The Advantage of Coloured Knitting Cottons.
Many people do not care for all-white quilts and bedspreads, considering them cold-looking, even though they undoubtedly give a look of freshness to a bed, when they are first put on.
And there can be no doubt but what there is a need for colour in our furnishings no less than in our dress, in our dull climate. White bedspreads look charmingly cool and refreshing on a hot, sunny July day—but alas, so few of our days, even in July, are hot and sunny; and there are all the other months of the year to be provided for.
A BEDSPREAD IN BLUE AND WHITE.
Hence the vogue of the coloured bedspread, with its splashes of pink, or blue, or heliotrope flowers and green leaves on a white ground.
Now that knitting has returned to us, and will undoubtedly stay, we find a revival of the knitted quilt of our grandmother’s day. But once more the objection is raised that the all-white quilt, while undoubtedly handsome, looks chilly, and shows every slightest mark.
Few people know what pretty effects can be obtained from white knitting combined with colour. Strutt’s “Milford” Knitting Cotton comes in several dozen very pretty shades, all guaranteed to wash well.
A Leaf Cluster Pattern.
The counterpane here illustrated is in pale blue and white, and is quite a feature in a pale blue bedroom.
Other colours you can obtain are various pinks, greens, pale cream, with the intervening tones right up to full orange, heliotrope, salmon, half-a-dozen different blues, from palest forget-me-not to navy blue, crimson, fawn, and various tints of brown.
But, undoubtedly, for bedspread purposes, there is nothing like the pinks or the blues.
It is best to use patterns that are worked in separate diamonds or squares, and joined later on. This saves a tanglement of various balls, as is inevitable if several colours are all going at once on a large piece of work. When the work is in squares, each alternate square can be in colour; when the work is in diamonds, that begins with one stitch and increase each row till the widest point, and then decrease to the opposite point. Half the diamond is worked in white, and when the widest point is reached the cotton is broken off and the coloured ball joined on, the remaining half being worked in colour.
The pattern here illustrated is the old fashioned leaf-cluster so often seen in ancient knitted counterpanes.
The bedspread is worked in small diamonds, which are joined together by over-sewing.
Use Strutt’s “Milford” Knitting Cotton No. 8, in white and in pale blue (or any other colour required), and a pair of No. 14 steel needles.
Abbreviations Used.
K = knit a plain stitch; P = purl; O = over, that is, bring the thread forward and pass it over the right hand needle, in order to make an
extra stitch; N = narrow, that is, knit two stitches together.
With the white cotton, cast on one stitch.
1st Row.—K 3 stitches into the one stitch cast on.
2nd Row.—O, K, O, K, O, K.
3rd Row.—O, K, P 3, K 2.
4th Row.—O, K 3, O, K, O, K 3.
5th Row.—O, K 2, P 5, K 3.
6th Row.—O, K 5, O, K, O, K 5.
7th Row.—O, K 3, P 7, K 4.
8th Row.—O, K 7, O, K, O, K 7.
9th Row.—O, K 4, P 9, K 5.
10th Row.—O, K 9, O, K, O, K 9.
11th Row.—O, K 5, P 11, K 6.
12th Row.—O, K 11, O, K, O, K 11.
13th Row.—O, K 6, P 13, K 7.
14th Row.—O, K 7, cast off one (i.e., slip a stitch on to the right hand needle without knitting it, knit the next stitch, draw the slipped stitch over the knit one), K 9, N, K 7.
15th Row.—O, K 7, P 11, K 8.
16th Row.—O, K 8, cast off 1, K 7, N, K 8.
17th Row.—O, K 8, P 9, K 9.
18th Row.—O, K 9, cast off 1, K 5, N, K 9.
19th Row.—O, K 9, P 7, K 10.
20th Row.—O, K 10, cast off 1, K 3, N, K 10.
21st Row.—O, K 10, P 5, K 11.
22nd Row.—O, K 11, cast off 1, K, N, K 11.
23rd Row.—O, K 11, P 3, K 12.
24th Row.—O, K 12, knit 3 stitches together, K 12.
25th Row.—O, K to end of row.
26th, 27th, 28th and 29th Rows.—Like 25th Row. Break off white cotton at end of 29th Row, and join on the blue cotton.
30th Row.—Knit the whole row; end with the last 2 stitches knit together.
31st Row.—Purl, ending with the last 2 stitches purled together.
32nd Row.—Like 30th.
33rd and 34th Rows.—Like 31st.
35th Row.—Like 30th.
36th Row.—Like 31st.
37th Row.—Like 30th.
Repeat from 30th Row twice over, making 3 times in all. Then continue working the purl and plain knitting for alternate rows till you have only one stitch left. Break off the blue cotton and cast off.
In joining the diamonds, use white cotton when uniting the white portions, and blue cotton for the blue portions.
See the article on [page 61].
The Cynthia Knitted Stripe.
Suitable for a Toilet Runner.
Abbreviations Used.
K = knit a plain stitch; P = purl; O = over, that is, bring the thread forward to the front of the work, and pass it round over the right hand needle, in order to make an extra stitch; N = narrow, that is, knit two stitches together; S = slip a stitch.
Use Strutt’s Knitting Cotton, No. 8, 3 threads, and a pair of No. 12 steel needles.
Cast on 91 stitches for a runner, about 12 inches wide, or 118 for a runner 16 inches wide. If something wider than this is needed, cast on multiples of 27, with an extra 10 stitches.
Notice that after the first piece of plain knitting, each alternate row is like the 19th.
Knit 18 rows plain.
19th Row, and each alternate row.—* S 1, K 9, P 17. Repeat from * till only 10 stitches remain on needle. Knit these 10 plain.
20th Row.—* S 1, K 10, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 4. Repeat from *, K 10.
21st Row.—Like 19th.
22nd Row.—* S 1, K 11, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 3. Repeat from *, K 10.
24th Row.—S 1, K 12, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 2. Repeat from *, K 10.
26th Row.—* S 1, K 13, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 1. Repeat from *, K 10.
28th Row.—* S 1, K 14, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N. Repeat from *, K 10.
30th Row.—* S 1, K 15, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, K 1. Repeat from *, K 10.
32nd Row.—* S 1, K 10, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N. Repeat from *, K 10.
34th Row.—* S 1, K 11, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 5. Repeat from *, K 10.
36th Row.—Like 20th.
38th Row.—Like 22nd.
40th Row.—Like 24th.
42nd Row.—Like 26th.
44th Row.—Like 28th.
45th Row.—Like 19th.
Then knit 19 rows plain knitting. Go back and repeat from the 19th row.