Pattern from history - summer cables from 1990 by Pattern Duchess

“Pattern from history” posts were born when my lovely grandmother gave me all (well, almost all) of her old pattern sheets. And it was many. She collected those years and years and I think it’s a fantastic reflection of knitting history of our little country.

To make this little bit personal, I try to put little bit history of Estonia behind the year of the pattern. And I try to add all that my grandmother can remember and can tell me.

I added “can tell me” because my granny is little protective of me – she shares what she thinks I can handle – I’m a sensitive nature you see 🙂

I love her for that, but I can’t always get the hole truth about all that have happened.


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It’s year 1990. June. I’m six.

I don’t remember it much. Mum told me that I had finished reading all the children books that were available in our local library (yes, ALL of them). I was an avid reader… (I still am, but now I have Internet 😀)

At the same time I eagerly learned knitting, played war with my cousins and basically lived on top of the trees…

Estonians as nation didn’t live that well. At the same time when I was being a kid, people lost all their savings. Soviet Union decided that all the money that belonged to Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians was actually theirs…

I guess that’s the reason why Baltic states are supporting each other and feel some special bond that you can’t actually see…

Summer cables from 1990

I don’t want to go too deep with it today. I had tough week. Trouble with math…

Not me, of course. I have Google. But my 3rd grader…

I hate math. I can teach people to knit… I can’t teach calculations…

So, let’s just talk about knitting, OK?

If you carefully watch my swatch (haaa…watch my swatch….try to say it very quickly 😀 ) then you’ll notice an error. Cables in the middle isn’t in the middle. That’s the thing with old pattern charts – full of mistakes.

I usually notice it before I start to knit, but not this time. I didn’t frog it – I’m lazy… Next pattern repeat came out correctly though 🙂

You can also see my laziness in the pins that are holding down the edges (I didn’t feel like washing my swatch :O ) and absence of knitting chart…

Yeah…

Pattern repeat is 22 sts + 8 sts.

And maybe you’ll need some knitting abbreviations today:

  • k – knit;
  • p – purl;
  • sl st kw – slip stitch knit wise;
  • 2/2 CL – 2 sts on cable needle, hold in front, knit next 2 sts & then 2 sts from cable needle;
  • 4/4 CL – 4 sts on cable needle, hold in front, knit next 4 sts & then 4 sts from cable needle;

Row 1: *p2, k4, p2, sl st kw, p2, k8, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, k4, p2;
Row 2 & all the WS rows: *k2, p4, k2, p1, k2, p8, k2, p1* rep to last 8 sts, k2, p4, k2;
Row 3: *p2, 2/2 CL, p2, sl st kw, p2, k8, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, 2/2 CL, p2;
Row 5: *p2, k4, p2, sl st kw, p2, 4/4 CL, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, k4, p2;
Row 7: *p2, 2/2 CL, p2, sl st kw, p2, k8, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, 2/2 CL, p2;
Row 9: *p2, k4, p2, sl st kw, p2, k8, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, k4, p2;
Row 11: *p2, 2/2 CL, p2, sl st kw, p2, k2, 2/2 CL, k2, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, 2/2 CL, p2;
Row 13: *p2, k4, p2, sl st kw, p2, k8, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, k4, p2;
Row 15: *p2, 2/2 CL, p2, sl st kw, p2, k2, 2/2 CL, k2, p2, sl st kw* rep to last 8 sts, p2, 2/2 CL, p2;
Row 16: *k2, p4, k2, p1, k2, p8, k2, p1* rep to last 8 sts, k2, p4, k2;

Although the pattern sheet was full of errors, I wanted to assure you that my work was inspected by higher authorities… See? His supervising is starting to get little bit bossy….

Jimmy the Knitting Supervisor - only cat who cares for knitting patterns

What you think – what should we knit with this knitting pattern?

 

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This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Fuego Azul

    Oo! Knee high socks with this pattern running down the front to the toe! I really enjoy your history posts & learning something new along with a new stitch pattern. It’s so cool that your grandma passed on these patterns to you, & it’s so sweet that she’s protective of you, lol. Grandmas are the best! 🙂
    As for the math, lol, it was a blessing if I ever got the minimum passing grade in that course…I hope your little one doesn’t take it to heart that they struggle with it. Math is only a type of intelligence, not the end-all-be-all of intelligence. It didn’t click for me until college. We all have our strengths & weaknesses.

    1. PatternDuchess

      Yes, I know right 😀 Math is adult thing 😀 My brain started to take it in the end of highschool, but then the teenager thing kicked in so… 😀

      1. Fuego Azul

        Lol. :p
        It’s funny how that works. I remember struggling through geometry & almost failing that class. But now that I knit, it all makes perfect sense. I guess I struggled because I didn’t understand WHY it mattered at the time. Regardless, books & reading are WAY better! 😉

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