Recycle that needlework magazine maybe not!
September 22, 2009 by Noreen Crone-Findlay
Filed under Magazines, eco projects & green projects & recycling craft
I am a huge fan of living green, and reducing, re-using, recycling, reclaiming, repairing and upcycling.
BUT! There is one leetle bit of living green that I am going to ask people to re-consider.
www.blisstree.com/hankeringforyarn
Let me back up for a moment.
A few weeks ago,
when I was in the
local library,
I saw a table of
discontinued books
for sale.
There was also a
‘free’ box.
There was a bunch of stuff
that didn’t speak to me at all,
but, this magazine was in the box
and fairly flew into my arms!
It’s a British needlework magazine from April of 1963. I love studying the history of needlework, and one way to do that is to go to everyday sources.
Whenever I find a vintage needlework magazine, I am fascinated, as much by the ads and editorials and captions as by the actual patterns and projects in the magazine.
Much is revealed about women’s lives by the way they are addressed by editors and by how and what the advertisers pitch to the readers. There is a wealth of information about the belief systems of a culture in these documents of everyday life.
Besides, sometimes it is just plain funny to see how terminology has changed: Consider these instructions: In one of the patterns in the 1963 Stitchcraft magazine, the reader is told to buy a steel crochet hook # 2 1/2, unless they are ‘ a slack worker’, then use a #3 hook and if they are a tight worker, they should use a #2 hook. Any editor seeing those instructions nowadays would be firing off a short, sharp email to the designer!
Fast forward to the present: When I flipped open a new crochet magazine and saw a full page ad exhorting people to be heroic and recycle their magazines, I went- ‘WHOA!’
If the magazine doesn’t have projects that appeal to you, pass it on- to a friend, to a hospital, to a doctor’s waiting room, to the library, to the local school, to old folks homes, to the women’s shelter, to the church. But, please… re-consider putting needlework magazines in the recycling.
I would like to see knitting, crochet, weaving, spinning, embroidery, doll making and other needlework magazines survive to inspire more generations.
There are many ways of living green, but shredding needlework and craft magazines may not be the greenest of ‘green’ choices. Let’s consider all kinds of heritage when we think about green options.
Noreen, you are “spot on” with you comment about recycling needlework magazines. I have clipped from time to time but still have a large collection of The WorkBasket and my tongue hangs out as I try to justify buying all the Weldon’s Practical Needlework books republished. My studio is crammed with old magazines and old patterns that I will never use but enjoy reading. Thank you for validating my obsession. I also cringe when I see those recycling suggestions. ClaraC
Hi Clara
I am so glad that you feel the same way! I feel like a precious resource could be lost so easily! Apparently, data loss will mean that lots of our photos and documents that are currently existing as computer files will vanish, too, so it would be lovely to think that some archival material will remain…..
Enjoy your treasures!
Noreen, I totally agree. I’ve kept plenty, and I’ve given away any I don’t need any longer. I just cannot put them in the recycle bin. (I even have some around 100 years old!) But nowadays some magazines are offering online subscriptions (Quilting Arts, Cloth Paper Scissors come to mind), and that makes me wonder if print editions will go the way of the dinosaur someday. I prefer a bound magazine to hold and keep intact. I hope printed editions of needlework magazines don’t become obsolete like library card catalog files!
Well said Noreen! I absolutely agree with you! Look how we scrabble around now trying to find out about craft techniques that were all the go less than 30 years ago! Many of the modern expensive and glossy craft books are a very poor re-hash of what was common knowledge not so long ago, so why use the pale imitation when the genuine article is still around? There is always someone looking for that information who doesn’t have the means or the money to buy new, or who treasures familiar patterns, or who wants to learn dimly rembered techniques used by a mother or grandmother.
These magazines are also an anthropological record that is valuable to the social historian and others who are interested in how we did things and how society has changed!
Yes! Yes! Yes! thank you, Caroline! They are indeed a powerful storehouse of knowledge! I love the subtle nuances that you can un-earth as you peruse them!
Hi Barbara
Oh, wouldn’t it be tragic if all needlework and craft magazines went digital/electronic? Especially given the spectre of data erosion? There is deep magic and joy in holding old magazines in your hands…. long may they continue to flourish!