A Slashed Knit Hat for a Landsknecht

[@k.jespersen6145]

We *ALL* need a "rather daft hat" in our collections! This is going on the to-be-made list.

[@TealCheetah]

a bunch of macho dudes sitting around camp, slicing up their hats is such a funny mental image

[@misscranky]

"Bro, do these feathers look good with my accent fabric?"

[@blackawana]

Yes!

[@MarciaHouston]

Thanks, Sally. I found your pattern for the cap on Ravelry. I only had a short set of double point needles so I made a half size just to try it out. The cap came out very nice, instructions easy to follow, and fits my stuffed teddy bear😄

[@sarahmccostumes4782]

Everything I read about Landsknecht costume just makes me think of modern subcultures, especially punk/crustpunk! Its just so relateable. You're wearing clothes that make you stand out, you're DIY-ing your own stuff, instead of repairing the rips in your jeans you just make more rips and call it fashion... I wonder what there is to learn about subcultures in general from reading the landsknecht in that context and drawing parallels to e.g. 20thC crustpunk?

[@JustSaralius]

When you said "huge shears" I still didn't expect that! 😂 7:37

[@benjaminmack7567]

There is a peculiar building in Trowbridge which i learnt was for drying teasels. Its funny the bits of history you never realise existed!

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

Just discovered your channel. Subscribed! 🧿🧿

[@tinuvianna]

Delightful from start to finish.

[@CARthebard]

I'm excited to try this out for myself!

[@raraavis7782]

I don't know why, but I really like those hats. It's something I would totally wear with my modern wool coat! I don't really like the pressure of a normal hat around my head anyways, although I still prefer them over knitted caps. Maybe I should try one, that mostly sits on top of the head. I visited an original wool processing/fabric making plant with all the machinery (still in working condition) from the early 20th century a while ago. Steam operated and everything. So fascinating. It was closed up in the 1960's without ever being modernized and then laid completely dormant and undisturbed till it was bought and turned into a museum some 35 years later. They polished everything up and actually turn the machines on and everything during guided tours. They used those scrubby plant thingies in one of the machines for the same purpose. If you're ever in the Cologne area in Germany, I highly recommend checking it out. I'll post a link to a video in a separate comment, in case KZbin deletes it. They sadly don't seem to have someone doing social media stuff for them, so it's just an older video in German - but it does show some of the beautiful old machinery, if that is something that is interesting to you (I know, your main area of interest is farther back in history).

[@raraavis7782]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGXdiWubf8ipeNEsi=Na2f92xr6IeumMv1

[@ragnkja]

KZbin seems to have eaten the link, but I was fortunate enough to catch it while it was visible. Sehr interessant!

[@raraavis7782]

@@ragnkja Thanks for letting me know - I'll try posting a slightly modified version. Isn't it crazy, that KZbin won't let you link even to a different KZbin video? I mean, I get that they're trying to prevent people (or rather bots probably) spamming in the comments. But immediately deleting even a single link is so annoying 🫤

[@raraavis7782]

Ok, I tried and if one puts 'Tuchfabrik Müller' into the search bar, it's literally the first thing that pops up. Also works on Google - they have a website with English as an option - the language option is hidden behind the '3 bar menu' thingy. Which is so stupid, imo. How is someone who doesn't speak the language supposed to navigate the website and even find that? Why don't they put it somewhere, where it's immediately visible? I swear, we're so backwards with stuff like that here 😭

[@ragnkja]

@@raraavis7782 It (and also the other reply where you mention it by name) seems to only be visible if I sort the comments by newest instead of the default “top comments” sorting.

[@Denuhm]

I love this, it looks amazing and has inspired me to make one of my own! Thank you so much :3

[@MEDavis-kn3ph]

Fun and lovely indeed! Made me think of the carefully knit patterned tubular knit child's sweater I slashed to add sleeves. The heart attack didn't happen! Miracle, the sweater is well worn, alive and well 50 years later.

[@penihavir1777]

I never realized that those were knit to start. Very cool! Thanks!!!

[@Beryllahawk]

Wow, I learned so much in this! The word "plush" takes on a whole new level of meaning when you understand how much went into getting a piece of wool to BE plush. For some reason I thought napped fabrics were made in ways similar to terry cloth or velvet, so this entire idea was REALLY new and interesting to learn about! My grandmother was German and she had a couple of very silly stories about Landsknecht, but the thing I remember her telling me was that the entire lot of them were "just well dressed bullies." I suppose that really depends on perspective though - after all if you're the person hiring the mercenaries I'm sure that fancy hat made a good impression! A wealthy mercenary is generally a quite skilled fighter, else he wouldn't have lived long enough to amass that wealth in the first place!

[@ragnkja]

Plush is indeed a napped cloth similar to velvet but with a longer pile. Plushies are usually made of (synthetic) plush.

[@Beryllahawk]

@@ragnkja I clearly need to read up on all of this

[@evelinharmannfan7191]

For anyone who is interested, the German pronunciation of the "k" in "Landsknecht" is hard, like in "kale" or "cock". And the hat needed to be felted not only for looks, but also for practical reasons, to make it more waterproof. Landsknechte had to stay outside a lot and had a tough life.

[@susanshelit]

Is it german? I do believe it's dutch but those languages are very similar so who knows.

[@susanshelit]

Nope. It's dutch. German for 'knecht' (man servant) is 'diener'

[@ragnkja]

@@susanshelit “Knecht” is used in German as well, especially in archaic terms such as “Landsknecht”.

[@headstanding_Penguin]

​@@susanshelitKnecht is a term used formerly for helping hands on farms both in Germany and Switzerland (don't know about dutch or austrian history), Landsknecht was basically THE soldier type switzerland got famous for... and which lead to the modern neutrality because it got to the point where swiss were batteling against swiss for foreign leaders, the only exception still existing today is the pope's gard

[@craftlete]

​@@susanshelit"Knecht" definitely is also a German word. In the past there were all sorts of "knecht" variants with different areas of work/people they worked for, like Stallknecht (stables), Waffenknecht (weapons), Henkersknecht (hangman). (Also the Ring Verse from LotR begins with "Ein Ring sie zu knechten..." in German 😊)

[@JustSaralius]

I would be so happy if you did a collab with Welsh Viking (Jimmy) some time!

[@headstanding_Penguin]

I'd love a more indept tutorial on this, especially on the knitting and then felting part, please!

[@SallyPointer]

Just use any of my published Tudor hat patterns for that part.

[@mcv2178]

Yes, if you can turn a knit into felt, I am curious to try it on something very modern - specifically a t-shirt.

[@ragnkja]

@@mcv2178 If you were to try to wash a garment that’s made of 100% wool and isn’t labelled “superwash” it would indeed felt, and shrink quite drastically in the process. As a small child, I inherited a sweater from my father after it had been washed too harshly on accident.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

@@ragnkja I do it on purpose with second hand wool sweaters, if I can get them (there was a second-hand store here that had them, but it closed).

[@debvoz]

I had read that the origin of the puff and slash style of the Landsknecht was in clothing looted on the field - the garments had slashes from swords, and they cut away the blood stains leaving holes in the fabric, then put another layer of clothing beneath that had holes in different places creating the distinctive look. Later of course, they were created deliberately. Is that correct? I always thought it was a fascinating idea.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

don't know if it's true, but it's a good story 😋

[@sava-smth]

Niceeeee. It looks very fun, I'd wear it

[@jakes9708]

Love your videos; such a variety.

[@marilyngandhi8571]

Brilliant ❤

[@ThisSmallGnome]

I would dearly love to see a how-to on the sprang hairnet!

[@SallyPointer]

It's basically the same as my Sprang hairnet video, but mount the finished sprang on a woven band. I'll probably do another video on hairnets with bands at some point though

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

That’s just cool! Thanks for the demo🐝🤗❤️

[@akkelijke]

Nice topic

[@BridgetteSharpe]

I love this hat! Do you have the knit pattern available? I see your round Tudor hat but not this one. I want to make this for my husband’s 50th he’s a history buff and one of your greatest fans. Thanks!

[@SallyPointer]

Use the round brim of the Tudor, just make it a bit wider, then the square crown of the Scholar's cap. That will do the trick

[@craftlete]

I usually follow your channel for older fibre crafts and hedge bothering. But this looks like a lovely project as well! I'm now wondering if the slashes (especially at the top) weren't deafeating the purpose of weather protection to some extent?

[@SallyPointer]

Fashion has always gone off at tangents to practicality!

[@regineb.4756]

May I annotate that the ‚k‘ in ‚Landsknecht‘ is enunciated. The ‚ch‘ was pronounced perfectly!

[@discodiscordia]

Love that hat!! 😍

[@buds8423]

Teasel not grown here- can burdock be used? Gorgeous wool color!

[@CraigsOverijse]

As always fascinating I am curious Sally you steam ironed did they have metal irons in some form they used in that era.

[@SallyPointer]

Yes, Flat irons are around then, as are goffering irons for ruffs

[@discodiscordia]

Just FYI, the K is not silent in German. 🙂

[@SallyPointer]

Thanks!

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Sally, please tell me where can I order seeds of the real Fuller's Teasel?

[@SallyPointer]

Chiltern Seeds had it last time I looked

[@Moe-DK]

I love it! Do you make these for selling?

[@SallyPointer]

Occasionally! The base hat is the Dockenbaret on my website shop pages. Next order date will be sometime in December now

[@mariem8857]

do you have a knitting pattern for the flat caps? would love to see a link for it

[@SallyPointer]

Sure, here you go payhip.com/b/s31T

[@friedasorber1653]

The k in landsknecht is not silent.

[@misssmith7225]

I had made an automatic assumption that the felt was woven, not knitted. In very, very general terms when did the change from woven accessories to knitted accessories happen? For instance I would swear that at this date their shawls were woven, but some unreliable googling has said otherwise. Instead of find an offline well qualified book on the subject, may I ask you for the (very, very, very) general answer?

[@SallyPointer]

Very very roughly, hats are widely knit from the 14thc, stockings mid 16th, some very specific knit 'waistcoats' (not street wear) from early 17thc but we don't really see knit shawls, jumpers etc til the 19thc. Woven is more efficient for large items until mass production of yarn kicks in. There is of course more to it than that, but that's the super quick overview

[@misssmith7225]

@@SallyPointer Thank you! A follow up question...if that is okay? "...Mass production of yarn...." Do you mean yarn specifically, or the industrial knitting machines?

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

@@SallyPointer Weren't there felt hats that were made by directly felting the wool (without knitting or weaving first)?

[@Koruvax]

It's not hard to see where the mad hatter comes from. Easier to pretend it's madness than assume skill.

[@andrewsackville-west1609]

I thought "mad hatter" was because of the various poisons involved in fulling processes leading to literal madness. In particular, arsenic, I think?

[@anitapeura3517]

@@andrewsackville-west1609 Wasn't it mercury? In the glue, maybe? Causes neurological damage.