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Jean's Newsletters
LEARNING TO KNIT
Many people can remember when
they learned how to knit. My memory is
a bit vague but I know that I got a knitting kit for Christmas when I was about
six or seven and that it was my aunty who taught me to knit. My mum could
knit but she much preferred crochet and never used a pattern in her life. Mum
figured out whatever she was making as she went along.
Confession time. I can’t recall actually liking knitting very much back then. But I have a wonderful excuse! My first knitting project at school was a pair of socks and not very exciting socks at that! But to go back to the beginning …
As a youngster two of my favourite things were crafts (I was always making something or other) and going to the pictures. My grandma loved films and most every week we paid a visit to the local ‘picture palace’. My love of craft and Betty Grable musicals came together when I made paper curls and stuck them to my own short hair in order to emulate Betty’s hair-do. Then I would sew up pieces of material and add bits and pieces to look like a real film star. As you can imagine I was overjoyed when mum sent me to elocution and dance lessons... I thought I was on my way to Hollywood!
But instead I arrived at High School aged eleven and met up with those socks. This is the only knitting project I can truly remember. These socks were in the dowdy school colour of brown, only relieved by gold stripes around the ankles. The problem with socks is that they come in pairs. So while knitting the first one, there loomed the inevitable task of having to knit another brown sock!
Thankfully, we were allowed to work on our needlecrafts at home, so whenever my knitting aunty came to visit she would work a few rounds. Eventually I managed to finish the socks but without the usual turn-over tops because I decided they weren’t necessary. Of course this brilliant decision also shortened the knitting agony.
I wore my new socks on the next needlework
day. Our teacher was very
pleased with my efforts but with shoes on she could only see the ankle bands.
I crossed my fingers hoping she wouldn’t require a full inspection, 
worried
by the terrible thought I might be made to knit another pair. The problem
was, the foot sections were far too short and my toes had worn right through
the toe-ends at that very first wearing. How I managed to walk in them
at all is amazing because those socks were itchy, uncomfortable and let’s
not forget - far from glamorous.
I don’t know what happened to the socks but thank goodness the experience didn’t put me off knitting for good. As an older teenager I happily knitted jumpers, cardigans and yes, even socks for myself and later on for my family. And after all I did end up designing garments for Vogue Knitting.
On the left, a Jean Greenhowe dress with long lacy stockings, designed for Vogue Knitting in 1967.
A final thought. It was partly the remembrance of having to knit those awful socks when I was a beginner to the world of knitting that lead me to creating JIFFYKNITS – lots and lots of exciting projects to make from nothing but straight garter stitch pieces.
Perhaps I wouldn’t have minded the ‘serious’ socks lessons if I’d also been given something fun to knit as well. But of course knitting was very practical in those days and didn’t include daft things like tins of baked beans and Halloween ghosties.
One lingering remnant of the socks saga and my school uniform – I still don’t like dowdy brown as a colour. But I still love Betty Grable musicals only now I watch them on video and DVD.
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© Copyright Jean Greenhowe Designs 2006