A Yarn About Knitting
I do love the colours and textures of yarns. I don’t knit now as much as I used to but I still enjoy visiting the yarn department in craft stores.
I’ve been going through quite a lot of vintage magazines lately and of course knitting and crochet patterns were a big feature of women’s magazines. Many women found it more economical to knit warm jumpers for their family and there were stylish jumpers, jackets, dresses and even coats they could make for themselves.
My mum knitted of course and the English Woman’s Weekly was her favourite magazine.
Mum also liked to knit small items like dolls clothes and toys. She especially liked the patterns designed by Jean Greenhowe.
Many of these little characters passed through our house.
Mum taught me to knit too but I was a slow learner. She didn’t lose patience and eventually I learned to knit but never to crochet which I regret because I would love to be able to make granny squares, Afghans or some of the wonderful patterns I’ve seen for dolls clothes.
I did knit a few jumpers and other items for Naomi and myself when I was young. I knitted David a jumper when we were first seeing each other. It didn’t come out that well but he liked it. I knitted Naomi a dress in a glittery yarn which she liked but mum ruined by washing it and hanging it out on the line instead of laying it flat so it stretched. Naomi had only worn it once too. I tried my hand at knitting dolls clothes and toys too. I remember making this golligwog back in the 1970s.
Mum had her knitting mishaps too, not dropping stitches or losing track of the pattern as I tended to do but the complete destruction of her project by one of the family cats. She sometimes had to spend a long time unravelling tangled balls of wool and picking up dropped stitches.
These days although it is probably cheaper to buy knitted clothing than make it yourself people do appreciate knitting and crochet as a form of art. Yarn Bombing has become a popular thing in many places.
I still do a bit of knitting but these days it is only for the dolls I collect and sometimes the ones that I clean up for the Op Shop.
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Woman’s Weekly brings back memories. I used to knit a lot when the kids were still kids and made all sorts of things, but I had a problem at first. I always knitted in england and in Switzerland the patterns were all in German with the abbreviations, as in english. That was not easy, but I succeeded. Now I do not think I would understand an english knitting pattern.
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It must have been very complicated in your early years in Switzerland but now you are acclimatised to German and probably think in German too a lot of the time.
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My mom, here in the USA, got her monthly copy of “The Workbasket” that had lots of craft patterns. Sounds much like the magazine you describe here. I did learn to crochet, and I still enjoy it, along with knitting, but the old hands, elbows, and shoulders don’t permit me to do what I used to be able to do.
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The Woman’s Weekly was or I should say is because I think it is still going, a woman’s magazine with craft, light news articles and fiction.
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What a lovely post! It also made me think of my mom, especially when she was frantically knitting several pairs of gloves and jumpers for me when I was going to move from Mexico to Canada 🙂
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Yes you would have needed a warmer wardrobe and of course mother’s are always the first to come to the rescue.
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I love it that both our posts feature yarn bombing. And I love your stylish dolls’ clothes too.
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I only discovered yarn bombing was “a thing” when I saw those bollards for the first time. Now you see it quite often and I like it.
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I like both knitting and crochet, but not doing it much these days. The yarn bombing thing is brilliant!. Thought making mermaid tails from old afgans was cute but a bicycle is so much better. I’m enjoying all the home-made’s offered on e-bay as I did one crocheted dress for my daughter 25 years ago and my knuckles were stiff for a week. These days I knit with drum sticks to help my hands stay pliant and the tension looser. I did one hand crochet wrap for a doll w/o needle but it looks pretty sad like my early days as a girl learning from granny. Has anyone done mixed knit and crochet projects?
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I never learned to crochet, wish I had because there are some lovely doll patterns and the fit on Barbie is better. Knit on a fashion doll can look bulky. I use crochet cotton to knit for her now.
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