Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book, written in 1938 is a general knitting how-to book and reminds me of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitters Almanac in the tone and style.
Mary Thomas starts with a little bit on the history of yarn and knitting, from the days of ancient Egypt and naalbinding, although she doesn’t use that term because at that time not much was known about it. That technique is like a combination of knitting and crochet. A large needle or hook is used to draw the entire length of the working yarn through each stitch. Take a look at the Coptic naalbound socks from Egypt (link leads to Wikipedia).
Knitting was the provenance of men at first, with guilds, apprenticeships, and a desire to keep women out of the professional knitting scene. Yes, there is and was one. Women were still expected to knit at home, making their own clothing for themselves and their families but not make a living off it.
She then moves on to Shetland knitters and the tremendous amount of knitting they produced. She mentions a Shetlander woman being able to produce “200 odd stitches a minute!”. They would tuck one needle into a knitting pouch worn around their waists like a brace, so one hand could be free for everything else they were expected to accomplish in the course of their day.
Mary Thomas moves on through the decline of production knitting, as it was, with the advent of sock looms and knitting machines to produce the bulk of knitted clothing.
There is information on needles, point guards, more on the pouches, knitting spools, circular needles, etc. The next chapter is on yarn, how to start a center-pull ball, fiber types, ways to join yarn when you need to start a new ball, and tension. Keep in mind that this information is what was around in those times and hasn’t been updated so there isn’t anything on acrylic, polyester, etc.
There is a lot on the stitch techniques like the knit stitch, purling, increases and decreases, and casting on and binding off. The patterns are basic and the charts are outdated, but that’s the caveat you get when you’re using a book written 81 years ago. The book hasn’t been updated to include the standard symbols used in knitting but that’s a huge part of the charm.
There are a lot of photos and hand-drawn illustrations that give this book tons of character. While much has changed, the basics have stayed the same.
Without a doubt, it’s a worthy inclusion in any fiber library.