Interweave SKU: EP13609

Finished Size: About 15 1⁄4 inches (38.7 cm) in circumference and 9 inches (22.9 cm) tall

Yarn: Treenway Silks Jorie II, 100% Bombyx Spun Silk yarn, light worsted weight, 210 yards (192.0 m)/100 gram (3.5 oz) skein, 1 skein each of #33 Tiramisu (A) and # 214 Glacier (B)

Needles: straight 10 inches (25.4 cm), size 0 (2 mm) or size needed to obtain gauge Crochet hook, size D/3.25 mm

Notions: Glass padre or trade beads 7–10 mm, 9 blue to match color B, Waste yarn, Tapestry needle

Gauge: 22 sts and 42 rows = 4 inches (10.2 cm) in patt

Originally Published: Knitting Traditions, Fall 2015

The instructions for this reticule are complete, if a bit vague to modern knitters. Mrs. Weaver tells us to “cast on to a steel knitting needle of a fine size” in a “rather coarse knitting silk.” Not being sure what either description meant, I started with a sample.

I knew from my sample that size 3 needles would give a very limp fabric. The pattern has openwork, so any area of plain knitting would have to be firm enough to hold the body of the bag together. I started the bag with a size 1 needle, but after a few repeats, I found the fabric still too limp, so I started again with a size 0. This bag was completed with the size 0 throughout.

While Mrs. Weaver suggests using two colors for the bag, she does not mention in the instructions where to change color. So I used the biggest needle in the sample and knitted variations on locations in the pattern to switch from one color to another, trying to keep the finished sequence as close to the drawing of the bag as possible.