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TO KNIT OR NOT TO KNIT.
The Mid-Ulster Mail. Saturday. January 11. 1930
The Musical Committee of the
Royal Dublin Society have decided
that in future the ladies who are
seen knitting at the Recitals will be
asked to stop or leave the hall, as
the pleasure of music lovers is
ruined by the irritant click of knitting
needles and winding of wool.
This so-called objectionable habit
would be counted a virtue in
Derry Workhouse where, the
master says only one woman can
knit, and she gets no time to knit
for she is kept so busy darning.
Why not instal a knitting-machine?
Some of the non-knitters
might be induced to manipulate it.
But then Derry Workhouse is
rather primitive. It was explained
to the Board that before Christmas
the inmates preferred to eat meat
off the wooden table without
plates, knives or forks. The
wonder is they bother wearing
socks or necessitated the Master to
apply for six dozen pairs!! No
mention is made of stockings but it
is possible that even inside a workhouse
the lady inmates would decline
to wear the hand-knitted
variety. Indeed it was
reported that in an institution not
far away, the women's dresses
were tucked so as to leave the
skirts the fashionable length.
The National Union of English
Teachers, at their last meeting in
Canterbury, advocated the teaching
of cooking and needlework to
boys and light wood-work to girls,
so knitting may not be altogether a
lost art.
If you enjoyed the vintage
knitting articles on pages 4 and 9,
please let us know and we’ll
publish more.
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