Warm Undersleeves, 1855: Part 1

It's now November, and a bit past due to pick up last winter's knitting project.

"Warm Undersleeve", Godey's, November 1855

From the November 1855 issue of Godey's (page 456):

WARM UNDERSLEEVE

       Materials  One ounce of white single Berlin wool; quarter of an ounce of blue wool; pins, No. 14.
      Cast on 60 stitches, and knit in brioche stitch till the length required, about half a yard, is completed; cast off; join up the sides with a rug needle and wool, and knit the frills as follows:
      Cast on 90 stitches with white wool, and knit 3 rows before commencing the pattern.
      1st row Slip1, knit 1, a pearl 1; knit 2 together three times; repeat from a, finishing with knit 2.
      2d. Slip1, knit 1, a pearl 1, knit 12; repeat from a.
      3d. Like 2d row.
      4th. Slip 1, pearl 1, a knit 1, pearl 12; repeat from a.
     Repeat rows 1-4 5 times (total of 3 rows plain and twenty rows pattern) in white, and then once (4 rows) in colored wool.
     These four rows form the pattern, which must be repeated five times with white, then once with blue, and cast off loosely. Two frills are required for each sleeve: the upper is placed about an inch and a half above the under, which is sewed by the edge of the sleeve.

So, the first step is a rectangle in brioche stitch, 60 sts (really 90) wide and about 18" long. Brioche stitch is "yarn-over, slip, knit two together." This Brioche tutorial on youtube helped me get it going.

Sleeve in progress.

I used size two needles and fingering weight white wool; there's an old SA thread where Colleen Formby sad that berlin wool is about a fingering weight, and her article on period knitting indicates that the "size fourteen" needles of the period compare to a modern size 2 or 3, depending on which period standard is being used. [I've since acquired a set of Virginia Mescher's knitting reference cards, which agree on the fingering weight wool, but suggests that size 14 needles are closer to a modern size 0.]  Nonetheless, I'm satisfied with how with the weight/feel of the piece so far.