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| From Pins & Needles, September 1962 |
You could get a leaflet on the virtues of Health Vests, and a free pattern for the vest illustrated, worn by Bill Brown, the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper. (But you still wouldn't want to wear one, would you?)
Mostly about knitting history. Sometimes about what I'm knitting. Sometimes about other things too.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Health Vests
I recently wrote an article on Twilley's Health Vest cotton, for the current issue of Slipknot (the magazine of the Knitting and Crochet Guild). You can find a version of the article here, on the blog of Thomas B Ramsden, the company that owns Twilley's. Health Vest cotton was a thick cotton yarn used to knit string vests (of course) and a few other things - one of the patterns is for the Horse Cooler I wrote about here. In writing the article, I suggested that the Health Vest cotton patterns were issued in the early 1960s, judging by the women's hairstyles. (Yes, regrettably, there were patterns for string vests for women.) I have just found an ad from 1962, showing that I was right.
You could get a leaflet on the virtues of Health Vests, and a free pattern for the vest illustrated, worn by Bill Brown, the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper. (But you still wouldn't want to wear one, would you?)
You could get a leaflet on the virtues of Health Vests, and a free pattern for the vest illustrated, worn by Bill Brown, the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper. (But you still wouldn't want to wear one, would you?)
The advertisement references the "Everest, Arctic and Antarctic expeditions". That's the clue. String undergarments were originally worn by seafarers (allegedly, the first ones were made from used fishing nets), then later by arctic explorer types. The big idea is to provide a lot of air voids next to the skin to better control perspiration moisture and to help keep the insulation layers drier, especially during heavy exertion. "Heavy exertion" in this case probably meant "man hauling" - dragging heavy sledges full of gear over pressure ridges, through drifted snow and across open leads in the pack ice. Man hauling has been characterised as "the hardest work to which free men have been put in modern times" (Capt. Richard Collinson). Caloric intake could range as high as 10,000 kCal per day, with the eaters still losing weight(!).
ReplyDeleteI am looking for patterns to make a long sleeved pullover top and 3/4 length "short john" bottoms (you don't want the fishnet between your shins and tight ski boots - leads to "alligator skin"!), for exactly the above purpose - better control moisture during cold winter activities. I'll probably use a knitting board, and make them fully fashioned, if I can figure out how to do it.
Thanks for the information - it's interesting that string underwear started with sailors.
DeleteStill have a ball in my stash!
ReplyDeleteDid you ever knit a string vest, I wonder?
Delete