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Grace Ennis was on all accounts a pretty Bel Air blonde - as well as a passionate woman who embraced life to the fullest. When she was five years old, she showed an extraordinary knack for knitting. But it wasn't until 1939 when she was 29 years old and newly married to Claire Ennis, that the full expression of her art began to take shape. When Claire expressed his great desire for Grace - and her hand knit socks - she began working out her colorful designs on graph paper.
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Grace in 1939. Claire took the picture in the San Diego harbor just as he left for duty at sea on the US Nevada. |
Soon Claire, a popular Naval
Officer stationed in Coronado, California, sported his first pair of custom
argyles. The socks became all the rage with his friends and co-workers on the
base. Enlisted men placed orders with Grace hand over foot. And Grace delivered:
Every design was inspired, executed with style, flare, and of course, Grace.
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Grace quickly became known as the artist of modern
knitting - a title she always adored. And what a modern woman she was! Her hobby
soon turned into a thriving business with high demand for her men's sock
designs. The year was 1946. With the war behind us and plenty of yarn available,
Graphic Knitting Patterns was officially born and privately financed with the
profits from her first sales.
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She studied the expensive process
of printing at night, approached a lithographer and hired him to fulfill her
first order: 500 full color prints of the argyle pattern, complete with her own
detailed instructions, packaged and sold to yarn stores throughout America. The
printer mistakenly overran the order - and with 2000 patterns to sell - there
still weren't enough patterns to fulfill the hundreds and hundreds of orders.
Soon Claire and Grace set up a printing press at their new home in Bel Air,
California. They began printing multiple runs of Grace's patterns - everything
from her classics to her most fanciful novelty designs. She stored all of the
patterns at home, yet always kept one file box filled with a dozen patterns of
each design close to her drawing table.
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The house in Bel Air California in 1957 before the fire. |
In 1955, Graphic Knitting Patterns generated over 200,000 dollars in gross sales. Grace sold her patterns direct to: High-end department stores such as Bullocks Wilshire and, to specialty yarn shops throughout the world, including Hong Kong, Australia and the United Kingdom. Grace sold hundreds of thousands of patterns in one year alone. She was truly spinning success. And loving every minute of it.
At home on the afternoon of November 6th, 1961 while putting the finishing touches on her latest holiday stocking patterns, Grace became alarmed by the smell of smoke. It soon became clear that flames were spreading quickly throughout the exclusive hillside enclave of Bel Air. She quickly evacuated her home, hurriedly placing her most prized possessions into her Cadillac. With Socks the Boston Terrier, her flat silver, the file of master patterns - and Jack the Myna bird repeatedly whistling you're sexy - Grace sped down the hill through the firestorm, looking back only to see her home explode in flames. The Ennis estate was one of the 350 homes destroyed in the infamous Bel Air fire.
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The house in 1961 |
The destruction was devastating, and with homeowners' policies of the era, the Ennis's settlement could never touch the cost to rebuild. They had no choice but to relocate, so they scaled down and purchased a home in Santa Ana California. With the encouragement of her loved ones and fans around the world, Grace reintroduced 13 patterns into the market in 1963. Yet, with no in-house printing press, the bulk of her inventory perished and the yarn business in flux, she was forced to close the business.
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Grace in 1963 in front of |
Years later when recalling the loss
of her home and its contents, she never once mentioned the master patterns. Even
to me, the son she never had, she spoke only of the fire. Clearly, she remained
haunted by the fire and by the fact that hard work and good fortune could vanish
so quickly - and without warning.
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When I was helping Grace move
for what was to be the last time, I came across an unmarked box. Inside: Her
master patterns perfectly ordered, numbered and intact! What nobody realized
then, was that in addition to her small case of master patterns, a retaining
wall from her Bel Air home had fallen on top of the rest of them. Boxes and
boxes of four-color patterns protected from flames showed up in storage.
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I recently said my last goodbye to my dear friend
and confidante, and in the course of our priceless conversations over her last
months, I told her that one-day Graphic Knitting Patterns would live again.
"Are you going to start knitting?" she asked me. "No," I
smiled, "but I will make your patterns available to the next generation of
knitters - and they will knit your stockings for their friends and family
alike."
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She looked at me inquisitively. "You
see," I continued, "there's something called the Internet. It's like a
big newspaper for the entire world to read. And through this worldwide network,
I'll be able to share you, and your patterns with the whole world. Yes, you.
Beloved Grace. Cherished friend. Remarkable artist."
Reid David
Graphic Knitting Patterns
519 Norwich Drive, West Hollywood,
CA. 90048
310.388.3982 (voice) 310.388.3983 (facsimile)
