More Famous Knitters (and Crocheters)

Ingrid Bergman again, looking very summery.

Loretta Young, perhaps not quite managing that heel turn?

Cass Elliot.

Meryl Streep, either in "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995) or on the set of it.  I've heard, by the way, that later she knit the shawl she wore as Sister Aloysius in "Doubt" (2008), so there's a bonus for this post, a bit of "Knitting in the Movies"! --

A very young Natalie Wood.

Queen Victoria, of course.  Presumably she learned to knit as a girl, but certainly she's far more often seen crocheting.

Shirley Temple.

Tasha Tudor.

Greer Garson, apparently with great sang froid knitting straight from the skein.

Veronica Lake.

Anne Frank, ca.1941.  I don't see any needles at all, so possibly she is crocheting, but in her diary she mentions knitting.

And Doris Day again, twice, early-ish in her career and later-ish --

Comments

[Paula Fletcher]

Anne Frank has the yarn in her right hand. How do you crochet that way? She's likely using a short double pointed sock needles. My thoughts any way :)

[Jeanne]

Well, I did say "possibly"! Apparently she mentions knitting socks now and then in her diary, and that certainly could be a toe, but when did people start knitting socks toe-up?? The more I looked at it, the more ambiguous it seemed to me, without seeing any needles – if there were four there, surely we’d see at least part of one – though I did go and look at a lot of photos of her, to know whether she was right or left-handed!

(It's touching to see her with yarn in her hands, though, either way.)

[Toffeeapple]

Who is/was Tasha Tudor? A name that I have never heard!

Must get my knitting out too.

[Jeanne]

T, Tasha Tudor was probably best known for being a children’s book illustrator, watercolors in a gentle, realistic, old-fashioned style. I confess that I was not particularly interested in her books as a child or as a young adult (which working in the children’s section of the public library was actually my heyday for picture books), possibly because I preferred a bit more tartness in my picture books. Perhaps too simplistically, she was the Kate Greenaway of the second half of the 20th century. There is not much that isn’t idyllic in her books, though as an adult I appreciate this more than I did as a child. She was also known for her 1830s New England lifestyle, raising goats and chickens (and Corgis!), growing produce and flowers, and hand-sewing her clothes in the 1830s country styles. Her garden in Vermont is justly famous for its beauty and nostalgic simplicity, and she also collected period clothing, and inspired a wonderful dollhouse in the folk art museum at Williamsburg. The idyll came at a price, of course – such rigorous adherence to a personal dream can (and did, in her case) cause ripples of dissension in the people around you – but in the broader view, she was a true eccentric in the best sense of the word.

[Paula Fletcher]

Jeanne, I was thinking she was just using the short needles to knit with, not necessarily making socks. I thought maybe that's why we don't see the needles?

[juliet brown]

How wonderful they all look - I am not sure my knitting style is quite so photogenic (the tongue has been known to stick out the corner of my mouth at moments of high knitting drama)