One of the things that caught my eye is a 1950s box, originally containing a kit for French knitting. There was a bobbin, a pin and six little balls of rainbow wool. Some of the balls of wool have been depleted, so presumably the kit has been used, and the bobbin and pin are gone, but the box lid is very evocative of the 1950s - I used to do French knitting occasionally, though never produced enough to actually make anything.
In fact, the kit was completely unnecessary. In those days cotton reels (the bobbins for sewing thread) were wooden, so you could easily get 4 nails hammered into the top, and have something very like the bobbin illustrated on the box. Most yarn shops sold little balls of rainbow wool just like the ones from the box. I can't remember what I used for a pin, but it was something easily available, not something you had to buy. But the box is nice.
Puzzle Corner: we have two objects that look like knitting needles, but with a curve at the non-pointed end. They are plastic, quite flexible, and the knobs are metal. There is no brand name or inscription of any kind. We don't know if they are anything to do with knitting, or even if they are a pair - maybe they were designed to be used individually. Anyone have any idea what they are?
Could the two curved needles be something to do with cable knitting? They look similar to one of the tools here http://www.knitpicks.com/accessories/Cable_Knitting_Needles__DKPCableNeedle.html
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I have never seen anything like them.
Not sure about cable needles - wouldn't they have to be double pointed? Someone has suggested that the curve might be useful for holding lots of stitches - not sure about that either. But today we discovered a tiny impressed reg. no. on each needle so might be able to find something out from that.
DeleteMy first French knitting was done on a wooden cotton reel with four nails in the top. Odds and ends of wool were used so the "strand" was wonderfully multi-coloured. A hair grip was used to work the wool. This was in the playground in 1965 and I was nine years old. So many years ago.
ReplyDeletethe curve allows extra stitches without excessive length of needle That is the function
ReplyDeleteThanks for that - someone else made the same suggestion and it sounds very plausible. Is it a conjecture, or do you have concrete evidence?
DeleteI never idly speculate, but I see you already have an example advert. I have seen these used and also mentioned in old mags. I did not have a copy to send on.
DeleteHi from Australia! I have only just found your blog and I do not know how I had missed it before now ..... as I am always searching on the internet for knitty things. About your knitting needles, I have a blog - knitsandbits - where I posted an old advertisement from Weldons - take a look - http://knitsandbits.blogspot.com.au/2008/11/benbow-knitting-pin.html - I also collect everything from vintage knitting and crochet to vintage sewing. I have two other blogs about these. I have a huge collection of knitting nancies and hope to one day publish a book about them. I hope you might take a look. I also manage the Flickr Spool knitter group and the Yahoo Spoolknitter group and the Yahoo Collectionvintagesewingandknitting. I do hope you can reply - we may be soul sisters! .... cheers, Marian
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the pointer to the Benbow knitting needles ad! It's just what we need. We have quite a diverse sub-collection of tools and gadgets in the Knitting & Crochet Guild's collection, though the main focus is on knitted & crocheted items and publications. (But I haven't read them all - otherwise I might have seen the Weldon's ad.)
DeleteHi Barbara,
ReplyDeleteWhere do you usually buy vintage knitting memorabilia?
Hi Joan, The tools and gadgets in the Guild collection have all been donated, I think - we certainly haven't bought any in the last few years, while I have been volunteering.
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