It's a sheet of the slick, translucent typing paper that some of us remember was called onionskin.
Yellowed, battered, and containing...
typed instructions for Kitchener stitch.
Below the typed copy is a spidery line of manuscript that reads...
ME spiral narrow at 19" narrow quickly
Somebody was making socks, I bet. Knee socks, maybe? If you were to knit a 19-inch tube, quick spiral decreases would give you a toe at the right point for a short woman's knee sock.
Or, possibly, "spiral" applies to "ME" and the socks were akin to the spiral stockings (knit without heel shaping) in Mary Thomas's Knitting Book.
I can't say with any certainty what "ME" means. Make Even? Possibly, though it's not a usage I have run across before.
In the upper right corner is a name and address:
Alice Maynard
558 Madison Avenue, N Y City
I wondered who she was, what sort of apartment she would have had on Madison Avenue in the East Fifties, and why she was typing instructions for Kitchener stitch for one of my friend's relatives. The miracle of the Internet gave me an answer in seconds:
Expert Guidance Offered to Knitter and Crocheter (New York Times, August 18, 1964)
Knitting help at Macy's,* Gimbel's, and Bloomingdale's. The mind boggles.
If any of you have memories of knitting at Macy's, Gimbel's, or Bloomingdale's; or of shopping at Alice Maynard, I would love to hear about it in the comments.
*Although Macy's "has no time for anyone who has not mastered the basic stitches." Love it.
75 comments:
I want to wear a badge that says 'I have no time for those who have not mastered the basic stitches'.
Thanks for sharing this, Franklin. It was a treat.
That is a spectacular article. Imagine being able to shop in all of those huge stores forsupplies and help.
now we have the internet but is there anything more comforting than sitting with a compadre and knitting a few rows together?
I love finding treasures like this! Can't wait to see if you get responses.
I remember buying a sufficient quantity of Scotch Fingering at the yarn department in Bloomingdale's, to knit a pair of wool tights to wear in ballet classes. The pattern came, I think, from Dance Magazine. The year was 1965 or 66.
I grew up in a small town in Arkansas. The closest "city" was Little Rock. It was such fun to go with my grandmother to Pfeiffers or Blass department stores. They had a book department and a yarn department. We shopped for both. Good memories. Oh-I just remembered they had pets in the basement. My brother got a hamster for his birthday. Maggie always escaped and could be found in the cereal boxes. One day she was never found. And an aside-I have found some patterns with the ME for make even. Thanks for sharing your treasure.
My grandmother told me once that the Dry Goods department at the J.L. Hudson department store in Detroit sold all sorts of fabulous yarns and had people on staff to teach and help knitters. That would have been in the '20s through the '40s that she was talking about. :)
My best friend's mother, who was a fabulous knitter, gave me a gift certificate to Alice Maynard's shop (it was on Madison Avenue) as a high school graduation gift, 1953. Until then I had knitted mostly argyle socks for my brothers and a turtleneck sweater in 1950 for Ollie, the dragon in Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, which he wore on TV! Alice measured me, asked me what style sweater I wanted to make (a Mexican blouse-style slipover), and what yarn (lavender wool), and I went home with the instructions and the yarn. I made the sweater and took it to college with me, but nobody liked it because college was all about cashmere sweater sets. I wish I'd saved those instructions!
How fabulous. I always think discoveries like those are like a key to someone's life.
I'm Canadian, so Bloomingdale's and Macy's always seem fairly exotic to me, but I know that the Bay (the Hudson's Bay Company, very Canadian!) used to have a wool department-- before my time, alas. They still have lots of woollens (including their famous blankets), but no yarn. And, of course, John Lewis in the UK still sells yarn. Funny how yarn, once such an essential item, is now a "specialty good" to be gotten from specialty stores of various styles.
I love this little snippet, though, and can't wait to see you tell us more about what offered up such a gift from the past.
I love your blog Franklin. It is always something special.
I would find it interesting if you would share the instructions on that onionskin paper. Thanks.
I love your blog. I don't care what the topic is, if I understand what you're talking about, or even if I am vaguely aware of what the what the heck that photo is, I still love each and every missive you post. You always charm me, often produce a belly laugh, and continually amaze me with what you find in various old tomes and tombs. Thank you Thank you Thank you. You're a really bright spot in my day!
I was a newly-minted poor college graduate living in NYC in the early 80's when I discovered the knitting store Alice Maynard. Though I could barely afford it, I got my yarn there. This was because they had a wonderful woman, I believe her name was Otilia, who would help me with any knitting question I had. And I had many! I remember getting a pattern for a Perry Ellis sweater which was very popular at the time. It had a turtleneck, a cable down the front, and a peplum. Your post brought back wonderful memories.
Google Books has an article on Alice Maynard under "The Best Wool Shops" in the link below. From late 60s I believe. What made me post though, is the recommend for Manos a page or two later. It's the same Manos de Uruguay that we know today and their rep, Mr. Tripper Dell (a knitting man!). The prices are fabulous!
I love little, unexpected treasures like that!!!
Alice Maynard is mentioned five times in "No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting", by Anne L. Macdonald (excellent, informative, and fun-to-read book). She's mentioned four times by name in the index, and her store once. During the 1930s, Brooks sweaters from her store were very popular among college girls. Also, Franklin, thanks to your post on tatting, I just bought myself some tatting needles, and am eager to try!
A delightful find and a great bit of history.
As an aside, my aunt was going through my grandmother's small trunk and found a knitted neckpiece that we think was my grandfather's. I hope to learn more about this. You can see it on my Ravelry page at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/bfree2read/grandfathers-neckpiece
first, or maybe the second thing i knit was from right around that time, only on the other coast, in san francisco. i made a kelly green aran sweater out of red heart, when red heart was wool, and entered it in the macy's knitting contest they were running to feature those gigantic needle carnaby street dresses--yes, macy's had knitting! i remember going to the luncheon with my mom at the garden court where they took the finalists, and bein insulted when they insunuated that my mom, who didn't knit, had helped me. (no i didn't win, partly because i hadn't knitted a gigantic needle carnaby street dress, but mostly because i didn't know from finishing yet and sewed it up using a bobby pin. i would have been around 13. still have the sweater, folded away...
I think this is my all time favorite blog entry! I had chills reading it, our craft history has changed so much in not all that many decades. Thanks for sharing this one!!!
The lovely texture of onion skin. Just looking at that note makes me long for the snap snap and ding of my old type writer. *wistful sigh*
Fascinating! exactly the kind of treasure I enjoy stumbling upon when I antique. The article makes it that much better. Can't wait for the post about the other item
I use to go every year to Gimbels on my birthday and get stamps for my stamp collection. Imagine having a stamp department in a big department store.
I do remember Macy's having a needlepoint department that was heaven to wander through.
I lived in Scotland and New Zealand for a short time about 18 years ago. I used to wander through the major department stores on Saturdays and was delighted to find that they still had departments that sold needle work supplies, including knitting. Since I was an American knitter, the lovely women that worked in these stores would help me translate the patterns and needle sizes into language that was familar to me. I still have some of the sweater patterns and knitting books tucked away in my library.
In Massachusetts we had Jordan Marsh Co. with there famous Blueberry Muffins and they had a Craft Department (fabric, yarn, needlework) and a Music Department (Records, 8-Trak tapes and Cassettes) and a Book Department (a mix) in the years I worked there (the late 70's thru the mid 80's). I miss the old stores and their real department store atmosphere...
Back in the day (1968/69?) took knitting classes at Sears in Alexandria, VA area. Long metal straights and dear old Red Heart yarn. Never did finish the sweater (harvest gold in color).
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane.I had forgotten buying yarn at department stores :-) Google earth would probably have photo of the building at that address. I have a couple of patterns typed on onion skin (incl.one for a shell stitch stole)passed to me by my sister-in-law from her mother-in-law...like a good recipe.
So wonderful. The bits and pieces you share always hit my spot and make me pause. --Nancy in NC
Love this post, Franklin. That address is now a huge Sony store. How times change!
Frederick & Nelson, Seattle had a fabric and yarn dept until the 60's. I bought some wonderful fisherman wool for an aran and argyle sock kits there, but don't remember asking for or receiving any knitting advice. Really miss that wonderful store (from the days before mall shopping). Thanks for the nostalgia trip Franklin.
I was blessed with being given custody of a long-ago Chicago knitter's stash. It is a treasure trove of what department stores used to have yarn departments. Marshall Fields, of course, had the fanciest. The imported from Italy mohair, the imported from Scotland Sheltand...the labels are a joy. Sigh....such an age
Hi Franklin:Thanks for all your posts, miniature or not. I just came across something that if you don't already know of it, you will love or hate as it will probably make you crazy. Go take a look at the University of Southamptom website and click through to the Knitting Reference Library. Oh my! Enjoy. Southampton.ac.uk.
Sue
My grandmother bought EVERYTHING at Alice Maynard. She was a knitter, crocheter, needlepointer, and self-taught seamstress. She could knit a grandchild's sweater in a day or two, but it always had to be washed right away because she also smoked two packs a day (and Grandpa smoked cigars) and the sweaters smelled like that. With seven grandchildren she kept Maynard in business with wool purchases and us warm with sweaters and more. My favorite story, though, has to do with her sewing: She took her daughter (my aunt) shopping at Bonwit Teller for her "trousseau" and cut labels out of the designer dresses my aunt liked. Then she would inspect the construction of each dress and go home and knock of the designs on her own sewing machine. The finishing touch: she would sew the pilfered labels into her knock-offs!
I'm old enough to remember Gimbel's and old enough to remember when Macy's had yarn and fabric on one of the upper floors. At that time I was sewing not knitting so I did not pay much attention to that dept.
My late mother used to volunteer at the local senior citizen's center. One day she presented me with a book one of the ladies had given her as a gift, having heard I was just teaching myself to knit. It was Gladys Thompson's 1971 Dover edition of "Patterns for Guernseys and Jerseys" (now known as "Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys & Arans: Fisherman's Sweaters From the British Isles"). It included several handwritten notes and charts. Within the pages she had written down the yarn and needles she used. Brunswick Pomfret was her top choice. It would be a number of years before I realized what an incredible treasure this book it to the knitting and historical world.
I love the post, the article, and the comments! Taken all together, it's a wonderful glimpse in to a history that wouldn't be told in the main stream media (maybe on Public Broadcasting, or the BBC). I especially like the style of the article; no stintting of words here, but beautifully spent. And that last derisive shot at Macy's--delicious!
I never shopped for yarn at Alice Maynard's--I was a West Side girl, and we had the Ladies Hobby Shop at 86th and Broadway, which provided all the services mentioned--they sold supplies for knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, embroidery and hooked rugs, plus lessons and help with your projects. (They would also make up and block your knits and turn your needlepoints into cushions or whatever.) I suspect the West Side of that era was simply too down-market to be mentioned in the New York Times. (And, for the commenter above, it's hard to imagine more "mainstream media" than the 1964 New York Times.)
I've just discovered your blog while going down a rabbit hole....what a gift. Thank you!
I have to agree: my all time favorite column. This brought back so many memories of knitting in the 60's. My small Ohio town had, for awhile, its own yarn shop. When I was 17, I spent most of my summers earnings there to buy the yarn for a sweater that was part of a collection of patterns published by Woman's Day magazine; the sweater was called "Swedish Sweater". The shop owner, a woman who limped, collected all the yarn from somewhere behind the counter and sold it to me without comment. There was no mention of help available, and I would have been terrified to ask.
It was only years later that I realized that my first attempt at stranded knitting was an actual Bohus sweater that I figured out myself, with a little help from my choir director. I still have the collection of Woman's Day patterns, and over the years, I have knit several of the others, it's a priceless, and much prized collection.
My mom taught us how to make these soxes. We wore them skiing. My sister remembered how to do the kirchner stitch even. And I remember the stamp department at Gimbel's.
I've looked all through my mom's knitting things for that Women's Day sweater knitting book. Wish I could find it. I made several sweaters in it. Just followed the instructions for color work. Didn't realize they were anything special.
Love the postings on my knitting past.
I loved this entry and the link to the "Expert Guidance" article. I love the description and can only aspire to be the "most flamboyantly secure knitter" that the article mentions!
Please share the instructions on the paper, I ALWAYS have to pull out a ref book to do kitchner and I must be on my 10th pair of top down socks now - it just never sticks in my head!
Make Even ?
Make Even?
Alice Maynard Inc
133 E 65th Street
New York, NY 10065 - View Map
40.76632 -73.96625
Phone: (212) 535-6107
This is the address I found for Alice Maynard. Maybe it'll help? I love the newest Lionbrand post, BTW. :)
I love that the stores offered knitting help. Its sad that to work in a fabric department or store today, one doesn't even need to know how to sew.277
in Montréal the major department stores (Eaton's, The Bay aka Morgan's et al) had both knitting and sewing supplies departments until the late 60s - I love finding snippets such as you have!
I learned to knit over the past 5 years, about the time I was entering my 50's. Living in rural south Mississippi, I have to turn to the internet for just about everything knitting related. The idea of a local department store with supplies and assistance is such a wonderful dream. Maybe there was a time in my childhood that stores offered such, but I never noticed it. I feel like I missed something important. Thank you for this peek into the past.
Just read your article on Knitty.com and as alway, well written, and a wonderful read! thanks so much, and do keep us posted if you find out more about 'the lady'
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With all respect to your wonderful work, if you do have a moment at some point to tell us about the book which housed this gem from the past, I'd really love to hear the story!
I also learned to knit sweaters at Sears. They had a Knit to Fit class that I took. The arms were way too long and the body short. My mother kept it for many years and finally unraveled it since it was unwearable. I also used to love JC Pennys fabric department.
I think ME stands for "me" as in "this is what to do for my socks."
I keep foot length, circumference info for my grandchildren's socks under "Gabriel" and "Sarah" (updating as they grow!) Maybe she was doing the same thing.
Back in 1967 I was a model on 7th Avenue in the garment district,in NYC, and I went to Macy's on my lunch hour and learned to make a sweater from a knitting teacher there.
As I recall it, she had a big square desk/counter with chairs all around it and she sat in the middle of it in a rolling chair and supervised the knitters who sat around her working on projects. She kept printed patterns and notions in cubby holes underneath the counter and pulled things out of there like a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat. The shelves with yarn were around you, and she'd point you in the right direction for the type of yarn you needed, and you got your stuff and came back and sat down she helped you start your project. Her name was Mrs. May. It would be interesting to find out more about her. I wrote Macy's once , but no one ever answered me. I thought of her being rather old, but I was barely 20, and I bet she was not that old at all, although I vaguely remember that she had worked there doing that a long time.
That Macy's sweater was a boyfriend sweater and I broke up with him before I gave him the sweater.
I had made a long sleevless vest in a taxicab yellow with a vee neck and ribbing all around. Mrs. May had been telling me it was going to be too long on him, and it would have been down to his knees--he was short--I was tall, but since we had broken up I was spared the indignity of giving it to him and having him laugh.
So it wasn't a total loss and it being the era of the miniskirt, I washed it and stretched it and made a minidress out of it that I wore it over a navy turtleneck with navy tights.I tied a navy blue bandana around my neck. It was quite snazzy. I was about a size 2 and had very long skinny legs. The vest hit me mid thigh. It turned a lot of heads.
My fav part of the archived article was that Alice Maynard shop is "never open on Saturdays and always closed for August". Wouldn't that be nice?!
I am saddened to see that you have apparently abandoned your blog and, by extension, your blog followers, those same people, I would argue, who helped launch your knit career and for whom you are now too busy to pay any notice. Tsk.
Love this. Just finished dorm socks for my youngest and it's somehow comforting to know that more than 1/2 a century ago, another mother was using kitchener stitch to finish a toe.
Franklin - where are you? Where are Dolores and Harry? You've been an inspiration to male knitters in a craft where we're not always made to feel welcome and I hope your professional successes haven't caused you to leave your flock behind...?
thank , very very good
thanks forever
My mom grew up in Moline, Illinois, and went to Augustana College. Von Maur department stores started out in Davenport, Iowa, just across the river from Moline (back then they were the Tri Cities, with Rock Island, instead of the Quad Cities of today).
Von Maur isn't nearly as big a name as Macy's, but it was still a fancy store. And it's where my mom bought a lot of her yarn.
Thank you for helping me remember this story about my mom.:-)
We are happy to meet with the friend of all, I hope we can share, as well as a place to share their thoughts
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