crocheting

(Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

I've just begun reading Nancy Mitford's essay collection The Water Beetle and have learned that this author's name can be added to the list of notable needlewomen who contributed to the World War I effort.

In "Blor," the first essay in this collection, she recollects how she crocheted for the cause:
"I was soon sitting like a tricoteuse, on the balcony of Grandfather Redesdale's house in Kensy High Street, crocheting an endless purple scarf while the troops marched by on their way to France. (There was no khaki wool to be had so early in the war--you took what you could get.)"

Soon after, she apparently obtained a supply of khaki yarn:
"I fell in love with Captain Platt in my father's regiment, an important General of the next war, and crocheted endless pairs of khaki mittens for him--I am not sure that they were inflicted on him. In any chase, all this crocheting was the nearest I ever got to killing an enemy, a fact which I am still regretting."

In 1914, Nancy Mitford would have turned just ten years old. To learn more about the life of Nancy Mitford, you can read books about her that the Library has at the Humanities & Social Sciences Research Library or those available for checkout at the branches.

Wishing they knew how to keep their tea warmer, no doubt. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

After reading a recent article in Australia's Age about the demand for unique handcrafted tea cosies made by volunteers in Pascoe Vale, Australia, I became curious about the past and present status of the cosy.

According to Richard Rutt in A History of Hand Knitting, the first documented use of a tea cosy was in 1867. Tea cosies flourished during the Victorian era, a period in which homemakers were obsessed with the decoration or covering of any and all available objects.

Tea cosies had their heyday on this side of the Atlantic as well, as the newspapers of the late nineteenth century reveal. An Oct. 20, 1892 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that "cosies are enjoying a sudden and unexpected rise in public favor" among women who hosted afternoon teas in their reception rooms. In Boston, a town with quite a reputation when it comes to tea parties, an issue of the Boston Journal (Nov. 25, 1879) included in its women's advice column an explanation of just what a tea cosy is--"simply a wadded covering for your teapot"-- and hints on making one: "Some very handsome ones are made of remnants of heavy brocade, but linen is generally used, embroidered or not, according to taste, as these covers are washable. Make the covering large enough for your teapot and provide a ring at the top to lift it off with." I read these articles in America's Historical Newspapers, an excellent database which enables you to find what you want fast in old American newspapers--it's available at all Library locations.

What is happening in the world of contemporary tea cosies? Teapotmania: The Story of the British Craft Teapot and Teacosy provides some answers. This exhibition catalog for a 1995 show at the Norfolk Museums and Archeology Service on contemporary British artists' and artisans' embrace of the teapot and teacosy as artistic forms provides both historical context as well as plenty of illustrations of the objects included in this exhibition. Artists of both pottery and needlework will find inspiration in the work of the artists represented here. Additionally, this museum's teapot collection now numbers almost three thousand teapots that can be browsed at their website. And if etsy is any guide, then there is both an interest and a market for handmade cosies today--search tea cozy AND tea cosy to be sure that you don't miss out.

It turns out that you need not drink tea in a cold drafty home to appreciate a fine cosy, after all.

Have "modish travelling-costume," will travel! (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

Connecting with enthusiastic craft-loving people is a big part of why I enjoy teaching my Handmade Then and Now class at the Library. And this weekend I will have the good fortune of talking with even more yarn devotees at Knitty City, where I've been invited to teach knitters and crocheters how to get the most out of the Library's collections. I'm more than glad to take my little Handmade show on the road.

Knitty City is a bright and cozy shop on the Upper West Side. It is brimming with books, yarns, hooks, needles, patterns, and friendly staff. The staff is knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and very welcoming. They know their fiber arts and have given me great advice and encouragement on sock making and yarn choice. In my class I will provide helpful hints on navigating New York Public Library as a whole, I'll share tips on searching for patterns (both new and vintage), and I'll bring along some examples to share. And if I've gotten far at all in my first attempt at socks (I'm following Cookie A's Hedera pattern, I'll bring my work along to share with you all. So please bring your own knitting too, and join us!

Saturday, June 21, 1:00pm
Knitty City
208 West 79th (between Broadway and Amsterdam)

This scene would take mountains of wool to recreate. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery.)

I have lately been admiring the crocheted coral and other sea creatures designed by jpolka. But I did not know of the application of crochet to the hard science of the sea until I read about hyperbolic crochet, a means of creating complex models of hyperbolic planes using the basics of crochet--hook and yarn. The resulting works can be gorgeous as well as enlightening. Cabinet Magazine (available online and at the Library) featured in its Issue 16 Margaret Wertheim, director of the Institute for Figuring, Daina Taimina, and David Henderson, three leading thinkers in this field. The article provides a friendly introduction to hyperbolic crochet, and it is illustrated with examples of the crocheted works by Taimina. Wertheim is currently at work curating a woolly New York Reef, and contributors are invited to take part.

And, on Tuesday, April 8th, at 7:00pm, craft will collide with science at the American Museum of Natural History, when Wertheim talks with Kate Holmes, a marine biologist at the museum. As described on the museum's site, the evening's topic will be "the plight of coral reefs and the art of 'hyperbolic crochet,' a fusion of handicraft, mathematics, marine ecology, conservation activism, and collective artistic practice." Entrance fees will be $15.00 per person, or a reduced $13.50 per member, student, or senior citizen. You can read more about the evening on the museum's events page.

I hope to see you there! In the meantime, you can get tips on creating your own hyperbolic creatures at the the Institute for Figuring's website.