Many older patterns called for finer needles and finer wool. These were used for cotton work such as knitted collars or a jabot which made a dark dress look very smart and helped to make it look just that little bit different.
The main needles used all those years ago were sizes 10, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 18. The last four sizes were so fine it took weeks to make a garment. These four sizes are not used now but when they were used any knitter would shudder to think of all the stitches that was cast on to make a sweater.
One pattern that I have is for a collar, which calls for 2 number 18 needles and to cast on 191 stitches. Can anyone visualise making something on needles much finer than a darning needle?
Now everything is metric and even the wool has become thicker. Double knitting wool made its debut after WW2 and hand knitted goods started gaining popularity especially when new yarns were introduced after the war.
Looking through my wartime patterns I came across the article on the right.
This was how we used up all our oddments of wool. Very attractive the covers looked too.
Please feel free to copy it off if you want to use up your oddments of wool.
