KNIT & CROCHET

Ina makes no mention of performing any kind of handcraft in her correspondence to Vance. She speaks of canning, baking, gardening, cleaning, sewing and reading. But she never says that she sat down to knit, crochet, or embroider. I know that she re-made shirts and dresses and she alludes to quilts now and then. She even made Myrtle a doll to muffle the tick-tock of her alarm clock. But I don’t think she enjoyed handwork. Perhaps she wasn’t “turned that way,” as the saying goes. Well, whatever she did, she was busy. My half-brother Chuck says he remembers Ina as industrious, and he recalled her being busy with the washing and ironing. (Thank God for today’s labor-saving machines.)

However, Ina’s eldest daughter, Pearl, loved to knit, and here’s what Ina had to say about it: “I feel sorry for Pearl. She has trouble with her right arm and hand. They think it neuritis and she has so much to do all the time. She has been knitting mittens for the men folk. They use the knit ones as linings in the others. She loves to knit though. Besides knitting, she also makes gloves from animal hide. She is making Myrtle and Shirley each a pair. They are made just like any glove and are very nice. She had a pair when she was here in ’33 that she’d made. She says she loves to do it.” [Note that in the photo above, dated September 1918, Ina pretends to read while Pearl has her knitting.]

Aunt Ethel also loved to knit.  (Ethel was Ina's fourth child.) She made several stylish outfits for my Barbie doll, and I still have them. I also remember a vest she made for me when I was in high school. I saw the dress pattern in a magazine and a knitted vest made from a kit was featured with it.  Mother agreed to make the dress for me, but she didn’t knit, so Aunt Ethel said she would make it. Mother ordered the kit which we delivered to Aunt Ethel, and in no time she returned  the finished product. I think she was quite happy to do it. I still have the vest in my cedar chest, though sadly I will likely never wear it again.

My mother taught me to crochet when I was about 10. We had purchased this little booklet of doll clothes patterns (see above) that included crochet and I was totally taken with it. Crochet patterns were scarce – most patterns were knit -- and knit is still easier to find than crochet. I studied and studied the booklet, then asked my mother if I could make the tea dress for my Jill doll (see photo  left). I was sure she would say no -- that the patterns were much too advanced for a child who didn't crochet. Instead she said, “Why yes!” We bought a ball of crochet thread and in no time I was crocheting away.  I overheard Mother talking to my sister in the kitchen. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to teach Kathy to crochet,” she said. “I’ve tried before and she just didn’t seem interested.”

Well, you know how it is. Motivation is everything. I didn’t want to make rows of single crochet.  I wanted to make something! When I finished the tea dress, I made three or four muu muus for my large family of diminutive dolls from the same booklet. I marvel when I think of those first items I crocheted. It’s hard to work with thread. I would advise anyone to learn with yarn. But I myself learned with thread making doll clothes. KW