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Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art

Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art
By Susan M. Strawn

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Average customer review:
(16 customer reviews)

Product Description

The first fully detailed, full-color, comprehensive history of knitting in America from Colonial times to the present, with vintage pattern booklets, posters, postcards, and photos.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #700099 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-10-15
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: .98" h x 9.62" w x 11.06" l, 2.97 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 208 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

Spin-Off, 

Winter 2007

“Susan has successfully balanced both broad picture and details … Her comprehensive overview assembles a vast collection of ideas for enjoyment now and for deeper exploration in the future.”

“This meticulously researched look at knitting America, from Colonial times to the present, earns an honored place on the bookshelf next to A History of Hand Knitting and No Idle hands.  Thing is, it’s so visually interesting, you’re going to want to leave it out on the coffee table instead. The illustrations tell the story as vividly as the text…..It’s a must-have for fiber historians.”
--Yarn Market News

Creative Knitting, March 2008
"Part picture book, part social history, part entertainment and all fun, Knitting America places the ordinary task of knitting into the larger context of American history. Beginning with the first American knitters and working her way through the decades to the present, historian and avid knitter Susan Strawn shares a wealth of information about how knitters have supported our troops during wartime, clothed their families, founded businesses and expressed their creativity...There are images of beautiful knitted items, and examples of printed patterns and knitting posters.  The text is fascinating and well-researched; if you are looking for a topic for your next master's thesis, you'll find one here.  Whether you read it for the history, or look at it for the delightful illustrations, you'll find yourself engrossed in this captivating book".

 



Bookwormsez

syndicated column, December 2007

“This comprehensive book includes some fascinating pictures of knitter past and includes 20 patterns to try.  Hint: knitting isn’t just for Moms!  Dads and brothers love it, too.”

From the Inside Flap

Through war and peace, bad times and good, Americans have knit and purled as though it were an inalienable right alongside life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
 
Here now is the history of knitting in America, from pilgrims to pioneers, slaves to First Ladies, the Amish and Shakers to the Native Americans. Here as well you will find the rise and fall of mohair, the ongoing passion for ethnic knitting, the never-ending quest for warm socks, and the brave new world of art knitting.
 
Knitter and scholar Susan M. Strawn unravels knitting history with more than 300 rare color and black-and-white images of knitters and knitwear from collections around the country.
 
Also included are 20 historical knitting patterns—a Jamestown-era cap, Victorian silk gloves and miser’s purse, a Civil War soldier’s stockings, Zoar mittens, Red Cross socks and wristlets, and more vintage lace, shawl, scarf, and sweater patterns you can recreate today.
 
Contributors include Linda Ligon, Deborah Robson, Katharine Cobey, Karen Searle, Karin Timour, Sumi Wu, Kathryn Alexander, Amy Clarke Moore, Lindsay Obermeyer, Paula Becker, and more.

From the Back Cover

A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art
Wars and warm socks! Perils and purls! High treason and high art!
 
Here is the history of knitting in America in all its many-stranded, multicolored glory.
Knitter and scholar Susan M. Strawn unravels knitting history from pilgrims to pioneers, immigrants to native people, through war and peace. With more than 300 color and black-and-white images of knitters and knitwear, this is a story packed with much ado about knitting
 
Also included are 20 historical knitting patterns—a Jamestown-era cap, Victorian silk gloves and miser’s purse, a Civil War soldier’s stockings, Zoar mittens, Red Cross socks and wristlets, and more vintage lace, shawl, scarf, and sweater patterns you can recreate today.
 
“This meticulously researched look at knitting in America, from Colonial times to the present, earns an honored place on the bookshelf next to A History of Hand Knitting and No Idle Hands. Thing is, it’s so visually interesting, you’re going to want to leave it out on the coffee table instead. The illustrations tell the story as vividly as the text. . . . It’s a must-have for fiber historians.”
—Yarn Market News
 
“Susan has placed the history of knitting within the context of American history, so we can clearly see how knitting is intertwined with such subjects as geography, migration, politics, economics, female emancipation, and evolving social mores. She has traced how a melting pot of knitting traditions found their way into American culture via vast waves of immigration, expanded opportunity for travel, and technology.”
—Melanie Falick, author of Knitting in America