CRAZE FOR KNITTING.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18625, 3 May 1932, Page 5

CRAZE FOR KNITTING.

SWEEPS OVER CHRISTCHURCH. WOOL TRADE BENEFITS. Says the Christchurch Sun: Never an idle moment these days—everyone is knitting—knitting in the trams, and knitting in the pictures, knitting on the way to school and college, and knitting between bouts of typing in office hours. Sister Susie, who knitted socks for soldiers in the war years, has her modern counterpart, it Is, in fact, just the war years over again. And, incidentally, it is very good for New Zealand trade. Even the men are not exempt, and the schoolboys in the lower classes are industriously purling and plaining along with the girls. The good old Scotch fashion of teaching a man to knit his own socks seems likely t,o come in again. If you want really to gauge this knitting craze at its best, visit the wool counter of any shop just before closing hour. The rest of the building may be deserted, but the crowd will be four deep in front of that particular counter. And as the minutes tick on, the desperate woolly look in the customers’ eyes grows more acute. They may be left for an evening, or maybe a whole week-end, without any knitting I Occasionally a man may be found whirled about like a stray dog in the midst of the buyers. It is pitiful to hear him ask for “three-ply wheeling” in a timid voice—but what a testimony to his wife's enthusiasm. This knitting business started as a craze in England some short while ago. It appears to be in a fair way of becoming a world-wide orgy. What are they knitting? Jumpers, scarves, dressing jackets, gloves, golf hose, socks, stockings—everything 1 If a girl wants to demonstrate her love Cor her fiance she knits him a pair of golf stockings. Wedding showers tend to become woolly, and any weli-cared-for baby sets out in life with an outfit that almost baas. Doctors are ordering knitting as a cure for frayed nerves. “It is very soothing,” said one medical man. “I always advise women to knit, if possible. But It’s only lately they’ve shown ay desire to follow my advice." What an opportunity for husbands! “Darling, you look edgy. Finish my new socks and soothe yourself." Just why are we all knitting so Industriously? One observant assistant in a large city shop put it neatly and probably accurately: “People have to stay at home more now," she said. “They can't go out so much, and they can't he idle. They must do something. Knitting occupies the mind as well as the hands.” Those veterans of the knitting needles, the old ladies -who during war years put up sock records, have come into their own again. The really popular woman is tho one who knits and reads at the same time. One old lady is making a few honest shillings demonstrating the art. No really nice woman would be seen without a pair of knitting needles in her hands these days. The other evening a whole row of girls at a certain picture theatre knitted away industriously till'the show began, took up the work in the interval, and even dropped a few sLitchos while following the heroine’s adventures. The roof garden of a big city shop Is never without its brigade of knitting women; they knit in the trams, the squares, at concerts, afternoon teas. It is even whispered that one college professor is thinking of having a notice, “No knitting,” put up in his lecture-room I The recent school committee elections provided an opportunity for a display of knitting prowess -on the part of the feminine electors, and two prominent social workers—one a city councillor—purl and plain industriously through discusfsons on unemployment, civic warfare and hospital board matters.

The whole thing is good for New Zealand growers and manufacturers. That worthy patriotic spirit is rapidly developing among us, and tjuite a fair proportion of customers ask for something exclusively New Zealand, something that has, as it were, baa-ed on the premises. And New Zealand wools, so those entitled to speak with authority declare, are higher in quality and more varied in colour than before. They successfully challenge, and more than challenge, comparison with the overseas brand.