It's All in the Details: Ty Cobb, that Snappy Modern Dresser!

The body of the Ty Cobb Sweater reproduction

In some ways, the body of sweater is the simplest part to knit and understand. (For you beginning knitters out there, this will be the most straightforward part of the pattern.) In others, its construction leaves me flummoxed.

Ironically, what's least comprehensible is its very simplicity. Being a cardigan, the body is essentially flat, but its lack of side seams makes it wide to the point of being ungainly. In a factory setting--such as that in which the Ty Cobb Sweater was made--one would think a hand-cranked knitting machine makes a lot more sense.

But then you get to the details. It turns out the body is not a flat rectangle, and the hem, pockets, sleeve openings, and neckline (the last three of which I promise to talk about in upcoming posts) are worked in a way that could only have been done by hand. In theory, whoever made the sweater could have switched between a knitting machine and hand needles for certain parts, but frankly that seems like a waste of time and energy. (Why use a knitting machine to knit 5 inches, take the piece off to work the hem by hand, put it back on the machine to knit another six inches, take it off to manually insert the pocket openings, put in back on...? You see my point.) This leads me to believe that, onerous as it was, the body was hand-knit.

Circular needle (upper left) and DPNs (lower right)

19th century example of knitting using DPNs

Since we're in the 21st century, I used "circular needles" to make the reproduction. For those of you unfamiliar with knitting, circular needles consist of two needles joined by a stiff cord (see pic); they are, in effect, one very long flexible needle with two ends. If you're knitting something as wide as a 42-inch sweater body, circular needles are really the only way to go.

Interestingly, the very nature of the Ty Cobb Sweater may be linked to the invention of circular needles. As far as I can tell, there seems to be a transition just after 1900 between pullover baseball sweaters and cardigans. These pictures of Cy Young and the Washington Senators (shamelessly lifted from BSmile's Twitter account) are from 1898 and 1895, respectively. Note that, in both cases, the sweaters are pullovers.

Cy Young - 1898 Cleveland Spiders (pic via @BSmile)

1895 Washington Senators (pic via @BSmile)

Unlike cardigans, pullovers can be made using "double-pointed needles" or DPNs (see pic). In fact, until the introduction of circular needles, sweaters were generally knit on DPNs. The advantage of DPNs is that you can knit something "in the round" using as many needles as you want (hence the two girls in the picture knitting a single sweater on a half-dozen very battered knitting needles). Unfortunately, if you want to knit something flat--especially something heavy and flat--you run the risk of dropping stitches between needles when you get to one of the ends. In short, there's a good reason that fisherman's sweaters or ganseys are pullovers; cardigans were simply impractical.

However, the first circular needles were patented in the US in 1918, and were likely in use for some years before that. I would guess that the introduction of circular needles and the sudden widespread appearance of factory-made cardigans was not a coincidence. In the 1900s, working with circular needles would have been considered the height of modernity and knit cardigans the height of fashion.

Unlike pullovers, cardigans could be used as a "substitute coat," making them far more convenient. (Think of it as the difference between a regular hoodie and one with a zipper.) Since sweaters don't generally crease or wrinkle, they also had the advantage of being more forgiving with regards to packing and storage. Sounds perfect for someone on the road half the time, don't you think?