Heirloom Deconstructed
Finished
May 1957
August 5, 2019

Heirloom Deconstructed

Project info
Knitting
Pink Version - gift for newest DeFlora baby 2019 Yellow version Jordan - Baby Gift in 1957
Needles & yarn
US 7 - 4.5 mm
Berroco Comfort Solids & Heathers
5 skeins = 1050.0 yards (960.1 meters), 500 grams
2776
Pink
Close Knit in Midland Park, New Jersey
July 2019
Mystery yarn
DK (11 wpi)
Yellow
Worsted or
Notes

2019

62 years after the yellow blanket was knit, and 7 years after it was rediscovered after my inlaw’s house fire - so carefully packed it is in A+ condition even after the fire - my Godson and his wife are going to have the first grandchild in the family. Time to deconstruct the pattern and reknit the heirloom! Deadlines are the mother of invention!!

Massive swatching and yarn trials ensued. The yarn winner - berroco comfort (it’s so soft, said everyone who touched it). Crazily, the ball I used for swatching was a totally different color and thicker than the new purchase for the blanket, so fiddled more with needle size. Beware the Berroco dye-lot.

I tried to find the original pattern (see notes below and comments). Ravelers are incredibly helpful. But in the end I had to just work it out.

At some points I was ready to give up, and got so frustrated. I used nearly a ball of yarn trying combinations of edging, cast on, yarn, and so on. The edging was more of a challenge than the main pattern. In the end, I decided to knit like it was 1957 and dive in with less worry about perfection. There was no internet to turn to in 1957 and patterns were not charted. So I thought it had to be something easily read as you knit. It had to be simpler than I was making it out to be. And truly, after the final swatch I rarely needed to look at the pattern.

The main pattern is Pilsner pleating with some modifications. The edge I just couldn’t get right until I took Martha waterman’s advice in her book traditional lace shawls - forget about everything but the holes and work out the pattern from that. She was right.

I did knit on the border instead of sew on - and I am pretty proud of the only seam in the blanket ( the join of provisionally cast on edge of the lace edge and the final row of edge lace hundreds of rows later) thank you Montse Stanley for your instruction.

I am so happy with the result. Anyone interested in knitting this can contact me. I have included pictures of my notes. I could write it up officially. I am sure there is a vintage pattern out there somewhere. If you find it, please let me know!

Thank you for the original, Aunt Wanda.


2012

Thank you to all who helped!

Hello. Does anyone recognize this vintage pattern?

My inlaws house had a severe fire last week, and nearly all is lost. Somehow this survived - I grabbed it from the dumpster when a canvas bag burst open and revealed this this triple-wrapped in tissue and plastic baby blanket and pillow which somehow survived the fire!

This blanket was the blanket that wrapped my husband when he cam home from the hospital after he was born in 1957. I also show the matching pillow.

The work is amazing. The blanket is reversible, with knit and purl triangles surrounding the diagonal eyelet lace. The pretty border was either knitted on or sewn on. The pillow is knit in the round with the border added, and tiny snaps to hold the pillow in. After 55 years it is in perfect condition, even more amazing considering the “trial by fire.”

I would love to make a few more for my brother and sister in law’s children to help replace some of the cherished heirlooms lost, and it would be easier if I could work from a pattern. It is knit at a worsted weight gauge of 4 st in, but the pattern could have been for a different gauge. Thank you in advance.


September 6

Thank you to all the Raveler’s who have searched for the solution to this puzzle!

So far I believe the main pattern is “Pilsner Pleating 1” from the Barbara Walker Second Treasury of Knitting patterns, and the lace is a version of “English Gadrooon
Lace” from Donna Kooler’s Encylopedia of Knitting.

The blanket edge has 7 diagonal eyelets, while the swatch has only 4, and the swatch has an eyelet row along the edge. I can perhaps alter the pattern to accomodate this (although it is a trickier pattern than you would think - using double YO to make the top eyelet!) It could be a variation of diagonal Victorian lace.

I am still looking for a perfect lace edging match, but this is an excellent start, don’t you think!

If you have more ideas, please let me know.

The ladies at my knitting group asked a new question: what yarn do you think was used? It is at least part wool - and I wonder what was the go-to baby blanket yarn in 1957? I found a Bernat yarn that is exactly this color, perhaps that company made a similar yarn in 1957…

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Finished
May 1957
August 5, 2019
 
About this pattern
Personal pattern (not in Ravelry)
About this yarn
by Berroco
Aran
50% Nylon, 50% Acrylic
210 yards / 100 grams

34113 projects

stashed 19791 times

NewJerseyLaura's star rating
NewJerseyLaura's adjectives for this yarn
  1. Soft
  2. Pretty
  3. Well priced
  • Project created: August 31, 2012
  • Finished: April 3, 2013
  • Updated: July 13, 2020