That's depressing.
*Disclaimer: I'm not known for my speed in projecting, and I often only get an hour or so a day to do something / anything that I want to do.
Better get started!
At the amazing Jamestown conference, we were introduced to some new research on garters by the Tudor Tailors and had the opportunity to examine some 16-17th c. extant knitting examples.
I can't share the "recipe" but the knit fabric was much tighter than I had expected, and it seems they would knit with two strands instead of using yarn with multiple plies (twisted together).
At the end of the session, Jane looked over some of the different yarns we had brought and commented on if they would be interesting/appropriate. I brought Jamieson & Smith 1 Ply Cobweb Lace Weight. Jane said she would be interested in seeing the results as it was a commercially available single ply wool, made for heritage knitting. It has a slightly coarse feel even though it is very fine. It's fairly easy to knit; the two strands "stick" together pretty well. I should mention that I'm a lefty, so I often end up un-ply-ing normal yarn as I knit so it's nice to not be fighting with this. It's also stronger than I thought it would be. I haven't broken it yet!
I started by winding the single ply wool into two balls. This allows me to knit with two strands. The next step was to gauge. From past knitting projects, I know that I have a tendency to knit on the tighter side, so your gauge may vary. Each sample is 9 stitches wide and 10 rows long in plain knit with 2 strands of the wool. The one exception is the very small 000 sample where I used a single strand, just for comparison.
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| Gauges: Starting from the bottom, size 4, size 3, size 2, size 1, size 000 |
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| Close up of size 4 and size 3 | Close up of size 2 and size 1 |
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| Close up of size 000 single and double strand | Better close up of size 000 single and double strand |
I didn't have 0 or 00 needles, so I went with what I had. From the gauged samples, I decided on using size 1 needles with 8 stitches per row to achieve the right size and density. The 000 gave a very dense fabric, but it was rather difficult to knit at that gauge and I felt it was overkill. Size 0 (if I had them) would likely be a good option as well.
At this point, I've completed about half of one garter (~36 in each), but wanted to share progress! I have a strong spiral curl to my garter that I haven't figured out how to remove, but otherwise, it's coming along.
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