Hi I regret to inform you all that Marian passed away from Endometrial cancer on the 30th of October 2020 She will be sadly missed by all.

Please see your your doctor/physician for any unusual pains or bleeding. If they wont do anything persist or get a 2nd opinion.

Chris Clark

This is the link to the Tobin Bros website for Marian Clark

in turn they can light a candle and also leave a message in memory of Marian.

https://tobinbrothers.com.au/tribute/details/18148/Marian-Clark/obituary.html?fbclid=IwAR0Stw5EeuY5nGKJEb2XGdqAIYz7Sc6x9c7NbTTrUswbGpLFi1ziI0a8j6g#tribute-start

Little Maids

The Little Maids Knitting Outfit and 

Knitting Set are Made in England.

I first found the Little Maid's Knitting

Set about five years ago.

In this set was a "Dolly Bobbin" spool knitter

(french knitter, knitting Nancy) which I

had thought was original to the set.

Now I am not so sure.

My recent find was the Little Maids

Knitting Outfit. (note - there

is no apostrophe in "Maids"). In this box were

a pair of wooden knitting needles and

six small balls of variegated wool.

Both boxes measure 25 cms x 6 1/2 cms.

There is no other brand name on either box.

I would guess that the "Knitting Outfit" is earlier than

the "Knitting Set" going by the wording of "outfit" being an

older term.

I would love to hear from anyone who may have had one

of these when they were younger and if you have any more

information you could possibly give.... thanks!

>>>0<<<

Fuzzy Wuzzy!

Who remembers Fuzzy Wuzzy Wool

made by Patons from the early years

of 1900's up 'til around 1960's?

Fuzzy Wuzzy is Angora wool.

On a recent trip to Tasmania, I found a

vintage Patons Angora

Fuzzy Wuzzy wool box (unfortunately empty)

and had to add this wonderful box to my

knitting collection.

I remember this wool was so fluffy and soft. A popular

wool for making the cute bolero style jacket for young

girls. Below is a vintage Greenock doll clothes pattern where

the Angora wool is used in the bonnet and the trim on the

dress.

I also remember my Mum getting a similar effect

with a "teazle brush" - a small wire brush to fluff up

ordinary wool. She would knit a small flat rabbit or

cat shape, sew this onto a corner of a plain bunny rug,

and then proceed to fluff up the animal shape gently using

the teazle brush, then Mum would add the little details - facial

features or a little pom pon tail if the "animal" had its back

to us, and then a little bow. It was sooo cute!

******

Viyella Wool Box

Viyella Wool Box

I have now discovered that there are more

of these wonderful little Wool boxes to be found

and following on (many months later!) from the

previous post, here is a delightful wool box

from Viyella.

The graphics on this box also matches

the graphics on the Viyella knitting gauges which

are of a barrel shape.

Above and below are other views

of the box.

And the next picture shows the end of the box

where the yarn would feed through for knitting.

Now when looking up the history of Viyella,

I found some information on Wikipedia of 

which the link is HERE.

What I also discovered was that there is another

interesting knitting information

page via Wikipedia on knitting

row counters - click  HERE.

(not my image)

~~~~~~~~~~

A Little Look at Bairns-Wear Ltd.

Bairns-wear Limited of

Haydn Road,

Nottinghamshire, UK has very

little history as far as I can find.
From the internet -

there is mention of a factory opening

in 1953 but that is in Raymoth Lane and

making hosiery and children's wear.

And another mention of Bairns-wear

(plus others)

being taken over by Courtaulds in 1963

and was producing synthetic yarns.

In the 1980's it became Meridian

Knitwear which closed in 2000.

So going by that little information,

we have about 10 years - '53 to '63

of Bairns-wear! I am a little surprised

here, in that I would have thought

the company would at least

date from the 1920's but until

any other information comes to

light, this is all we have.

I had also looked it up in

"The History of Handknitting"

by Richard Rutt but found no

mention at all of Bairns-wear.

I have managed to find some

old advertisements and I have

some patterns.

But, the main reason for trying

to find information is that I

have recently acquired the sweetest

little wool holder to add to my collection

of wool holders!

This little house wool holder

is made of cardboard. This picture shows

one end and below is the other

end of the house with the hole

for the yarn to feed through whilst

you are knitting.

I have not seen anything like this

before and would you believe that

I have not just one, but three

of these houses. They were

purchased in one lot.

They are also in varying degrees

of condition, hence I would say

they would have to be a rare find.

I just love the graphics on these houses along

with the very mischeivous gnomes pictured

on them.

Above are some vintage

Bairns-wear dolls' clothes patterns.

Above are two vintage ads for

Bairns-wear, one for rug wool and

the other for knitting wool.

..::::::::::..

Clever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUFnH7KYMFE

^*^*^*^

Counting Sheep!

Sheep Knitting Accessories

Because of the rise in the 

popularity of

knitting, as well as companies

producing novel accessories,

we also have modern

artists creating wonderful

knitting accessories for us

to enjoy while we are knitting.

A look on the internet will

provide us with a fantastic

look at what is on offer.

 I have added a few

more gauges to my collection

of knitting gauges

as you will see below ...

Brass sheep gauge at top from Goose Pond 

and the knitting magazine Simply

Knitting's giveaway.

A wonderful bamboo Knitter's Rule

from Karatstix above.

Below, we have a sheepie

"wpi" (wraps per inch) by
Girl on the Rocks.

.... And when you have 

finished counting all the

sheep! ...... there is even

something for the night owls.

Whoooooooo goes there!

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz