Chapter I: Preface

Who does not remember the spool-knitter of his childhood, perhaps a home made affair—a large empty spool with four wire brads driven in around the opening at one end—on which one made an endless rope of colored yarns, to use, maybe, for reins when playing horse. Our ex-service patients in the army and public health service hospitals have seized upon the principle of this toy, and have applied it in making “rakes” of various sizes on which they have “knitted” a large number of articles, from silk neckties to wool shawls, caps, sweaters and capes. They have found real interest and pleasure in this pastime. The patient flat on his back in a plaster cast, sometimes with the use of only one hand, has been able to make garments as attractive and well-made as the man who is up and about.

The results of their experiments in “rake knitting” have been so very worth while, that I have wanted to make them available for the use of the sick and convalescent everywhere. Therefore I have prepared this pamphlet of patterns. It does not pretend to exhaust the possibilities of “rake knitting,” but merely offers a few patterns which have been used successfully in knitting with two and four-fold yarn.

Special thanks are due the patients of Kenilworth Hospital, U. S. P. H. S., Biltmore, N. C., who worked out some of these patterns and allowed me to photograph some of their finished work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page

Chapter 1—Tools and Materials 9-12

Chapter 2—Winding a Long Rake 13- 6

Chapter 3—Winding Round Rakes 17- 8

Chapter 4—General Instructions 19-21

1—How to Change from Single or Double Stitch to Triple
Stitch.

2—How to Change from Triple Stitch to Single or Double
Stitch.

3—How to Cast Off Stitches in Shaping Garments.

4—How to Add Stitches in Shaping Garments.

5—How to Cast Off Knitting from the Rake.

6—How to Take Up the Loose Stitches at the Beginning
of the Knitting.

7—How to Sew Garments Together.

8—How to Make Buttonholes.

9—How to Determine the Quantity of Yarn Required for
Any Pattern.

10—How to Adapt the Patterns for Smaller or Larger
Garments.

11—How to Make Other Patterns.

Chapter 5—To Make Shawls and Scarfs 22-4

General Directions.

Explanation of Diagrams of Borders.

Narrow Scarfs and Mufflers.

Chapter 6—Harmonious Combinations of Colors in Shawls 25-43

Color Arrangements Suggested for Eighteen Borders.

Chapter 7—Bed Jacket 44- 7

Chapter 8—Boy’s Slipover Sweater 48-51

Chapter 9—Child’s Sweater Jacket 52- 6

Chapter 10—Men’s Sweaters 57-64

1—Buttoned Down the Front, with Sleeves, Collar and
Pockets.

2—Slipover, with Sleeves, Collar and Pockets.

3—Slipover, Sleeveless and without Collar.

Chapter 11—Cap 65- 6

Chapter 12—Stocking Cap 67- 9