This Is Knitting

This peculiarly useful garment appears in an old volume of mine, 'This Is Knitting' by Ethel Evans, 1948. It is a hospital jacket. The pictures are a little fuzzy, but notice how the back is so short so that it won't drag on the person sitting up in bed, but is long in the front to keep the person modest and warm. I just think this would be great to have for when you are sick at home with the flu or a cold, though it would be easier to get into as a cardigan. The pattern also includes hospital bed socks, which don't look any different from ordinary socks.

I liked the above sweater because I have always been interested in old-fashioned methods of home care for the sick. When my kids were little and had ear infections or whatnot, the only course of treatment seemed to be to pump them full of antibiotics, and I got to wondering what on earth people did in the pre-antibiotic era. I found the book shown here, which is from 1899, and it is full of home cooking remedies people used to use like beef tea, albumin drinks, eggnogs, and lemonades, and other concoctions. There used to be a regular regimen to feeding a sick person in the days before Pedialyte and meds.

I did finish knitting the Fiesta pullover, but then forgot about it. This week I will sew it together and put on the neck border, and continue handknitting the ribbings for a variety of sweaters.