The Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book

by Jane Eayre Fryer

A charming and easy-to-use instruction book in knitting and crocheting techniques, with over 55 projects. Originally written as a young girl's instructional, adult doll collectors are now using this as a valuable reference book to learn knitting and crocheting fashions for their dolls. The book is full of projects, easy for the novice as well as the experienced enthusiast.

Genres: Knitting, Nonfiction, Crafts

270 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

As a 36 year old school teacher from Merchantville, New Jersey, Jane Eayre Fryer wrote the first Mary Frances book---and left a lasting legacy. Combining fact and fancy for a complete course in home economics, her innovative concept was to teach useful things in an entertaining way. The Mary Frances books were not mere storybooks to be read and cast aside; these were instruction books, in story form, designed to teach valuable life skills to youthful readers in a playful manner. In 7 volumes, Jane Eayre Fryer leads Mary Frances through great adventures---and as Mary Frances learns cooking, sewing, housekeeping, gardening, first aid, knitting and crocheting from her fairy helpers, the reader learns right along with her.

Reviews

[Ketutar Jensen]

Well... it was published 1918, so I suppose WWI was very much an issue... but Jane Eayre Fryer didn't quite... let Mary Frances grow. She got a baby doll "almost as big as she was"... and this was published 6 years after the Mary Frances Cook Book. In which Mary Frances was about... 8? At least deemed by the illustrations. Maybe 10? So she should be a teenager by now.
(Frankly, letting a child unsupervised in the kitchen with fire... er... What were you thinking, Jane?)
And Billy is playing with dolls, even though he is about the same age as Mary Frances.
But considering how fragile constitution their dad has... and mother, too... maybe the whole family is a bit... Except Mary Frances, who is a superwoman and manages to take care of the whole household at the age of 10 all by herself. And her fairy friends.
Geesh!

[Lara]

A very sweet reprint of a children's knitting and crocheting instructional book. It tells the charming story of the knitting and crocheting people teaching the eager Mary Frances how to crochet and knit items for her annoying and spoiled dolly Mary Marie. It includes instructions (using the original terminology) for over 55 projects, mostly for dolls, but also for the Red Cross war effort.

[Heather]

Delightful

If you want a kindle version of this book, this one is fabulous. All the original illustrations are included. In book links are also used for ease of navigation. A delightful book for children to learn from or for those interested in historical yarn crafts.

[Elise]

This is a facsimile edition of a book issued in 1918, to teach children how to knit and crochet, a continuation on a book teaching them how to sew. Of course, it is aimed at girls, which is not surprising. It mixes a story about young Mary Frances with directions and patterns on how to crochet and knit.

Mary Frances' aunt is surprised that she does not know how to knit or crochet. She declares that she will teach her, but is called away by a family emergency. Instead she is taught by Wooly Ball, Crow Shay (a crochet hook), Knick and Knack (knitting needles), Yarn Baby (a small doll made out of bits of yarn) and a crafting fairy. She learns a variety of techniques by making clothing and toys for her baby doll Mary Marie.

The patterns are simple, and would be suitable for small first projects, completed quickly before interest lags. In one of the chapters they do address Mary Frances' disappointment when she has to rip back to fix mistakes. At the end, they include knitted projects designed by the Red Cross suitable for knitting for soldiers.

Yarn descriptions and needle sizes were not at all standardized at that time, so there would be a bit of figuring out modern equivalents. Also, Mary Frances makes another yarn baby for her doll, using black yarn to make a 'colored' baby which is pretty cringy these days, but not out of character for the time.

[Gillian]

A sweet little treasure. Written as a story where little Mary Frances discovers how to knit and crochet with the help of Fairy Fairly Flew, Crow-Shay and others, and fully kits out her little doll. Includes genuine patterns. The final two or three chapters contain Red Cross patterns for useful items for serving soldiers.

[Annelisa]

This book officially turns 100 this year, and it's still providing pleasure. This is something that I would have loved to receive as a little girl during the time, or that I would have given to someone as a present. And anything with talking objects automatically gets a "yes" from me.

[Amber]

there are some patterns from the red cross for soldiers in whichever world war that are interesting, including a knitted helmut- i almost wonder if helmut meant hat because i don't see how it would protect you, unless maybe you knitted nano-sized stitches but still probably not

[Kara]

Overall cute concept. Some of the pictures in this book are labeled wrong. One of them is in the knitting section labeled as a finger cast on but it is the crochet cast on. I am excited to try some of the patterns!

[Diane]

a bit of a hard translation as a free ebook, but SO cute. Reminds me of books my mom used to let me read at my grama's