Really unusual construction, which is why it’s my choice for my 1890s sweater. Original pattern calls for “four-thread German yarn” which is about fingering/sport weight. Sized for a boy of 10 or 12 years, which based on a size chart from the 1890s is a boy with a 28-30’’ chest. So…how much ease would be expected if knit in stockinette? No idea, and this thing is knit in k1p1 ribbing. Going to assume it should be around 30’’ possibly a bit larger. Men’s sweaters of the era seem to be sized 2’’ larger than chest measurement (based on stockinette gauge), and then knit in rib, which contracts when relaxed.
Sweater is knit in the round starting at the bottom and knit straight to the underarms (for a very long time, by today’s standards -- I have to decide whether to knit to an authentic length, or to a length I would prefer in contemporary times), then divided for front and back and knit flat for 60 rows (but no row gauge is given). It’s then rejoined in the round and 4 decreases are worked every three rnds, then the foldover bit of the neck is worked in stripes.
Sts are picked up at the top of the armhole (24 out of the 120 needed for the sleeve), and with each row worked, an additional st is picked up until 88 sts are on the ndles, and then 32 sts are picked up at the base and the sleeve is worked in the round to the cuff, decreasing periodically.
I calculated the likely gauges of the sts and realized that if I used worsted weight (which is used for men’s sweaters) I could use the same stitch counts. This will allow me to avoid trying to grade the pattern to a larger size when I don’t fully understand how this construction will affect the fit of the upper yoke.
08-12-2020
Yarn arrived Monday, but only included the 10 balls of red I ordered, not the single ball of white, which I need for the stripes. After alerting Brown Sheep, they immediately sent the ball of white out by FedEx. Should be here today, just when I’m ready to work the first stripe.
Cast on method I looked to see what cast on methods Butterick recommended, thinking it might be interesting to use an “authentic” method. There are no general knitting instructions in this 1897 publication, Fancy and Practical Knitting, which they state is more advanced than their 1892 book The Art of Knitting. So I checked the 1892 book and saw they had instrutions for three CO methods. The first was knitting on, which they mention is useful for edges that need to be really stretchy. The second one was a stumper. I had never seen it, and puzzled through the instructions until I finally figured it out. I then realized the result was the same as the Old Norwegian/Twisted German and Maine Cast On, but done in an entirely different way than either of those. Stanley’s book calls these twisted cast ons, and equates them to the LTCO methods each of these equates to. The one in this 1892 book equates to the “Italian” method of doing the LTCO.
So that’s the first thing I learned from this project!
Plan for the stripes.
I like to use the techniques called for in a pattern, when they are specified, at least to try them out, but I do allow myself to use a better technique if one is known to me that I feel will give me a better result. I know I will get color blips when working the stripes if I just switch to the new color and continue on with ribbing. My plan is to work the first round of a new color in plain knits, and then work a jogless jog technique at the end of that round. For the foldover neck, I will either have to purl that first round, or I can do a W&T when the stripes begin, and work the stripes from the WS, since that will be turned to become the RS when worn.
08-16-2020
I am adamant about following the instructions, even when I think there is an error, but I have had a feeling from when I first read this pattern that something wasn’t right, that the sweater would end up far too long. I kept thinking the error was in the upper body, which is the part where the construction is so different from anything I’ve done (and the reason I’m knitting this sweater), but the instructions for the lower body have been bugging me, as well.
The sweater starts
With the crimson rib 14 rows; join on the white wool and rib 7 rows; join on crimson wool and rib 7 rows; then 7 more rows of white and 105 rows of crimson.
It’s that 105 rows of crimson that seemed like far too much. Could they mean 105 rows total? That would mean 70 rows of crimson and would make the body 5’’ shorter. I couldn’t see how a typo of this sort made sense. If you meant 70, why write 105? If you meant 105 rows total, why state “of crimson”? I thought about how this pattern was written in 1897, and likely typeset from a design that was handwritten. What would the simplest typo have been? Aha! 65 could easily be misinterpreted as 105, and that would make the measurements come out right would otherwise make the instructions exactly correct as written. Wahoo!
08-19-2020
Currently working the flat section, and have been pondering the likely error in the yoke above the armholes. My plan is to rejoin in the round and work a couple of rounds, and then to pause while I work the sleeve caps. I will then be able to try on the sweater to see how it fits, and knit the yoke using the most likely rate of decreases and compare fit with different scenarios.
02-10-2021
Back to work on this. PU sts for the sleeve and working short rows.
02-13-2021
Finished sleeve decreases. About 35 rnds of straight k1p1 to go
02-18-2021
Finished! Tra-la! I was kind of resenting this 2nd sleeve because I knew the sweater was so weird, I would never wear it. I worried that I wouldn’t even want to include it in my Long Term Project of a sweater from each decade.
It is a little weird, and the fit around the shoulders isn’t quite right, but there are some surprising things about how it does fit (in good ways) that I couldn’t have anticipated.
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