Re caps: I'll look up those caps. I seem to recall that they were from some latrine complex in Lübeck, but I don't have the book at hand at the moment; I will check and post the results.
Re finds: There are lots of knitted things in museums or other collections, but from what I can see archaeological finds datable to this time and complete enough are few. And things that end up in collections ... Well, they tend to be collected for a reason, and until quite recently this was usually not because it was a mediocre example of an everyday item.
You are of course right that stockinette was by far the predominant stitch. But since the middle of the 17th century other stitches were used. The garter stitch was often used for decoration and decoration on hats was used often enough. Therefore to decorate a whole hat with Garter stitch is not improbable. If she wants to do the hat in garter stitch because she likes it more that way, I would think it is justifiable. If the question had been whether this would produce a typical hat for this period, then of course the answer would have to be no.
I think our difference here is caused by the degree of purism we want to achieve. My point of view is: If justifiable and more to your liking, then do it, because they would have done the same in the past, only that they may have had other points of reference for justifiability. I'm not aware of any source that indicates that garter stitch was considered downright vulgar. That it was used only rarely is probably explained to a large part by the fact that it is more difficult to do when knitting in the round.
If you don't share this point of view, then of course the safe way period-wise is stockinette.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-10-02 10:35 am (UTC)Re finds: There are lots of knitted things in museums or other collections, but from what I can see archaeological finds datable to this time and complete enough are few. And things that end up in collections ... Well, they tend to be collected for a reason, and until quite recently this was usually not because it was a mediocre example of an everyday item.
You are of course right that stockinette was by far the predominant stitch. But since the middle of the 17th century other stitches were used. The garter stitch was often used for decoration and decoration on hats was used often enough. Therefore to decorate a whole hat with Garter stitch is not improbable. If she wants to do the hat in garter stitch because she likes it more that way, I would think it is justifiable. If the question had been whether this would produce a typical hat for this period, then of course the answer would have to be no.
I think our difference here is caused by the degree of purism we want to achieve. My point of view is: If justifiable and more to your liking, then do it, because they would have done the same in the past, only that they may have had other points of reference for justifiability. I'm not aware of any source that indicates that garter stitch was considered downright vulgar. That it was used only rarely is probably explained to a large part by the fact that it is more difficult to do when knitting in the round.
If you don't share this point of view, then of course the safe way period-wise is stockinette.