Knitted cardigan made by Anna Bell Bray, Shetland, UK
Cardigan designed and knitted by Anna Bell Bray, a noted creator of traditional Shetland garments. Mrs. Bray's work is distinguished by her extraordinary use of dark and light values for maximum visual impact, and by the couturier details and finishes she gave to each garment. This garment is unusual for its fashionably curved front, and dramatic, modern-looking garter stitch borders.
Mrs. Bray knitted using a traditional knitting belt and long, double-pointed steel knitting needles. She used 100% Shetland wool yarns. It is likely that the yarn she used to knit this sweater was "Shetland 2000."
Since her death, Anna Bell Bray’s importance to the contemporary history of Shetland knitting is honored annually at the Cunningsburgh Agricultural Society Show when the most promising knitter is awarded the Anna Bell Bray Prize for the best hand knitted Fair Isle Garment.
Purchased and worn by Betty Lindsay, co-owner of Yarns International in Bethesda, Maryland. Mrs. Lindsay was instrumental in developing a line of naturally colored Shetland yarns in cooperation with Oliver Henry, Manager of the Jamieson and Smith Woolen Mills. Called "Shetland 2000,” the joint venture created an enduring market for the full range of colors naturally occurring in Shetland fleece, and helped to preserve the colorful and variegated characteristics of Shetland wool and Shetland sheep at a time when white fleece was preferred for overdyeing on an industrial scale.
The nine colors they co-developed and sold under the Yarns International label were Shetland White, Shetland Black, Mooskit, Sholmit, Moorit, Katmollet, Gaulmogit, Yuglet, and Shaela. This yarn is still available today from Jamieson and Smith under the name “Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight.”
Bray, Anna Bell
ca. 1998
Gauge: 37 x 35 = 4 x 4“ Length: 26.5” Sleeves: 18.75” Circumference 47”
2018.001
Baby Layette
This layette set of cap, sweater and booties were made for Marilyn Huset by her mother, Marcelle Huset. The pattern came from the Jack Frost Baby Book Volume 47 published in 1946 with the price of 25¢ printed on the cover. The pattern number is 4701 and Marcelle’s faint handwriting can be seen in the margin.
Huset, Marcelle
ca. 1951
jpg
2018.002
Knitted Hat, Scarf, Mittens made by Anna Bell Bray, Shetland UK
An accessory set comprised of pillbox style hat with hexagonal crown, fringed scarf, and mittens, ca. 1998. Designed and knitted by Anna Bell Bray, a noted creator of traditional Shetland garments. Purchased in Shetland, UK by Betty H. Lindsay for Jennifer Lindsay. Anna Bell Bray's work is distinguished by her painterly use of color and pattern, the interplay of dark and light values for maximum visual impact, and by the couturier details and finishes she gave to each garment. Her preference for knitting with pastel colors on dark backgrounds lends her work a distinctive, luminous quality. In this composition, pale peach stars dominate, while the darker diamond motifs recede against a network of tiny diamond patterns in the borders framing the center panel, and on the reverse sides of scarf and mittens. The star-patterned crown of the hat echoes the glowing star motifs. Since her death, Anna Bell Bray’s importance to the contemporary history of Shetland Knitting is honored annually at the Cunningsburgh Agricultural Society Show when the most promising knitter is awarded the Anna Bell Bray Prize for the best hand knitted Fair Isle Garment. Materials: 100% Shetland wool in 9 colors. Detailed Measurements: Hat: 20" x 4” x 6” Diameter (measured from point to point on star-shaped crown) 6" Height 4" Scarf: 48.25" x 6.5” (not including fringe) Fringe 3.75" Mittens: Mitten 1 (cuff matches hatband): Cuff: 2.25” x 3.5” Total (with folded cuff): 8.75” x 3.5” Thumb: 2.5” Mitten 2: Cuff: 2.5” x 3.5” Total (with folded cuff): 8 7/8” x 3.5” Thumb: 2.5” Note that Mitten 1 is slightly different from Mitten 2, and there are slight differences in the measurements for each. Scholarly Notes and Resources: Alice Starmore included a photo of one of Anna Bell Bray's Shetland sweaters in Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting, published by The Taunton Press, Newtown, CT, 1988. Starmore wrote on page 29, "Bearing testimony to the fact that the Oil Age has not entirely extinguished the genuine art of Fair Isle knitting, this 1986 sweater, designed by Annabel Bray, displays an elaborate use of border patterns, some of them asymmetrical.” Starmore further stated that Norwegian style patterns (like those favored by Anna Bell Bray), became popular in Shetland and Fair Isle knitting after World War II. Ibid at 26.
Anna Bell Bray
ca. 1998
Hat: 20" x 4” x 6”; Scarf: 48.25" x 6.5” Fringe: 3.75" Mittens: 8.75” x 3.5”
2018.003
Handcarved Wooden Romanian spindle from Breb
This handcarved wooden spindle was made by Petru Pop, a traditional woodcarver, in the village of Breb, Romania during a visit to the Maramures region in 2007.
Pop, Petru
ca. 2007
19" x 2" x 2"
2018.004
Wooden Romanian spindles
These two antique wooden Romanian spindles were purchased in an antique shop in Brasov, Romania in 2007.
ca. 1900 (?)
One spindle is 14 in. long and the other is 13 in. long
2018.005
Crochet Bonnet
This is a crochet baby bonnet that my Great Grandmother Mabel Jensen wore as a baby. She was born in 1900. It is unknown who crocheted it, but it is definitely crochet and wool. It is in excellent condition.
1900
2018.006
Crochet Afghan
This is a crochet afghan made by Mabel Jensen Forsgren. She was born in 1900 and deceased in the 1980's. It is unknown when she crocheted this piece, but in 2018 it remains in excellent condition.
Mabel Jensen Forsgren
ca. 1950
2018.007
IOOF Banner in Filet Crochet
This filet crochet item, possibly a banner, was made by Charles Etta Dunlap Thompson, with crochet cotton, probably in the 1920s. The letters IOOF stand for International Order of Odd Fellows. Suzie Robertson of the IOOF Sovereign Grand Lodge Headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, wrote in an email that local IOOF lodges are under the umbrella of the Sovereign Grand Lodge, however they come up with their own projects and events. Regarding Mrs. Thompson's IOOF crochet piece, Robertson wrote, "most likely it was a design chosen locally." According to family lore, Mrs. Thompson's husband, Cicero Taylor Thompson, Sr., was a member of the IOOF. In the 1920s and early '30s, the Thompson family lived in Dublin, Texas. The IOOF lodge in Dublin was No. 313. The banner's last known owner was Mrs. Thompson's grandson, Gary Lee Wade. Since his death in 2017, the banner's location is unknown.
Thompson, Charles Etta Dunlap
circa 1925
approx. 12" x 12"
2018.008
Winterling, a knitted, embellished wall hanging
Winterling is a knitted, quilted wall hanging, embellished with crochet, embroidery, beads, and buttons. It was made by textile artist Suzann Thompson in 2017 for her Celebrate Doilies exhibit. The name Winterling refers to a now-closed chinaware factory in Schwarzenback an der Saale, Germany, where Thompson's great-grandmother worked. Among the many china patterns the Winterling factory produced was the popular blue and white Zwiebelmuster or Onion Pattern, which Thompson interpreted on the vase in the picture, using a combination of knitting, applique, crochet, embroidery, and beading. The crocheted flowers are Thompson's own designs. The background of the picture is reverse stockinette stitch, knitted with many different yarns, stabilized with fusible interfacing, cut and pieced back together, and machine sewn to a fabric foundation.
Thompson, Suzann
2017
28" x 38"
2018.009
Crocheted Bedspread
Double bed size bedspread was crocheted by my grandmother sometime in the 1940s to 1950s. It was made by my grandmother and given to me by my mother. I used it on a guest bed for many years and it is currently stored, since it's not practical for everyday use.
Lulu Billig Royston
ca. 1940s-50s
Double bed size, 184" x 76"
2018.010
Scandinavian Style Hat
My grandmother, Doris Scovill, gave me this hat in the late 1960s or early 1970s. At that time, she worked as a travel agent planning tours to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. On her own travels there, she collected textiles and other decorative objects for the home that she used every day, and that still remind me of her. At that time, architecture, interior design, home furnishings, fashion, and jewelry from Scandinavian designers were extremely popular and influential in the United States.
It is likely that my grandmother knitted this hat for me herself -- she was an accomplished knitter, and the hat has no label and looks handmade. I also recall her giving me a child’s cardigan with silver buttons in a similar style at about the same time, but I do not now recall if it matched the hat.
Commercial patterns were widely available for Scandinavian-inspired knits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Perhaps someone will recognize the source of this hat design!
Construction Notes:
The hat is knitted in the round using wool yarn in five colors – natural white, dark brown, red, yellow, and blue. The colors are dyed -- the yellow, red, and blue are especially bright and intense -- a 1970s take on a color palette traditionally derived from plant dyes and natural fibers. The patterned hat brim folds up along a picot edge. There is a large, tricolor "pompon" or "pom-pom" on the top -- a popular accessory in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Condition: Excellent.
ca. 1970s
Circumference 20”, Height (with brim folded) 6.5”, Brim 3”
2018.011
Child's Crocheted Dress, Made in the Frankenwald
Probably made from a printed pattern, this woolen jumper dress was crocheted in the late 1930s by Gertrud Schoedel Wirth for her young daughter Anna (now Anna Wirth Thompson). She worked most of the dress in the round using single crochet, and embellished it with embroidery. At the time she made the dress, Frau Wirth lived with her children in the schoolhouse in Sorg, Northern Bavaria, Germany. The family expected her husband Otto, to return to his duties as schoolmaster after his deployment as an officer in the German Army was finished. Instead, he died in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp, and the family moved away after World War II ended. The dress is in Anna Wirth Thompson's collection.
Wirth, Gertrud Schoedel
late 1930s
sized for a small four year old girl
2018.012
Calendar Pattern Doily in Heavy Cotton
Anna Wirth (b. 1936) grew up in the village of Sorg in the Franconian Forest of Northern Bavaria, Germany. Some families in the village were weavers by trade, and the entire family would be involved in setting up the loom for a new project. When the weaving was done, everyone got together again to snip off the ends of the warp threads. Anna would often help, and for that the family might give her a small piece of fabric or some yarn.
One family gave her some heavy cotton yarn. Anna wanted to try a doily pattern she had seen in a calendar. Normally people use fine cotton to crochet doilies, but by the mid 1940s, toward the end of World War II, money and supplies of all kinds were difficult to come by in the village. So Anna used what she had. She crocheted the doily, learning in the process that when you use larger yarn than normal, you get a larger doily than normal. Her adult-sized granddaughter's hand in the photo gives an idea of the doily's scale. The doily is in Anna's collection.
Thompson, Anna Wirth
mid 1940s
about 36" across
2018.013
Design Proposal for I-Cord Embellished Sweater
To propose knit/crochet projects for publication, I have made many swatches and sketches since the early 1990s. This one was probably for a publication of Bond America, a company that marketed and sold a hobby knitting machine and a mechanical knitting nancy, which cranked out I-cord very quickly. I used both machines to make the swatch. The design was never accepted for publication, but that's how it often goes for freelance designers. The background is knitted with a tan mohair-blend yarn. I used many types of red yarn for the I-cord.
Thompson, Suzann
1997
approx. 10" x 10"
2018.014
Granny Square Christmas Stockings
These Christmas stockings were crocheted by my mother, Marcelle Huset, and have hung in the dining room windows of our home for many holiday seasons.
Huset, Marcelle
ca. 1960s
19"x5", 13"x3.5", 5"x2 for one
2018.015
Red Cross Sweater for Navy Use
<p>This is a Navy sweater knit by Rebecca Keyel in 2016 from a sweater pattern originally designed by the American Red Cross in the late 1930s. The pattern (designated ARC 400-3) appeared in a Red Cross pattern book issued by the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1941, and was reprinted numerous times between 1939 and 1965. The garment is knit all in one piece and finished by sewing the sides of the garment to close. The contributor knit the sweater using worsted weight wool yarn (Quince and Co Lark) and US size 8 casein needles as part of a doctoral dissertation on women's volunteer knitting during the First and Second World War. It is one of 13 other objects knit for the project.</p>
American Red Cross
2016
2019.001
Set of baby garments in rainbow yarn
This is a set of baby garments, a sweater with buttons and a soaker, made for a newborn baby in 2018.
The yarn is urth uneek worsted. The garments were both knit from a single skein of yarn to make a complete set of clothing.
The set was knit for the first born child of the maker’s closest friend.
The sweater was knit from Gabrielle Danskknit’s Winter Sunset pattern, and the soaker was knit from Rebecca Krolikowski’s Frantic Mama Knitted Soaker Pattern.
Keyel, Rebecca
2018
2019.002
Register to Vote quilt with doily "O"
"Registering voters isn't the most visually exciting thing in the world, so I made this quilt to lure people close enough to ask them if they need to register. I had the perfect doily to make the O in VOTE. Yay, doilies!!" wrote maker Suzann Thompson on her Facebook page. The 17" doily trim dictated the size of the letters in the word VOTE, and the size of the quilt. The patchwork was pieced from scrap fabric, mostly cotton. Thompson composed the lettering on Adobe Photoshop Elements and printed them full-sized. She cut out each letter and used it as a pattern to cut the letters from fabric. The letters are attached to the quilt top with temporary spray adhesive, and Thompson zig-zag stitched around the raw edges to attach them permanently.
The O in VOTE is from a vintage doily with a cloth center. Thompson starched the doily, cut out the damaged center, turned under the cut edge, and finally machine-stitched the turned-under cloth and crocheted trim to the quilt top. After quilting she added mother-of-pearl buttons to the crocheted trim. The obvious message of the quilt is "Register to Vote." Semi-hidden letters in the patchwork change the message to "Register us to vote automatically." Button groupings in the border spell the word VOTE using the Braille alphabet.
Thompson, Suzann
2019
63 inches wide, 49 inches tall
2019.003
Crocheted rose brooches
My mother used to make hundreds of these rose shaped crocheted brooches in different threads and colors to give as a small gift. The back side is covered with a felt round cut cloth and a pin is mounted.
Teruko Hattori
1990’s
Don’t know
2019.004
Floral shaped brooch
My mother made this in the early 90’s and gave to me as a Christmas gift. I don’t know if it is chrocheted or just tied loosely. She is a very freely creative person of her own ideas, often playing with materials not following any teacher or textbook. Thus, I don’t know how to categorize this.
Teruko Hattori
1990’s
wool thread of 4 colors, a button, back covering cloth made of grosgrain type, a brooch pin
2019.005
Crocheted layered floral brooch for summer
Another of my mother’s made brooch consisting of 3 layers of crocheted frilled circles with the top one made into a spiral shape. The back is covered with a cotton cloth and is mounted with a pin.
Teruko Hattori
1990’s
3 colored cotton lace threads
2019.006
Crocheted summer snood and wrist covers
A cotton multicolored snood and wrist covers my mother made for me when I suffered from chronic pneumonia for extra warmth but of sweat absorbing material of cotton. Primitive works but I liked the combinations of colors.
Teruko Hattori
1990’s
Snood about 30 cm in diameter, wrist covers 20cm x 10cm with grey rubber tape at the end, material: 6 mixed colored cotton lace threads about 1mm in diameter
2019.007
Basket knitted 2 samplers and a pouch made out of such with a string
Morhet was once very keen on learning this knitting pattern and made quite a few samplers of the same shape, in different but matching shades of colors and patchworked, appliqué to woolen cloth made bags of tartan patterns, and these small pouches. ;It was all in the 1990s that she was enthusiastically active in knitting after a long try of embroidery and basket weaving, etc. All her works are if her own design, choice of colors, and the purpose was giving out, for charity, or for gift.
Teruko Takahashi
1990’s
15cmx15cm square samplers made from 2mm blue to purple shades thread, the pouch knitting the two squares together and adding a matching purple cotton string for carrying
2019.008
Phone cases, a pouch, a tissue case
My mother’s made mobile phone cases when they were folding types. Also a mini tissue paper cover, and a small pouch with floral ornaments.
All from cotton lace threat, white or beige, adorned with flowers, beads, woven cloth with a pompon, and crocheted in floral patterns.
Teruko Takahashi
1990’s
Maximum 15x10cm small bags and pouches
2019.009
Trick or Treat Doily by Bella Crochet
Designer Ann White of Bella Crochet (bellacrochet.blogspot.com) designed the Trick or Treat Doily to accompany another Halloween-themed doily in her design collection. Suzann Thompson crocheted the doily in 2019 with No. 10 crochet cotton from her collection (another term for "stash"). She said that watching the pleats form was fun. They fall into place naturally when you have finished three or four rounds. The first round of the lacy border more-or-less locks the pleats in place. Suzann starches doilies with a mixture of one part liquid starch and one part water. Suzann and her daughters enjoy creating holiday displays on the family's sideboard. It's a good excuse to clean off the items that mysteriously accumulate there in-between times.
Thompson, Suzann
2019
9 inches in diameter
2019.010