Paper rugs

 This would be great to try. Have to find some period paper.

The Cultivator, 1864
[Article on Papering-walls, screens and rugs, my interest is in the screens and rugs]
    Screens, &c.--By the bye, if you have any fire screens, bed canopies, or rugs, to make, it is well to do it while your hand is in. [papering] The screens or canopies must have a firm cotton cover, tacked on smoothly and tightly. The paper is then pasted on them as on a wall, and their good looks depend on the neatness with which the border and centre piece, if they have any, are put on.
    Cheap Rugs.--Very good rugs for hearths, washstands, or bed-sides, may be made by stretching a stout piece of cotton cloth, the size you desire, on a clean floor or table; paste a pretty paper on it, and a suitable border around. When dry, give it two or three coats of varnish, and bind and fringe, if you like. These rugs are quite pretty, and will last astonishingly, and may be cleaned just as oil cloth. they do very well for plain, spare chambers, and they have the recommendation of being very cheap.

Literary notice of Tempest and Sunshine

I found this literary notice in Godey's today. I listened to the audio book a while ago and quite enjoyed it.

Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, July 1854
Literary Notices.
From D. Appleton & Co., No. 200 Broadway, New York, through C.G. Henderson & Co., corner of Fifth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia:--
    TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE; or Life in Kentucky. By Mrs. Mary J. Holmes. The characters and incidents of this novel make us acquainted with many interesting features of Western life. We hope, however, there are no more such strong-minded young women left in Kentucky as our author has described Julia to have been. Throughout the book, great care appears to have been taken to sustain all the peculiarities which distinguish persons of Southern and Northern birth with education, and at the same time, to abstain form introducing offensively any of those "vexed questions" which have  lately been made the basis of similar works of fiction. We must also give the author credit for unusual force and originality in her delineation of several of the principal actors introduced. We may say, too that the moral tendency of the work is unexceptionable.

Tempest and Sunshine by Mary Jane Holmes
http://librivox.org/tempest-and-sunshine-by-mary-jane-holmes/

Little finds during the week...

Hit the thrift stores this week and came away with some delightful little treasures. First a beautiful blown glass vase. It is actually a light amethyst color, a few bubbles and a rough pontil mark on the bottom. 

This morning my husband and I did our usual Saturday rounds and I found two small books in very good condition!
The Moss Rose - 1844
and Thoughts in Affliction 1837

Unexpected Treasures

Yesterday a friend and I checked out an antique shop near her home. I found two volumes of The Plays and Poems of Shakespere, Vols 12 (Antony and Cleopatra & Cymbeline) & 14 (Hamlet & Othello) from 1853! Woo Hoo !
BUT...and there is always a BUT...they are both missing the front and back covers :(
BUT...they were cheap and in remarkably good condition  :)
So as a Civil War re-enator...I can always say the soldiers tore the covers off as I seemed to treasure these books so much as they went about ransacking my home!

Plus I hope to make some new covers as I'm going to participate in an antebellum event in March and I can read from them in the afternoon while the other ladies are sewing or some such things.

A Valentine

Here is a lovely little poem I read in Godey’s Magazine, Vol. 56, 1858

A VALENTINE

BY  E. B.

By the breeze that sways the pine,

By the oak that lifts the vine,

By the lights above that shine,

Vow that thou art only mine,

My own true Valentine

By the sunlight streaming through

Heaven’s ethereal arch of blue,

By each sparkling drop of dew,

Swear to be forever true

To me, my Valentine.

By the rifted rock secure,

By the fleecy snow so pure,

Say that none shall e’er allure

Love I fain would have endure

My own, Valentine.

While the moon beams soft and free

Lightly kiss the earth and sea,

While shale last Heaven’s firm decree,

Pledge undying faith to me,

To me, my Valentine.

While the restless oceans roll,

While the needle points the pole,

While unfolds time’s lengthened scroll,

Treasures in thine inmost soul

My image, Valentine.

Many years ago some girl friends and I spent an enjoyable afternoon making Victorian Valentines...after reading about them in Ruth Webb Lee's A History of Valentines. 

This is one I really enjoyed making, it is called a cobweb valentine.

Listening and Sewing

I'm doing quite a bit of hand sewing and listening to an audio book. The book I'm currently listening to is Tempest and Sunshine by Mary Jane Holmes
http://librivox.org/tempest-and-sunshine-by-mary-jane-holmes/

I've only two more chapters to go.
Then on to the next audio book which is American Notes for General Circulation by Charles Dickens
http://librivox.org/american-notes-for-general-circulation/
I recently acquired an 1857 version of American Notes.

Finished listening to the above books and I'm currently listening to; 
The Missing Bride, E.D.E.N. Southworth, 1855
http://librivox.org/the-missing-bride-by-eden-southworth/

More on Braces / Suspenders

Here are some directions for suspenders / braces. These are plain utilitarian styles. There are other knit or crochet directions available for the fancier suspenders / braces.  

The Girl’s Own Book 1833 edition

Pg. 228

There is a kind of knitting, called pegging, done by drawing yarn through every loop with one crooked ivory needle. Little woolen shoes for infants are knit a great deal in this way; likewise suspenders.

A very elastic kind of suspenders is made by knitting one stitch and slipping the next upon the needle without knitting, casting the yarn directly over it. The next time going round, this stitch and its loop are knit together, and the stitches which were knit before are slipped, and a loop thrown over them. [Brioche stitch]

Workwoman’s Guide 1840

Braces

The shape of a brace is wide in the middle, with two narrow ends.

For the first narrow end, set on twenty-four stitches, and knit two nails in length, in imitation of double knitting, or in huckaback-stitch. Widen to forty-eight stitches, and knit a length of nine nails.

Narrow at each end, till reduced to thirty stitches, then put half the loops on one pin and half on another; continue knitting each end separately until three nails long, then fasten off and the one brace is completed. These two last ends should be knot with a button hole in each, which is easily done by again halving the stitches on tow pins, and knitting them separately a few rows( say eight or twelve), and afterwards joining them together on one pin again.

No. 17.

The Rough Cast, or, Huckaback Stitch.

Set on any uneven number of stitches.

Knit plain and turn stitch alternately, observing to begin every row with the plain stitch.

This is very pretty, and firm, and suitable of borders.

N0. 20

Imitation Double Knitting.

Set on any even number of stitches.

Turn a stitch, and knit a stitch alternately.

The Ladies’ Knitting and Netting Book, By Miss Watts

Second Series – 1840

Suspenders - Pg. 108

Two needles No. 16.

Cast on 18 stitches, and knit about 6 rows in double knitting with the tread once round the needle, knit 9 stitches, take off the other 9 on another needle, and knit the first 9 backwards and forwards until it is long enough for a button-hole; take back the cotton and knit up the other 9 until both are even, (the loop which is left from carrying the thread down can be sewn in afterwards); knit 6 double knitting, and 2 rows double knitting with the thread twice round the needle. Knit 1 row of plain knitting, increasing 1 stitch in every 2, which will make in all 27. Then in the front row; knit the 2nd stitch first, drawing it over the 1st, knit the first, knit the 1st, knit the 4th and 3rd, 6th and 5th, and repeat the same to the end, which will be 1 knitted stitch. Back row; purl the 1st stitch, taking 2 stitches together as if you were going to decrease, but pick up again the stitch nearest to the right hand and purl it: repeat this to the last stitch, which is to be purled. Repeat these 2 rows until you think it long enough, then begin double knitting, decrease to 18 stitches again, knit about 2 inches and finish in a point.

            These suspenders are firmer and less elastic than those given in the first series.

The Ladies’ Knitting and Netting Book, By Miss Watts

First Series – 1840

Suspenders. – Pg. 58

Three needles, No. 15

Cast on 24 stitches, knit about 6 rows double knitting; knit 12 stitches and take off the other 12 on the third needle; knit with the first 12 several rows until you think it will be long enough for one side of the button-hole; take back the cotton and knit up the other 12 until both are even (the loop which is left from carrying the thread down, can be sewn in afterwards); knit 6 or 8 whole rows in double knitting; then bring the cotton forward, slip the 1st stitch taking it off as if you were going to knit it, knit a stitch, by this you increase a stitch, bring the cotton forward, slip a stitch, knit a stitch, do the same to the end, when you will find you have increased 12 stitches.

            Second row; bring the cotton forward, slip a stitch taking it as before, knit 2 in 1, bring the cotton forward, slip a stitch, still observing to take it in the same manner, knit 2 in 1, and so on to the end of the row [this is a brioche stitch]

Every row is alike. When you think it long enough begin double knitting again, and decrease to 24 stitches by taking the double stitch as only 1; continue the double knitting for about 2 inches. Decrease one stitch at each end of your needle and finish it in a point.

The Household Encyclopedia 1859


Knitting, Scotch, is performed with only one needle, and that must have a hook at one end, and there never must be more than one stitch on the needle at a time. To begin the work, take one end for the worsted or cotton in the left hand, and with the right hand place another part of the thread over it in the form of a loop. Draw the thread through this loop, and make as many loops as you may require stitches. When these loops are drawn rather closely together the work will appear like chain stitch; then knit the first and last loops together to join them. To do this pass the needle through a stitch on the side which is next to you, and then turn the thread over the hook, and draw it through the loop; then make another stitch, and draw it through the loop in the same manner. Thus you have a second stitch upon the needle, which must be drawn through the first stitch, so as to have only one stitch on the needle, and so proceed with every remaining stitch round and round. You widen by knitting two stitches in one loop, and you narrow by taking two stitches on the needle, and knitting them as one. You can make an alteration in the pattern by passing the needle into the stitches on the side farthest from you. It might be adopted either to diversify the general appearance of an article, or for the purpose of finishing off its edges neatly. This description of knitting is very frequently employed for infants' woollen or cotton shoes or boots; and braces or suspenders may also be knitted in this manner, and rendered more elastic by knitting one stitch, and slipping the next upon the needle without knitting, casting the thread over it to the next succeeding stitch. In the following row this stitch and its loop should be knitted together, and the stitches which were knitted before should be slipped, and have a loop formed over them. This is something like what is know as the "crochet stitch."--(Finchley Needlework Manual.)