Original design from the Floral Knitting Book by A Lady (Groombridge and Sons, London, 1847.)

Have you ever tried to knit something without having a photograph of the finished project? That’s what Victorian era knitters had to do all the time. Very few books had illustrations and those that did featured line drawings that weren’t always completely accurate. That’s also what I did when knitting these flowers. I had no idea what size they would come out or what they would look like, but I assumed they would be similar in appearance to actual flowers of the same name.

I’ve always loved tiger lilies so I knew exactly what I was making when I began knitting this flower. It came out exactly as I expected, and approximately the same size as an actual lily.