit, which includes step-by-step instructions (printed and on a CD), stitch chart, historically accurate linen twill fabric, Appleton’s 2-ply crewel wools, crewel needles, and the Jacobean Idyll bone china mug made in Staffordshire, England. www.crewelwork.com. Merino from Wales Heathway Wool, 100% merino wool yarn for needlepoint and crewel, is dyed in small batches by master dyer John Cunningham. Currently, there are twenty color families; each comes in nine values.10 yards (9.1 m) hank. Shown (left to right) are: #216 from the Lapis family, #123 from the Laurel Green family, and #135 from the Pomegranate family. www.tristan brooks.com. Fair-Trade Folk Art Stitcharama partners with artisans and cooperatives from…

Among the relics in the treasury of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic, is a single knitted glove, linked by tradition to St. Adalbert, the second Bishop of Prague (956?–997). Even if it is, in fact, a few hundred years too young to have belonged to St. Adalbert, it is still a rare example of medieval knitting. History According to the inventories of St. Vitus Cathedral from 1355 and 1387, a pair of gloves of similar description existed in the fourteenth century, kept not as a relic but as the liturgical gloves of the archbishops of Prague. The legend of a single glove’s connection to St. Adalbert was established later. St. Adalbert, named Vojtech at birth, was born into the Slavník family, a noble house so important it could…

Leg warmers have been part of practical and fashionable wear for centuries. Styles, materials, production methods, and colors, however, have changed over time. Both the gender and class of people who have worn leg warmers as well as leg coverings’ purpose have also varied. Even within a given time period and country, you find a wide range of leg-covering options. Exactly what defines a “leg warmer” might be hard to pin down, depending on region, fashion, era, and socioeconomic situation. Although leg coverings have been produced over centuries, like many other everyday garments, they are seldom well preserved or documented. Photographs and drawings provide clues, but you often have to scrutinize such sources closely to discern any details. Most likely, you will find fancy leg coverings in fashion plates and…

The first book, which was edited by Mrs. Hope, most likely Margaret, was The Knitter’s Friend Containing Upwards of Fifty Original Receipts in Knitting and Netting with Illustrations, published in 1842. This book was small, about 5 inches (13 cm) high by 4 inches (10 cm) wide, and cost 1 shilling [there were 20 s(hillings) to £1; and 12 d(pence) to one shilling]. This format was to continue for virtually all the publications the Hopes published. Several other editions of The Knitter’s Friend were published, and by 1846, the second edition, corrected and enlarged, had “upwards of 60 receipts”; the fifth edition seems also to have been published in 1846; and the British Library dates a “corrected edition” to 1850. Mrs. Hope was the editor of least two other knitting…

KIT AVAILABLE! Visit www.bit.ly/pw -buff-mittens-kit for details. In 1985, I met a regional knitting legend, but I didn’t know it yet. You see, my father grew up in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and married a farm girl from New Jersey, where he settled with his young family. Every year we took a trip “upstate” to visit his parents and explore his favorite places, including where he learned to drive, where he worked as a teenager, and the lakes, rivers, and mountains of his boyhood. But this particular year, I also got to visit one of my grandma’s favorite places—the yarn shop. I was nine years old at the time. On a day outing with my mother and my paternal grandmother, we traveled to Chestertown, New York, to what Grandma…

beg—begin(s); beginning BO—bind off CC—contrasting color ch—chain cir—circular cn—cable needle CO—cast on cont—continue(s); continuing dc—double crochet dec(s) (’d)—decrease(s); decreased; decreasing dpn—double-pointed needle(s) foll—follow(s); following hdc—half double crochet inc(s) (’d)—increase(s); increased; increasing k—knit k1b—knit 1 in back of stitch k1f&b—knit into the front and back of the same stitch—1 stitch increased k2b—knit 2 in back of next 2 stitches kwise—knitwise; as if to knit k2tog—knit 2 stitches together k3tog—knit 3 stitches together k5tog—knit 5 stitches together LLI—insert left needle into back of the stitch below stitch just knitted, knit this stitch lp(s)—loop(s) m(s)—marker(s) MC—main color M1—make one (increase) M1k—increase 1 by knitting into the front and then the back of the same stitch before slipping it off the left-hand needle M1p—increase 1 by purling into the front and then the back…

EXHIBITIONS Berkeley, California: January 31–May 29. Architecture of Life, at the University of California, Berkeley, Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Objects from the collection of the Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles will be included. (510) 642-0808; www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibition/AoL. San Francisco, California: Through February 28. Royal Hawaiian Featherwork: Na¯ Hulu Ali‘I, at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. (415) 750-3600; http://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/featherwork. District of Columbia: Through February 14. China: Through the Lens of John Thomson (1868–1872), at the Textile Museum/George Washington University Museum. (202) 994-5200; www.museum.gwu.edu/china. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Through September 11. Flamenco from Spain to New Mexico, at the Museum of International Folk Art. (505) 476-1200; www.internationalfolkart.org/exhibitions/upcoming.html. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: March 4–6. Knit & Crochet Festival and Creative Arts Festival at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. pghknitandcrochet@gmail.com; www.pghknitandcrochet.com.…

In the 1500s and 1600s, flowers were seen as profoundly symbolic. Each flower had its meaning: If a man sent his love a bouquet, she could “read” its message by looking at the flowers it contained. The carnation was one flower with great symbolic meaning. Its original color was pink or flesh-red, which led to the carnation becoming a symbol of Christ’s body. If we research the various names for the carnation in European languages, we find the word carna (“meat” or “nail”). The Danish word for carnation is nellike and in German, it is neilichen, both of which derive from the word nål (nail). In several Madonna paintings from the thirteenth century to the fifteenth century, the flesh-colored carnation flower, placed near the child Jesus symbolizes Christ’s suffering. When…

In the Fall 2012 issue of Knitting Traditions, Donna Druchunas shared a treasure she had discovered in an antiquarian book store—a framed color fashion plate from Cost. De Div. Pays [Costumes of Various Countries] printed in the early decades of the nineteenth century. The young girl is wearing a pair of leg warmers. Donna re-created the warmers; her pattern for them is included in “Jeune Fille dAibling en Bavière.” Visit www.bit.ly/knittingtraditions-fall-2012-digital-edition. —Editor…

PieceWork purchased a copy of the Ladies’ Needlework Knitting and Crochet Tales and Poetry: A Melange of Instructions and Amusements and produced two eBooks, one for the knitting content, the other for crochet. Visit www.bit.ly/ladies-needlework-knitting-tales-and-poet ry-ebook and www.bit.ly/ladies-needleworkcrochet-ebook for details. We erroneously believed that Mrs. Hope was George Curling Hope’s wife. Our thanks to Lesley O’Connell Edwards for setting the record straight and providing insight into the needlework life of the Hopes. —Editor…

After a friend first told me the story of the Women of Pindos, I immediately looked for more information about their exploits. I discovered a blog (www.greek-war-equipment.blogspot.com/2011/12/1940-41-women-of-pindos.html) that included a copy of a flyer, originally published on January 19, 1941, in the Greek newspaper To ››››››››› ›››› [The Free Forum], offering knitting designs for accessories that the Greek army’s General Headquarters deemed suitable for Greek soldiers. The flyer, entitled “›› ›››››› ››› ››› ››››››” [Knitting for the Army] shows three knitted items: a sock, a gaiter (a leg warmer in the form of a long tube with ribbed cuffs at each end), and a shooter’s mitten. I used the diagram of the sock on the flyer as my design inspiration. The diagram shows a plain sock, which seems to be…