KMB: sample 1.0

[muninnhuginn]

Not a full finished item, merely one of the "Designs of New Stitches" from  "Knitting Instructions": Peacock's Tail Pattern [pp295-6].

It took five (5!) false starts, proving how "foreign" the instructions and means of presentation are.

For a start, the illustration has the cast-on row at the top and the cast-off row at the bottom, which I didn't expect. The sample in the illustration has been commenced in a slightly neater way to the result I got following the instructions as given.

The instructions, I "translated" as follows:

Needles, wood or ivory; Messrs. Walter Evans and Co.'s knitting cotton.

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK and UK9 bamboo needles

Cast on a number of stitches divisible by nine, as it takes nine stitches for each pattern, and two for each border; the border, which is in plain knitting, will not be mentioned after the first row.

Cast on 13 stitches.

1st Row.--2 plain for border; 2 plain *, make 1, 1 plain, repeat this four times from *, make 1, 2 plain; repeat from the beginning--then 2 plain for border.

Row 1: K4, [yo, k1] five times, yo, k4. (19 sts)

2nd Row.--2 purl, 11 plain, 2 purl; repeat.

Row 2: P4, k4, p4.

3rd Row.--Take 2 together, 11 plain, take 2 together; repeat.

Row 3: K2, k2tog, k11, k2tog, k2. (17sts)

4th Row.--Purl 2 together, purl 9, purl 2 together; repeat.

Row 4: P2, p2tog, p9, p2tog, p2. (15sts)

5th Row.--Take 2 together, 7 plain, take 2 together.

Row 5: K2, k2tog, k7, k2tog, k2. (13sts)

6th row: omitted in original.

Row 6: purl.

Begin from the 1st row.

Repeat rows 1-6 3 further times. Cast off loosely.

My sample alongside the illustration (via Project Gutenberg):

The books suggests that "thirteen stitches are large enough for a stripe for a sofa-cover. These stripes should be sewn together after all are finished." I'd be inclined to knit it up in strips--running alternate directions?--as a snuggly blanket or throw. In much chunkier yarn.