Monday 18 July 2016

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! 

3 comments:

  1. I was once given a lady's pattern collection. You could trace her life in knitting - it started with sensible 1950s children's school cardigans and socks, but as soon as the 1970s hit and (presumably) the kids had left home, she went crazy for arans too. I guess for people who'd had to knit plain, fine-gauge socks and jumpers for years, something that knitted up quickly in an interesting texture was hard to beat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How nice to have a knitting history like that! As for the collection we've been given, Aran patterns obviously had a strong appeal for her, and guernseys too - but she evidently liked lacy jumper patterns as well. Fascinating to speculate.

      Delete
  2. Bet that is a fascinating stack of patterns to go through. I wonder if she did knit the ponchos.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...