tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2805580631057957340.post288667994827003085..comments2024-03-27T08:38:55.922+00:00Comments on Knitting Now and Then: Knitted GartersBarbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16481362252017232022noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2805580631057957340.post-74463835188661907172019-02-24T12:32:36.647+00:002019-02-24T12:32:36.647+00:00Thanks very much for all this information, Sharon ...Thanks very much for all this information, Sharon - the quote from Cranford is fascinating. So pleased you enjoy the blog. Barbarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16481362252017232022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2805580631057957340.post-40380301801583501862019-02-22T20:02:01.043+00:002019-02-22T20:02:01.043+00:00I believe they could contain knitted patterns - po...I believe they could contain knitted patterns - possibly lace - a ref in Mrs Gaskell's Cranford has Miss Matty shocked at her neice's joking, such garters were frequently only 3 inches wide in tiny cottons. I quote from some pages in preparataion:<br />"The cotton samplers I know of in Museums or collections are Italian, East European, German and probably Flemish/Dutch and range from c 1800 to c 1880. I have 3 lace ones, not of the best quality, but one is dated 1862 with continental numerals. The Workwoman’s Guide talks of garters being the first knitted items frequently worked in pattern stitches. Cranford confirms this as it has the heroine gently threatening to lose her garter so the beauty of Miss Matty’s (text refs these as “elaborate” “delicately-wrought” which strongly suggests lace) stitches can be admired. The book is set c1837 +, young Queen Victoria, era of first railways:<br /> <br />“What she piqued herself upon, as arts in which she excelled, was making candle-lighters, or "spills" (as she preferred calling them), of coloured paper, cut so as to resemble feathers, and knitting garters in a variety of dainty stitches. I had once said, on receiving a present of an elaborate pair, that I should feel quite tempted to drop one of them in the street, in order to have it admired; but I found this little joke (and it was a very little one) was such a distress to her sense of propriety, and was taken with such anxious, earnest alarm, lest the temptation might some day prove too strong for me, that I quite regretted having ventured upon it. A present of these delicately-wrought garters, a bunch of gay "spills", or a set of cards on which sewing-silk was wound in a mystical manner, were the well-known tokens of Miss Matty's favour.” (Friends in Need, Cranford)"<br /><br />Thank you Barbara for your fascinations - I love your posts!<br /><br />Sharon Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11547032314270939492noreply@blogger.com