This pattern was originally published in the 1847 The Knitter’s Friend in the UK, later it was re-published in the 1884 issue of A Young Ladies’ Journal and still later in the 1990s in Furze Hewitt’s Knit One, Make One by Kangaroo Press.

I first saw a photograph of a little Victorian jug in Bishop Rutt’s book, The History of Hand Knitting. After making it, I searched for and found the original printed pattern to see how close I came to duplicating it. As I was knitting my second jug from the text, I realized that the project nicely displayed basic traditional Victorian knitting techniques. By learning these techniques, either from the photograph, the pattern, or both, we can relate to how and why we continue to use those techniques today in other projects.

The original jug stands less than 4” tall. I used four size 0000 needles and DMC Cebelia #20 (Delft Blue) to duplicate it. Any sized yarn and comparable needles could be used: I’ve had students use a variety of fibers and weights. In sport or worsted, it makes a charming purse. One student even used bulky to create a “pitcher vase” to hold knitted flowers for a gift.