Monday, July 30, 2007

Henley Knitting Nancy

THE HENLEY FLIGHTS OF FANCY

KNITTING NANCY

FOR FRENCH KNITTING

This is my latest acquisition and I was very interested to read the information on the sheet enclosed. Thanks to Deryck Henley, it puts a little light on the history of the knitting Nancy. He does say that not a lot has been recorded regarding the art of french knitting, but what he has said here brings us another step closer. It would be great to visit the Ruddington Framework Knitters' Museum in Nottinghamshire which is mentioned on the information sheet.
They have a website you can visit here.








Please click on picture for larger image.

7 comments:

catsmum said...

What's the Henley made from?
Looks like wood.

crazyhaberdasher said...

Yes, it is very simple and rustic, a hollow piece of a branch. I will have to ask Chris about what sort of tree.

Anonymous said...

Isn't the expression on the face of the poor lad excruciating? LOL! That is supposed to make people ~want~ to spoolknit?
Um, maybe not..... ROTFLOL!
I love seeing your collection, Marian!
hugs
Noreen

crazyhaberdasher said...

Exaggerated, determined, dogged, concentration??!!
Thanks Noreen, glad you enjoy it!

The Other Branch said...

Hi, this is Deryck Henley.
Thanks for putting this up on your blog. I created the kit using a rustic 'nancy' from Silver Birch and it has been a popular item in our range.
I remember we all did it back in the 1950's from a used wooden cotton reel (bobbin) with 4 nails in it. It was something everyone did, both boys and girls.
An old gentleman in hid 90's told me once he remembers when he was a small lad in the 1920's he was sitting on a wall with his chums all doing spool knitting. Hid mum shouted out the door 'Johnny, if you don't make it long enough your pants will fall down'. Not a threat but he was really making his own belt!
We also make a lucet, the forerunner for the nancy which you can see on our website www.theotherbranch.co.uk
Enjoy
Deryck Henley

crazyhaberdasher said...

Hello Deryck! It was a lovely surprise to hear from you, thankyou for your kind comment. I do also have a small collection of Lucets. I am still trying to collect whatever information that I can find regarding history of the spool knitter. It has led me to friendships worldwide (I am now the current moderator of Yahoo Spoolknitter Group) and also a fellow collector in Germany, Editha, who has written self-published books on the strickliesel (knitting girl/doll). We correspond regularly now. ... best wishes, Marian

Helen Topor said...

Can I join your group with a gMail account, or is a yahoo account mandatory.