A Few More Patterns

Last weekend, I was knitting at Sheringham, on the north Norfolk coast - the Leighton Buzzard branch of the Knitting & Crochet Guild hold an annual weekend at the Youth Hostel there.  A busy weekend, with a yarn swap, a quiz, talks and workshops.  Alongside the workshops, I did a couple of sessions on tools and gadgets from the Guild collection which were innovations in their time, and have a patent number attached - such as the Double Century needles.  I took a few knitting patterns with patent numbers too. (You might not think that you could patent a sock pattern, but it has been done - I'll write about it some time.)  There was time to look around Sheringham and visit the shops, including the two yarn shops.  And of course a lot of knitting was done (or crochet, for those that are that way inclined).

During the weekend, a Guild member gave me some pattern leaflets and booklets from a friend of hers, as a donation to the collection - a mix of styles and dates, from the 1930s to the 1970s or 80s.  It's exciting to look through the very old patterns - there's often something fascinating that we don't already have in the collection.

The two oldest patterns in the new donation are Scotch Wool & Hosiery Stores leaflets from the early 1930s. Their leaflets at that time were 'given free' - presumably if you bought the wool.   The first is for a 'Gentleman's Pullover', with or without sleeves.   It has a band of stranded knitting above the welt, and another around the V neck - in a rather boring colour combination of brown on fawn.

Scotch Wool & Hosiery Stores B 4

The other is a children's pattern, size 24 in. (61 cm.) chest. There is a boy's pullover, with a V neck, and a girl's pullover with a square neck, buttoned on the shoulder.

Scotch Wool & Hosiery Stores B 38

We have some of the Scotch Wool Stores pattern leaflets from the 1930s in the collection already, but there are a lot of gaps, so it's good to be able to fill in two of them.

I'll show a few of the later leaflets too.  From the 1950s is this elegant double-breasted jacket.

Lister 299 6d

And this leaflet is from the 1960s: 

Prismar 1024

It's aimed at teenagers - the girls on the cover are evidently fans of jazz and the Beatles. There was a time in the 1960s when every teenage girl wanted a ribbed sleeveless sweater with a polo neck, just like the one here.

And representing the 1970s is a 'poncho style shawl', crocheted in dishcloth cotton.

Twilleys 1024

Some very nice additions to the collection.  I bought another myself, in the Salvation Army shop - a Bestway pattern from the 1940s that I thought we didn't already have, and I was right.  (I could actually have checked the list of Bestway patterns in the collection on my phone, but it's more fun to wing it, and see if I'm right later.)  And a pair of Barnet knitting needles in a junk shop - not a make I had heard of.

Bestway 624

I mentioned that there was plenty of time during the weekend for knitting and crochet.  I was knitting a pair of socks for my sister - both socks at once, in line with my New Year's knitting resolution. They are progressing nicely - this is how much I had done by Sunday evening:

It was a very good weekend - and Sheringham 2020 is already planned.

A £5 Aran Cardigan

A bag of mixed knitting patterns arrived at the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection this week, including a copy of a magazine called Knitting & Homecraft.

Knitting & Homecraft magazine, No. 4

We have several issues of Knitting & Homecraft  in the collection, and in fact we already have this one.   It was published monthly, and this was a February issue - but which year?  It's evidently some time in the 1970s, by the styles, but the year isn't given.  It isn't in the British Library catalogue either, which would give some dates.  I've tried looking for clues in the magazine before, but I went through this one again, carefully looking for a mention of the year.  Couldn't find one.   It must be 1971 or later, because the price is decimal (30p), and I think it's early 1970s rather than later.

But looking through the magazine, I was struck by the claim that the Aran cardigan on the cover could then be knitted for 'around £5', which seems astonishing now.  The yarn specified was good quality, too - Blarney Bainin Wool, Irish pure wool specifically intended for Aran knits.    The pattern is headed 'Forever Arans': "These beautiful traditional stitch cardigans will always look right, feel right and be right for wherever you are.  They would be very costly to buy, but these can be made for around £5 from our pattern."    The editorial at the front also makes similar points: "we had in mind those of our readers who like good top fashion garments, yet cannot afford to pay high prices for the ones sometimes seen in the shops....... they are in pure wool, which will last for a very, very long time."   Aran knits were very popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s for hand knitters (though not really 'top fashion', I think). The magazine was quite right about that last point - an Aran cardigan or sweater knitted in the 1970s could very well still be wearable.  (I've got one myself (here), though it's not really a traditional Aran.)

I think the £5 cost reinforces my feeling that the magazine is from the early 1970s, rather than later.  There was huge inflation in the U.K. around 1973-6, and according to the Bank of England's historic inflation calculator, the 2017 equivalent of £5 in 1970 is £73.53,  but £5 in 1976 would only be worth £34.21 now.

My guess for the date of the magazine is 1971 or 1972, but I'd like to know, to catalogue it properly.  I don't think the magazine lasted more than a year, in fact - we have (most of) issues 1 to 12, and I suspect that it folded after that.  The content suggests that they hadn't quite worked out who their readers were.  They included 'Homecraft' in the title, but in fact there is very little that isn't knitting - just three short pieces on tatting, embroidery and gardening.  So anyone looking for cooking, say, as part of the 'Homecraft' would be disappointed.

Another knitting pattern that caught my eye is this dress in random-dyed yarn (Jaeger Spiral Spun).

There are a few other designs for random yarns in the magazine, and they all show similar patterns of stripes in some areas and large patches of one colour in other areas - random yarns were very popular for knitters in the 1970s, and these unpredictable patches of colour were a desirable feature.  (Now, colour pooling is something to be avoided.)  The overdress is machine knitted, and again I wonder if the magazine was judging its readership correctly.  Presumably they thought that including both hand and machine knitting would increase readership, but I suspect that most machine knitters would prefer to buy a machine knitting magazine (there were several being published then).  And if a hand knitter saw this design and liked it, it would be frustrating to find that it was only for machine knitters.   If I'm right that it only lasted for 12 issues, it never attracted readers in sufficient numbers.  And now it is almost completely forgotten, except in archives like the Knitting & Crochet Guild's collection. 

1978

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Knitting & Crochet Guild, and Guild members are being encouraged to make something to recall 1978 - maybe something from a 1978 pattern, or adapting a 1970s trend. And to wear the result at the Guild's Convention in July.  (I still have a sweater that I knitted in the late 1970s - my Cream of the Crop sweater from a book of Patricia Roberts knitting patterns published in 1975.  So in theory, that's me sorted - though as it's very warm, it won't be wearable in July.)

By 1978, Patons pattern leaflets had copyright dates, and we have permission to copy them for Guild members, so I have made a catalogue of the Patons leaflets published that year. (Available to Guild members from the KCG website.) 

Quite a few of the designs are not distinctively 1970s - basic sweaters, cardigans, scarves and so on. But some features recur several times that wouldn't be so usual now.  There are a number of big, loose tops in simple T shapes - described as oversweaters or overtops.  They typically have wide sleeves, dropped shoulders and slash necks. 

Patons 1536

Most of Patons 1978 designs are knitted, but there are crochet patterns too.

Patons 1518

And many are designed for all the family. (The slanting pockets in Patons 1575 are another recurring feature.)

Patons 1575

Patons 1505 has the loose, dropped-shoulder, over-sweater style translated into a jacket.  The combination of colours in the sample doesn't work well, it seems to me, but with a different choice it could look good.

Patons 1505

There are some lighter styles too - like this lacy sweater with a big frilly collar.  (Note the draw-string hem, also a feature of Patons 1518 and several others.)

Patons 1617

There are a couple of waistcoat patterns which would be practical for a cool July day (and most July days in England seem to be cool).

Patons 1581

There's one pattern that stands out, though - Patons 1595, for a unisex 'Fair Isle' waistcoat and pullover.  I think it was a very popular design at the time - we have two waistcoats and a pullover knitted from it in the KCG collection (see this post for a photo), and two more pullovers appeared in the Knitwear: Chanel to Westwood exhibition in 2015.  And it's proving very popular now - since I put the catalogue on the KCG website, it's been asked for more than any of the others.

Patons 1595

It would be easy to make something quite wearable from one of the Patons 1978 patterns - there are none of the worst 1970s horrors.  No knitted trousers (no knitted patchwork trousers, even worse), no knitted shorts, no leg warmers....    (We do have such patterns in the collection, if anyone feels tempted.) 

So if you're a Guild member - happy knitting!  I look forward to seeing the results in July.

Metrication

Today I was sorting some magazines in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection and separating out surplus copies.  One of them was a Woolworth Knitting Magazine from 1976, and I was idly looking through it to see if there was anything of interest in it.  At that time, Woolworth's sold knitting yarns under their Winfield brand, as well as pattern leaflets, an annual knitting magazine, and  knitting needles, crochet hooks, buttons and other haberdashery.

The patterns in this magazine weren't very exciting, but an ad about metrication of knitting needles caught my eye.  Evidently, the old imperial sizes were just changing over to metric sizes at the time.

It essentially gives a conversion chart, with the old imperial sizes alongside the new metric sizes.  I doubt that the reassurance that "Tensions won't be affected, so you won't have to learn to knit again" was really necessary - changing needle sizes was very straightforward compared to the conversion of weights and measures that was happening at the same time.

Knitting yarn was already being sold in metric quantities, and I had forgotten that balls of yarn used to be much smaller than they are now.  From the quantities given in the patterns, Winfield yarns were sold in 20g and 25g balls, except for Aran wool, which was in 50g balls.  So a short-sleeved smock top took 22 balls of DK for the 36 in./91 cm. bust size.  I suppose that meant that you should have less than 25g left over when you had finished knitting, whereas I'm often left with most of a 100g. ball when I've finished a project.  But think of dealing with all those ends!    
 

1970s Guernseys

I mentioned that in the collection of pattern leaflets and other publications that we were given a couple of weeks ago there were a lot of Aran patterns. The woman who collected them was evidently interested in Guernseys, too - she had a surprising number of Guernsey patterns from the 1970s, published by some of the big yarn spinners and all intended for special 5-ply Guernsey yarn.  I was knitting in the 1970s, but wasn't aware of this fashion for knitting Guernseys at the time.

Emu 4728

There were more than a dozen traditional Guernsey patterns published by Emu - this one is described as "using Scottish Fleet and Mallaig stitches".  Some of the other Emu patterns, though still specifying 5-ply yarn, have raglan sleeves, polo necks, or stitches that appear to be based on Arans rather than traditional Guernseys.

But from a quick read, all the other patterns in the 5-ply Guernsey yarn are constructed as I think a proper traditional Guernsey should be, with underarm and shoulder gussets and the back and front identical.

Wendy 2018

Each of the spinners also published a pattern for a plain Guernsey in stocking stitch, like this Wendy pattern.

Poppleton 1711

This Poppleton pattern is for a "Vale Guernsey (Parish design)" - it's a traditional Guernsey from the island of Guernsey.

Marriner 1796

And the Marriner pattern is a "Guernsey style sweater in traditional Patrington and Withernsea stitches".

I wonder how many of these Guernseys were knitted in the 1970s.  The point of a Guernsey is that it's very hard wearing, so they might still survive, still being worn.   Do let me know if you have one.

New Acquisition

On Friday I took delivery of 4 boxes of knitting publications - the collection of a woman who has recently died.  They were donated to the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection by her husband, and delivered by a friend of his who lives locally.  There are magazines and pattern booklets, as well as  pattern leaflets - the leaflets alone make a stack about 20cm high. They are mostly in very good condition; she can't have knitted them all, and perhaps she just liked collecting knitting patterns.

Most of them are from the 1970s and later, but a few are older. There are a couple from the 1930s, and a few from the 1950s.  Quite a few are baby patterns: I like these two sitting in their baby Lloyd Loom chairs, looking a bit bemused.

Bairnswear 1653

And there are a lot of Aran patterns.  Some are quite traditional, some use recognisably Aran motifs, but not on a standard sweater or cardigan.

Garryowen FF.41

Sirdar 6474

And then there are the Aran ponchos, which are just never a good idea, if you ask me.

Bellmans 1296

 So, more pattern leaflets to sort out.  They are in such nice condition that  it will be a pleasure to add them into the collection.

PS I felt a bit guilty that I hadn't written more about the Guild convention earlier this month in Sheffield.  But Emma Vining has written a very comprehensive post here about the Convention, and the open day at Lee Mills beforehand, so now I can just re-direct you there for more details.  Thanks, Emma! 

Fair Isle in Leighton Buzzard

I was in Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire) yesterday for the 'pop-up museum' on woolcrafts held in the town's library.   There was a display of work by local knitters and demonstrations of spinning, and a film from the 1970s about spinning in rural Ireland was running all day in the library theatre.

Knitted 'Fair Isle' cushions

Rose cardigan inspired by a 1953 pattern 

The event was sponsored by the Knitting & Crochet Guild, and I was there to give a talk on Fair Isle knitwear, based on items from the Guild's collection.  Actually two talks, or one talk twice (morning and afternoon), however you want to think of it.

I talked about the history of Fair Isle as fashionable knitwear, starting in 1922, when the Prince of Wales wore a Fair Isle sweater to play golf in St Andrews, and was later painted in a Fair Isle sweater (presumably the same one) for the Illustrated London News.

Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII) 

published by Illustrated London News, after John St Helier Lander, 1925.

From the National Portrait Gallery Reference Collection, NPG D34119

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

I took a suitcase with seven pieces from the collection, ranging in date from the 1930s to around 1990 - some professionally knitted, including one that is authentically "Fair Isle made in Fair Isle", according to its label.  Others were made by knitters elsewhere, for themselves or their families, at times when Fair Isle knitting was popular - the late 1940s and the 1970s in particular.

1940s jumper  

 

Two waistcoats and a pullover, knitted from Patons pattern 1595 

Patons 1595, published 1970s 

It was a very successful day, I think - a lot of people visiting the library called in the see the display and/or the film, and both my talks were well-attended, with about 25-30 people each time - almost a full house.  And I got a quick look at Leighton Buzzard, which has a nice-looking town centre - including the excellent library and a very good yarn shop, Nutmeg Needlecrafts.   (Yes, I bought something.)

All Time Greats

I am, you may have noticed, interested in old knitting patterns.  A sub-category of vintage patterns that I find particularly fascinating are those that are based on still earlier patterns.  Sometimes spinners just revise and reissue an earlier pattern, without mentioning that it has been previously published - that's noteworthy, because it suggests that the first pattern must have sold very well (the Sirdar pattern based on a doiley, for instance, that was revised at least twice - I showed the reissued patterns here.)

But sometimes spinners explicitly say that the patterns are updated from an earlier decade, and  use the 'vintage' idea to sell the new patterns - an example is the Patons All Time Greats booklet from 1974.

Patons booklet 186: All Time Greats

As the subtitle says, the booklet has 11 designs from the 30s to the 50s that first appeared in Patons publications or in Stitchcraft magazine (which was published by Patons).  The booklet has small black-and-white photos of the original designs, and on the whole, the updated designs follow the originals faithfully.  An obvious exception is that a couple of the 1940s designs had the very gathered sleeve tops that were typical of the time, and these are not copied in 1974.   For instance in the 1940s version of the very pretty "Just a Bunch of Cherries" sweater, the tops of the sleeves stick up well above the shoulder line - a smoother profile was favoured in 1974, and indeed would be today.  

Just a Bunch of Cherries

In a few cases, I can recognise the original design (and in theory I could identify them all - they will be in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection, but  I haven't had time to search yet).  One is the Fair Isle pullover from the Stitchcraft Men's Book published in the late 1940s.

           
The 1974 version is a close copy of the original, though the colours are more muted - the main difference between the two models is in the hairstyles (which both now look very dated).  Fair Isle knits were very popular in the late 1940s, and had a revival in the 1970s, as I remember. I knitted several Fair Isles myself then, including a pullover for my husband (though by then it was the early 80s) that I showed here.

One of the designs in All Time Greats, for a twinset, is not in fact based on an earlier design.  The introduction says: "This lively presentation brings up-to-date the many designs that have appeared in Patons leaflets over the years.  Today the twinset branches out into the separates story - sweater goes sleeveless to wear sometimes on its own or to wear over a blouse . . . or matching raglan cardigan is there when required . . . texture is ribbed and clingy".  To me, the result looks unmistakeably 1970s rather than any earlier - twinsets with sleeveless sweaters were very new and popular then.  Often the sweater would be waist-length and the cardigan much longer.  I had one like that (bought, not hand-knitted) that I thought I looked very smart in, that I wore with a midi-skirt in about 1972.    

The twinset shows one of the things I find fascinating about 'vintage vintage' - sometimes a design that is trying to evoke an earlier time ends up looking very much of its own time. Or sometimes, a few details have to be changed to make a vintage design fit into mainstream fashion - the bright colours of the 1940s Fair Isle, for instance.  Spotting the difference tells you something about what "Fair Isle" meant in the 1940s and 1970s:  in the 1940s, it was about bright colours after years of war-time drabness, in the 1970s it was about tradition, nature and the countryside.  And of course, simply by selecting just a few of the huge number of designs open to them from the 1930s to 1950s, the Patons designers in 1974 were choosing what would fit in with 1970s fashion.

I think many of the designs look equally good today - the lacy sweater below is I think my favourite.  Members of the Knitting & Crochet Guild can download All Time Greats from the members' section of the Guild website, for personal use, along with many other publications from the collection that I am gradually uploading - you'll also find the Stitchcraft Men's Book there.    

Granny Squares

I was at the hairdressers last week and (as you do) read the latest Vogue, the August issue.  It showed a crochet jacket designed by Rosetta Getty, worked in granny squares, which caught my eye because it's not the sort of thing you see in glossy magazines usually.  Vogue only showed a small photo, so I looked for the jacket online later, and found it in Rosetta Getty's Fall 2015 collection.

From Rosetta Getty's Fall 2015 collection

It's described in a review of the collection on Style.com as "a subdued tapestry floral, hippie-ish hand-crocheted knit".  Hand-crocheted is certainly correct, and I'd agree with hippie-ish.  Not sure about subdued, tapestry, floral, or knit, although the jacket does appear to have knitted cuffs, and button bands down the front that may be either knit or crochet - can't tell from the photo.  Anyway, it's very appealing.  I like the way that the black edge to each square, and the black cuffs and front bands, unify the whole design.  The other colours are good, too - rich, and not too many of them.  Granny squares are sometimes seen as a way of using up lots of oddments of wool, and it's hard to make the result look designed.

Are granny squares becoming fashionable?  Apart from the jacket, this week I saw a young woman wearing a sweater in granny squares, in fine yarn, so that the overall effect was quite drapey, and a bit hippie-ish, again.  And a few months ago, a  Knitting & Crochet Guild member asked me for a copy of a 1970s Emu pattern for a waistcoat in granny squares.  I was a bit surprised, but she was evidently more in tune with the times than I am.

So I'm trying to be convinced that granny squares are something that could be worn now without looking like a throwback to the 1970s.  I did make a long sleeveless jacket in granny squares back then.  (Though I don't think they were called granny squares - not by me, anyway.)   It was in camel and cream, and I wore it with a kilt in camel and cream plaid - it was smart in those days to wear everything matching, as I explained here.  And I crocheted a large granny square to make a cushion cover.  

Should I take up my crochet hook again?   I'm wondering....

Busy Week

I was very busy last week - hence lack of blog posts.    On Thursday evening (the 3rd Thursday of the month) it was the monthly meeting of the Huddersfield branch of the Knitting & Crochet Guild, and I did a sort of trunk show, taking along a suitcase of selected knitting and crochet from the Guild's collection, to show how fashions in knitwear have changed.  Some of the things are beautifully made, and still look quite wearable, like the Edina Ronay cotton hand-knit with cables and bobbles.

Others are relics of times past, such as the camiknickers - also beautifully knitted, with a very pretty lacy border, but  I doubt that anyone will want to wear hand-knitted woollen underwear again. (In case anyone does feel tempted, I have found the pattern in one of the Koster and Murray books from the 1940s - Knitted Garments for All.)

Then on Saturday, we had a handling day at the collection, showing an entirely different selection of knitting & crochet, as well as tools & gadgets and publications to a small group of visitors.  And on Tuesday and Friday, I was working at the collection.  And on Wednesday evening, I did my talk on Knitting and Crochet in the First World War again, this time at the Colne Valley Museum, in connection with an exhibition of knitted and crocheted lace from the Guild's collection, which is running until April 6th.  I have given the talk 6 times now, but it's evolving all the time as I do more research, so I haven't got bored with it.

Of course, if I was still working full-time, I wouldn't have considered last week a particularly busy one.  Now I have got used to being retired and not usually having to work five days a week, it did seem very busy and quite tiring.  But enjoyable too - the collection is just full of wonderful things, and sharing some of the highlights with other knitters and crocheters is a lot of fun  - they find it so amazing and exciting.

And today there was the postscript to last week's handling sessions -  washing the white gloves.

More Elizabeth Forster Designs

The first designs by Elizabeth Forster that I saw were illustrated in her book, The Wandering Tattler.  The designs had been published as Wendy pattern leaflets, and a year later I found copies of the leaflets in the Knitting & Crochet Guild's collection - they are illustrated here.

There were three more pattern leaflets that she designed for Wendy in the display of her archive at Norwich Castle Museum earlier this month.  All three date from the 1970s, and I had already picked out two of them as possible Elizabeth Forster designs when I was sorting Wendy pattern  leaflets in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection two years ago.  I knew that she had done a lot of work for Wendy Wools and that her designs were often inspired by her travels, so I kept an eye out for likely leaflets. Leaflets 1593 and 1721 were two of those I thought were hers.  (I think that I was probably right about the others that I picked, too, but that hasn't yet been confirmed.)    

Wendy 1593

Wendy 1721

 They are very 70s shapes - the hooded tabard looks very dated now.  And shawl-collared belted jackets are a bit Starsky and Hutch, for those who remember 70s TV.  But I like the colour work - though in both cases, the belt breaks up the pattern and tends to spoil the effect, especially in the tabard.

The third Wendy pattern on show in Norwich is not one I had picked as a possible Elizabeth Forster, because it is less obviously 'ethnic'.  But it might be based on a motif she saw somewhere - in a mosaic maybe?  The yoke pattern with its expanding diamonds and graduated colours is a very nice effect, and it's a classic sweater shape that you could knit now with very little alteration.  

Wendy 1815

  There's much more research to be done into Elizabeth Forster's designs, of course - these are just a few examples.

Poodle Bottle Covers

Poodle bottle covers featured in the recent TV programme on BBC4, "Knitting's Golden Age".  They were said to represent something like a yearning for exoticism in the British public in the 1950s - Jo Turney, one of the programme's experts,  said "The knitted poodle cover is one of the icons of the 1950s".   That didn't seem plausible to me, from what I remember of the 1950s - I don't think that poodle bottle covers were something that many people wanted, or were even aware of, in the 1950s or any other time.  So after I had seen the programme, I started a search for patterns for poodle bottle covers.

One - Coats leaflet 931 - was easy to find, because the cover appeared on screen during the programme.   These particular poodle bottle covers could not have been 1950s icons - the leaflet appears to have been issued in 1963 or 1964.  (And they are crocheted, not knitted.)

Coats 931

Another pattern for poodle bottle covers (and knitted this time) appears in 3 Emu booklets, all undated.  The first, "Knitted Novelties - Ideas for odd ounces" could perhaps have been issued in the late 1950s.  But one of the other patterns in the booklet is for a narrow knitted tie, which I associate with the early 1960s (e.g. the Beatles on their World Tour in 1964). 

Emu 8127 - Knitted Novelties

As in the Coats leaflet, the poodles appear as a black and white pair.  The pattern is titled "Poodle Bottle Cover or Toy" - which suggests a lack of conviction that poodle bottle covers are a good idea.  The pattern was re-issued in a later Odd Ounce Book, which dates from about 1971 (the price is given both in shillings and in decimal) - the white poodle is promoted to the front cover this time.

Emu 6359 - Odd Ounce Book

And again, an Emu Knitted Novelties booklet was issued still later, and was sold at four times the price of the Odd Ounce Book, so possibly late 1970s?

Emu B.23 - Knitted Novelties

Judging by these patterns, poodle bottle covers were presented as novelties for using up oddments of yarn, and they date from the 60s and 70s rather than the 50s. Many spinners issued similar booklets to the Emu ones, sometimes with a title like "The Bazaar Book". The patterns include a few small items to wear like scarves, hats and gloves, and things that might be considered useful, like tea cosies, egg cosies, pan holders and soft toys.  And there are also similar "novelties" to the poodle bottle cover  - toilet roll covers, golf club covers, novelty draught excluders, coat hanger covers. None of these were style icons.  I suspect that people often knitted such novelties for charity bazaars because they were quick and cheap to make, and people bought them as gifts when they weren't particularly concerned whether they would be appreciated by the recipient.

I think too that poodle bottle covers would be worse than useless in practice.  If you're filling a glass from a bottle, you need to be able to grip the bottle firmly, and the cover doesn't allow that.  The Emu cover in particular seems very insecure - the top is elasticated, so that you can get the bottle into it, and it seems to me that the bottle could start to slide out while you were pouring from it.  But I am not going to make one in order to find out.