On August 7th, I talked about the first craft book I ever knew, which belongs to my mother. I posted a picture of a striped sweater from the book. The author wrote that the sweater could be knitted without a pattern (ohne Schnitt), but then gave detailed instructions for making it. My mom explained:
This sweater is made “ohne Schnitt.” This means that instructions are given for every step of the way, such as how many stiches to increase, how many to decrease and how to do the slit in the front and the collar. This is different from the way knitted garments used to be presented in craft magazines. You found a design you liked, looked for the pattern in the pattern page, copied it on butcher paper, checked your measurements against it, made corrections (enlarging or reducing) before cutting out the pattern. Then you cast on and started knitting. If your stitches didn’t fit the “Schnitt”, you started over again. I don’t ever remember a gauge, etc. When you had to enlarge or reduce, you wrote this one the pattern, so that you remembered what to do on the other side. I remember knitting at least eight sweaters in my teenage years. They fit well and I loved them. When I learned to sew, we had to make our patterns from our own measurements.
So those teenage girls learned to make slopers!
The shawl is another project from the book, which my mom made as a girl.