A little time travel…

I found a little object on Ebay that caught my eye. I knew immediately I had to get it. And so I broke my own rule and bid right away and bid HIGH. As luck would have it I won the item uncontested and it arrived here on Tuesday. I

Inside there was this little box. What could be inside?

The little mysterious box

 

First I pulled out this little item. This was a bonus, a yarn guide for working with multiple colors, and it can be useful in speeding up my continental knitting.

Yarn guide tensioner

 

Next this curious little object which bears much experimentation and thought.

Crochet point shuttle

 

It is a sort of crochet shuttle that can be used to make braided edgings and the like for your knit pieces.

Last came the big prize! This little gem.

Stewarts Parallel Knitting Frame

 

This is a knitting loom. It is 123 years old. It was made in approximately 1883. The man who had it for sale on Ebay had found it at a flea market, and the person at the flea market had found it at an estate sale..boy would I have loved to be at that estate sale.

As I held it in my hand I wondered who had owned it, what had they made with it. Was she a Mom like me making things for her kids? Did she use this little loom to make things for her husband who was at war? Was it some society maven making items for a charity drive, or decorative bags for an evening out?  I felt the connection across time to a fellow loomer. A quiet reflection back in time of someone who was possibly a lot like me, just in a different time and place.

The last thing in the box was all the directions for these items. In stunning condition!

coverscanloom1.GIF

 

They are so familiar, and yet written in the lingo of the time. Very formal language, but still they were doing very similar stitches to what we do. The single stitch the chunky braid stitch, all with different names but yet the same. Knitting things flat in strips and joining them to create larger peices. Or working them in the round.

There was also a notice of a design contest..with different categories for ages and the various looms that the manufacturer made. His plan was to use his entire annual earnings as prizes..$5000, the first prizes were $200 then on down from there. All the winning designs were to be placed in a book at the end of the competition. Now that would be a gem worth getting hold of! Too bad I am 122 years too late!

I daren’t use this little loom, for fear of doing a little bit of damage to the finish. I will probably create a little shadow box for it to display in my house. But for now I will keep it nearby, as inspiration from back in time..a hundred years ago.

A trip back in time..

I wonder will someone find our looms 100 years from now and feel the same?


Comments

11 responses to “A little time travel…”

  1. Wow, that’s incredible! Where did you go on eBay to even find such a treasure?

  2. I just really stumbled upon it by accident, it was in the crochet section!

  3. Mary Avatar
    Mary

    Now that is so cool. Thanks for sharing with us.

    MaryJeanne

  4. Esther Avatar
    Esther

    I really envy you finding such a treasure. You can say you have something body else has. Lucky you.

  5. The middle item, that you called a crochet shuttle looks to be a part of a latch hook, or punch hook rug. I had one like it when I was a kid attached to a large wooden handle. You would use continous yarn (unlike latch hook that seems to use yarn lengths) and punch through a fabric to create loops on oneside for rugs. Is there a groove in it that yarn would fit through?

  6. Wendy Avatar
    Wendy

    Oh Denise, what a cool find! I have my great grandmother’s silver thimble. (her name was Isabelle) and there is a letter I engraved on it. One side is all indented with her fingermark (silver being soft), one side is indented with my mother’s fingermark, and now another has mine. I guess my daughter may get the thimble later on, but at this time, alas, she doesn’t sew! BOOOOOO! I love old things. I have my grandmother’s treadle machine and loads of old sewing items she used. I may make a cool shadow box with them sometime, to remind me of all the stuff I learned from her and those days she taught me what all the farmers daughter’s learned – lots of cool household tricks and crafts like knitting, crocheting, quilting, tatting, needlepoint, cross stitch, chicken scratch,and the like. You should try the tools sometime for fun-see how you do and let us know!! W.

  7. Oh Denise!

    How cool is that?! What a treasure in deed! I too love pieces from yesteryear! That needle thing immediately looked to me like a yarn needle for removing item from loom. The 2nd hole is extra assurance the yarn will not come out as it always does with our 1 hole yarn needles. Mind you that is the first thng that came to mind when seeing it.

    Seeing that cool loom gave me an idea to making new looms out of metal. I bet that groove assists in easy knitting. It’s an amazing find! You hit the jack pot lady!

  8. Great find Denise. I am on ebay all the time and can never luck up on something like that. GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!

  9. Wow Denise! Great find, you lucky dog you 🙂 LOL

  10. sharon Avatar
    sharon

    Denise,
    How lucky can a lady get? I, like some of the others, am on Ebay so much it is a wonder I don’t go broke, but have never found anything THAT cool. If it were mine, I would try it just to see how well it worked, and then put it in my display case. Enjoy it for all of us.

  11. Debbie Avatar
    Debbie

    What a wonderful find! Fellow historic demonstrator has a sock knitting machine that dates back to the early 1900s. Amazing to learned that the basic function of some of the needlecraft tools we continue to use today haven’t changed that much. Congratulations on a magnificent purchase.

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