Tabla de contenidos para January - February 2017 en PieceWork

Happy New Year and welcome to the 11th annual Historical Knitting issue of PieceWork! As with all of our issues, we bring you stories and projects on knitting, each with its own historical twist. Here are just a few examples from this issue: Interweave’s founder, Linda Ligon, shares parts of her communications with the late Reverend Bishop Richard Rutt. It’s all in “An Epistolary Journey into Ancient Knitting: In Which the Late Reverend Bishop Richard Rutt, a Visiting Chinese Editor, and the Author of This Story Commune.” I am very happy that the publisher of Barbara Levine’s seminal book, People Knitting: A Century of Photographs, granted us permission to excerpt. Barbara included photographs of women, men, and children knitting, along with posters and postcards depicting knitting. Sprinkled throughout the book…

These mittens combine entrelac and stranded colorwork. The floral motif on the hand is used throughout the Baltics and reminds me of the love of flowers in that part of the world. Young and old men bring bouquets of roses to the airport when they pick up their sweethearts. Young and old women sell fresh flowers on the streets in the cities. Every house in the countryside is flanked by large flower beds. In Lithuania in summer, flowers are everywhere; even cemeteries are turned into living flower gardens. These mittens knitted with floral motifs will remind the wearer of the warmer months that will return at winter’s end. MATERIALS • Cascade 220 Fingering, 100% Peruvian Highland wool yarn, fingering weight, 273 yards (249.6 m)/50 gram (1.8 oz) skein, 2 skeins…

The various German calf warmers I saw in photographs and paintings inspired me with their lace and cable patterns as well as the occasional colorwork. Since socks are more practical than calf warmers, I decided to design a pair with traditional designs. Much of the knitting from southern Germany involves twisted traveling stitches, which stand out well when worked with a fine but sturdy yarn. Those motifs, however, take time and effort. I leafed through several German stitch dictionaries and my eyes kept returning to the Small Posy and Cable pattern, which very nicely combined a small lace pattern and a simple cable. The pattern is from Omas Strickgeheimnisse: 200 bezaubernde Muster [Grandmother’s Knitting Secrets: 200 Enchanting Motifs] by Erika Eichenseer, Erika Grill, and Betta Krön (Rosenheim, Germany: Rosenheim, 2000;…

This pattern is based on the Knitted Nightingale in Weldon’s Practical Knitter Sixteenth Series (in Volume 6 of Weldon’s Practical Needlework, published in London in 1891). Adapting a Victorian pattern has its challenges; for this pattern, determining the right size was one. Changes in the size of adults—due in large part to improved nutrition—is partly in play here but is not the sole consideration. Nightingale pattern sizes varied as time passed. The 1891 pattern would have only been about 2 feet (0.6 m) wide, while earlier versions from 1875 and 1879 called for the Nightingale to be 3 feet (0.9 m) wide. Ultimately, I based this version on the size of a modern pashmina, so that it is large enough to cover a tall, modern woman’s back from shoulder to…

I have a special fascination for the intersection of knitting and photography. The following is excerpted with permission from People Knitting: A Century of Photographs by Barbara Levine, published by Princeton Architectural Press (New York) in 2016. —Editor The one hundred photographs in this book, dating from the 1860s to the 1960s, are of people knitting. They come primarily from my personal collection of vintage vernacular photographs, which I started over twenty-five years ago when a passion for old photographs took hold of me. Without fail, whenever I find a snapshot of someone knitting it makes me think of my mother. One of my earliest memories of my mother was watching her knit and listening to the sound of knitting needles constantly clicking. The combination of her intense focus on…

Hazel Carter died on August 3, 2016, after a long life. She was born in Cambridge, England, in 1928, and learned to knit from her mother at age three, and at age six, she learned to crochet. Her first career—of teaching and studying African languages—was followed by a “second career” of teaching and designing lace knitting. She followed her professional language career, moving to Madison in 1983 for a position in the African language department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Hazel worked for the university until her retirement. Although her fiber hobbies had been put on the back burner for the first few years in Madison, she did become involved with the Madison Knitters’ Guild, working on the newsletter for several years. She also taught lace-knitting classes, both through the…

Norrbotten, Sweden, is the northernmost county in Sweden. To the east and northeast is Finland; to the north and west is Norway. Within Norrbotten are beautiful national parks that contain the highest mountains in Sweden. In this northern area, Swedes, Finns, and Sami people, the indigenous people of the northern Nordic lands, have lived side by side for centuries. Erika Nordvall Falck was born in the Jukkasjärvi parish and has spent many years in Jokkmokk, the home of the Jokkmokk Winter Market. As a teenager, she began collecting samples of Norrbotten knitting. I count it a privilege to have traveled to the Nordisk Strikke Symposium in Kiruna in June 2016, where Erika both lectured and offered workshops, and to be able to view her exhibition Market Mittens/Jukkasjärvi & Jokkmokk. Behind…

Mittens are an important part of Latvian culture. I became acquainted with their warmth and beauty when I owned The Wool Works, a Milwaukee yarn shop, from 1985 to 1996. The first Latvian-born knitter that I met was Irma Mežaraups Ciganovich, who would bring mittens, socks, and hats to sell on consignment in my shop. My connection to Erna Jansons began in 2005, shortly after she published her book Latviešu Cimdu Raksti [Latvian Mitten Designs]. The book contains one hundred mitten designs by this lovely and clever Latvian woman, with her handpainted illustrations of each mitten. Her color sense and design aesthetic are uniquely Latvian, but her designs are all her own. Erna was eighty-five years old then, and I went to her home to purchase the book. In 2013,…

Serra d’Ossa is at an elevation of 2,142 feet (653.0 m) above sea level in the Alentejo region of Portugal between Estremoz and Redondo. (The origin of the region’s name, além and Tejo combined as Alentejo, literally translates to “beyond-the-River Tagus” or “across-the-River Tagus.”) This region is famous for crafts: The people produce bricks, furniture, rugs, shawls, and more. Although the beautiful rugs called Arraiolos have increased tourism in the area, in contrast, some other crafts have been almost forgotten. Among those almost forgotten crafts are the exquisite handknitted socks produced in Serra D’Ossa. In the past, these ethnic socks were part of a costume worn by the women on festive occasions such as Carnival. They were finely decorated with detailed flower motifs and bright colors, usually bright red and…

Wales has a long history of knitted stockings made for the practical purposes of the living, including home use and sale for income. Historically, however, some stockings were knitted for the “laying out” and burial of a loved one. As in many cultures, those garments were made with particular care. Although relatively few pairs have survived, as most were buried, the Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth, Wales, has samples of funeral stockings, which also are referred to as “burial stockings” or “mourning stockings.” How were wool sourced, yarn spun, and stockings knitted in the remote villages of Wales where the tradition of making these stockings existed for centuries? Some background on Welsh knitting will provide context for these special ceremonial stockings. Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, lies to the west of…

To learn more about the rich and ongoing tradition of various forms of needlework, we recommend these books. —Editor A Hat for Mrs. Goldman: A Story about Knitting and Love Michelle Edwards; illustrated by G. Brian Karas New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2016. Hardbound, 40 pages, ages 4–8 years, $17.99. ISBN 978-0-553-49710-6. Knitting Ephemera: A Compendium of Articles, Useful and Otherwise, for the Edification and Amusement of the Handknitter Carol J. Sulcoski New York: Sixth&SpringBooks, 2015. Hardbound, 144 pages, $14.95. ISBN 978-1-936096-98-5. The Mindfulness in Knitting: Meditations on Craft and Calm Rachael Matthews Brighton, England: Leaping Hare Press, 2016. Hardbound, 144 pages, $12.99. ISBN 978-1-78240-418-7. Refined Knits: Sophisticated Lace, Cable, and Aran Lace Knitwear Jennifer Wood Blue Ash, Ohio: Interweave, 2016. Softbound, 160 pages, $25.99. ISBN 978-1-63250-068-7; www.interweave.com. Vintage…

Skaite-Maria created this wonderful pattern about a hundred years ago. She was a Sami from the Tourpon area in the Jokkmokk parish of northern Sweden. The world knows about her from the research and writing of Erika Nordvall Falck in Jokkmokk, Sweden. The mittens are sturdy and hard-wearing, with a short braid at each cuff. Skaite-Maria’s patterning was distinctive in that the patterning before the thumb and after the thumb were equal proportions. In this interpretation, the proportions are not as exact as in the original. FURTHER RESOURCES Online tutorials for the braids: www.seekyee.com/Slings/howtos/4strand.htm www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuSHJ5j9Bg4 www.heritagespinning.com/free-stuff MATERIALS • Rauma Strikkegarn, 3 ply, 100% Norwegian wool yarn, DK weight, 118 yards (107.9 m)/50 gram (1.8 oz) ball, 1 ball each of #136 Black (MC) and #124 Bright Red (CC); www.theyarnguys.com •…

In October 2012, my friend Karen forwarded an email a friend in Germany had sent to her. The email included photographs from Oktoberfest in southern Germany. Karen and I were both surprised by what some of the men were wearing—knitted calf warmers! I have a number of knitting books from Germany; most of them are pattern dictionaries with stitch motifs and garment instructions for traditional knitwear from Bavaria and Austria. Stocking patterns with complex motifs of twisted traveling stitches abound, but no calf warmers. I was intrigued, but I didn’t have time then to actively pursue the subject. Four years later, when I visited the Milwaukee Art Museum, my interest was piqued again. I happened to notice The Old Suitor, an 1885 painting by German artist Hugo Wilhelm Kauffmann (1844–1915).…

The nineteenth-century wrap that became known as “The Nightingale,” a garment worn over the shoulders in bed, was the Victorian ancestor of the modern-day slanket (blanket with sleeves) or snuggie. Also called a bed jacket, dressing gown, shawl, wrap, cape, cloak, or sacque, the Nightingale was, over time, made from different fabrics. A pattern for a knitted version appeared in Weldon’s Practical Knitter in the 1890s: A nightingale is a most comfortable wrap for an invalid to wear when sitting up in bed or when reclining in an easy-chair; it also may be used as a shawl to throw over the shoulders when passing from room to room through unwarmed passages, or to walk in the garden. The name is derived from Miss Florence Nightingale, who originated similar garments made…

A tam o’shanter is a bonnet made of wool, handknitted in one piece. It is flat, similar to a beret, but with a circumference twice that of the head. The cap is stretched on a wooden disc to create its unique flat shape. At the end of the sixteenth century, bonnet makers made these caps in Scotland. They became fashionable for men and remained so throughout the seventeenth century. The name comes from an old Scottish legend that was later turned into a poem—“Tam o’Shanter”—by Robert Burns (1759–1796). A form of the original Scottish tam o’shanter, the tam (or tammy), became a fashionable women’s accessory beginning in the early 1920s. Before chemical dyes were invented in the mid-1850s, the Scottish bonnet was made only in blue, black, and brown colors.…

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 dc3tog—double crochet 3 stitches together dec(s) (’d)—decrease(s); decreased; decreasing dpn—double-pointed needle(s) fsc—foundation single crochet 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…

EXHIBITIONS Call for Entries: January 1–February 10, 2017. The Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South’s 13th International Juried Exhibition, ARTQUILTSrespite, at Page-Walker Arts & History Center, Cary, North Carolina, April 20–June 26. www.paqa-south-juried.org. Los Angeles, California: Through February 5. Beyond Bling: Jewelry from the Lois Boardman Collection, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (323) 857-6000; www.lacma.org. Denver, Colorado: Through August 27. Printed and Painted: The Art of Bark Cloth, at the Denver Art Museum. (720) 865-5000; www.denverartmuseum.org. Melbourne, Florida: January 28–April 29. Traditional Arts of the Bedouin, at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, at the Florida Institute of Technology. (321) 674-8313; http://textiles.fit.edu. Atlanta, Georgia: Through August 26, 2018. Coiling Culture: Basketry Art of Native North America, at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University. (404) 727-4282; www.carlos.emory.edu.…