I love to knit. It is so relaxing and keeps my hand busy while I'm watching television, listening to music, or filling in time while I volunteer at the library. However, there comes a point where I've knitted all the shawls, sweaters, scarves, etc. that I will ever use. Knitted gifts are a problem, as all knitting involves a lot of work that is often not appreciated enough to make it worthwhile.
I also love historical needlework and began browsing scanned copies of ladies' magazines and knitting manuals from the 1800s. I organized huge files of books and patterns,and put scads of them on Pinterest.The advent of knitting pattern books seems to be in the 1840s. The best from that decade, in my opinion, are My Knitting Book, by Miss Frances Lambert (1843), and Exercises in Knitting, by Cornelia Mee (1846). There are several other authors who published similar books, but most of them are direct copies of the same patterns. As it is, Miss Lambert and Mrs. Mee's offerings are pretty much the same.
One of the great drawbacks of these early manuals is the lack of illustrations. It would really be a plus to know what the garment or stitch pattern looks like before you knit it! However, if you think of the difficulty of making a picture of knitting, no wonder there are none. Pictures to be printed had to be engraved and it was not until the 1880s that a process was perfected to print actual photographs in books and newspapers. Imagine the detail necessary to engrave the image of a piece of knitting! It would drive up the cost of the book tremendously. Words-only patterns stretched my ability to mentally imagine the construction of a garment. I also made many small samples of stitch patterns. The Ravelry website has many pictures of Lambert and Mee's patterns. If you haven't signed up to Ravelry (and I'm shocked if you haven't), do it right now. It's free and chock-full of fabulous patterns, help, and groups to join.
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