Knitting needle question

[The Midwife]

I'm just learning to knit and was wondering if wooden knitting needles are ok to use out in the field and if so could someone recommend which type looks more authentic to what would have been available at the time?

If not, what would have been used?

Same question for Crochet hooks. (I have two daughters that crochet).


Thank you.


Wendi Schroeder

[ElizabethClark]

Hi Wendi--good to see you here!

One excellent information souce I will point you toward is Virginia Mescher. If you go to her website at http://www.vintagevolumes.com and scroll down the side-bar, you'll find the Virginia's Veranda section (with current and archived articles) as well as the Needlework section, where she has shared quite a few great articles on mid-century needle arts.

When I used "knitting" as a search term on the AC forum, I got abiout seven pages of threads with the word included--which would take forever to scan through. Limiting it to "knitting needles" helped, and brought up a recent thread with some suggestions from Virginia on crochet hooks, too. You'll find the Search feature in the top navigation bar.

I hope that will help a bit!

[Virginia Mescher]

I'm just learning to knit and was wondering if wooden knitting needles are ok to use out in the field and if so could someone recommend which type looks more authentic to what would have been available at the time?

If not, what would have been used?

Same question for Crochet hooks. (I have two daughters that crochet).

Wendi Schroeder

As Liz mentioned, there is an article on knitting in the Needlework Necessities and Novelities on our webpage. We are going to be adding additional free knitting patterns as soon as we have the time to work out the translations. The same goes for other needlework arts as we hope to get articles on crochet, whitework, Berlin work, beading, perforated paper, tatting and others as soon as I can either get them on the webpage or find writers to help me out with the writing.

As for wooden needles, they did use them but only for projects that required large needles. They were made from various woods. Probably the best modern ones that you can find are the Lantern Moon ones from Vietnam. Although they are not exact replicas of peirod knitting needles, they are the best we have found. They are expensive but very good and you don't have to modify the ends. The Brittany have the turned ends that were not used in the CW period and the Clover Bamboo ones are also not correct for the period. Lantern Moon comes in ebony, which is a wood that was used at the time and these needles are a dream to work with since they are so smooth. The other alternative is to make your own using wooden dowels and a round wooden ball at the end.

Ivory and bone knitting needles were also used and although you usually can't get ivory (except for vintage one on ebay) you can get bone ones from Lacis in CA. They are very nice to work with.

Fine knitting needles were made of steel and those may easily be found today, even smaller than 0000. The finest long steel needles of the period were made of wire and depending upon how fine you want to go you can still find those if you go to a place or site that specializes in Shetland knitting. I've seen women knitting Shetland shawls with them.

The crochet hooks that were used in the period were ivory, bone, and steel. Many that were used at the time are not available now but Lacis carries bone ones and I used vintage steel hooks for everything else. Here is a site that shows antique crochet hooks and knitting needles. http://www.librarycompany.org/HookBook/case8labels.htm

[The Midwife]

Thank you both very much for the information. This helps a lot.

Wendi Schroeder

[The Midwife]

Hi Elizabeth it's nice to see you too.

Nice site.


Ladies, thank you both for the information provided it helps a great deal.


Wendi Schroeder

[turfwriter]

FYI, Robin Stokes has period steel needles available on her website, as well as kits with period patterns with modern translations and 100 percent wool. Go to www.robinstokes.com (http://www.robinstokes.com).

[Tabbico]

You are also welcome to join our yahoo group, cwneedleworkers, where we have files and links for everything from yarn and needle sources to free patterns.

[xamier]

I really like the handmade crochet hooks and knitting needles from
www.turnofthecentury.com Many of the crochet hooks are one of a kind and the knitting needles have scoped shaped tips that make them very knitter friendly.

[col90]

I really like the handmade crochet hooks and knitting needles from
www.turnofthecentury.com Many of the crochet hooks are one of a kind and the knitting needles have scoped shaped tips that make them very knitter friendly.

turn-of-the-century.com

Those are lovely...unfortunately, I've never seen an period needles that have that type of end on them except for the large, size 13-16, that have a fairly simple knob type ...and the drawback THERE is the fact that that size needle is not really used.

Colleen Formby

[xamier]

turn-of-the-century.com

Those are lovely...unfortunately, I've never seen an period needles that have that type of end on them except for the large, size 13-16, that have a fairly simple knob type ...and the drawback THERE is the fact that that size needle is not really used.

Colleen Formby

Darn :-( The needles are really lovely, well balanced, and good to knit with. I wonder if the gentleman who makes them would be willing to do a custom run if a few folks got together a substantial order.

Are the lantern moon needles more correct?

[Tabbico]

Darn :-( The needles are really lovely, well balanced, and good to knit with. I wonder if the gentleman who makes them would be willing to do a custom run if a few folks got together a substantial order.

Are the lantern moon needles more correct?

Not really. The period needles mostly had a small "knob" on the end, not the conical ends that lantern moon has.