Free Knitting Patterns

[Judy]

Found alongside the Buried Treasure of tatting patterns on TROVE, the Australian Library site, is an extensive collection of knitting patterns.

I've confined my searches to the pages of the Australian Women's Journal, a weekly. In addition to including at least one knitted item in every issue, from time to time they published pull-out books filled with knitting patterns for everything from baby booties to coats, suits and dresses.

During the 1915-45 era, most of the patterns were for clothing, and described as useful; there seems to have been very limited quantities of manufactured woolen garments that went to the public, as the looms were turned to producing garments for the military, along with the thread and yarn machines. The removal of restrictions on the sale of thread and yarns to the public was a big news item. It seems the military stopped ordering after WWII, and stockpiles of thread and yarn languished in storage while public supplies became very scarce. The fashion industry rebounded, and later booklets, such as the one from 1961, features coats and jackets in a fashion conscious setting.

I've barely scratched the surface of this one journal and have identified at least 200 patterns. There is a Ravelry linked list that contains over 500 items, but I don't know the criteria used. Perhaps someone in Ravelry can share how it works.

[LaceMistress]

Do you have any links to the patterns or at the very least a generalized link? Thanks!

[LaurieE]

I did a Google search and found this link to the main library site is: http://trove.nla.gov.au/
I checked out some of the tatting books, patterns, etc. On one I got this message: "your library may already pay a vendor for access to this article." Many of the titles I clicked on took you to another site that may require a subscription or you need some kind of product key to access it: "It can only be opened on a specialized device with a key issued by the Library of Congress".

[Judy]

I have NEVER paid for, nor had any problems downloading PDF or doing a cut and paste for TXT. If you were clicking on BOOKS, that is a different story. I was looking only at materials which had been printed in newspapers and newspaper-like magazines. The link should take you to my list of knitting patterns. At the main site you can "search" LISTS for whatever you want. The books displayed at the sides are sort of like advertisements... hence the advice to find a local library instead of making a purchase.


http://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=18798