Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Sea Legs

I had worked up an absolutely garbled mixed metaphor involving teaching, dance, sailing, and juggling. It was a jumbled mess, and I excised it ruthlessly.

In honor of sea legs, however, I bring you this beautiful 1846 photograph of knitted socks from the other side of the world:

I believe the family is from Australia (it comes from an Australian genealogy site), and I don't believe it's a post mortem photo.

The stockings would have been made of white cotton and worked in the round on very small (say 000) needles. Patterns for such socks appear relatively often in magazines and needlework books of the period. The Wisconsin Historical Society also has some examples in their collection.





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In other news, LB's watch fob and the monarch butterfly I had been trying to hatch:

3 comments:

Anna McClurg said...

I love this image. The woman is stunning. Btw, I thought I'd let you know I've been reading your blog. It's always good to hear my St. Louis friends are doing! :)

Anonymous said...

Gosh, my first impression of that photo was, "That baby's dead," but you say it isn't...

7-letter Deborah, never a Deb said...

Well, the baby looks very relaxed, not stiff. Its face has some color. It's hard to say for certain, but in 1846, these sitters would have had to sit very still for quite some time. They might seize the opportunity to take the photo while the baby was sleeping.