Knitting from an 1840s knitting book: A Cephaline / Sontag

A few weeks ago, I found a knitting book dated from 1846. The 180-year-old book is called My Knitting Book by Miss Lambert (first series), and contains 80 patterns for a range of accessories, stitch patterns and quilts. As a lover of old knitting patterns, I quickly decided to try making some of the things in this book. This pattern, the Cephaline or Sontag, was the first one that I attempted. Confusingly, a sontag is a historical garment, but it's a shawl or wrap that gained popularity in the 1860s. The bonnet that I made bears the same name, but I believe this predates the wrap by about 20 years. This pattern sits right underneath An Opera Cap, and uses the same border, making it possible that this was an elegant evening wear. As mentioned in The Art of Dressing Well (1870), "if a bonnet is worn, it must be of the lightest, airiest fabric and construction". Alas, I am no historian, so please do correct me if I am wrong.

So, how did the knititng go? Here are my notes about making the Cephaline / Sontag.

Needles

The original pattern calls for size 15 needles. According to my vintage Archers Bell needle gauge, the modern equivalent would be around 2.75mm needles. I used exactly that, and it seemed to be the perfect size for both the yarn and the project. 

It's worth noting that whilst the Archers Bell gauge looks very similar to the Filière gauge tool in My Knitting Book, I don't have any true way to know if it uses the same or different sizings. I'll be using the gauge tool as a rough guide, but also considering the yarn weight and what seems most logical. 

Yarn choice

The pattern specifies German wool in white and up to 5 other colours. I decided that 4-ply or fingering-weight yarn would likely be the most appropriate, especially given the needle size. I chose Jamieson & Smith's 2-ply Jumper Weight for my project as I thought that a rustic yarn like that would be era-appropriate. I followed the pattern, using white yarn (shade 1) as a border, then alternated white stripes with 2 shades of green (141 & 65). The yarn was nice to work with, and the colour combination was subtle but elegant. Overall, I used less than a ball of each colour. 

Pattern

The pattern starts by asking you to follow the border instructions on the previous pattern, An Opera Cap. The border is later sewn down - I did consider folding the edge and knitting it together, but I decided to follow the pattern and sew it at the end, which was simple enough to do. 

The stitch pattern was easy to follow, although the decreases needed to be thought out. Given the number of rows (44) and the number of stitches to decrease (30), I calculated that a decrease should be worked at the start of every 2 in 3 rows. I charted this out on Stitchfiddle alongside the stripe colour I needed, and whether it was a knit/purl row. I worked the decrease into the pattern, knitting the first 2 stitches together and then continuing as per the normal instructions. The decreases themselves were easy enough to make, but I did accidentally add some stitches. I yarned over towards the end of the previous row without offsetting it with a k2tog, which ultimately resulted in too few decreases followed by some serious frogging. 

The main pattern repeat asked you to YO, k2tog and then k1. To make sure the stitch pattern lined up in the same place each row, I made sure that my K1 stitch (or P1 on the wrong side) was made in the YO stitch from the previous row. This resulted in neatly stacked columns of stitches with more lacey, open eyelets either side. I also alternated colour every 2 rows. I wonder if the pattern would look different if you placed your k1 in a different place

At the end of the pattern, it asks you to repeat the border. I chose to knit this in reverse as this seemed the most logical. To finish, I sewed the border and added a satin ribbon in the shade hunter. This was harder to sew on - I folded over the end and then sewed the ribbon to prevent fraying, and then sealed the other end of the ribbon with a lighter. 

Final thoughts

The sontag/cephaline pattern was easy and very quick to make. I will admit that the decreases are harder than you might think - not in their making, but rather in the keeping track of when to incude them. The lace stitch is very pretty and also looks nice both ways, making the bonnet easily reversible. It might not be the most practical garment for the 21st century (I was very shy taking photos in it outside), but it's a lovely piece that is great for historical dress. I'd love to see what it'd look like in the traditional 5 colours.