About Weldon's Practical Needlework

From Interweave Press:

About 1885, Weldon’s began publishing a series of fourteen-page monthly newsletters, available by subscription, each title featuring patterns and instructions for projects using a single technique.

About 1888, the company began to publish Weldon’s Practical Needlework, each volume of which consisted of twelve issues (one year) of several newsletters bound together with a cloth cover.

Each volume contains hundreds of projects, illustrations, information on little-known techniques, glimpses of fashion as it was at the turn of the twentieth century, and brief histories of needlework. Other techniques treated include making objects from crinkled paper, tatting, netting, beading, patchwork, crewelwork, appliqué, cross-stitch, canvaswork, ivory embroidery, torchon lace, and much more.

From 1999 through 2005, Interweave published facsimiles of the first twelve volumes of Weldon’s Practical Needlework.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Project 9: Wrap in Striped Pattern with Round Border

I've been searching for a shawl to knit.  It's proven rather difficult to find the right one.  Jane Sowerby's book Victorian Lace Today includes many of the patterns I like from the earlier Weldon's publications.  I have a single issue of Weldon's Practical Knitter, Sixty-Second Series (published c. 1910) which is subtitled "How to Knit Fancy Stitches, Shawls, etc".  I found this pattern which has potential:

The shawl is made by knitting the "centre" square, then picking up the border stitches and knitting the edging around the outside.  I like this better than knitting the four border pieces separately and sewing them on, which many of the Weldon's patterns require.

However, this project is fighting me every step of the way.  First, I had trouble winding the skein of Madelinetosh Lace yarn.  My trusty old yarn winder is getting a little cranky.  I wound the yarn so tightly that I couldn't pull it off the ball winder, so I had to hand-wind a ball off the winder.  Blech.

Next problem is charting this pattern.  It's going to take some thought.  The "stripes" section is pretty simple, just columns of yarn over/knit two together (but even that is causing trouble, see below).  The tricky bit comes with the bobble "flowers" in the 2nd section.  I'm working on charting this in a non-confusing way.  So far, it's confusing :-)

And today's problem: I cast on the 198 stitches for the stripes section.  Knit 13 rows.  And realized I was doing it wrong.  I read the instructions as knit 1 row, work the yo/k2tog pattern on the 2nd row, and repeat for 28 rows.  Nope.  I am supposed to work that lace pattern EVERY row for 28 rows.  So back to the beginning and casting on those 198 stitches AGAIN.

To be continued.

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