When the National Library of Australia (NLA) began digitising old newspapers and magazines and adding them to its database Trove, one search term was surprisingly popular.
"We started to notice that one of the subject headings that was most often targeted was knitting patterns," Kathryn Favelle, director of community engagement at the NLA told Christine Layton on ABC Radio Perth.
"What was happening was that a great online community of knitters was starting to dig into the old newspapers and magazines to find inspiration.
"We started looking and saying, 'What could we do with these knitting patterns and how could we bring them to a new audience?'.
The result has been a book, Vintage Knits, recently released by NLA publishing, which has 25 knitting patterns from the 1930s, '40s and '50s as well as stories of the history of knitting.
But Ms Favelle said creating the book wasn't as simple as copying the patterns directly from the archival material.
"Often in the old patterns only one size is provided in the newspaper or pattern book, we're used to now getting pattern books that offer you four, five or six sizes to choose from," she said.
"The knitters that they were publishing for knew how to knit and adjust [the size].
"Most of us don't have that skill anymore, so Vintage Knits takes those old patterns and has adapted them for modern knitters and also gives us some tips and tricks for how we can make adjustments of our own."
Have we stretched over time?
When the book development first started, the NLA approached volunteer knitters to test the original patterns and made a surprising discovery.
"Their first attempt to knit these vintage patterns up, using the same ply wool and same-sized needles, often resulted in something that was much smaller than what we would be expecting for that pattern," she said.
"Whether that was an issue around the quality of the wool, or the fact that our body sizes have changed, and people are taller and wider, bigger in the shoulders than perhaps they were 50–60 years ago. We had to experiment with the pattern to see what would work and what would give a similar effect today."
Yarn has also changed, and many of the fibres and brands that were recommended almost 100 years ago are no longer available, while knitters now have many more options to choose from.
Styles from a more constrained era
Styles in those decades were also noticeably more fitted than modern day knitwear, she said.
"One of my favourites in the book is called the Margaret. It was created by a woman called Margaret Eaton and she was responding to a request from knitters for something that would replace a silk blouse."
Published in 1936, in the middle of the Depression, the pattern responded to tough times when readers may have been looking to reuse wool from an old garment and make something themselves.
It's also fairly simple.
"One of the reasons why I like the Margaret is that it's in a very simple garter stitch. If you only know one stitch in knitting, garter stitch is the one that you learn first."
Knitting is for everyone
While it has traditionally been a women's craft, Ms Favelle said that men also had a long history of knitting and it had had a resurgence in popularity among all ages with the pandemic lockdowns.
"We often think of knitting as being women's work and through the '20s, '30s and '40s women would have been the dominant household knitters," she said.
Like many people, Ms Favelle learned to knit at home as a child.
"I remember being nine years old and going into the local knitting shop at Top Ryde and choosing the wool and pattern for my first knitted jumper. It was such a special moment," she said.
"My grandmother used to to knit a lovely singlet for the new babies in the family, and I think it was probably her knitting that inspired me. But it was mum who taught me."
ABC Radio Perth listeners shared similar memories.
Rosie: "My father was in the navy in World War II and he taught me the basics of knitting. Mum couldn't knit to save herself."
Clare: "My granny taught me to knit when I was four and then I stopped in my early twenties; but then picked it up again during lockdown in 2020."
Barb: "I recall being so excited when my father came home from a trip and brought my sister I a ball of wool and knitting needles. I was probably about seven or eight years old. I made my husband-to-be a jumper in 1967 from good wool. He still wears it – the only repairs needed are around the cuffs!"
While she still knits, Ms Favelle said these days she often prefers looser styles that require less precision, and said there were many how-to videos online to help beginners get started.
"It's for everyone and it's great that it's really been embraced through the long period of lockdowns and uncertainty as we've looked for new ways of doing things, new things to do with our hands.
