SEASONS GREETINGS!

These fabulous spoolknitters - Santa and Mrs Claus -
 were painted by Janet Sorel of A Fool for Spool

on Etsy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

How Cute!

Christmas will soon be here and at this time of year we

find new spool knitters available much to the

delight of collectors.

I found these little cuties available from the

Pumpkin Patch -  children's clothing and accessories

retailers.

... And of course, they looked so much fun

that I had to purchase two!

Front view

Back view

 

Happy Collecting!

**********

FOR COLLECTORS!

L'Histoire des Tricotins

et des

Outils Tricoteurs

by Christine Painsonneau-Marillaud

Front Cover

Back Cover

(All images shown with kind permission from

the author - Christine Painsonneau-Marillaud)

Google Translation - 

The History of French Knitting

and Knitting Tools

I am thrilled to announce this new book about

the history of  spool knitters. It is a great boon for collectors

in finding and recognizing knitters and when they were made. The amount of and the

variations of spool knitters is mind boggling and so many discoveries

are being made of other vintage spool knitters.

Christine covers the history from the earliest times, with the included benefit

of many diagrams and photos.

This 158 page book is a comprehensive volume.

Above is a group of composite French knitters

depicting Dutch girls and boys.

You can also find other characters such as -

Pierrot, Charlie Chaplin, Japanese Ladies, Becassine, and

so on. Photos of these and others are of course found in the book.

(Circa 1920's - 30's and around 10 cms)

Above, we have a group of lovely ladies from the 1950's -

a little taller than the average 9 cms at 12 - 13 cms.

Collectors will appreciate the hard work and time that

Christine has put into her book so that we can enjoy its benefits -

so a very big ~ THANKYOU CHRISTINE! 

It is truly a fabulous book!

You can find it available on Ebay - Worldwide (Buy It Now)

or from - The Book Edition   

Christine's blog is ... HERE  ...

(Les Tricotins de Jardinette)

********

PRETTY BOXES

Pretty Boxes

Here are some of my favourite little spool knitter boxes I thought that I would share with you. I love the graphics on these vintage spool knitting sets (as well as the contents, naturally) and I am so grateful and happy that all who owned these boxes originally/previously, looked after them. It is not unusual for items to get separated, lost, destroyed and tossed out, and to have these sets now is very much appreciated.

From a collector's point of view, the box is just as valuable as the contents, however not all boxes hold the necessary details of its age, maker and where it was made, which is a shame, or even to the details of the actual artist that was involved in the painting/graphics of the box.

Spool knitting sets of today are mainly packed in plastic, and here I usually try to obtain two of an item, one to keep, and one to "play". You can also photograph them, date them, add details of price, where purchased, etc. on a large tag and attach to the spool knitter.

If you are a very keen collector, then you might purchase your own small boxes, and place a photo of the item on the box, and include all the details inside.

Usually, as with most cheaper childrens' toys, they really were not looked upon as a potential collectible. Who would have thought that the simple spool knitter would be considered that way?

Now if you look carefully at the above photo, you may notice something that seems "out of place".

The Rahmen-Stricken set (or Frame Knit) by Klee, is actually a small square frame with 16 pins secured into the open wooden frame and measures 7cms X 7 cms. It works just the same as a spool knitter, you knit around the frame and end up with a wider knitted tube. It is a very sweet set and I had to include this in my collection. 

There is no date on this box, but I would guess possibly 1920's. Brand name Klee, and it is made in Germany.

++++++++

An artist of a different kind!

Lizzie Powell (UK)

On one of my recent searches on the internet, I came across a blog -

Pea Pod Designs. One post was of particular interest to me as a

collector and to find any referral to spool knitters in any form is always

very special.

I suppose the fact that they are becoming more recognisable and popular

is important to me.

I was amazed at the wonderful talent of Lizzie Powell and that she had

an exhibition of her work at the Southmead Hospital in Bristol back in

February.

In this post, was a painting of a collection of French Knitters very cleverly 

painted and so real looking.

I contacted Lizzie and asked if she would sell me her painting or

perhaps a print.

I am now very pleased to say that I own a print

of her French Knitters!

I asked her about her collection and she told me a

little story about how she came by these three in particular ......

........ read on ......

 "I found them at the bottom of a box at a local auction but to buy them it would have meant that I would of had to get a pile of rubbish too, so when the winning bidder was looking through the box I asked if I could buy them off him. He didn't have any interest in them and very kindly gave them to me for free...I acted very cool and got out of there quickly before he could change his mind!!"

.... Isn't that wonderful?!! .... I wonder how many of my followers/readers have fabulous stories like this!! 

Here is the link for the particular post on Lizzie's blog -

 http://peapoddesigns.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/art-exhibition-update.html

- and you will see more of her lovely paintings!!

(The image above is shown with permission from Lizzie Powell - Thanks so much Lizzie!) 

(NOTE: The print "photo" was taken at an angle to avoid

glare, therefore it is a little distorted and the

colour white background shows as a little

grey. The image has

also been cropped and surrounding margins added.) 

 ~~~~~~~~~

FOUND!

Kentoys

Magic Knitting Machine

The searching has paid off, I now have a

complete set of 8 of the Kentoys

Magic Knitting Machines!!

For more information, see Kentoys - Labels

right hand column.

Below are the final four that

I needed.

Chicken, Bird/Seagull, Girl and Boy.

*******

MARIA MURDACA

I have discovered another spool knitter artist (painter of spool knitters) 

and this time she is home grown!

I would like to introduce you to Maria Murdaca, a gifted

artist and fellow Aussie, who lives

in Queensland, Australia. Maria has a gallery

of her beautiful paintings on canvas and wood..

When it comes to spool knitters, 

Maria's style is delightful and I love the faces she paints on

her spool knitters.

I asked Maria if she would tell me a little about herself and

 she very kindly wrote back ......

"I started painting with a Folk Art teacher in the late

1980's, I loved it and continued to challenge myself

always to improve my work by trying to paint something

more difficult.

In the year 2000 together with my daughter and niece, 

we opened a craft shop, having all I needed around

me including lots of inspiration.

I had lots of visiting teachers doing workshops whose class I would

also attend, so my knowledge of the art world grew

and I started to express myself a lot easier.

In 2009 I started a class with a professional Art Teacher

- Michael Zaiter - who pushed me further into creating my own

paintings without the need to trace as you do in most

Folk Art.

I have loved every minute of the work I have painted in the past

with every medium including mixed media and collages,

some of my work is showing on my website at -

Celestial Arts

in the Image Gallery."

You can also find out a little more about Maria if you click on the

"About Me" link on her website.

Below are some more of her wonderful spool knitters -

The Red Riding Hood is currently my favourite!

Mammy and Granny are great characters!

Thankyou Maria, it is wonderful to know you!

*******