Knit one, read two...

Inspired by my explorations into a more 'working class' Tudor (especially for camping wear - much easier and less stressful than expensive brocades and full length sweeping gowns) I decided to make a knitted cap, of the kind that sailors or townsfolk would wear.

Searching for patterns, I found Marian McNealy's excellent 'redaction' (knitting is a recipe, right?) for a Barett, or cap, from the wreck of the Venetian ship Gagiana.

"On October 14th, 1583, the merchant ship “Gagiana”, while carrying a load of goods from Venice to the East, hit a reef and sank off the Adriatic coast, near the island of Gnalic and what is now known as Croatia. The wreck lay undisturbed for more than 350 years, until it was rediscovered and the remains of the cargo were recovered by divers in 1967-1968.
Part of the cargo that was recovered from the sea was this iron clad wooden chest, which contained 3 men’s linen shirts, 54 meters of silk damask, and 8 men’s knitted hats. Several years later, these items were sent to the Abegg Foundation for conservation (Flury-Lemberg, M.)"

Some extant knitted caps from shipwreck of the Venetian ship Gagiana

I made one according to the pattern.
http://curiousfrau.com/2009/08/16/recreating-the-gagiana-barett/

A woollen cap with a narrow single continuous brim from the 16th century. It was knitted in the round in stocking stitch on 4 or 5 needles, then fulled (washed, beaten and felted) and napped (raising and trimming the pile) to produce a stiff, hardwearing fabric - See more at: http://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/92084.html#sthash.epChpZQF.dpuf

I let my husband choose the colour (it's his hat) from a choice of known cap colours:
red, brown, black, or ash coloured or liver coloured. He selected a heathery grey (ash). It's 100% merino, and NOT a superwash wool (I need to be able to felt it). The yarn was purchased from Morris & Sons in Sydney. It's lovely and soft to work with, no breakages (and I've only seen one join in 2 balls so far).

Pre-felted hat of very largeness

Pre-felted

The husband demonstrating pre-felted hat.

Notes:
I used ssk rather than k2tog for my decreases.
I knit on five double pointed needles (because I didn't see the Ravelry suggestion to use circulars - ARGH - until it was too late - meaning I dropped a few stitches here and there and had to do repairs on the fly).

I 'joined' the brim using a suggestion from another Ravelry project because I couldn't quite brain the way Marion had described the crochet bind off, and I don't know where my (one and only) crochet hook is. (Closing brim: slip 1 stitch knitwise, pick up one stitch from cast on edge, pass slipped stitch over; repeat around. Then knit a row for Row 35.)

I hand felted as I have a front loading washing machine and just don't trust it (having accidentally felted a mohair blanket while washing it last week).
The first felting loosened up the individual stitch definition.

First felting. Stitch definition starting to loosen - you can still see the individual stitches but the yarn is starting to 'bloom'.

The second felting was hotter, and I used a wooden spoon to really agitate the hat. It looks FAB, if I say so myself.

Whilst it looks good, and the second hand felting worked well, I caved and decided to felt the hat in my washing machine - I have a short wash (18 mins) at 30 degrees. Perfect!

 

References:
http://curiousfrau.com/2009/08/16/knitted-mans-hat-from-the-ship-qgagianaq/
http://curiousfrau.com/2009/08/16/recreating-the-gagiana-barett/
http://www.chesholme.com/wfiles/2-4-16th-Century-Knitted-Flat-Cap.pdf
http://knittinghistory.co.uk/resources/he-is-of-no-account-if-he-have-not-a-velvet-or-taffeta-hat-a-survey-of-sixteenth-century-knitted-caps/
http://www.larsdatter.com/knit.htm (many photographic examples of extant caps)

• http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O119614/cap-unknown/
• http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/107278
• http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=48705&partId=1
• http://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/90562.html
• http://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/92084.html

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/HistoricKnit/files
http://knittinghistory.co.uk/resources/knitting-history-links/

Arnold, Janet. Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlocked. Leeds: Maney, 1988.
Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women C. 1560-1620. London: MacMillan London Ltd., 1985 
Gardiner, Julie (editor). Before the Mast: Life and Death Aboard the Mary Rose (Archaeology of the Mary Rose). Mary Rose Trust, London 2006.
Mikhaila, Ninya and Malcolm-Davies, Jane. The Tudor Tailor. Batsford, London, 2006.