+JMJ+

Ahem. This post has been promised here for months, and it turns out that it was only waiting for a silly graphic. *facepalm*

Welp, it's being published now! Enjoy! 

------

A year ago...I wanted a new knitting project. A different knitting project. A historical knitting project. 

Hey, my creative muse gets a funny turn every once in a while. 

I wanted something along the sweater line, but I'm not good with gauge. I was thinking along the shawl lines, but I didn't have enough yarn to do that. And so I decided to in the middle road with a garment called a "sontag" 

What is said "sontag"? 

Well, to put it simply, it's a type of shawl. A "bosom-friend" kind of shawl. No, not making that up, that's it's nickname. It was called a bosom-friend because it covered the shoulders, back and chest, leaving the arms free. It was popular in the 1860s supposedly because an opera singer named Henrietta Sontag promoted it. 

As a former historical reenactor who has tried working with a shawl wrapped around myself...I wanna know why these garments were only popular for a short period of time. Because I would wear the heck out of mine if I ever got one. 

Hence why I made one. 

The start of it.

For this, I used some blue wool yarn that I had stashed. I believe I got it at a Salvation Army sale. I used size 8 needles, which were *ironically* red. You'll see why later. 

I followed the original Godey's Lady's Pattern, which you can find here, with some slight modifications. Firstly, I kept increasing up the back past where it said (like wayyyyy past) so that my shoulders could be covered a lot better. 

Secondly, I shortened the actual "arms" (?) to only reach my waist. I was dreadfully afraid of running out of blue yarn before I could finish it. I ended up with plenty left over, much to my embarrassment. I made up for it in the ties though, lol. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the shape at first, but I grew to like it after I added on the ties. 

After I finished the "blue" part, it was time to add on the border. The original pattern called for a knitted border, but the blog I got it from also said crochet was acceptable. Since I wasn't comfortable knitting on border, I did the crochet one instead. 

The question was....what design to do? 

I had a couple of choices. Since the project was started on Independence Day Weekend 2021 and finished Independence Day Weekend 2022 (hence why the red knitting needles were so ironic), I narrowed down the color choices to blue, red or white. 

And boy did I have a terrible time deciding. My poor Instagram followers were besieged with polls as to what I should do. 

And in the end...I did something that was off the polls entirely. *sigh*

For the border, I crocheted on a white shell border! I used some natural white wool that I had in my stash. It was a heavier weight than the body of the shawl and that made it curl a little bit. The effect isn't too terribly noticeable, and I very much doubt I could have avoided curling entirely because the other colored yarns I had were heavier than the blue. 

I am really glad I went with the white because it sets off the blue a lot nicer than I think the red would have. 

The Sontag was started on Independence Day Weekend 2021 and the blue part was finished Independence Day Weekend 2022. The edging was a couple of weeks after that. So it took a full year, working on and off of it, to finish. Not a bad timeline! 

But now my knitting bag is empty again...a dreadful tragedy indeed. 

Maybe I should try mittens next winter? 

Old-fashionably yours, 

Catherine