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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Dardidlly Socks


I am knitting a pair of socks for Craig's birthday and I went in search of a manly-man pattern.
They were harder to find than I thought, being mostly sock patterns just knit longer or shorter to fit.
I have only a couple of my grandmother's books and I dearly hope I will one day inherit more of them. The Family Knitting Book by James Norbury was published in 1969 and granted there are some patterns that I hope never see the fashionable light of day again.

(to wit)
I did find however a Men's Sock pattern, unfortunately without a picture, but I am quite taken with the contrast rib cuff and leg pattern which is very manly-man and the ever so slight leg shape towards the ankle.


The cuff is K1,P1 and the leg ribbing is K2, P1. 
Anyway what I really mean to say is that old pattern books needn't be dismissed as irrelevant because the photography is a bit....

...well you know, (I wonder what this little tyke is up to now?) and some of the patterns are really stretching credibility. This book has some good basic garment patterns, including skirts and slippers, also doll's clothes and purses. I'd like to think that my granddaughter will one day find something useful within too.

But back to the name of the socks....
Craig has so named them after I (in my best British accent) read him the dedication in the front of the book.

Dedicated to the memory of 
The Cure D'Ars,
today known as 
St Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney,
who as a boy of seven
Knitted stockings while tending
his father's sheep in the 
fields around Dardidlly.

I feel it also of note to tell you....
James Norbury, the son of a village blacksmith and a village dressmaker, was born in 1904 at Knutsford in Cheshire...He staggered and startled his parents when he stated he was going to become a fashion designer....
I'll bet he did!

Other links;

6 comments:

  1. Love these older books.. have a few myself LOL.. Get a real hoot out of reading and viewing the pics.. After all i did mangage to crochet Slacks, dress, shorts , 2piece swimmers. Did i wear them?? Sure did .. :))
    1904 Fashion designer, Amazing :))
    thanks for sharing :))

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  2. wonderful! I bought the same book from the markets recently, I love the photos, but hadn't read it in such detail. Good to know the sock pattern is worth trying. I have used it so far to figure out buttonholes, but there's lots of good info and the photos are always a laugh.

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    Replies
    1. The more I look at it the more I would like to do a modern photo shoot for it (and maybe a pattern tweek here and there) as I think the patterns are still quite relevant and basically sound.

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  3. The sock cuff/leg sound interesting. I think the sock would definitely stay up with the combination of ribbing. Can you share the whole pattern?

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  4. Knitting socks is on my bucket list. I just need for winter to return and have nothing to do. :)

    ReplyDelete

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