THE KNITTING ROOM

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 88, 13 April 1935, Page 23

THE KNITTING ROOM

HELP FOR THE NOVICE

"A New York friend who has been spending, a few weeks with me ,is amazed at the lack of enterprise shown by the wool departments, of our large stores," states a writer in the "Manchester Guardian." "Stores of that kind in New York, she states, have, a knitting-room for the convenience of their customers, in charge of a capable woman who understands hand-knitting from Ato Z. She 'not only advises customers as to the styles which would suit them, but explains the instructions in the knitting-books, where these are, difficult for the novice to follow, and' puts right mistakes which have been made. Customers are, in fact, encouraged to take their knitting there, and it is no uncommon thing for women to spend two or three hours in the knit-ting-room, working and chatting with their friends.

"The results benefit the ' stores equally with the customers since so much more wool is bought. It would seem to be a custom which English firms might do well to follow, for, whilst most women like knitting, the instructions which the knitting-books give are usually, for all but the home-made-looking styles, much too complicated for the novice to follow. One begins a costume that looks comparatively easy and at the same time out of the ordinary, only to'find it impossible to keep to the pattern when the narrowings have to be. made. Follows much undoing and restarting, and finally- the half-knitted costume is dumped in a drawer and the conviction is formed that; the buying of wool is a waste of time as well as of money. In New York the mistake could have been put right in the knitting-room of the stores where the wool was bought, and the knitter would have been invited to remain until all her difficulties had been cleared up."