Six warm things from a 1917 knitting book, rewritten

The 1917 sock that did not add up

The book's sock looks sensible until you count it. The gusset is told to decrease down to 62 stitches, two fewer than the leg started with, and the toe then asks for a repeat of nine stitches. Nine does not divide into 62. The toe's own closing counts disagree with its decrease sequence as well.

So the gusset here comes back to the leg count, and the toe became a wedge, grafted shut. The heel flap stays as printed: thirty rows, first stitch slipped, which leaves a tidy chain of edge stitches to pick up along. The old heel turn did balance, but its length depended on the stitch count, so it was regraded to work in all three sizes.

The original ends with a line worth keeping: "Length of finished foot should be 11 inches." Here the foot is worked to fit instead, stopping about 1¾ in (4.5 cm) short of your own foot's full length to leave room for the toe.

Wristlets from two sentences

The old wristlet pattern is barely a paragraph: rib for 12 inches, sew up, "leaving 2-inch space for thumb 3 inches from top", then "take up stitches and knit 4 rows for thumb." No thumb stitch count. No word on whether those rows are rib or plain.

We read the top as the bound-off, hand end, which puts the gap 7 in (18 cm) up from the cast-on edge. The thumb is picked up along that gap and worked in rib for four rounds, so its edge matches the cuff and does not roll. All three sizes are multiples of four, which keeps the k2, p2 unbroken across the seam.

A helmet that doubles as a scarf

You begin with two flat garter pieces, one for the chest and one for the back, then slide both onto double-pointed needles and rib in the round. The face opening is bound off partway up, worked back and forth for a few rows, and the stitches are cast on again above it.

The book never says where the opening goes. We centred it on the front piece, and slip the first stitch of each opening row, a trick the same book uses elsewhere "to make the side of the face-opening firm."

The crown is the tidy part. Three lines of decreases run in every round, and the count comes out at exactly 27 stitches, as printed. Where the old pattern says to bind off and sew the top together, ours gathers the last stitches closed, so nothing sits as a seam on top of your head. The book also suggests lengthening the front piece for the "additional service of a muffler and chest protector."

Split-finger mitts, where the book went vague

The original begins "with double thread" and uses a thumb gusset built by knitting into the front and back of stitches. We kept the same number of added stitches over the same number of rounds, but made them with lifted increases at the gusset edges, which are neater and chart cleanly.

Then come the instructions that took some reading. "Take off the 24 extra stitches on a large safety pin", cast on a small gore between thumb and hand, and narrow it away again until the hand is back to its first count. We worked out how the gore closes so that it vanishes exactly when the stitch count returns. The outside-edge decreases on the hand top are read as six rounds of paired decreases, every other round.

The index finger and thumb stay open at the tips, a half inch of k1, p1 rib finishing each one. If you are knitting these in Row & Round, the round where the index finger is split off is the one to mark before you put the work down.

Garter stitch, and two sensible notes

The muffler is the shortest pattern in the book: cast on, knit every row, stop at 68 in (173 cm). The only worry the old page has is width, and it handles that with "these should measure at least 11 inches." At the gauge given here they do. Shorter is allowed if your yarn runs low.

The hot water bottle cover has a ribbed top, then plain knitting, then rows of double decreases at each end that take the piece down to a narrow neck. Make two, sew them together, and sew a 20 in (51 cm) tape to the seam beside the ribbing to tie round the neck. The original specified white cotton and added, "This may be made of wool if desired." We chose DK cotton, but wool works if you would rather.

Sizes, yarn and who these suit

The wristlets, muffler and bottle cover are Easy. The socks, helmet and mitts are Intermediate, because they mean working in the round, shaping with decreases and finishing neatly. If you have only knitted flat, start with the muffler.

The socks come in S [M, L] with a foot circumference of 7 [8, 9] in (18 [20.5, 23] cm) and a 12 in (30.5 cm) leg. The wristlets fit a wrist of 6–7 [7–8, 8–9] in (15–18 [18–20.5, 20.5–23] cm). The rest are one size: a helmet for an adult head of about 21–23 in (53–58 cm), mitts for an adult medium hand of about 8–8½ in (20–21.5 cm) round the knuckles with a 6 in (15 cm) cuff, and a cover for a standard 2-litre bottle. Yardages are estimates from the stitch counts, so check your gauge, especially for the socks, helmet and mitts.

• Socks: fingering weight sock yarn, about 430 [510, 580] yd (395 [465, 530] m), US 1½ (2.5 mm) needles
• Wristlets: worsted weight wool, about 150 [180, 200] yd (140 [165, 185] m) for a pair, US 5 (3.75 mm) needles
• Helmet: worsted weight wool, about 350 yd (320 m), US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4 mm) needles
• Muffler: worsted weight wool, about 900 yd (825 m), US 8 (5 mm) needles
• Mitts: DK weight wool, about 330 yd (300 m) for a pair, US 3 (3.25 mm) double-pointed needles
• Bottle cover: DK weight cotton, about 390 yd (355 m), US 5 (3.75 mm) needles