Very interesting, the plot thickens on Shetland Floss! The twisted stitch hat you are working in looks lovely, can’t wait to see the completed project. Thanks for all you do, once again.
I taught myself to knit in the 80s and to this day, I don’t know anyone else that knits! I use RUclips as a way to get to know knitters as well as a way to increase my skills! I would have loved have known another person that knits!
Love hearing you talk about these historic issues... amazing that they have been twisting their heads back then about the same issues we do today... I would suggest that after concluding your research on all this (maybe by the time you are in your 90s 😉) you write a sort of ‘The best recipe of knitting techniques’ That surely would be in print for the next 100 years too... Btw. can you imagine things like worsted and worsted causing for non-native speakers? I am myself natively German speaking - but due to Ravelry of course speak and think knitting in English in the meantime... and issues like this can make it pretty awkward... anyhow these thoughts while grafting a long line turning a sweater into a pillow-case... of course according to your instructions... knit off, purl on, purl off, knit on 😜🧶
I have "second sleeve syndrome" (socks are not a problem)....I'm sitting here still amazed you knitted a "mock-up sleeve"....you go girl! My hero! P.S. I'm an archival researcher, and I LOVE that you bought 11 historical-focused books. Looking forward to your reviews on them in the coming weeks.
When you asked (yourself) about sewing the parts together with backstitch or mattress stitch and when they did what ... I decided to look in an old book on handcrafts I have here. It's from the 1950s. I was surprised: they used the chain stitch (in the same way the backstitch is used, the two right sides facing eachother)!
Such an interesting episode. I had to get out some of my vintage books/magazines to explore what was inside about instructions. I have a Minerva Complete Knitting Manual, first edition, 1936. It has a section on measuring for fit and making charts using these measurements by creating the pattern pieces to scale on 1” paper (available from Minerva). The next section covers how to use the charts and goes through examples using gauge, measurements and math to arrive at how to knit the pieces. Fascinating and still useful.
My mother (born 1920) used a lot of the techniques in the first book you show when I was a child in the fifties and sixties. I think a lot of things changed with Elizabeth Zimmerman. I first heard of her in the 1980s through the New Zealand Creative Fibre group I belonged to at the time. I've had "Knitter's Workshop" for over thirty years and it's been an inspiration.
Elizabeth Zimmermann and Barbara Walker were both extremely influential in shaping contemporary knitting. It's interesting to see the progress and change in techniques over time. Zimmermann avoided seaming at all costs, but Walker has some interesting things to say about what was "typically" taught by knitting teachers regarding seaming vs how she preferred to seam. I'm still looking for signs in earlier decades of the method Walker said was taught up to that point in time. Maybe it'll show up in books from the '50s and early '60s.
@@RoxanneRichardson in the sixties in NZ I never saw anyone use anything but back stitch for seaming. The first mattress stitch I ever used was with machine knitting in the seventies. It's hard to remember, but I don't think we cast off in pattern. Barbara Walker was a gap in my knowledge until relatively recently.
Machine knitting, ah yes a challenge for sure. I have a history there. My machines were in retirement for a few years as we rescued our house from”has potential” to potentialized! Now they are both set up in a spare room along with the volumes of yarn I collected. I do use them occasionally in my desperate effort to reduce that stash! I need to add to my finish it February post. Going to do that now. So nice to spend time with you.
Outstanding video as always. Thank you for sharing your knitting history lessons with us. I’m just as baffled about Shetland yarns now as you are! I knit with Jamieson 2 ply often. Maybe this week more information will come to light! Have a lovely weekend.
I have a copy of the Practical Knitting Illustrated that belonged to my Grandmother. It has her notes and handwritten patterns in it. I have even knitted a pattern from it.
Britian entered WWII on September 3, 1939, so the book on knitting published in the UK was published during the time they were involved in war. The first air attacks on Britain were in the summer of 1940. I think that the publication of a knitting book was probably considered important to war work.
Sad to hear that about Detta. I purchased a flyer and bobbin for my first Country Craftsman from her ( 11 years ago) which got a vintage wheel working again. She was very helpful and nice. I live in Mississippi so did not make my purchase in person but through emails.
Please video your test swatches for those vintage techniques. I will try the K last stitch on both sides to see if it seams easier. I like to bind off with larger needles.... very interested in their bind off methods. I am also going to try your knitting rotation idea. Thank you for a very informative vlog, it’s got me thinking!
I was taught in the 🇬🇧 by my grandma in the early 60s and no one I knew slipped the first stitch for the selvedge, still don’t do it now. I think it makes a much edge and I cast off on the back.
Do you think the Shetland Floss issue might relate to the longer outer coat of the Shetland sheep? I think fine Shetland wool from the undercoat would still have been being used for lacework in the time period you mention, meaning there may have been an excess of the outer fibres that would be more than could be used in the islands, so exported for outerwear. After the Prince of Wales' 1930s portrait made Fair Isle knitting popular, outer coat fibre would have been much more in demand and would explain the decline in use of the term; other breeds would have had to be used to make up the difference and the type of yarn produced may have been different. Or it could have just been a yarn "type" designation that disappeared because of the increasing amount of branded yarns being created post WWII.
i really enjoy your 'shows'. You are an excellent as well as knowledgeable teacher. I do have a sock project that I would like your knowledge on though, that I can't seem to find any info on online. I need to know how to knit elasticized knee high socks for use by someone with feet and lower legs that swell. Most of us get there eventually. The knee-hi part is easy - just keep knitting, but where do I find the right kind of wool, or do I 'create' my own elasticity by adding thin elastic? The elasticized socks available for purchase in stores are beyond boring for the most part, and wearing double pairs makes shoes hard to get on. Etc. Can you do a podcast on this topic? Or is there something that I missed in my ramblings around RUclips? Thanks for all that I have learned from you!
Looking at the photo the sleeve blouses out several inches. I think you should continue to explore adding more fabric above the cuff. I love how you have no problem swatting half a sleeve. Did you use the same wool, it doesn't look the same drape as your flat knitted front panel? What instructions does the pattern give, are you decreasing stitches for the cuff? Can't wait to see your swatting techniques from your vintage books. Will you show machine knitting equipment on the podcast, I wonder how big that must be.
The cuff is crocheted and sewn to the sleeve. It's 8'' in circumference, while the sleeve is 11'', so some of the blousing comes from that, with the slashes spreading to provide more blousing. The yarn I used is the same as the yarn used for the sweater. I don't need much of any of the colors to knit the intarsia shapes, so there was plenty of the yellow available to knit the mock sleeve.
If you Google the vest it has some amazing images you can enlarge. The buttons and button holes are amazing. The Museum says it is pale green silk and the pattern is now called King Charle’s Brocade.I used to live on the coast of Botany Bay in Australia 1n 1950 when I was 10. We used to go to the Easter Show in Sydney and I have a photo of myself with a beautiful merino sheep, there.
Hmm....I *did* google it, but I hadn't found any images that can be enlarged much, which is why I sent a comment to the museum. Do you have a link or website name where you were able to see it up close? The museum's photo can't be enlarged much.
I was viewing the Google images in iPad, which allows for quite a bit of enlargement. Also, on Pinterest, if you go to Sada Davenport’s SCA knitting Documentation page about 2/3 of the way down is quite a good picture. She got it from Getty images.ca. Both of these can be enlarged in the same way. If you let me know how to send you a photograph I can send you the best enlargement I have.
I did find the Getty image, and I could better see that it was a textured st patt rather than colorwork, but it's still not close enough for me. I want to be able to see the individual sts up close!
How fun for me to see this, I have a copy of the Columbia manual, it belonged to my grandmother. It has a few notes and pattern changes in it, including where it looks like she corrected a typo. I wonder if she was right?
Yes, Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camps and retreats and workshops are continuing. Amy Detjen assists at them still. Information is at www.schoolhousepress.com
Great video as always. I direct you to Arne and Carlos’s video today. They speak of the history of Norwegian tradition of color work and its derivation. I think you would love it being the knitting historian par excellence. ruclips.net/video/mSYfrOx69oA/видео.html. Hope you enjoy. Marlene Weiner
Fascinating! I have so many "rabbit holes" to dive down for other topics that I'm thoroughly enjoying watching/listening to your historical journey!
The history of yarn is really fascinating!
Very interesting, the plot thickens on Shetland Floss! The twisted stitch hat you are working in looks lovely, can’t wait to see the completed project. Thanks for all you do, once again.
I was thinking the same 🔎 This mystery will be solved :D
I taught myself to knit in the 80s and to this day, I don’t know anyone else that knits! I use RUclips as a way to get to know knitters as well as a way to increase my skills! I would have loved have known another person that knits!
Where are you located?
Lynne Taylor Arizona
Love hearing you talk about these historic issues... amazing that they have been twisting their heads back then about the same issues we do today... I would suggest that after concluding your research on all this (maybe by the time you are in your 90s 😉) you write a sort of ‘The best recipe of knitting techniques’ That surely would be in print for the next 100 years too... Btw. can you imagine things like worsted and worsted causing for non-native speakers? I am myself natively German speaking - but due to Ravelry of course speak and think knitting in English in the meantime... and issues like this can make it pretty awkward... anyhow these thoughts while grafting a long line turning a sweater into a pillow-case... of course according to your instructions... knit off, purl on, purl off, knit on 😜🧶
I have "second sleeve syndrome" (socks are not a problem)....I'm sitting here still amazed you knitted a "mock-up sleeve"....you go girl! My hero! P.S. I'm an archival researcher, and I LOVE that you bought 11 historical-focused books. Looking forward to your reviews on them in the coming weeks.
When you asked (yourself) about sewing the parts together with backstitch or mattress stitch and when they did what ... I decided to look in an old book on handcrafts I have here. It's from the 1950s. I was surprised: they used the chain stitch (in the same way the backstitch is used, the two right sides facing eachother)!
Such an interesting episode. I had to get out some of my vintage books/magazines to explore what was inside about instructions. I have a Minerva Complete Knitting Manual, first edition, 1936. It has a section on measuring for fit and making charts using these measurements by creating the pattern pieces to scale on 1” paper (available from Minerva). The next section covers how to use the charts and goes through examples using gauge, measurements and math to arrive at how to knit the pieces. Fascinating and still useful.
The sweater you are wearing that I know you knit is just glorious!
I am hoping your research leads to future programs featuring your knitting "experiments"! Fascinating! Thanks for a great program.
My mother (born 1920) used a lot of the techniques in the first book you show when I was a child in the fifties and sixties. I think a lot of things changed with Elizabeth Zimmerman. I first heard of her in the 1980s through the New Zealand Creative Fibre group I belonged to at the time. I've had "Knitter's Workshop" for over thirty years and it's been an inspiration.
Elizabeth Zimmermann and Barbara Walker were both extremely influential in shaping contemporary knitting. It's interesting to see the progress and change in techniques over time. Zimmermann avoided seaming at all costs, but Walker has some interesting things to say about what was "typically" taught by knitting teachers regarding seaming vs how she preferred to seam. I'm still looking for signs in earlier decades of the method Walker said was taught up to that point in time. Maybe it'll show up in books from the '50s and early '60s.
@@RoxanneRichardson in the sixties in NZ I never saw anyone use anything but back stitch for seaming. The first mattress stitch I ever used was with machine knitting in the seventies. It's hard to remember, but I don't think we cast off in pattern. Barbara Walker was a gap in my knowledge until relatively recently.
Machine knitting, ah yes a challenge for sure. I have a history there. My machines were in retirement for a few years as we rescued our house from”has potential” to potentialized! Now they are both set up in a spare room along with the volumes of yarn I collected. I do use them occasionally in my desperate effort to reduce that stash! I need to add to my finish it February post. Going to do that now. So nice to spend time with you.
Outstanding video as always. Thank you for sharing your knitting history lessons with us. I’m just as baffled about Shetland yarns now as you are! I knit with Jamieson 2 ply often. Maybe this week more information will come to light! Have a lovely weekend.
I have a copy of the Practical Knitting Illustrated that belonged to my Grandmother. It has her notes and handwritten patterns in it.
I have even knitted a pattern from it.
Nerida Aisbett what a beautiful heirloom!
I love looking through my grandmother's patterns and seeing the ones she knit for us, and the little notes scribbled in the margins. :-)
Britian entered WWII on September 3, 1939, so the book on knitting published in the UK was published during the time they were involved in war. The first air attacks on Britain were in the summer of 1940. I think that the publication of a knitting book was probably considered important to war work.
"Before the purl stitch was invented...." that gave me such pause!
That was very interesting.... Thank you for a glimpse into the past.
So interesting thanks, enjoyed drum carding my fleece while learning lots.
PJs and Sasha Kagan, perfect
Sad to hear that about Detta. I purchased a flyer and bobbin for my first Country Craftsman from her ( 11 years ago) which got a vintage wheel working again. She was very helpful and nice. I live in Mississippi so did not make my purchase in person but through emails.
Please video your test swatches for those vintage techniques. I will try the K last stitch on both sides to see if it seams easier. I like to bind off with larger needles.... very interested in their bind off methods. I am also going to try your knitting rotation idea. Thank you for a very informative vlog, it’s got me thinking!
I was taught in the 🇬🇧 by my grandma in the early 60s and no one I knew slipped the first stitch for the selvedge, still don’t do it now. I think it makes a much edge and I cast off on the back.
really interesting sleeve design on the vintage pattern, looking forward to see how it continues :)
Do you think the Shetland Floss issue might relate to the longer outer coat of the Shetland sheep? I think fine Shetland wool from the undercoat would still have been being used for lacework in the time period you mention, meaning there may have been an excess of the outer fibres that would be more than could be used in the islands, so exported for outerwear. After the Prince of Wales' 1930s portrait made Fair Isle knitting popular, outer coat fibre would have been much more in demand and would explain the decline in use of the term; other breeds would have had to be used to make up the difference and the type of yarn produced may have been different. Or it could have just been a yarn "type" designation that disappeared because of the increasing amount of branded yarns being created post WWII.
i really enjoy your 'shows'. You are an excellent as well as knowledgeable teacher. I do have a sock project that I would like your knowledge on though, that I can't seem to find any info on online. I need to know how to knit elasticized knee high socks for use by someone with feet and lower legs that swell. Most of us get there eventually. The knee-hi part is easy - just keep knitting, but where do I find the right kind of wool, or do I 'create' my own elasticity by adding thin elastic? The elasticized socks available for purchase in stores are beyond boring for the most part, and wearing double pairs makes shoes hard to get on. Etc. Can you do a podcast on this topic? Or is there something that I missed in my ramblings around RUclips? Thanks for all that I have learned from you!
I’ve 3 copies of the same book from my Grandma too!
Looking at the photo the sleeve blouses out several inches. I think you should continue to explore adding more fabric above the cuff. I love how you have no problem swatting half a sleeve. Did you use the same wool, it doesn't look the same drape as your flat knitted front panel? What instructions does the pattern give, are you decreasing stitches for the cuff? Can't wait to see your swatting techniques from your vintage books. Will you show machine knitting equipment on the podcast, I wonder how big that must be.
Katie Arnold I agree about more stitches in the sleeve. A close look at the picture shows a shadow near the yellow triangles.
The cuff is crocheted and sewn to the sleeve. It's 8'' in circumference, while the sleeve is 11'', so some of the blousing comes from that, with the slashes spreading to provide more blousing. The yarn I used is the same as the yarn used for the sweater. I don't need much of any of the colors to knit the intarsia shapes, so there was plenty of the yellow available to knit the mock sleeve.
If you Google the vest it has some amazing images you can enlarge. The buttons and button holes are amazing. The Museum says it is pale green silk and the pattern is now called King Charle’s Brocade.I used to live on the coast of Botany Bay in Australia 1n 1950 when I was 10. We used to go to the Easter Show in Sydney and I have a photo of myself with a beautiful merino sheep, there.
Hmm....I *did* google it, but I hadn't found any images that can be enlarged much, which is why I sent a comment to the museum. Do you have a link or website name where you were able to see it up close? The museum's photo can't be enlarged much.
I was viewing the Google images in iPad, which allows for quite a bit of enlargement. Also, on Pinterest, if you go to Sada Davenport’s SCA knitting Documentation page about 2/3 of the way down is quite a good picture. She got it from Getty images.ca. Both of these can be enlarged in the same way. If you let me know how to send you a photograph I can send you the best enlargement I have.
I did find the Getty image, and I could better see that it was a textured st patt rather than colorwork, but it's still not close enough for me. I want to be able to see the individual sts up close!
I have found something I think might help. I have sent the information in a tweet...well, it took 3...I’m @hazeluzzell
How fun for me to see this, I have a copy of the Columbia manual, it belonged to my grandmother. It has a few notes and pattern changes in it, including where it looks like she corrected a typo. I wonder if she was right?
What page was the typo?
It’s on page 103, Rose-Leaf and Stripe pattern, Row 10. P28 is crossed out and replaced with 26.
Yes, Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camps and retreats and workshops are continuing. Amy Detjen assists at them still. Information is at www.schoolhousepress.com
hi is the sweater you are wearing is hand knitted
Yes. There is a link in the video description to my Ravelry project page for the sweater.
Machine knitting, grind, grind, grind. Not a quiet tpastime.
Great video as always. I direct you to Arne and Carlos’s video today. They speak of the history of Norwegian tradition of color work and its derivation. I think you would love it being the knitting historian par excellence. ruclips.net/video/mSYfrOx69oA/видео.html. Hope you enjoy. Marlene Weiner