Black Eyed Susan Doily
<p>This white crochet doily has bright yellow Black Eyed Susan flower motifs around the outside edge and at the center. Each brown center is padded and raised. The centers have been sewn into the center of each flower. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arch Lamb, Accession number TTU-H1977-096-032</p>
Probably Lamb, Nellie
About 12" diameter
2020.021
A patchwork patterned knitted pouch
<p>My mother knitted this and gave as a wintertime key case. </p>
Teruko Hattori
Mid 1990s
11x10xx1cm
2020.006
A patchwork patterned knitted pouch
<p>My mother, Teruko Hattori, made this pouch for me as a winter vanity case of a sort. </p>
Teruko Hattori
Mid 1990s
16x16x1cm
2020.005
Crochet Top with Apple
<p>The pattern for this single-crochet top, with an apple motif, came from a Woman's Day or Family Circle magazine published in the mid-1970s. I was in high school at the time, and loved the bold design. It was the first time I had crocheted two colors in one row, but I just followed the instructions, and all was well. Since the top was short-sleeved, naturally I thought of it as a summer garment. However, the yarn was worsted-weight acrylic, which isn't the best fiber to wear during a sweltering hot Texas summer. On the other hand, it would have been good inside, because many businesses and classrooms were over-airconditioned. In May 2017, my daughter Eva tried on the crocheted top with the apple. With her permission, I include the photo I took of her then. The top measures 33" around the body at the underarm; from hem to shoulder, it is 18.5". I don't know who designed this cute top.</p>
Thompson, Suzann
mid 1970s
33" around at underarms, 18.5" from hem to shoulder
2021.017
Colorful Knitted Slipper Socks for Children
Baumgärtels clothing store on August-Bebel-Strasse in Schwarzenbach an der Saale, Germany, sold ready-made clothing and offered custom knitted garments. The Baumgärtel family lived above the shop. Anna Wirth Thompson fondly remembered a blue dress with a patterned circular yoke her mother ordered specially-made for her at Baumgärtels. She wore the dress on Christmas Eve, in 1941, as shown in one of the photos here. She was almost six years old. Anna's father was the teacher at the village school in Sorg, at the foot of the Fichtel Mountains in Franconia, Germany. The family lived in a home attached to the school building. In 1942, Anna fell ill with scarlet fever. Hers was a severe case, and she spent six weeks in hospital in the city of Hof. When the time finally came for her to return to Sorg, her mother brought the blue knitted dress for Anna to wear. She put it on, and it was shockingly short! Anna had grown taller during her stay at the hospital. After World War II, Anna, her brothers, and her widowed mother moved to Schwarzenbach an der Saale, to live with Anna's maternal grandmother. The house was across the street behind Baumgärtels. Eventually, Anna's mother had Baumgärtels knit her another dress, this time a wine-red one. By the 1960s, Anna had emigrated to the United States, lived and worked in New York City, and moved to Texas to marry Alan Thompson, and start a family. During the mid-1960s, when the Thompson family lived in Plainview, Texas, Anna's mother sent care packages from Germany, which often contained crewel embroidery yarns, pillow tops and tablecloths stamped for embroidery, and knitting yarn, as well as German chocolate and Advent calendars. One package had soft wool yarn samples from Baumgärtels, which they no longer needed. Anna used the sample yarns to knit slipper socks for her daughter Suzann and son Eric. The stranded color patterns in the socks were Anna's own design. Suzann's slipper socks were reinforced with soles crocheted from cut-up nylon stockings. Anna mended Eric's slipper socks more than once. In 2023, the house where Anna lived in Schwarzenbach is still there (though remodeled by later occupants), and the building that used to be Baumgärtels clothing store is a shoe store. Photos: House Slippers with soles crocheted from nylon stockings Smaller House Slippers, and smaller House Slippers shown with mending Anna W. Thompson with children, Suzann, Van, and Eric, in their Plainview, Texas, living room, c. 1968. Anna Wirth in her knitted dress from Baumgärtels on Christmas Eve, 1941. Pictured from left to right, Anna's brothers Christian and Paul-Albrecht, mother Gertrud Schödel Wirth, and Anna.
Anna Wirth Thompson
mid 1960s
Pair with soles: toe to heel, 9 1/2 inches (24.1 cm); heel to top of cuff, 3 1/8 inches (7.9 cm) Mended pair: toe to heel, 6 1/8 inches (15.5 cm); heel to top of cuff, 4 5/8 inches (11.7 cm)
2023.004
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
A lily corsage crocheted with various threads
<p>It's a corsage featuring two lilies and two button shaped circles crocheted added with an old cotton lace ribbon and strings of various kinds. I use this on a simple summer basket tote bag. </p>
Teruko Hattori
Late 1990s
12x8x7cm
2020.008
Basketweave patterned knitting made into a shoulder bag with suede leather
<p>It's a smokey blue suede and shoulder length bag with my mother's knitted basketweave patterned front and back sides a little bigger than a half moon bag. Meant for use in winter with a magnet button in the inner middle with polyester lining with two pockets on both sides. She asked her friend sewing shop owner to use her knitted parts and the smokey blue suede leather to make into this bag. I still use it as I like the colour patterns and it's warm look in the winter. The color of smokey blue suede is also what I like about it.</p>
Teruko Takahashi
Late 1990s
30x27x4cm
2020.007
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
Blue Hand Knitted Ski Sweater
<p>History of Blue Hand-Knitted Ski Sweater Handwritten by Mary Ruth McGinnis (transcribed)</p>
<p>"November 16, 2015</p>
<p>Augusta Adelia Lehner Newman knitted this sweater for her son, Charles Wynn Newman, Jr., when he was a boy. So it was knitted sometime in the late 1920s to early 1930s.</p>
<p>After he outgrew the sweater, his younger sister, Margaret Thais Newman McGinnis, began wearing it in the late 1940s. </p>
<p>In the 1960s, Margaret’s son, Paul Lee McGinnis, began wearing it.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, Margaret’s daughter, Mary Ruth McGinnis, took over wearing the sweater.</p>
<p>Sometime in the 1980s, Margaret darned a hole in the lower back of the sweater and the right sleeve cuff.</p>
<p>The sweater was retired from use about 2000."</p>
<p><strong>CKC Notes:</strong><br /><br />David M. Newman contributed this sweater to the Center for Knit and Crochet in December 2021. It was originally knitted for his father, Charles Wynn Newman, Jr., when the family lived in Detroit, MI. David M. Newman commented, "I have no use for the sweater and although I have no wish to display it I recognize that it may serve as a well-executed example of a traditional craft performed in the service of the craftperson’s family." </p>
<p>The sweater appears to be knitted of navy blue wool accented with traditional Scandinavian-style decorative motifs in red, yellow, green, and white. The motifs are made using two techniques -- stranded knitting (patterns are knitted in) and duplicate stitch (patterns are applied as surface decoration after knitting). The sweater shows signs of wear and has been repaired, which only attests to the family's appreciation and care of the maker's work. It has otherwise survived in excellent condition. It is notable that the sweater was worn and enjoyed by several generations of the family.<br /><br />The sweater and accompanying documentation will be used for educational and promotional purposes by the CKC to encourage others to add their knit and crochet items and stories to CKC's Crowdsourced Collection. </p>
Augusta Adelia Lehner Newman
late 1920s to early 1930s
David M. Newman
18" across, 20 1/2" shoulder to hem; made for a child
2022.002
Dark blue shaded stole
<p>A friend of mine made this as a gift for me. The thread was mine from somewhere in Tokyo’s Okadaya hobby Shop. A gradation in the thread automatically made the random pattern in the final product. </p>
Hiroko Kosaka
Circa 2005
13cm x 100cm
2019.026
A pale blue cap and a stole
<p>This was made by my friend for me using the yarn I had bought in Australia on a trip. It's mohair, mixed water blue and smokey purple colours. The cap has ribs for a better fit, and the stole must be worn with a brooch as it is short.</p>
Hiroko Kosaka
circa 2005
25cm x 18cm (cap) & 17cm x 60cm (stole)
2019.019
Rippling Rainbow Shawl
<p>This is the shawl made by designer Robert Powell for the book <em>A Gathering of Lace</em> (Meg Swansen & Elaine Rowley, XRX Books, 2000), pages 23-25.</p>
<p>It is a center-out shawl worked in Jamieson & Smith Jumperweight Shetland. The pattern is a relatively simple center-out design — easy to understand and memorize. The colorwork gives it visual appeal. To prevent an obvious jog at the color changes, Robert Powell used an ingenious trick. He back-spliced the color changes and did so at a yarn-over. This results in no ends to weave in and no obvious jog in the color pattern.</p>
<p>I was introduced to Robert Powell by our mutual friend, Marilyn Hastings. At the time, both lived in Asheville, North Carolina. I had mentioned to Marilyn that I used Robert's clever trick in my Level 1 Master Knitter submission. Robert was downsizing his home. He surprised me by giving me this shawl! Alas, I don't remember which year this was. I passed Level 1 of Master Knitter in Janunary 2010.</p>
<p>The rainbow has become an emblem for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). The knitting community has sometimes been a safe space for gay men. Considering the maker and the time period, this shawl could be understood as an expression of gay pride. The Supreme Court made same sex marriage legal in the United States in 2015.</p>
Powell, Robert
circa 2000
64 inches point to point
2019.034
A purple stole with sequins
<p>My mother’s creation of a stole knitted with small sequins. It came with matching fingerless gloves but I have lost the gloves.</p>
Teruko Hattori
Circa 1990s
18cm x 180cm
2019.024
Baby pink untwisted snood
<p>My mother Teruko Takahashi made this pale pink snood of elongated basket weave patterns with silk containing thread for an early spring use.</p>
Teruko Hattori
circa 1990s
15cm x 70cm
2019.023
Houndstooth snood
<p>My mother made this using three colors of thread. It’s small and matches with various colors of sweaters. </p>
Teruko Hattori
Circa 1990s
15cm x 150cm
2019.022
Bicolor snood in red and beige
<p>My mother made this so that I can wear with my colorless midnight navy blue woolen top that looks quite formal with skinny wool pants of white or beige. Adding this around the neck was to make it possible to wear it more casually. The technique is simple and primitive. My mother is a rough, not minute person. She doesn’t care for details being flawed. Thus this is not a good example for careful knitters.</p>
Teruko Hattori
circa 1990s
25cm x 200cm
2019.021
A multi-coloured snood
<p>Mother made this for me when I needed something colorful to put on over around the neck of a colorless midnight navy blue A-line top to wear with skinny pants of white or light grey using whatever threads she had including feather type long haired smokey blue thread. The technique used is a simple garter knitting. </p>
Teruko Hattori
circa 1990s
18cm x 200cm
2019.020
A Rainbow Snood
<p>Knitted by my mother using a thin mohair thread of rainbow colors in a 7 color gradation. Knitted with a reverse in the middle of 14cm side.</p>
Teruko Hattori
Circa 1990
14cm x 58cm
2019.027
A mixed pale pinkish knitted cap
<p>My mother's knitted gift to me one winter when I was still without any knit caps. Too girlish to be worn to work but I liked the colour mixtures and the quality of yarns. She added a matching floral broach to add some decorative element to it. </p>
Teruko Hattori
Circa 1990
25cm x 18cm where longest
2019.018
Tatted Christmas Stars
<p>My grandmother, Esther Curry, tatted these stars for me, at my request, when I was a girl of about 10 or 11 years old (early 1970s); they may well mark my very first personal acquisition in what has become a lifelong fascination & enjoyment of fiber arts. I remember Grandma was hesitant to make them, because as she finally admitted, she was unsure how to work them; as far as I know, she rarely - if ever - worked from a pattern, and I think she generally made edgings, rather than motifs. Nevertheless, she figured it out, and gave me 12 stars, which my mother showed me how to block & stiffen with starch for use as tree ornaments. They have been a cherished part of my Christmas tradition for about 50 years.</p>
<p>The stars are worked in what my grandmother called "tatting cotton"; I'm unsure of the size, possibly size 40 tatting thread. Tatting is worked with a shuttle, and my grandmother had two that she favored: a small silver one that she used for finer work and a larger shuttle, which might have been made of bakelite, that she used with larger gauge thread. I think these stars would have fallen into the "finer work" category.</p>
<p><span>Grandma always wore a dress, or apron, with a pocket, and she always kept a bit of handwork there, usually tatting (or a quilting square she was hand-piecing for one of her many quilts). If she had a few minutes, whether waiting for her yummy cinnamon rolls to bake, visiting with the neighbor or waiting for her bus, you'd see her reach into her pocket & draw out her latest project – this is how I always remember her.</span></p>
<p><span>These simple stars are not her fanciest work, but they do speak to her aesthetic – cheerful & homey, a soft personal touch that could raise a humble cuff, collar or hem out of the ordinary. </span></p>
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Curry, Esther
circa 1971
A dozen stars, approximately 3 inches in diameter, tatted in cotton thread
2022.001
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
Crocheted Teddy Bears
<p>During a visit to my grandmother's cousin, <span>Clara Schultz-Sierrko, when I was a child, she let me play with a small teddy bear that she had crocheted. I loved it so much that I hated to leave it and Clara gave in to my pleading and let me take it home with me. Sometime after that, I crocheted my own bear using the original bear as a guide. Both are made with variegated yarn; the second is stuffed with nylon stockings and I don't know what's in the original bear. They both remind me of happy childhood times with family members who are no longer with us.</span></p>
Clara Schultz-Sierrko and Marilyn Huset
ca. late 1950s-early 1960s
Small bear is 5.5" tall, larger one is 7"
2021.019
Coin Purse, Accha Alta, Peru
<p>A hand knit coin purse with crochet or looped bobble decorations made in Accha Alta, Peru, a small Andean community located about 2 hours north of Cusco, Peru. </p>
<p>I purchased this coin purse in Cusco in 2017 at the <a href="https://www.textilescusco.org">Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco</a>. (https://www.textilescusco.org). The CTTC, established in 1996, preserves and sustains the artists of Peruvian Inca textiles and their diverse communities throughout the region by providing a venue for them to demonstrate, exhibit, and sell their work. </p>
<p>The purse is made of hand spun, hand dyed Alpaca yarn. I recall from my visit that the dyes used are all traditional dyes, including plant dyes. The knitted gauge is very fine -- approximately 10 stitches and 10 rows to 1". </p>
<p>Artist: Margarita Huaman Puma, b. 1986<br /><br />I often purchase local textiles as a way to remember places I have visited. Studying textiles made for and collected by travelers to various regions of the globe throughout history is endlessly fascinating. </p>
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Puma, Margarita Huaman
Ca. 2017
4" wide and 3" tall at base; 4" tall and 2" wide at neck
2020.026
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