kitty: you never know where google might take you

So this post kind of started out with me looking to see if anyone had posted anymore information about Godey's Lady's Book on the net. I have been reading one of the old volumes on and off for the last month. I keep having good plans on setting down and scanning more of the crumpling pages to add to the Godey's Lady's Book section of the blog, but sadly time seems to always pass me buy. I have good plans honest... But alas I have no time to breathe these days. So here are a few of the gems I found about Godey's Lady's Books.

Godey's Lady's Book

Godey's Lady's Book, Vol. 42, January, 1851 - Project Gutenberg Another great entry into the Project Gutenberg project Fashion: Work Collection of patterns Godey's Lady's Book Online 5 months of Godey's Lady's books that has been reproduced by hand

Then my googling lead me to check my ongoing search for hard to find historical knitting books. A lot of these are in my personal collection, I am only missing a few, but I thought I would include the list that I normally go through on amazon to see what other people have bought. I am always in search of good books, particularly those about lace or forgotten techniques.

Historical Knitting Books

Alice Starmore: Aran Knitting Alice Starmore: Charts for Colour Knitting a Designer's Source Book From the Personal Collection of Alice Starmore Anne-Maj Ling: Two-End Knitting Patterns Ann Feitelson: The Art of Fair Isle Knitting: History, Technique, Color and Pattern Anne L. MacDonald: No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting Annemor Sundbo: Setesdal Sweaters: The History of the Norwegian Lice Pattern Annemor Sundbo: Everyday Knitting: Treasures from a Ragpile Beth Brown-Reinsel: Knitting Ganseys Birgitta Dandanell: Twined Knitting Britt-Marie Christoffersson: Swedish Sweaters: New Designs from Historical Examples (An International Craft Classic) Elsebeth Lavold: Viking Patterns for Knitting: Inspiration and Projects for Today's Knitter Gladys Amedro: Shetland Lace Gladys Thompson: Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans: Fishermen's Sweaters from the British Isles Gwyn Morgan: Traditional Knitting Patterns of Ireland, Scotland, and England Henriette Van Der Klift-Tellegen: Knitting from the Netherlands, Traditional Dutch Fisherman James Norbury: Traditional Knitting Patterns from Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Italy Jules and Kaethe Kliot: Knitting 19th Century Sources Laurel Thatcher Ulrich: The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of An American Myth Libeth Upitis: Latvian Mittens: Traditional Designs & Techniques Martha Waterman: Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls Mary Schiffmann: The Lacy Knitting of Mary Schiffmann Michael Pearson: Michael Pearson's Traditional knitting: Aran, Fair Isle, and fisher ganseys Nancy Bush: Folk Socks: The History and Techniques of Handknitted Footwear Nancy Bush: Knitted Lace of Estonia: Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions Nancy Bush: Knitting Vintage Socks: New Twists on Classic Patterns Nancy Bush: Folk Knitting in Estonia : A Garland of Symbolism, Tradition, and Technique Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts: Ethnic Socks & Stockings: A Compendium of Eastern Design and Technique Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts: Knitting in the Old Way: Designs and Techniques from Ethnic Sweaters Richard Rutt: A History of Hand Knitting Sabine Domnick: Cables, Diamonds, & Herringbone: Secrets of Knitting Traditional Fishermen's Sweaters Sarah Don: Fair Isle Knitting Sharon Miller: Heirloom Knitting Shelagh Hollingworth: Traditional Aran Knitting Sheila McGregor: Traditional Fair Isle Knitting Sheila McGregor: Traditional Scandinavian Knitting Susan M. Strawn: Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art Wendy Keele: Poems of Color: Knitting in the Bohus Tradition

kitty: finding a bit of your history

Stitches in Time By Sue Bradley Paperback (May 1992) ISBN-10: 0713722770 Hardbound (1986) ISBN-10: 0805000429
	There will always be books that will shape your knitting hobbies. For me this probably was the book from my childhood that I remember the most. Though followed by an old Issue of Filatura di crosa (Issue 10) back when there designs were utterly amazing. I would spend days dreaming of making just about all the sweaters in the book. Though for some reason I never did make anything in the book sadly. The book contains over 70 historically inspired knitwear designs that span Egyptian sweaters, Medieval leggings, Cavalier cardigans, Victorian Sailor wear, to Flapper coats, and Grecian Tunics. The book defines the historical elements that they were driving the inspiration from at the beginning of each chapter, followed by the patterns, and then sketches/swatches of how to modernize the pattern. Then yesterday when I was at a lys on there discount table of books I saw a copy of the book again. I quickly snatched it up with pure delight. In my youth I would have had no problems leaving the house in any of the sweaters in the book, but I fear with age I am not sure I would have the balls to do it even if the patterns were in my size. I truly love the book. It has brought back so many thoughts and dreams that once muddled in a young girls mind. I really can not believe that I was able to find another copy.

kitty: A Stitch in Time... reprint just got here and it is perfection

A Stitch in Time Knitting & Crochet Patterns of the 20's, 30's & 40's (Out of Print) 100 Reprints of Historical Patterns	A Stitch in Time Vintage Knitting and Crochet Patterns 1920 - 1949 Vol.1 Available Knitonthenet Shop 60 Patterns Reprints and Modern adaptations
Over the years you have probably figured out that I am a book addict. It was funny when I was in college friends would actually come over to my apartment to research there term papers or projects because my textile library was better on most subjects than OSU's at the time. I was also open latter than 5 and on the weekends. Budget cuts were not pretty even back then. And well Textile History wasn't going to gain the university lots of grants, so thus not a popular major. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of A Stitch in Time a long time ago. Many textile historians consider it one of the best books written recording the patterns of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Over the years there has been a huge call to have the book reprinted by the publisher, but the original files and plates were destroyed in a fire. Then finally with the work of lots of volunteers the book has been recompiled and reprinted. The original printing in the 70's mainly consisted of just reprinting the original patterns. The new reprint has taken reprints of the original patterns followed by modernized patterns, and colour photos of the modern garments. To me this is truly the perfect combination for a historical book. The old and the modern adaptation combined in a beautiful colour and black and white book. MG and I have talked about this a lot but most historical inspired books really bother me, bottom line for the most part they just don't cut it. A woman in the Victorian age would have never knit a sweater in a bulky weight for example. When most people write historical inspired books they gloss over most of the details and the true craft. They look at the designs more from a mass production simplification. It is just one of those things that erk me. So to me this book is perfect. You can check out some of the patterns on ravelry that they have posted from the book. I just wish I was a much thinner woman to be able to wear the styles.

kitty: I have to share two amazing knitting reference

Title: The Needles Excellency: A New Booke wherin are diuers Armirable Workes wrought with the Needle. (Link to the page where you can download a .pdf scan of the book) Author: Taylor, John Published: London; James Baler, 1631 Description: 42 pp., 5.8 MB Subject: Needlework, The Praise of the Needle, Needlework patterns

You really never know what you are going to find when google for historical lace knitting on the internet. Tonight I found a rare treasure posted on Godfrey's Book-fhelf - Facsimiles of books from the 15th through 19th centuries. It looks like a couple of other people are stumbling across this book as well. While Googling I found a link to Iris G Knits who had actually translated one of the poems on her site. Though the scan is a little hard to read there are certainly some amazing charts and graphs that could be used for your modern day patterns. The thing that I think moved me the most when I just read the book and Iris G's post was Taylor's comment about how miserable life would be without needles. Another Treasure Link: On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics at University of Arizona - Digital Archive of Documents Related to Lace This month alone they have added: Italian Drawn Work and Antique Filet Lace, Carmela Testa Co. Boston, Mass, 1922 Dillmont, Thérèse de. Filet-Guipure, DMC Library Youngburg, Nellie Hall. Forty Original Designs in Tatting, 1921 I am so excited to have found these online site I can not tell you!

kitty: turning back the time

Have you ever sat and wondered if you were able to turn back time what your craft patterns would look like. Would your next project be a knitted bodice with sleeves to fit over your corset? Maybe you would be setting up to needlepoint a hunting dog for your footstool this fall, because you wanted something new for the back parlor for Christmas. Or maybe you need a new needle book cover for your sewing box. When MG, and I first set up Knitbuddies, one of my hopes was to be able to post some of the historical resources that I have in my collection from the 1800's to share with everyone. Over the weekend I actually sat down and posted 3 months of the Work Department section from a 1869 Godey's Lady's Book. My copies are in pretty bad shape so I am pretty afraid of scanning them, so sorry if the pages are not perfectly square. Hopefully I will find some more time to get more posted soon. Hope you enjoy them. Godey's Lady's Book - 1869 January 1869 - Work Department February 1869 - Work Department March 1869 - Work Department