INSTRUCTIONS FOR KNITTED MITTENS AND CUFFS.

SILK MITTENS FOR LITTLE GIRLS OF ABOUT THREE YEARS OLD.

BLACK netting silk and bright scarlet, or pink, Magenta, etc. Cast on, loosely, forty-two stitches (or thereabouts) in scarlet.

1st row-Scarlet. Knit plainly across, and back in open work (put the silk forward, and take two together).

2d, 3d, and 4th-Black. Plain knitting. 5th-Scarlet. Knit plainly across, and back in open work, as before.

6th, 7th, and 8th-Black. Plain knitting. 9th-Scarlet. Across in plain knitting, and back in open work.

10th, 11th, and 12th-Black. Plain knitting, increasing one stitch on the left hand side, in the front of the work in the last stitch but one in the 11th and 12th rows.

18th, 19th, and 20th-Black. Plain knitting, increasing one stitch, as before, in the 19th and 20th rows.

21st-Scarlet. Across in plain, and back in open work, as before.

22d, 23d, and 24th-Black. Plain knitting, increasing one, as before, in the 23d, and two in the 24th rows.

25th-Scarlet. Across in plain, and back in open work, increasing one at the left side.

26th-Black. Plainly knitting only sixteen stitches, and turning back at the sixteenth, with a third pin, leaving the remaining stitches (for the hand) on the pin, for the present.

Continue on the sixteen stitches (which will form the thumb) as follows:

26th, 27th, and 28th-Black. Plain knitting. 29th-Scarlet. Across in plain, and back in open work.

30th, 31st, and 32d-Black. Plain knitting. 33d-Scarlet. Across in plain, and back in open work.

34th-Scarlet. Knit across and back in open work, as before, and cast off the 16 stitches very loosely.

Returning to the other stitches, knit the

26th, 27th, and 28th-Black. Plain knitting, beginning at the right hand side, and increasing

one on the left, as before, in both the 27th and 28th rows.

29th-Scarlet. Across in plain, and back in open work, as before.

30th, 31st, and 32d-Black. Plain knitting, increasing one, as before, in each of the two last

rows.

33d-Scarlet. Across in plain, and back in open work.

34th, 35th, and 36th-Black. Plain knitting, increasing one in the 35th row and in the 36th. 37th-Scarlet. Across in plain, and back in open work.

38th-Scarlet. Across and back in open work. Cast off loosely. Knit the other mitten precisely the same, with the exception that the increased stitches are to be on the right hand side, and made at the back, instead of the front of the work. The thumb, of course, will then be formed at the left hand side. "The best mode of increasing is to pick up the loop of the other stitch." They are to be made up as previously described.

THIS design is intended to be worked on three flounces, and in this way to form the skirt of a little girl's dress. The muslin ought to be clear, and as thin as may be consistent with durability. The three diamonds in each scallop have their outlines of holes, and within these the central ornaments are formed of leaves worked in satin-stitch with one hole in the middle of each. The branch springing out of the centre of these three diamonds is in satinstitch, the flower having a hole in the middle. The double holes, which go round the interior of the scallop, have a dot on each side, which

is worked as a solid spot. The scallop at the edge is in well-raised buttonhole-stitch. This design is also well suited for a lady's underskirt, in which case it ought to be worked on strong cambric muslin, or even on fine longcloth, but in this last-mentioned material the branch ought to have the leaves cut out. If taken for this purpose the scallop must not be cut out, but the hem should be turned up, and, after the outline of the scallop has been run, the superfluous part of the material is to be cut away.

A NEW STITCH FOR CUFFS. Materials.-A skein of blue shade Berlin wool, and two small skeins of pale orange, or any colors you prefer. TAKE a flat netting mesh (about an inch and a half broad), wind the blue wool round it till

you have repeated the shades six times, then with a middle-size steel crochet work a row of plain crochet on each side of the mesh, taking the stitch in the blue wool instead of chain on foundation; work thus three bands, and join them on the wrong side with plain crochet; then work with orange wool a row of trebles at the top and one at the bottom of the cuff; sew a small button on one end of each orange line, and make a loop on the other end to correspond with each button.

KNITTED ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS.

PINK GERANIUM.

THREE or four flowers are required for a nice branch, with two leaves, and five or six buds, some pink and some green.

Five petals must be made for each flowertwo large, one middle-sized, and two small.

Two shades of pink split wool-one rather light, and the other deeper, for large petal.

Cast on two stitches, knit one row.

2d row.-Make one stitch and purl the rest of row. Continue knitting and purling alternately, making one stitch before and after the mriddle stitch (still continuing to increase also at the beginning of each row) in the knitted row, until you have seventeen stitches; then take the darker shade, and knit and purl six VOL. LXIV.-16

rows, still increasing in the middle of the knitted rows, but decreasing one stitch at the beginning of every row, beginning the decrease in the same row in which you change the wool; then knit and purl alternately without increas ing in the middle, and still decreasing one stitch at the beginning of each row, till you have but nine stitches left. Cast these off. Sew a wire neatly round the petal with split pink wool, and one at the back, also.

For middle-sized petal.

Cast on two stitches with a paler shade of pink wool than used for the last petal.

Knit one row; make one stitch, purl the rest of row; knit one plain row, purl one row, and continue to knit and purl alternately, increasing* one stitch before and after the middle stitch in every other plain row, till you have eleven stitches.

Take the lightest shade used for the large petal for the darkest of this; knit and purl alternately four rows, increasing in the middle of every plain row, and decreasing at the beginning of every row; then continue to knit and purl without increase in the middle, but decreasing at the beginning of each row, till but nine stitches remain; cast these off.

The small petals are made in exactly the same manner as the above, but increasing only to nine instead of eleven stitches, and casting off with seven stitches instead of nine.

LEAF.-Cast on ten stitches of a nice bright, but rather dark shade of green (a yellow green will be found to look most natural). Knit one row.

row.

2d row. Make one, knit two, through rest of All the back rows are purled, only increasing one at the beginning of each row, but not in the middle of the purled rows.

3d front row.-Make one, knit three, repeat through the row next front row; make one, knit four, through the row; continue to increase thus till you have about seven stitches between each increase. Then take a very dark shade of green, and knit and purl four rows without increase; join on the first color again, and continue to increase as before till you have eleven stitches between each increase; then begin to decrease by fastening off three stitches at the beginning of every third or fourth row, both in the knitted and purled rows, still continuing to increase in the centre, and thus decrease at the beginning till you have but five

* These stitches must not be increased by bringing the wool forward, but by taking up a stitch and knitting it at the back; it does not make so large an opening as the usual way.

or six stitches, which fasten off in the usual way.

Sew a wire quite round the leaf, and also bits of double up each of the divisions at the back of the leaf. The stitches must be taken deep enough to cover the holes left by the increasing.

BUDS.-For the pink ones take five or six bits of the different shades of the pink wool, double them over a bit of wire, double the wire and twist it very tight; bring the ends of the wool down, and fasten them round the wire, about a quarter of an inch long, or less, according to

the size required; twist some; split green wool round the stem, and for the larger buds make a few long herring-bone stitches in whole green wool to form a little calyx.

The green buds are made in the same way, but rather smaller. They must be mounted on a piece of bonnet wire the length required for a branch.

All the flowers placed at the top, the buds altogether round the stem, a little lower down, and the leaves still lower. Cover all the stems with green wool split.