Calendar Pattern Doily in Heavy Cotton

2018.013

Calendar Pattern Doily in Heavy Cotton

Thompson, Anna Wirth

mid 1940s

about 36" across

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.

Contributed by Suzann Thompson, Anna's daughter