Her Excellency’s Knitting Book has been a treasure trove of patterns and techniques when it comes to war era knitting. It was originally compiled by Lady Annette Foljambe, Countess of Liverpool and wife to New Zealand’s last Governor.
The book is 193 pages long and contains a mulititude of patterns, and at the start of the book credits all the women who contributed, something that is not often done.
The book starts with a note to the women of New Zealand hoping it will prove useful and how she assures the patterns have been thoroughly tested. She also writes how the profit of this book will go to the St. Johns Ambulance Base Hospital.
It then shares two of the Countess’ own patterns – the Dame Foljambe herself being an experienced knitter – before going into various techniques and a multitude of patterns from a child’s cap to bed socks.
The pattern I’ve selected is a simple one. One I’d dare say is easy enough for a beginner who wants to knit a sock but is worried about the difficulties of heel turns and gusstets.
Bed socks as a whole were simpler and like with this sock, you could get away with seams. Soldiers who convalesced did a whole lot less marching, after all.
If you wish to read more about Dame Annette Foljambe, I happily direct you to this website.
Now, onto the pattern:
Abbreviations and terms:
- K1; Knit one
- P1: Purl one
- Sl: Slip stitch
- K2tog: Knit 2 stitches as one
- Knitting plain: knit stitch/stockinette
Materials and notes:
- Around 230 grams of worsted weight yarn
- A set of 5,5mm or US 9 needles. These socks are knit flat and seamed together at the end so no dpns required.
- A darning needle
- This is essentially a long tube sock so I would recommend this for people who are intimidated by heel turns
Instructions:
Setting up – Cast on 54 stitches. Always slip the first stitch of every row for a neater edge
*Knit ribs in 3 knit and 3 purl stitches for 9 rows.
For the 10th row, knit plain.
Repeat from * for a total of 12 blocks
Note: If you wish to knit a shorter sock, you can repeat this step as little or as many times as desired
Once you are finished with your repeats, knit plain on both sides of the work for 24 more rows.
Decreasing – Here we start to narrow the leg for shaping
Slip 1, k1, k2tog, knit until the last 4 stitches, k2 tog and k2
Knit 3 rows plain and decrease as before
Knit 2 rows and decrease.
Now you start knitting and decreasing every other row until you have 20 stitches left.
Now you decrease every row until you have worked up all your stitches.
Finishing – Fold the sock with the right sides together and sew alongside the slipped stitches on the edge. When you get to the toe, you fold this over about an inch and sew closed.
Turn right side out and you’re done.
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