Gray counterpane

I haven’t posted my knitting in a while, mostly because I’ve been working on long projects rather than little simple ones, and for some reason I can’t do one project at a time, I tend to have several going at once.

One of those projects is this knitted counterpane or bedspread. I’ll eventually post the entire pattern, but it’s adapted from the No. 52 Counterpane with Diamond Stripe that was published in 1888 in the Young Ladies' Journal Complete Guide to the Work-Table, Sixth Edition, pages 71-74. You can download a free PDF scan of the original antique book at the link above.

It’s knit in strips which are then sewn together lengthwise, although I connected the strips using single crochet, which I think made the joins a little more sturdy.

I intend to add an edging from the same book on the bottom. I did each diamond pattern repeat a total of five times, which made each strip about 90” long, and the edging would go on each short end and make it about 108” long. I’m thinking I’ll give it to my mom for the extra-long twin bed in her guest bedroom. My mom always folds the bedspread around the pillow, so the extra length will enable her to do that.

It’s actually pretty easy, but was a bit tedious to knit from the written instructions, so I charted it and then it got a lot easier. I’ll post the charts later.

I’m almost done with the bedspread! I only have one more strip left, and then I will knit the two edgings. Since I started it with provisional cast ons, and the edgings are knit in one long width, I’ll be able to connect the edgings using three-needle bind-off.

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