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Roman Fever and Intertwined: A Crimson Insertion
Take a peek into the intersection of literature and craft with this snippet of a short story and a pattern!
The Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, with all its opulence, propriety, and extravagant wealth set against deep poverty and an immutable class system, comes to life in the writing of Edith Wharton. Novels such as The House of Mirth (1905) and The Age of Innocence (1920) delineate the manners, mores, and fashions of the privileged of old New York in poignant detail.
Because her powers of observation were so keen, Wharton often notes that her less flamboyant women characters engaged in needlecrafts, as many women of those times would. Adeline Archer and her tepid daughter Janey, living at the pinnacle of society in The Age of Innocence, are never without their embroidery projects for an evening
at home. Silk fire screens and dainty doilies, no doubt. It’s what women of a certain class did. Women’s publications and pattern books from the time (about 1870–1900) abound in instructions for all kinds of ornate dispensable objects. Meanwhile, women of the servant class would have been knitting practical stockings, knee warmers, mittens, washcloths, and such.
One of Wharton’s 85 short stories, “Roman Fever,” threads a strong knitting theme through a tale of two women of privilege and their devastating confrontation in Rome. The meeting takes place on a plaza above the Seven Hills, in all their splendor, at the
dawn of the Roaring Twenties. The women are each recently widowed and are there to chaperone their young daughters, but their conversation harks back to a time at the turn of the century when they were in Rome as young unmarried women, both in love with
the same man.
The Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, with all its opulence, propriety, and extravagant wealth set against deep poverty and an immutable class system, comes to life in the writing of Edith Wharton. Novels such as The House of Mirth (1905) and The Age of Innocence (1920) delineate the manners, mores, and fashions of the privileged of old New York in poignant detail.
Because her powers of observation were so keen, Wharton often notes that her less flamboyant women characters engaged in needlecrafts, as many women of those times would. Adeline Archer and her tepid daughter Janey, living at the pinnacle of society in The Age of Innocence, are never without their embroidery projects for an evening
at home. Silk fire screens and dainty doilies, no doubt. It’s what women of a certain class did. Women’s publications and pattern books from the time (about 1870–1900) abound in instructions for all kinds of ornate dispensable objects. Meanwhile, women of the servant class would have been knitting practical stockings, knee warmers, mittens, washcloths, and such.
One of Wharton’s 85 short stories, “Roman Fever,” threads a strong knitting theme through a tale of two women of privilege and their devastating confrontation in Rome. The meeting takes place on a plaza above the Seven Hills, in all their splendor, at the
dawn of the Roaring Twenties. The women are each recently widowed and are there to chaperone their young daughters, but their conversation harks back to a time at the turn of the century when they were in Rome as young unmarried women, both in love with
the same man.
[PAYWALL]
Grace Ansley is a faded beauty who reeks of propriety and a boring life. Her daughter, Babs, on the other hand, is vivid and a bit rebellious. Alida Slade has kept her looks and has had an exciting social life, thanks to her marriage to the highly eligible Delphin Slade; her daughter, Jenny, is sweet and pretty and timid and a bit of a disappointment. The girls tease their mothers: “Let’s leave the young things to their
knitting,” they say as they sally forth to find adventures in the city. Mrs. Slade comments that “it’s just the collective modern idea of Mothers,” as Mrs. Ansley “half guiltily [draws] from her handsomely mounted black handbag a twist of crimson silk run
through by two fine knitting needles.”
As the women reminisce, the hours pass and tension builds. “The long golden light was beginning to pale, and Mrs. Ansley lifted her knitting a little closer to her eyes.” She knits while Mrs. Slade stirs up uncomfortable memories. During that earlier time in Rome, Mrs. Slade had become engaged to Delphin Slade, whom Mrs. Ansley [Grace] also loved. Something happened. Grace fell ill, and within just a few weeks had gotten married to the dull but proper Horace Ansley. You can only imagine. There had been secret letters, clandestine meetings, and heartbreak. Mrs. Slade can’t help but try
to provoke Mrs. Ansley by stirring up the past.
“[Mrs. Slade] turned again toward Mrs. Ansley, but the latter had reached a delicate point in her knitting. One, two, three—slip two; yes, they must have been. . . .” Must have been what? “Mrs. Slade’s eyes rested on her with a deepened attention. ‘She can
knit—in the face of this!’
Mrs. Ansley had resumed her knitting. Then Mrs. Slade gives the big reveal, with an O. Henry twist. “While Mrs. Slade spoke, Mrs. Ansley had risen unsteadily to her feet. Her bag, her knitting and gloves, slid in a panic-stricken heap to the ground.” But guess who wins? No spoilers here.
Knitting has been a metaphor for life for centuries. It’s meditative, healing, unifying, comforting. That Edith Wharton chose fine slinky crimson silk thread for Grace Ansley’s handwork can be seen as a telling clue to how the plot plays out, or maybe it’s just what was popular at the time. Try your hand at knitting fine silk using the pattern given here and just imagine.
Resources
- Wharton, Edith. “Roman Fever.” Liberty 11.45 (10 Nov. 1934):10–14. Print.
Intertwined
A Crimson Insertion
This delicate lace knitted in a bold red takes on a modern edge, even though it is based upon #340 Knitted Insertion from Beeton’s Book of Needlework, which was published in 1870.
Knit your own insertion to add to a garment or as an edging.
Materials
Jagger Spun Zephyr 2/18 Lace Weight (50% Merino wool/50% tussah silk), 1,120 yd (1,024 m)/3½ oz (100 g): 1 skein of Cinnabar
Needles: size 2 (2.75 mm), or size needed to obtain
Cable needle or additional double-pointed needle (dpn) in same size as main needles
Finished Measurements: 1½" wide × 2" long for one repeat (20 rows) after blocking
Pattern
CO 14 sts.
Row 1 (RS): Sl 1, *k2tog, yo, k2, rep from * twice more, k1.
Rows 2–19: Rep row 1.
Row 20: Sl 1, k2tog, yo, k1, place next 3 sts on cn hold to back
of work, k1, k2tog, yo, k2 from cn, k2tog using last st on cn and next st on left needle, yo, k3.
Repeat rows 1–20 to desired length. Block, weave in ends.
Linda Ligon is the cofounder of Long Thread Media.
