Pineapple stitch, or a stitch for all seasons

What is a pineapple stitch?

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I learned very basic knitting in college and then put it down for *mumblty* years because I got distracted by something shiny and wandered away, but a few years ago I started to get the historical knitting itch. Largely based on seeing the amazing projects Katherine was always making. Top on my list was a knitted pineapple reticule.

The famous Kyoto knitted pineapple reticule

Popular starting around the turn of the 19th century up till the 1840s several extant pineapples exist as well as a few versions of the pattern. The most commonly used pattern is from Jane Gaugain’s The Lady’s Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work (1840).  “I could never knit one of those though right? that looks really complicated”

 

Incorrect! Once Katherine talked me into facing the pattern…why it’s actually quite simple! The same basic stitch makes both the leaves and the knobby, bumpy, whatsits. The body is knit inside out and you offset the rows. If you learn the one stitch you can knit the whole thing…and that’s when a new world opened as I realized…that stitch? It pops up everywhere in historical knitting. And why not? It’s easy, it’s versatile and if there’s one thing living history has taught me it’s that the crafty ladies who came before us? They were very ingenious at making things LOOK more complicated then they are.

When done flat pineapple stitch makes up as a chevron. The first rows are pulled into a zig-zag edge by the decreases. On the pineapple this makes the top edging. But on other projects this is used as the bottom to give trim a dagged edge.

So without further ado I present to you the examples I’ve come across of what I’m calling “Pineapple stitch” stay tuned to the end for the simple instructions so you too can knit adorable lacy edges.

Reticules

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This one is fairly logical. Of course someone said “oh I love a spiky bag with those funny knobby whatsits but I dislike pineapple colours what else can I do”

A navy spiky reticule sold by Ruby Lane. This example has two beads on each whatsit.

Another “spiky” pineapple stitch reticule from the V&A museum 1800-1829.

Rainbow reticule 1800-1849 at the V&A museum. This one has no beads and unlike the pineapple reticule it’s not worked inside out for the section with the whatsits.

Knitted reticule sold on Ruby Lane. I’m not 100% sure this is the same stitch as I can’t tell in the photo but I suspect it is. And I enjoy the jingle bell on the end.

All yellow spiky reticule sold by Meg Andrews Auction.

Reticule 1810-1825 from the MET. I shall call it the flying saucer reticule

Petticoats

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I know this one seems a little farther afield but bear with me. The bottom rows of this Godey’s knitted petticoat pattern? The exact same stitch as the pineapple.

Godey’s 1864 knitted under petticoat pattern

Knitted petticoat from the Missouri Historical Society. Those five bottom pattern repeats? you guessed it. Pineapple stitch.

knitted under-petticoat from the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Sample book of stitches from the V&A Dated 1825-1840. Top left corner is the pineapple stitch. Also to the right of it is a swatch for what the Godey’s pattern uses for the next band of trim. I suspect this knitter had that issue.

My example of the Godey’s Patten

Knitted Talma

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Do you feel like doing a metric TON of pineapple stitch? Well for maximum impact may I suggest the giant knitted talma?

Peterson’s 1859 Knitted Talma

Katherine’s stunning reproduction of the Peterson’s 1859 talma pattern

1860s tintype of a woman in a knitted talma very similar to the 1859 Peterson’s pattern

 

Sontag

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What really inspired this post was the trim I made for a recent sontag based on this tintype. The lace is a border of pineapple stitch followed by two stripes of “plain knitting” or garter stitch.

Mid-Victorian tintype, the lace edging is pineapple stitch

This is four rows or burgundy, a section of pineapple (I forget how many rows), four rows of burgundy and four rows of white. Then I cast off and sewed it to the edge.

How To:

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And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for:

k1, yo, k3-5 sl1-k2tog-psso, k3-5, yo repeat to the end. k1.

If knitting in the round then just continue the pattern, if you’re knitting flat purl all stitches on the wrong side.

Okay let me write that out for people who might need more instruction. I’ve seen patterns call for between 3 and five stitches for the width of the repeat. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re consistent and they mirror.  I will use 3 stitches in the below example but you can vary as long as it’s consistent.

Most variations start with one or two rows of plain knitting often in a contrasting color. If you don’t want to do that just do a cast on in number divisible by your repeat. In this example divisible by 10 + 1 as you need the end of the repeat to be a yarn over.

The bottom most edge is the cast on edge. You’re working bottom to top. So four rows of plain knitting in burgundy is the start of this pattern.

Yarn over, knit one, yarn over, Knit 3 stitches, slip the next stitch, knit two stitches together, pass the slipped stitch over the two knitted together. You’re creating a triple decrease. knit 3 stitches. yarn over, knit one, yarn over. Start back with your 3 stitches and repeat the pattern to the end.

Summary

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I hope this helps make a fun lace edging and very versatile stitch accessible for some people. I will continue to add examples if I find more….Anyone seen pineapple stitch anywhere else?

Also does anyone know it’s real name? I mean I call it pineapple stitch but I suspect it has a real name.

And I have to thank the amazing Katherine for all her help both in this post and supporting a new knitter!

Pineapple the third

Guys it’s possible I have a problem. But this time it isn’t my fault! I promised Jenny-Rose a pineapple last Christmas as a barter and thus ended up making my THIRD pineapple reticule. Which really is two more than most sane people make.

I used the knitty magazine pattern which I really prefer of the two, but it’s the same thread as Amanda’s pineapple. I had a bunch left over. The gold beads are from Joann’s.

This time instead of doing the bottom the same as the yellow fruit part I flipped it back around and knitted it as leaves. I added a bead to the decreases. I’m not sure that was the best place/method as they keep trying to pop to the inside. Clearly I didn’t get them in quite right.

Overall I’m happy with this one. It’s a cute little purse. Holds a cell phone and a chapstick…you could probably fit a credit card in there too. I lined it with a scrap of cream silk, sadly I didn’t have yellow. I hadn’t bothered to line my other ones, and honestly it makes such a huge difference in the shape I went back and lined Amanda’s while at her house and will line mine before I use it again.

 

Kitted Pence Jug

This summer a facebook group I’m part of was hosting a Knit-along for a pence jug. The pattern was developed by Jamie of Tagsisyourit based on an original from the smithsonian dated 1830-1860.

I shall try to resist making jug jokes…

But this is not a stand alone piece. There are lots of examples, some with stripes or color blocking. Most of the examples I found have beads. Most (if not all) that I’ve found are made of silk, which makes sense as it works really nicely for the bead work. And about 50% have some kind of…dangly…thing hanging off the butt end. (Pompoms being a personal favorite. What ISN’T improved by a pompom?!)

“mid 19th century” from the MET

1830-1860 from the Cooper Hewitt Collection

1800-1825 Snowshill Wade Costume Collection

1800-1825 Also Snowshill Wade Costume Collection

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For my jug I used the pure silks tangerine beading thread size E. I’m not sure where it’s from as Adrienne very nicely shared. As well as lending me her size 0000 needles which were needed to work on this super tiny project. The original pattern calls for size 0 and size 00, but to get this thread tight you had to go tiny.. and oh boy is it tiny.

We deemed it the haypenny jug

Overall I wasn’t super happy with it. There are really obvious joins where my three needles were, and working with tiny needles and thread definitely have a learning curve. But I did learn a ton and it was a very fast project to make up. Only 22 stitches per needle makes for quick work compared to the pineapples. I would highly recommend the pattern for anyone wanting to try a simple knitted purse. But be prepared for it to hold…minimal amounts.

1830s-1860s knitted pence jug

 A few in progress pictures.

Adrienne also made one in the knit along…

Her jugs are bigger than mine…sorry I couldn’t resist one

Here is the link to the ravelry page where you can see others made during the knit-along including Adrienne’s.

Now I’m pondering my next historical knitted tiny thing while I finish up a shawl I’ve had in the UFO pile all summer. What’s your favorite historic knitted accessory? A miser’s purse sounds alluring…

A Tale of Two Pineapples

Pineapple the first

A long long time ago, in an apt far far away (okay about 10 miles) I was minding my own business and plotting things for Gettysburg in 2015 (I told you it was long ago) when Katherine found this awesome pineapple reticule.

The original was sold on Ruby Lane but the posting is no longer active

It’s the pineapple knobby knitting pattern that is well reproduced, BUT it’s weird. And we know I love weird. It’s navy, it has TWO beads, and well…it’s weird. We all know how I love the erm bold.

I did manage to finish it in the cabin at Gettysburg, see? it’s in the tintype…and that’s the only photo I have of it that weekend. oops? Did I take ANY in progress photos? of course not, cameras weren’t invented that long ago.

Photo stolen from Amanda

 

I used DMC perle cotton from Joann’s and glass beads on size 00 needles. I would not recommend this combo.

1. The beads started gold..they look clear as running down them down the thread rubbed off. Spring for good beads if you’re putting in all the effort.
2. One little hank lasts one bobble worth. so I was changing thread and restringing beads ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME.
3. The size 00s I had were 4″ long and it was entirely too easy to drop stitches.

That said DO use this pattern.  I found it much easier to follow than the one I used for Amanda’s pineapple…stay tuned we’ll get there…

 

 

Pineapple the second

aka can our impetuous heroine learn from her mistakes?!

Pineapple reticules like this one in the Koyto Institute that were actually, you know, pineapple colored were more popular. I mean how boring right?

Turns out I have friends with more *ahem* convention taste, so when Amanda asked? I offered? somehow I ended up in the bestest barter ever. Amanda Bonnet for badly knitted pineapple. I got the MUCH better end of the bargain.

So this time I DID manage a few in process photos…WHO’S IMPRESSED

This time I used Aunt Lydia’s crochet thread, nicer glass beads and size 0 needles. Why size 0? firstly I couldn’t find the 00s, secondly I prefer bamboo needles…however they do have oooone distinct disadvantage…

someone thinks they look like sticks

who me? I’m an ANGEL

After a fair amount of cursing, swearing and threatening to turn her into a rug I managed to get the stitches sort of back on three needles and use a set of four as opposed to the original five. awkward but I made it work. As much as I hate the noise I think I might need to buy metal needles for tiny ones from now on. At least until my assistant isn’t so “helpful.” I’m told someday she’ll outgrow being a puppy…if we still have walls then.

Overall I was happy with the crochet thread, it looks a little bulky to me and I might consider doing a micro-tiny one someday but for my current lack-of-skill level it worked fine. I decided to try a different version of the pineapple pattern, I’m not kidding when I say they were popular you can find a few different original patterns for them. I found this version a lot harder to follow, for a beginner I’d recommend the other pattern.

I also tried putting the ties through the eyelets on the top as it annoyed me when the blue one was gathered up the leaves were all flaccid and floppy…but it gathered kind of weird so I’m not sure I liked that better.

Overall STILL things I’ll do differently for my next one (and yes I already promised one more then I’m pineappled out for a while). But I’m fairly happy with both of them as learning opportunities.

An 1847 knitted muff

My friend Katherine recently made a knitted muff from an 1847 pattern. She has a great blog post about how she did it with the complete pattern.  This tickled my fancy for a few reasons. 1. saying “muff” repeatedly in a blog entry (snerk, I am an adult). 2. We’re deep in planning for Remembrance Day weekend this year so I have Mid-Victorian on the brain. And 3; I can’t close the knitting basket (it’s a big basket) due to all the yarn in there due for a project or mostly leftover from a project. So I grabbed some silk-bamboo leftovers and decided to have a go.

I don’t do subtle

I used size 8 needles and Paton’s silk-bamboo-something-I-bought-two-years-ago-and-lost-the-label-for. The only change I made to Katherine’s pattern was to increase the number of stitches I cast on to 56. The original pattern was for a child’s muff, and well Katherine has child sized hands!

The way you knit it with two colors makes a cool overlay effect. I think I liked it better on Katherine’s more subtle pink and white…buuuut this is what was in the basket.

close up of meshy mesh

I made draw strings out of self yarn but they didn’t seem like enough so then I added purple bows. Why purple? I have this ribbon still left over from my wedding. It. Never. Ends.

Overall? I feel pretty meh about it. I used ever last scrap of blue yarn I had and barely got it to 16″ long so the muff isn’t as big as I wanted it. and I was scraping by on fumes to get the tassels out of the cream so they seem kinda piddly to me. Apparently I like big fluffy muffs [insert inappropriate comment]. But I’m really glad I did it, by far this was the most complicated thing I’ve ever knitted, and the first with two colors! (odd then that it was just a rectangle).

So anyone want a blue muff?