Finished Hood

[atherleisure]

I finished my hood up Tuesday night and took a couple of pictures yesterday morning.

It's sport-weight wool for the main body of the hood and fingering-weight wool for the lace and tassels. The silk ribbon is 1-1/2" wide satin ribbon. I made no alterations to the pattern. Details are on the Ravelry page.

As far as I can tell this is the first on on Ravelry that actually has a lace attached to the back of it, though 7LetterDeborah said she did two crochet chains. Even mine doesn't have the crocheted lace that the pattern called for so I think we have yet to see a true reproduction there. Still, I feel that I've achieved the spirit of the pattern.







One thing I still can't decide is just how they meant the back to be treated. In the accompanying illustration, it looks like there might be a point to which the bow is attached, and that's what you'd get if you folded it in half and sewed it together. Some people have apparently done that and ended up with a pointy hood, though the point seems to tend to stand up rather than flopping over like the illustration shows. (That could be a function of yarn weight, though, because people often use heavier yarns than the originals.) The instructions, however, say to "draw up the back," which sounds like gathering to me. Then you end up with a softer, full back. That's what I chose to do (and also what it looks like 7letterdeborah and koshka_the_cat chose to do). Illustrations and instructions often don't quite match up in the period so it seems like something that really is up to the individual knitter.

This was definitely a quick and easy knit. Now I'm wondering whether there's enough yarn left for a pair of heavy stockings...and I'm wondering whether I would actually wear heavy wool stockings in Texas...

Comments

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

Pretty!

I wonder about the vague parts of historic instructions. I know how I would do things if I had to make it up, but there's no way of knowing for sure exactly how a woman of that time would have improvised.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you. It's a question of interpretation. I see things that people make and think they've interpreted things wrong, but they may well be looking at things I make and feel that I've got it wrong. We'll probably never know what the original authors really meant.

One thing the women of the time had that we don't necessarily have is a knowledge of what many of these things ought to look like and ought to be made of. And when it calls for Germantown yarn, they can go out and buy Germantown yarn rather than trying to figure out what a modern equivalent is.

Sewing and knitting patterns have both gotten much more explicit so that you need less knowledge about how to do things now. They give in-depth instructions and information much more often.

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

It looks very pretty! I love the color combo!

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I thought a fair bit before putting red that close to my hair, but I think the hood covers my hair well enough for it not to look bad.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

Lovely!

I would also expect "drawing up" to mean gathering.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm glad you read it the same way I do.

[fleurdelysa.livejournal.com]

Looks cute and cozy!