Knit, Knit, Knit, Purl

Scan of my 1886 stocking progress. Instead of loads of colors I'm using black and gray, the black being a silk/wool blend and the gray was pillaged from a thrift store cardigan that I believe was made of acrylic, and I'm using size 2 US needles instead of the size 18 the pattern asked for. A modern size 18 UK would be 00000 US which doesn't sound right at all, even for someone with scarecrow legs. I think for silk I might go with a 00 but cast on more stitches. I still want the weirdo colors of the original pattern.


The original was in silk and was meant to be mainly black with a section of 2 rounds crimson, 2 rounds pink, 2 rounds gold, 6 rounds blue, 2 rounds gold, 2 rounds pink, and 2 rounds crimson, then 12 rounds black. The instructions say to start increases for the calf at the point I am now, but since I'm a good bit taller than the average Victorian woman I'm going to knit at least 10" or 12" before I start the increases, plus I'd like them to be maybe opera length. Otherwise the damned things will wind up being knee socks.

I'd kind of like to knit some cotton boot lace stockings like this. Black pearle cotton maybe. I'll have to scrounge around my catalogs to see if I can get a cone of the stuff instead of those little balls.