Popknits: Articles: Rewriting Vintage Patterns

I’m often asked how I go about rewriting vintage patterns. First I should tell you why I do it.

A few years ago, I bought several reproductions of vintage pattern books. A couple of times I tried to knit a scarf from the lace patterns in The Art of Knitting 1897 and was immediately frustrated. No yarn was suggested, no needle size recommended and no gauge. Plus it was like reading a foreign language.

Here’s some examples: seam, n, sl. and b.

Can you guess the meaning?

Seam is another word for purl.
N is narrow which is not necessarily knit 2 together. It could mean ssk.
Sl and b is slip one stitch, knit the next stitch, pass slipped stitch over knit stitch.

And if this isn’t confusing enough, many of the patterns are written to be knitted in the round, and there are no charts in the book at all. No wonder so many American knitters are afraid of charts.
The patterns were also written for experienced knitters. A beginner would have a hard time following them.

After figuring out a couple of the patterns, I thought it would be nice to share them with fellow knitters. I actually found that I enjoyed the charting and knitting. I didn’t care much for writing out the patterns, but knew that many knitters are not comfortable with charts and forced myself to write them out.

The digital copyright of The Art of Knitting 1897 is owned by Iva Rose Vintage Reproductions so I can’t show you any scans from the book. However, if you go to Antique Pattern Library, you will see a list of digitized patterns that are copyright free. You can’t sell them, but you can knit from them. If you would like to use these patterns in any other way, you must contact the person who digitized them.

The names of the patterns in The Art of Knitting 1897 are not very creative. Many are called Fancy Stripe, Design in Knitting, Fancy Design in Knitting, etc. Sometimes they give suggestions for what the pattern can be used for. There are many designs for socks which I found surprising that anyone who had to knit socks in order to have socks to wear would knit lace socks. Perhaps the book was written for ladies of leisure who knitted for pleasure.

For this article, I have chosen to rewrite and chart a lace pattern form The Art of Knitting 1897 called Coral Stripe. I will walk you through the process step by step.

The Coral Stripe is not written to be knitted in the round, so it’s probably not suitable for a sock. This will make the pattern writing much simpler. The instructions tell me that the number of stitches to cast on must divisible by 21. (I had one pattern that called for a 12 stitch repeat plus 2 edge stitches. For the first row, they told you what to do with the edge stitches, but never mentioned them again after that. It was only after knitting a full repeat that it was obvious you should not include the edge stitches. These are the kind of things you have to look out for.)

I block 21 squares across the bottom my graph paper — one square for each stitch. Reading through the pattern, I see 12 rows written out so I block out 12 columns on my graph paper. See Figure 1.

Figure 1

Now here is where the fun begins.

First row: K 2 together, k3, k2 together, k1, th 0, k1, th o, k1, k2 together, k3, k2 together, k1, th o, k1, th o, k2.

What is “th o”? That’s another way of saying “yarn over.”

I chart my first row working right to left and make sure my symbols are consistent. Since there is no standard for symbols (except in Japanese), I use the ones I see most often. Such as a blank box for knit, a gray dot for purl and the letter “O” for yarn over. With complicated lace, I refer to Barbara Walker’s book, Charted Knitted Designs — A Treasury of Knitting Volume 3. Usually I find a symbol in one of her books, but not always. When I can’t find a suitable symbol, I make something up. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

I now chart row 2, left to right. Remember, odd rows right to left and even rows left to right. Left-handed people sometimes have a problem with this. See Figure 3.

Figure 3

Once I have penciled in the symbols on all my rows, I take my graph to the computer and put it in Adobe InDesign CS2 using the table feature. This program is probably used less than any other program for charting, but it’s one I’m comfortable with. For some charts I may use Adobe Illustrator, but prefer InDesign for lace charting.

Now I study my chart carefully. Do the decreases and increases work out on each row? If not, do they work out on a later row? For every increase, you must have a decrease and vice versa. Also with the chart, I can see how the pattern forms. If the pattern was originally knit in the round I must be sure to reverse the pattern on the wrong side for straight knitting. This is pretty easy if the wrong side is all knit or purl but gets complicated if the pattern is formed by a combination of both with increases and decreases.

After charting the pattern, I write it out word for word. For those of you who don’t read charts, thank your designers for writing the patterns out. It is very tedious and not much fun. I have to look at the chart as I type instructions. This is where I tend to make a lot of typographical errors. Once I have struggled through all this, it’s time to knit — the best part.

First I knit from the InDesign chart while referencing the hand drawn chart. I knit a full repeat. If that turns out, then I knit from the written directions while referencing the InDesign chart. It’s so easy to type a “2” instead of a “3”, and I’m not a great proofreader.

After I have knitted several repeats without an error, it’s time to publish. I post a photo and pdf file on my website: Fitter Knitter. Then I let everyone know about it on The Art of Knitting 1897 Ravelry group and on The Art of Knitting Yahoo! group (TheArtOfKnitting@yahoogroups.com). When I get 4 swatches complete, I create Lace Knitting Note Cards.

So now I give you my latest swatch — Coral Stripe. The swatch is knitted out of fingering weight cotton yarn. The yarn I use for the swatches blocks and photographs well, but I probably would not knit a scarf or shawl from it. I suggest you knit your swatch on any fingering or lace weight yarn you have on hand. Odd bits of sock yarn work great but if it isn’t a solid color the stitch pattern won’t show up very well, but it’s fine for practice.

Here it is all knit and blocked!

I used a size 7 needle but a 6 will probably look just as good. The swatches are not gauge specific.

Coral Stripe

Cast on any number of stitches divisible 21. Design is worked over 12 rows.

Row 1: *k2tog, k3, k2tog, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, k2tog, k3, k2tog, k1, yo, k1, yo, k2 *. Repeat * *
Row 2: p
Row 3: *k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, yo, k3,yo, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, yo, k3, yo, k2 *. Repeat * *
Row 4: p
Row 5: *sl1, k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k5, yo, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k5, yo, k2 *. Repeat * *
Row 6: p
Row 7: *k2, yo, k1, yo, k1, k2tog, k3, k2tog, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, k2tog, k3, k2tog *. Repeat * *
Row 8: p
Row 9: *k2, yo, k3, yo, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, yo, k3, yo, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog * . Repeat * *
Row 10: p
Row 11: *k2, yo, k5, yo, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k5, yo, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso *. Repeat * *
Row 12: p

Abbreviations
Knit: k
Purl: p
Knit 2 together: k2tog
Yarn over: yo
Slip: sl

Click on image to see larger version on Flickr or…
Download chart as a PDF

About the Author

Cindy Moore is know on Ravelry as Fitter Knitter because of her passion for exercise and staying fit. She believes that being able to get out for a long bike ride in the morning and then sit down in the evening with knitting creates a perfect balance in her life.

She taught herself to knit when she was 12. As a “process knitter” (one who is more interested in the actual process than in the finished product, the Vintage Lace Project a perfect outlet for her skills.

She has a degree in Fine Art (painting major) but has always loved working with textiles and fiber. She also spins, sews, cards her own batts and is starting to experiment a little with crochet.