I’ve had fun collecting old sock blockers for several years now. I have them in several spots around The Loopy Ewe. I’m to the point where I look for longer and more unusual ones when I’m poking around in antique stores these days. I’m not sure how many I need, but I probably have close to enough! Here are some of my favorites:
I also like the hand carders in that last photo. Those belonged to my husband’s grandmother, so they’re even more special. Here’s a good video, if you want to see how they are used.
Another thing I like – unusual old wooden hangers. These have found their way into displaying shawls and sweaters here at Loopy. I like the combination of old wood and bright new yarn.
For those of you who like old things, do you have any favorite items that you’re always watching for? (And more importantly, am I missing out on any old knitting items that I ought to be collecting??) I think old sock machines and old wooden winders are cool, but they take up more room and aren’t as easy to incorporate into displays.
Sheri noroomathomeforthesecollections.
GoodthingIhaveLoopy.
i adore the old bone needles and wooden darning tools. But then I also adore old western and chicken/farm type items… egg gathering baskets, milk glass vintage table linens, etc… always on the lookout for a new treasure!
I tend to pick up old china tea cups (for some reason, I almost always gravitate to old Limoges, go figure), and old tape measures. There are some really pretty ones out there. I have one that’s mother of pearl and sterling, and just gorgeous! Another that’s brass and looks like a walnut. Old books are another favorite of mine. Not necessarily collector’s items, though some are. Old embellished pillow cases and stuff are always good, and sometimes you’ll find beautiful bits of handmade lace just screaming for some love, too. I also like old bakeware (cake pans, bread pans, etc.) because you can usually use it and it works really well.
Um…. Yea…. I could go on for a while…. 😀
I think sock darning eggs would be a nice addition to your collection. They aren’t big, but I’m not sure how you could display them.
Not exactly knitting related, but I love old cast iron, especially irons. I remember my Great Grandmother always had one heating on her wood stove. I don’t think she had used it in a long time, but she liked having it at the ready. I have her iron and all her cast iron cookware. I don’t use the iron but the cookware is still going strong.
I’ve picked up several cast iron irons at flea markets. I use them as door stops around the house when the weather’s nice enough to have all the windows open (hardly at all this spring).
Your sock blockers are very charming. I like things made out of twigs bent into various shapes. But, my favorite items to collect are teapots and teacups. I do use them daily and do not just look at them.
I like looking for antique wooden darning eggs and even though i don’t have the room, antique spinning wheels. Non-knitting related, I adore all things Fire King, especially the jadeite.
I used to look for pink depression glass until it got too expensive for my budget. I still look for antique tatting shuttles, crochet hooks and knitting needles as well as ask my mom to look since she is a QUEEN of estate sales where she lives!
I love your sock blockers. I have a small collection of tea pots – some very old, some new. The other thing I like to collect are old buttons. I have inherited several tins of old buttons and am adding to them all the time.
Love the sock blockers! I collect baby knitting patterns from the ’50s. I love the ones that have pictures of actual children as models. It’s fun to look at the styles and the accessories in the pictures. I often wonder about the children that were models. Was it fun for them? Do they even remember? The patterns are fun too!
Oh, old hangers! I have some turquoise wooden ones that belonged to my aunt and perhaps my grandmother before her. Not great for today’s clothes, but I cannot get rid of them. I also collect old knitting books. To be honest, I’m old enough to have some vintage ones of my own from when I worked at a knit shop in the 60’s. Oh those hair styles! and the wonderful psychedelic fashions!
I inherited my German grandmother’s nut chopper – it has 2 wooden handles and you hold one at each end and rock the blade back and forth to chop nuts for stollen, a German Christmas bread. It was made in Germany and I suspect that her mother brought it over. So now I look for old wooden nut choppers (just the handles are wood, not the blades!) and I have about 20 of them. They aren’t too big so are a good collection to display in the kitchen. Mostly I find them with about a 6″ blade and a handle at the top of that to use to rock. I also have some wooden sock blockers, darning eggs, a spinning wheel, a yarn winder, huge spools and some old sewing machines………… and then there are the rolling pins. Thanks for asking!
I’m slowly filling the house with sheepies. And I collect refrigerator magnets. I picked up a couple of new treasures on my way back from Spring Fling at the Pink Elephant antique mall (a couple was all I could handle–that place blew my mind after only two aisles!). They were small and inexpensive, but they said they wanted to come home with me. Nothing that I collect normally, but they asked nicely. 🙂 I have several zillion books, too, but those are for reading and treasuring, not collecting.
And then there are the things I didn’t mean to collect…like the THIRD box of trash bags I found tonight….
Umm I may have accidentally started collecting old sewing machines. I should probably stop because at some point I really won’t have a place to put them or the ability to use them. They are one thing I keep an eye out for at estate sales though, that and any knitting paraphernalia. 🙂
I collect, collect and collect. I look for Porcelier teapots, Ransburg cookie jars, vintage Red Wing pottery, depression glass, 1940’s printed table cloths, old sewing stuff and Homer Laughlin Harelquin dinnerware. And anything else that looks interesting or odd. I need a bigger house.
Sheri, that Citron is gorgeous! i have yet to knit one for myself and after seeing this I think I will use lace instead of the planned sock yarn.
So the sock blockers are trekking to Colorado as well huh?
Hope the move is not doing your head in.
My biggest collection is my yarn stash, but even before I was a yarnie, I collected Ernie and Bert (Sesame Street characters) stuff. They always makes me smile, and since my husband had some Bert collectibles when we met (I had Ernie stuff), I knew we were made for each other. I also have a disability-themed toy collection, the best part of which is the Stephen Hawking action figure from The Simpsons.
Hmmmm. I shall have to start looking around for knitting items like egg darners, sock blockers, nostepennes (spelling?), knitting needles and sewing needles. I love the sock blockers you have found.
Growing up we collected beach glass. It wasn’t necessarily old, but it looked old even in its place of splendor in a ball jar.