Simple color-patterned pouch

New & improved pattern!  (Download now from Ravelry)

NEEDLES

16-inch circular needle, size 5 or 6

(Optional: a set of double-pointed needles in the same size)

YARN

This bag is worked in wool worsted-weight yarn — the size most commonly used for sweaters. It takes about 40 yards of the color you use the most, and 10 to 20 yards each of three or more other colors.

Recommended yarns: Bartlett Yarns Fisherman 2-ply, Philosopher’s Wool 2-ply worsted, or another 2-ply 100% wool worsted-weight yarn would be the closest approximation to historical yarn from before 1600. To be most historically accurate you want solid colors, with no light-to-dark or multicolor shading or heathering (these are later developments).

If you use white or cream-colored yarn, it can either be wool, or worsted-weight cotton yarn such as “Sugar’n’Cream”. The earliest knitted pieces often use unbleached cotton as their white.

BEGINNING AT THE TOP

Cast on 72 stitches (for Color chart #1) or 70 stitches (for Color chart #2) with your main color. Join stitches into a round, being careful not to twist the row of stitches when you join it.

Knit plain (knit every stitch — no need to purl). Work about 1/2 to 1 inch before you start the color patterning and the same after you have finished the color-patterned band. 1 square in the color chart equals one stitch.

After an inch or two, you may want to try putting your stitches onto 3 or 4 double-pointed needles, with one needle left free to work the stitches on each needle in turn. This was the method used for knitting in the round before circular needles were invented in the early 20th century.

The key to good color-stranded knitting is tension. The yarn colors that aren’t being used at the moment are carried on the wrong side of the knitting. If these “floats” are too tight, the knitting will pucker and warp. A good rule of thumb is this: before you take the first stitch of a color that has not been used recently, spread the stitches on your right needle as far apart as they will go. Take your new stitch and pull it just barely snug — not tight. When you release the pull on this yarn, the float will be just loose enough.

If, by chance, you get a float too loose, it’s easy to pull on it to adjust the stitches on the front so they don’t gap. With washing, the floats will stick to the inside of the bag and not be troublesome.

Don’t tie knots when you change colors; instead, just start knitting with the new yarn. The stitches will be loose at first, but you can go back and tighten them when you have knitted half a round or so. If you will use a color again within two or three rounds, leave it hanging on the inside of the bag; otherwise, leave about six to eight inches hanging and cut the yarn.

When you have worked the color patterning and another 1/2 to 1 inch in your main color, bind off.

FINISHING

Flatten the cylinder of knitting and overcast (sew) the two bound-off edges together at the bottom with a large needle and a strand of the same yarn (going once through each front & back stitch).

Alternatively, instead of a normal bind-off, do a 3-needle bind-off to close the bottom of the bag (a common finish for closed ends before 1600).

Where you changed colors, pull the beginning and ending of the colored yarn carefully so the stitches on the outside are the same size as all the other stitches. Take the loose end of yarn and, on the inside of the bag, weave it in and out a few times among other stitches of the same color and trim off the end.

Braid a carrying strap from leftover yarn (or any yarn you like). Sew it neatly onto the top of the bag at two opposite points. Cut or make two drawstrings — they work better if they are not wool. Shoelaces, smooth cotton string, and braided cotton embroidery thread work well. Thread both drawstrings in and out between the stitches in the third row from the top of the bag. Knot the two ends of each drawstring together. Pull one drawstring from each side to close the bag.

Simple bags like this often show up in medieval paintings with three to five tassels along the bottom.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

For more information about the historical background of this bag, download the pattern now.

Text, page and photo copyright 2012 by Chris Laning. This pattern may be reproduced for nonprofit educational uses only; copies must include this notice. See the Creative Commons license icon in the right column for details. Please contact the author with any questions.

Charts

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Simple striped bag

New & improved pattern!  (Download now from Ravelry)

This is my favorite project for a beginner’s class in knitting. It requires only that you be able to cast on, cast off, and knit — no purling required! The result is a simple bag that is useful in many ways.

NEEDLES

16-inch circular needle, U.S. size 5 or 6

(Optional: a set of double-pointed needles in the same size)

YARN

This bag takes about 2 ounces or 100 yards of worsted-weight yarn — the size most commonly used for sweaters.

Recommended yarns: Bartlett Yarns Fisherman 2-ply, Philosopher’s Wool 2-ply worsted, or another 2-ply 100% wool worsted-weight yarn would be the closest approximation to historical yarn from before 1600. To be most historically ac­curate, you want solid colors, with no light-to-dark or multicolor shading or heathering (these are later developments).

If you are doing stripes, you can use a few yards of any yarn in a color you like, as long as it’s the same thickness as your basic yarn. A one-row stripe all the way around takes about a yard.

Beginning at the top

Cast on 60 stitches. Join them into a round, being careful not to twist the row of stitches when you join it.

Knit plain (knit every stitch — no need to purl) until you think it’s long enough (8 inches is a good length).

After an inch or two, you may want to try putting your stitches onto 3 or 4 double-pointed needles, with one needle left free to work the stitches on each needle in turn. This was the method used for knitting in the round before circular needles were invented in the early 20th century.

STRIPES

If you want to try a small adventure and introduce some variety, take a length of colored yarn and at some point just start knitting your new stitches with that yarn instead. When you get around to your starting point again (1, or 2, or more rounds later) drop the new color and pick up your old yarn, being careful not to pull too tight and pucker the knitting. Repeat stripes at whatever interludes you like.

FINISHING

When finished, bind off, flatten the cylinder of knitting and overcast (sew) the two bound-off edges together at the bottom with a large needle and a strand of the same yarn (going once through each front & back stitch).

Alternatively, do a 3-needle bind-off to close the bottom of the bag (a common finish for closed ends before 1600).

If you changed colors, pull the beginning and ending of the colored yarn carefully so the stitches on the outside are the same size as all the other stitches. Take the loose end of yarn and, on the inside of the bag, weave it in and out a few times among other stitches of the same color and trim off the end.

Braid a carrying strap from leftover yarn (or any yarn you like). Sew it neatly onto the top of the bag at two opposite points. Cut or make two drawstrings — they work better if they are not wool. Shoelaces, smooth cotton string, and braided cotton embroidery thread work well. Thread both drawstrings in and out between the stitches in the third row from the top of the bag. Knot the two ends of each drawstring together. Pull one drawstring from each side to close the bag.

Simple bags like this often show up in medieval paintings with three to five tassels along the bottom.

MORE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

For more information about historical knitting, download the pattern!

Text, page and photo copyright 2012 by Chris Laning. This pattern may be reproduced for nonprofit educational uses only; copies must include this notice. See the Creative Commons license icon in the right column for details. Please contact the author with any questions.

Pre-literate stockings

You can also view and download a PDF of these instructions, with pictures, here.

I created these instructions for a beginning stocking-knitter's workshop. These stockings are similar to the coarser, less aristocratic knitted stockings that were made in great quantities in northern Europe in the 16th century. They use a 16th-century type of heel that I think is easier to understand than more modern types of heels, which tend to ask you to do peculiar things with your knitting like stop in the middle of a row, turn around and go back the other way :) With this earlier type of heel, it's a lot easier to see how the stocking turns a 90-degree corner between the vertical leg and the horizontal foot parts.

First, I'll give you a very brief set of instructions for knitting a plain stocking — perhaps such instructions as might be passed down to you in a pre-literate society. Below will be more detailed instructions, for those of us who have not been knitting stockings since we were six years old.

Brief instructions

Cast on 60 stitches. Knit plain to the center of the calf muscle, about a handspan down from the knee. Decrease 2 at center back every 6th round until there are 48 stitches. Work plain to the top of the heel. Work a heel flap on 29 stitches until it is as long as it is wide. Fold in half and sew the heel seam. Pick up stitches around the opening to make a complete round. Decrease 1 at each side of the instep every 2nd round until there are 48 stitches again. Work plain to the ball of the foot. Decrease 2 stitches every 3rd round 3 times, every 2nd round twice, then every round until there are 10 or fewer stitches left. Draw thread through remaining stitches, pull tight, and finish off.

More detailed instructions

These instructions produce a slightly longer than knee-length stocking like the diagram (to enlarge: 1 square = 1 inch). This fits an average-sized woman’s foot and leg. If you are not average, you may need to experiment with fewer or more stitches, shorter or longer length. The instructions will often tell you to “stop and try on your sock,” and you can do so either by trying the stocking on your own foot, or if the diagram is the right size for you, by flattening your knitted piece and laying it on top of the diagram.

What’s important is that your stockings fit YOU. Don’t be afraid to rip out a couple of inches and re-do them if necessary: once you get the right measurements, write them down, and you can use them to make as many socks as you like in the future.

Note that these stockings should extend an inch or two above the knee. They have no ribbing, so they are held up with tied garters, held by a turned-down cuff. These approximate a coarse period stocking for roughly the late 13th through the 17th century.

Have courage, and begin!

Materials

500-550 yards wool yarn, ordinary worsted weight (about 10–12 wraps per inch)

A set of 4 or 5 double pointed needles, U.S. size 5, 6 or 7 — whatever gets you a knitted gauge of 5+1/2 stitches per inch.

Instructions for the leg

Beginning at the top of the leg, cast on 60 stitches and join into a circle. Knit plain (i.e. every stitch is a knit stitch).

Knit around plain for about one inch. Stop and try your sock on to see whether this fits over the widest part of your calf comfortably. It should feel a little stretchy but not at all tight. If it’s too tight, try the same thing but with 64 stitches, or experiment till you have the right number. If it’s loose or baggy, try fewer stitches.

(If you are not pre-literate, doing a bit of math may help here: measure around the widest part of your calf, subtract one inch, and multiply by your stitch gauge to get an approximate number. Math can help with getting the right size for other parts of the sock, too. Don’t forget to write down what you did so you can duplicate it later.)

Knit plain for a total of 9 inches. (Putting a marker about every inch helps you track your progress, especially if you feel it’s taking forever to get there.) Try the sock on: this should bring you to about the point where your calf starts to narrow. Adjust length if needed, mark the center back of your sock, and begin the decreases as follows:

Decrease round: Knit 2 together with the two stitches before your marker. Knit 1 (the marked stitch). With the next two stitches, work a SKP decrease (slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over, or whatever your favorite method is for this).

Knit 5 rounds plain.

Repeat this, decreasing on every 6th round, until you have 48 stitches. Try the sock on and see if this fits your lower leg and ankle correctly.

If so, continue knitting plain until you reach the top of your heel. (To find the right spot, point your toe, and locate the crease at the back of your ankle.)

Re-arrange the stitches on your needles: take the 14 stitches before the marker, the marked stitch itself, and the 14 stitches after your center back marker and put all these on one needle (29 sts in all). Take a blunt needle and thread and run it through all the remaining 19 stitches for the instep. Tie the thread ends together and remove the knitting needles from these 19 stitches so you can work the heel flap on the others.

Instructions for heel

Knit back and forth on the 29 stitches to make a flat piece (knit across, purl back). Work until the heel flap is as long as it is wide — about 35 rows. It’s helpful, but not necessary, to slip the first stitch of each row and purl the last stitch (in both directions).



When it’s long enough, slip half the stitches onto another needle and fold the flap in half vertically (wrong sides together) so the two needles are parallel.



Weave or sew these two rows of stitches together for the seam on the bottom of the heel (it helps to start from the closed end). You can also bind off pairs of stitches together as shown here -- one from the front needle, one from the back.



The start of this seam at the open end is your new “center back” stitch, so mark it (it’s actually the bottom of the foot, now). Put the 19 instep stitches back on your needles and remove the thread holding them. Pick up stitches around the heel (about one new stitch for every two rows of the heel flap) to make a complete round. Mark the first and last instep stitches.



Knit one round plain. On the next round, starting at the center back marker, K until you are one stitch before the first instep marker and K2 together. Knit plain across the instep until you reach the second instep marker and SKP (Sl 1, K 1, psso).

Repeat, decreasing every other round, until you are back at 48 stitches total.



Try it on to be sure this is the right diameter for your foot.

Knit plain for the foot until the sock reaches to the ball of your foot, then begin
the toe decreases.

Instructions for toe

Mark the 12th stitch before and the 12th stitch after the center back stitch. This is where you’ll do the toe decreases.

Decrease round: Knit 2 together with the two stitches before your marker. Knit 1. With the next two stitches, work a SKP decrease (slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over, or whatever your favorite method is for this).

Knit 2 rounds plain. (44 sts)

Decrease as before, then knit 2 rounds plain. (40 sts)

Decrease as before, then knit 2 rounds plain. (36 sts)

Decrease as before, then knit 1 round plain. (32 sts)

Decrease as before, then knit 1 round plain. (28 sts)

Decrease every round for five rounds (24, 20, 16, 12 and 8 sts).

Cut the end of the yarn, leaving a foot or so, and thread it through these 8 stitches. Pull tight and fasten off.

Copyright 2008 by Chris Laning

This pattern may be freely distributed for nonprofit educational purposes as long as this copyright notice is included. The author would be pleased to hear that it is being used. For details of this Creative Commons license see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Introduction

I've created this blog as a place to "park" knitting patterns I've created -- some patterns are for items of historical interest, others purely modern. Anyone is welcome to link to these instructions. If you print, copy or share them in any other way, please include my copyright notice. These patterns may be reproduced freely for nonprofit educational purposes provided no money is charged beyond the cost of reproduction and the copyright notice is included.

If you want to chat or find out what else I've been knitting, you can also find me on Ravelry.