Many thanks to the knitters at Librivox for translating Cornelia Mee's patterns (Knitwiki entry), and to Colleen Formby posting at the Historical Knitting Ravelry forum, and interpretations from Ms Bradberry of www.knitting-and.com Curiously, one of the best places for me to find out more about obscure threads was from flyfishing forums, as presumably fishers in the 1800's, like some fishers today, used bits of their spouses' knitterly stash to tie their bright lures. (Just don't touch the good scissors, OK?)
Berlin wool or German wool: fingering wool. Double German/Berlin is a heavy DK or sport weight.
Purse twist: Silk thread used in knitting or crocheting beaded purses. Patterns a la Carte shows 1930's purse twist at 3 plies and slightly finer than modern 2-ply size 8 perle cotton thread.
Shetland wool: two-ply laceweight. I've seen Jamieson Spindrift used for this gauge, but any 2-ply laceweight should be fine.
Knitting cotton: fingering to DK weight cotton. A popular choice for blanket squares in Mrs. Beeton's day.
Crochet cotton: Numbers given in Beeton's book seem to correspond to today's crochet cotton weights, such that an 8 or a 10 weight can be used for bedspreads and household items that may see wear, while 40 or higher gets you fine lace. As a general rule, the higher the number, the finer-spun the cotton. DMC, a French company producing crochet thread, currently carries threads in sizes 8 to 100, and can be found online and in craft stores. The brand name often given in Mrs. Beeton's book, "Boar's Head," was part of English cotton milling history, and came from the Boar’s Head Cotton Manufactory, Derby.
Filoselle: floss silk.
"Fleecy"
Crochet cotton: Numbers given in Beeton's book seem to correspond to today's crochet cotton weights, such that an 8 or a 10 weight can be used for bedspreads and household items that may see wear, while 40 or higher gets you fine lace. As a general rule, the higher the number, the finer-spun the cotton. DMC, a French company producing crochet thread, currently carries threads in sizes 8 to 100, and can be found online and in craft stores. The brand name often given in Mrs. Beeton's book, "Boar's Head," was part of English cotton milling history, and came from the Boar’s Head Cotton Manufactory, Derby.
Filoselle: floss silk.
"Fleecy"
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