edging number 8

Not exactly research, but every now and then you have to stop and have some fun (in a LIW sort of way, of course). Today I finished crocheting two pieces of "Crocheted Edging No. 8" from Rose Wilder Lane's Woman's Day Book of American Needlework, and I sewed them on two 100% cotton pillowcases I've had forever.

The pattern calls for size 70 cotton for 1-5/8" wide lace using a size 13 crochet hook, but I used a size 8 hook and cotton without a label that worked well with that size hook, so I'm not sure what size it was. My lace is about 2.5 inches wide.

From These Happy Golden Years (Chapter 30, "Sunset on the Hill"): Laura brought out the dozens of yards of white thread lace that she had knitted and crocheted, and like magic the machine's flashing needle stitched the lace edgings to the open ends of the pillow cases....

And from the manuscript for These Happy Golden Years (Chapter 40): As pick up work, Laura would sew her crocheted and knitted lace around the open ends of the pillow cases...

Why the sudden interest in edgings? I have been looking lovingly and longingly at Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge (the essential collection of 350 decorative knitted borders) since it came out last year. But I never could quite justify paying $30 for something that contained a dozen or fewer edgings that I might realistically ever use - especially when I have a perfectly good source of yet-to-be knitted and crocheted laces from RWL's book. But lo, if the public library didn't have a copy of Epstein's book on the shelf yesterday, so I checked it out.

I noticed that the "Irish lace" on page 75 in Epstein's book is almost the same as "Knitted Edging No. 7" from RWL's. Since Epstein "collected" her patterns from various sources, it very well may be based on the RWL pattern, which Rose got from Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas. Maybe No. 7 should be my next project?
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:14 AM