[HNW] question re perle cotton

[Chris Laning]

At 5:45 PM -0500 3/4/03, Kathryn Newell wrote:
>I'm assuming I can use Aunt Lydia's Fast Five (twice as thick as a size 10
>crochet cotton). I've just finished the 1915 bonnet and it seesm large to
>me -- like it would fit a  2  year old.

Don't forget that the Victorians used the word "baby" to cover a
wider age range than we do -- so if the bonnet fits a 2-year-old it's
entirely possible that that's what's intended. The youngest child of
a family could be referred to as a "baby" sometimes as late as age 5
or 6 on occasion, and it wouldn't be at all surprising to hear it
applied to a 2-year-old. You can run across this usage in period
fiction and nonfiction, and it's sometimes a bit jarring to the
modern mind. We now tend to use "baby" only to refer to "babes in
arms," i.e. those not yet walking.
--
_________________________________________________________
O    Chris Laning
|     <claning at igc.org>
+    Davis, California
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