The delights and perplexities of Victorian knitting books.

While working on Successful Lace knitting; Celebrating the work of Dorothy Reade, a tribute to that amazing knitter and spinner, I had received several shipments relevant documents and knitting samples from Dorothy’s daughter, Donna Reade Nixon. I hadn’t been expecting the package that now sat on m kitchen table or the vintage knitting books inside – the best king of surprise! Read the rest of this article by me in your latest Piecework magazine.

It’s here, PieceWork’s sixth annual Historical Knitting issue! In it you’ll meet some extraordinary knitters. Ileana Grams-Moog describes how her mother, Anna Munster (1913–2010), a Jewish physician, survived World War II (1939–1945) in Europe in part by knitting gloves. Bertha Mae Shipley (1893–1971), who was born in a hogan in Tó Haachʼiʼ, New Mexico, probably learned to knit at the Chilocco Indian School in north-central Oklahoma, where in 1915 she became the school’s first Navajo graduate. And then there’s Faustino Quispe Cruz, who with his son, Marc Antony, and the other men of this island in Lake Titicaca knit traditional caps at the almost unimaginable gauge of about 22 stitches per inch (9 stitches per cm). Projects include knitted purses, a headband, an Orenburg scarf, a shawl, gloves, and a baby cardigan. Enjoy!