Three boxes by Spear's Germany

Original Strickliesel

These boxes and stricklieseln were
produced by Spears Germany.

The left dates pre 1967
The centre dates from 1967 - 1979
The right dates after 1979
(this one is actually dated
1981 (MCMLXXXI))

(Thanks goes to strick_else - a good
friend in Germany and also a member
of my Flickr Spool Knitter group -
for the dating these boxes)

They are all No. 53002.

Above - the front of the leaflet
found in the "left" box.

Above - the front of the leaflet
found in boxes centre and right.
Both of these also have the
same knitting doll.

I am endeavouring to find
out more information
about the German
branch of Spear & Sons.
I am sure that it will come
to light in the near future.

--::{O}::--

1929 POSTCARD

Here is a treasure found recently.
It is a German postcard of a
sweet young girl who is spoolknitting.


The postcard is dated 1929.



I have tried to get a good close-up of the spoolknitter
but due to the quality of the postcard, this is
the best I can do. I can make out that it has
knobby nails and not staples for posts.
It is definitely not a Spear's company produced
knitting Nancy.
It may be a strickliesel (knitting doll) from
the toy making region of Erzgebirge in
Germany.
If anyone knows anything about
this type of strickliesel, I would love to hear
from you!


---oo[O]oo---

The Next Generation

Sometimes in this world, if you are
patient enough, good things will come
to you.
Was it the novel endearing character of these
particular strickliesel (spool knitter)?
OR ..... Was it the current popular
revival of the craft of spool knitting that
brought back these lovely spool knitters?
Either way, we have the arrival of the
next generation
of the "yellow hat brigade" with
a twist!!
At this stage (due to moving house and
all of my collection being packed and not
being able to access them),
I cannot go into more detail
regarding the original versions of
this spool knitter. I will have to post
more about that at a later time.
But these were new arrivals in
the post today and
I had to show them to you now.
So without further ado -
I present the next generation......


Okay now ...... as I have found with so many
spool knitters in their boxes, the one
pictured on the top of the box varies
to the one in the box.
I purchased three of these and all three
have red hats, the same colour stripes,
and the same number of stripes.
For those who are practically regular
readers of my blog, you will remember the
vintage originals with their yellow hats
and the many colours and stripes and
designs that they are found in.
I have almost fifty vintage spool knitters
of this style and none of them
are exactly the same!
So here we have the updated spool knitter
and due to production costs they are
all exactly the same colours/design.
(But I wonder where the one on the
top of the box is?)

This is the back of the box (sorry about glare)
which is all in German.
No - Made in China or Taiwan - here.

And for a little nostalgic look .......
here are the vintage
spool knitters.


This is the last post for a few weeks
but I hope to be back in time for
Christmas! See you then!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Added December 4th

I am so glad that some things have been
cleared up for me concerning these new
strickliesel/spool knitters.
Which is why I would encourage anyone
who knows otherwise to contact me regarding
anything that I have posted about on
my spoolknitter blog.
The "next generation" strickliesel does come
in a variety of stripes and colours!
It just so happened that my order must have
been of the same batch.
And what's more - they also come with different
coloured hats!
The directions are on the bottom of the box (in
German) although somewhat not too clear according
to my dear German friend.

See you soon!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here It Is!

Ta Daaa!

Here is the new strickliesel finished
and only has to have the nails put in.
Let me know what you think!

Remember?

Back in June

I had posted about some spool knitters
newly turned by hubby on various woods
(below). Some of them had started showing
cracks not long after
being turned but they did stop and they are
just minor cracks, after all.

I decided to go ahead with painting without using
wood filler as I think these cracks adds to the character
of the spool knitter.

So we have the beginnings of another painted
spool knitter.

Above shows the two sizes of the
original and the recent wood turned
spool knitter. (9cms and 18cms)
Not much more to go with the painting side
of things, just a little "fine-tuning" as the
stripes are the difficult part (though looking
at the originals, the stripes are not exactly
straight anyway). The hair needs
adjusting and the "shoes" also
need to be adjusted. Then there
is just the face and I will add "buttons" too.
The original spool knitter is Made in Germany
where they are called "strickliesel" and
they are to be found in a vast variety of
different stripes and different colours.
Stay tuned for the finished spool knitter.

YELLOW HAT BRIGADE!

No, I am not referring to fire fighters!

Have you ever noticed those spool knitters with yellow hats?
There are many of them.
When I acquired my first few, I realised that the bodies were
always painted differently.
This started my quest to find another with
exactly the same painted body!
The count is almost twenty and there
are no duplicates yet.

The majority that I have found are without a box or

packaging.

Charming Group!

Height is 9cms or 3 1/2inches.

This page comes from an English publication
from the 70's. Could we assume then that
they are about 40 years old?!

Named "Knitter".
This is part of the packaging I have for
just two in my collection.
Made for ASTU STUDIOS in G.D.R.
So they are made in Germany.
(Sorry for poor photo)

This one was found in this box.

Susi - Handarbeitskasten - no
other information at all on this box.

Now, what are these? Remember, I posted about
these before here. Oh my! so many puzzles,
so many questions!
Are all of these "yellow hatted" spool knitters
made in Germany?
Does anyone have one of these in its
original box/packaging?