This April, the summer issue of PieceWork Magazine is about samplers, and contains an article about Anna Næsgaard, written jointly by our textile work group at the Textile Museum in Herning, Denmark. A small excerpt is available here. We are very happy with the article we wrote, and it works so well in the context of this interesting issue of PieceWork.
Anna Næsgaard (1885-1975) was an influential person in Danish needlework education, working for many years as an inspector of needlework education in the Copenhagen school system. That meant she participated in defining the content of the classes, and was in charge of a collection of needlework that teachers could borrow and use as inspiration. You can of course read about all this in the PieceWork article.
Today, Anna Næsgaard’s extensive personal collection of needlework is a part of the collection of the Textile Museum in Herning, Denmark. We have studied some of the many objects in the collection that contains knitting, crochet, sewing, mending, tatting, samplers and so on. The collection contains objects that Næsgaard probably collected out of personal interest, but also many objects that are directly connected to formal needlework education.
To celebrate the publication of our article in PieceWork, I’ve chosen to focus on a single object from Anna Næsgaard’s collection, a small Danish flag called a split flag (because of its split tails, traditionally only used by the King/Queen). This flag is a pattern from needlework education, knitted in 7 pieces and sewn together. A lot of practice of sewing knitted pieces!
I actually made one flag according to the original pattern described above. It did not turn out very nicely! So I have made a new version using intarsia, which is much easier to give a nice finish. Here is the intarsia version:
Danish Flag in Intarsia
Cast on 10 stitches with red yarn, 3 with white yarn, then 10 with red yarn (use another skein or the other end of the same one as before).
Knit 19 rows of 10 red, 3 white, 10 red stitches. Cross the yarns on the wrong side at every color change. The last row is on the wrong side, and there are now 10 garter ridges on the right side.
Break the yarns, attach the white yarn at the right side and knit 8 rows. The last row is on the wrong side, and there are now 4 garter ridges on the right side.
Again, attach red, white, and red yarn, knitting 10 red, 3 white, 10 red stitches crossing the yarns on the wrong side at every color change. Knit 24 rows. The last row is on the wrong side, and there are now 12 garter ridges of red/white/red pattern.
Knit the first 10 red stitches, bind off the white stitches and break the white yarn, then knit the last 10 red stitches.
Finish the two sides of the flag separately, one at a time or at the same time.
Left side (on the right side of the work)
Knit 10 stitches on the wrong side
Now, repeat the following two steps until 3 stitches remain:
- knit until 3 stitches are left, slip two stitches knitwise one at a time, the knit them together throught the back loop
- knit 3 rows
Knit one, slip two stitches knitwise one at a time, the knit them together throught the back loop. Knit 3 rows. Slip two stitches knitwise one at a time, the knit them together throught the back loop, break the yarn and pull it through.
Right side (on the right side of the work)
Knit 10 stitches on the wrong side
Now, repeat the following two steps until 3 stitches remain:
- knit one, knit two together, knit the rest of the row.
- knit 3 rows
Knit two together, knit one. Knit 3 rows. Knit two together, break the yarn and pull it through.
Weave in all ends and make a loop at the corner so the flag can hang. Here, I decorated some branches with flags, and I do think it looks quite festive:
