Part II.
Household Economies and Fancy Finishes.
The Nursery Casement Curtain.
A very delightful little casement curtain is shown on page 95. This
would be eminently suitable for the Animal and Bird Nursery, and will
appeal to a child; and these little muslin curtains with filet crochet
tops are so very effective both from inside and outside the window.
As will be seen, the crochet presents no difficulty, but it must be
done evenly to look well. A diagram is given for working the strip,
from which the open and solid meshes can be counted.
The heading on the curtain shown is worked in Ardern’s No. 36 cotton.
This measures 15½ inches wide by 3 inches deep. To make this a little
longer or deeper, a coarser cotton could be used, though, of course,
much depends on the individual worker as to the size it actually works
out. But filet crochet is best done as closely as possible.
Two of these little curtains would be wide enough for some windows, but
it will be quite easy to repeat the design, or part of it, if required.
Double crochet is worked along the top and bottom of the curtain strip
to give a nice firm edge.
If quite a narrow curtain strip is preferred, the insertion showing the
two ducks and the rabbit repeated, would be good. Or this insertion
could be used at the bottom of a little curtain, providing there is
little or no fulness in the curtain. If used at the bottom of a full
curtain, the design would, of course, be completely lost.
This narrower insertion would also look very pretty to trim a white
cloth for the tray or table, and it could either be let in round the
sides of the cloth, or a strip would look well let in across each
corner.
The cock and duck insertion is one that would be very effective where
a strip is wanted to hang lengthwise down the sides of a curtain, or
for any other purpose where a lengthwise strip is required. A separate
diagram is not included for this, as this is merely a different
arrangement of the birds, and the illustration is sufficiently large
for the number of meshes between each pattern to be counted.
[Illustration: An Insertion that can be used lengthwise on a Curtain.]
The Advantage of Coloured Knitting Cottons.
Many people do not care for all-white quilts and bedspreads,
considering them cold-looking, even though they undoubtedly give a look
of freshness to a bed, when they are first put on.
And there can be no doubt but what there is a need for colour in our
furnishings no less than in our dress, in our dull climate. White
bedspreads look charmingly cool and refreshing on a hot, sunny July
day—but alas, so few of our days, even in July, are hot and sunny; and
there are all the other months of the year to be provided for.
Hence the vogue of the coloured bedspread, with its splashes of pink,
or blue, or heliotrope flowers and green leaves on a white ground.
Now that knitting has returned to us, and will undoubtedly stay, we
find a revival of the knitted quilt of our grandmother’s day. But
once more the objection is raised that the all-white quilt, while
undoubtedly handsome, looks chilly, and shows every slightest mark.
Few people know what pretty effects can be obtained from white knitting
combined with colour. Strutt’s “Milford” Knitting Cotton comes in
several dozen very pretty shades, all guaranteed to wash well.
[Illustration: A BEDSPREAD IN BLUE AND WHITE.]
[Sidenote: A Leaf Cluster Pattern.]
The counterpane here illustrated is in pale blue and white, and is
quite a feature in a pale blue bedroom.
Other colours you can obtain are various pinks, greens, pale cream,
with the intervening tones right up to full orange, heliotrope, salmon,
half-a-dozen different blues, from palest forget-me-not to navy blue,
crimson, fawn, and various tints of brown.
But, undoubtedly, for bedspread purposes, there is nothing like the
pinks or the blues.
It is best to use patterns that are worked in separate diamonds or
squares, and joined later on. This saves a tanglement of various balls,
as is inevitable if several colours are all going at once on a large
piece of work. When the work is in squares, each alternate square can
be in colour; when the work is in diamonds, that begins with one stitch
and increase each row till the widest point, and then decrease to the
opposite point. Half the diamond is worked in white, and when the
widest point is reached the cotton is broken off and the coloured ball
joined on, the remaining half being worked in colour.
The pattern here illustrated is the old fashioned leaf-cluster so often
seen in ancient knitted counterpanes.
The bedspread is worked in small diamonds, which are joined together by
over-sewing.
Use Strutt’s “Milford” Knitting Cotton No. 8, in white and in pale blue
(or any other colour required), and a pair of No. 14 steel needles.
Abbreviations Used.
K = knit a plain stitch; P = purl; O = over, that is, bring the thread
forward and pass it over the right hand needle, in order to make an
extra stitch; N = narrow, that is, knit two stitches together.
With the white cotton, cast on one stitch.
_1st Row._—K 3 stitches into the one stitch cast on.
_2nd Row._—O, K, O, K, O, K.
_3rd Row._—O, K, P 3, K 2.
_4th Row._—O, K 3, O, K, O, K 3.
_5th Row._—O, K 2, P 5, K 3.
_6th Row._—O, K 5, O, K, O, K 5.
_7th Row._—O, K 3, P 7, K 4.
_8th Row._—O, K 7, O, K, O, K 7.
_9th Row._—O, K 4, P 9, K 5.
_10th Row._—O, K 9, O, K, O, K 9.
_11th Row._—O, K 5, P 11, K 6.
_12th Row._—O, K 11, O, K, O, K 11.
_13th Row._—O, K 6, P 13, K 7.
_14th Row._—O, K 7, cast off one (_i.e._, slip a stitch on to the right
hand needle without knitting it, knit the next stitch, draw the slipped
stitch over the knit one), K 9, N, K 7.
_15th Row._—O, K 7, P 11, K 8.
_16th Row._—O, K 8, cast off 1, K 7, N, K 8.
_17th Row._—O, K 8, P 9, K 9.
_18th Row._—O, K 9, cast off 1, K 5, N, K 9.
_19th Row._—O, K 9, P 7, K 10.
_20th Row._—O, K 10, cast off 1, K 3, N, K 10.
_21st Row._—O, K 10, P 5, K 11.
_22nd Row._—O, K 11, cast off 1, K, N, K 11.
_23rd Row._—O, K 11, P 3, K 12.
_24th Row._—O, K 12, knit 3 stitches together, K 12.
_25th Row._—O, K to end of row.
_26th_, _27th_, _28th_ and _29th Rows_.—Like 25th Row. Break off white
cotton at end of 29th Row, and join on the blue cotton.
_30th Row._—Knit the whole row; end with the last 2 stitches knit
together.
_31st Row._—Purl, ending with the last 2 stitches purled together.
_32nd Row._—Like 30th.
_33rd_ and _34th Rows_.—Like 31st.
_35th Row._—Like 30th.
_36th Row._—Like 31st.
_37th Row._—Like 30th.
Repeat from 30th Row twice over, making 3 times in all. Then continue
working the purl and plain knitting for alternate rows till you have
only one stitch left. Break off the blue cotton and cast off.
In joining the diamonds, use white cotton when uniting the white
portions, and blue cotton for the blue portions.
[Illustration: Y STITCH AND LOOP STITCH AND THEIR VARIATIONS.