Project Gutenberg has some great books that are in the public domain that you can enjoy online or download for free. Most of them are older, but many are as fresh today as when they were first written.
Today I found some on crocheting, knitting and embroidery. If you’re interested in any of these art forms you may enjoy looking at these books.
But first, here’s a poem called “The Praise of the Needle”, by John Taylor, that I thought you might enjoy. It was in one of the books:
Hills, Dales, Plains, Pastures, Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees,
There’s nothing near at hand, or farthest sought,
But with the needle may be shap’d and wrought.
Here are some of the books with links to their download urls at Gutenberg:
Exercises in Knitting
Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, etc.
Beeton’s Book of Needlework
Encyclopedia of Needlework
The Development of Embroidery in America
Jacobean Embroidery
Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving
The Art of Modern Lace Making
This article was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Arts and Crafts, Book Sites, Books & Stories, Crafts, Crocheting, Embroidery, English, Knitting, Languages, Learning, Recommendations, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I showed this to my wife this, now she has no excuse of not learning, Good resources and a informative post.
Thanks
Herman
February 28th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I think it’s easier to learn crocheting than knitting.
I’m a lefty – so knitting is particularly hard to learn without another lefty to show you how. It’s a little easier for righties. Right off the bat there are many more instructors around!
-Mama Lisa
March 18th, 2008 at 4:54 am
Excellent!
I have been on the look out for such a material for a very long time.
Thank you so much.
Regards,
Revathi
July 17th, 2008 at 12:38 am
I’m glad I found your site because I have a Mexican son-in-law two half-Mexican grandchildren (as well as two much younger daughters who are learning Spanish by my teaching). I love all your information on Mexico, the culture (as diverse as it is in Mexico), and lifestyle. At my granddaughter’s first birthday, many Mexican friends gathered and when the pinatas were presented for the children to burst, the pinata song was song. I asked Martha, a new friend from Mexico, to teach it to me, but we never found the time. Thanks for putting it on your site! Dale, Dale, Dale! Now, as for lefties learning crochet or knitting, I learned both quite easily, but I crochet everything exactly backward … so no one can take up my work to finish it and I have had a great deal of trouble teaching my right-handed daughter to crochet. Knitting should be easily taught to anyone. The casting on needle is always in the left hand and the casting off in the right … it doesn’t matter if one is left-handed or right. I can’t wait to visit more areas on your site and learn everything I can about Mexico and it’s people. I am particularly interested in the Aztec culture, as my son in from an Aztec trbie.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for the tips on knitting lefty!
We don’t currently have any Aztec songs or specific cultural area about the Aztecs. If I come across a good site, I’ll let you know. Hopefully we’ll be adding material in this area in the future!
Did you see all of our Mexican songs from the Children’s Songs Around the World site? You may enjoy those too.
-Lisa
December 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I discovered how to crochet when I was a teenager. It took me a long time to get it right but in the end I can create lots of items now. I love to crochet!