Testimonials

Dear Grace Ennis Graphic Knitting Patterns:

Thank you.  Thank you  for saving these wonderful patterns and bringing back to us the joy of those years that Grace was designing. I received a Grace Ennis Christmas Stocking, the Reindeer and Sleigh, for a Christmas gift  when I was about 1 year old. I still have that stocking and proudly display it on the wall each Christmas, that was 47 years ago! The aunt that knitted that stocking, knitted 4 others for her children and nieces and nephews from the first time that Grace's pattern came out in 1949. This aunt also knitted quite a few of Grace's men's dress sock patterns, as I remember watching my aunt make magic with 4 needles and yarn as she turned out sock after sock for her husband.

Last Christmas my teenage son asked me why I didn't make he and my husband matching Christmas stockings like the one that I had and I replied that I had no idea where that pattern came from and if I could ever find it again. Then last week I received the Patternworks catalog and there was the very pattern of my stocking!  I am so happy to have a little of my history restored to me, and to know of the history of Grace and the knitting patterns.

When I was 10 years old I watched the flames from the Bel Air fire from the roof of my parents' house in Van Nuys, California and wondered about the people who were losing their homes. Since I taught myself to knit socks, my aunt  passed away without showing me, I have often wondered about her sock patterns for her husband. Thanks to you, I have to wonder no more!

A Happy Knitter thanks to you!

Sue Jensen
Rapid City, SD

3/8/2000

Dear Reid:

Thanks so much for your great web site!  I am a young knitter thinking about starting my own business, and Grace's story is true inspiration.  She was a fabulous lady, and I just wanted to thank you for sharing your memories of  her and working so hard to keep her designs alive.  I am a big fan of knitting history, and it warms my heart to know that there are people out there who care enough to preserve this precious legacy.  Thank you and good luck in all you do. 

Regards, 

Melanie Aswell

3/8/2000

Your patterns are wonderfully whimsical, and, I can't wait to begin knitting them for family and friends.  Are your all of your sock patterns in individual leaflets, or, have you combined some of your more popular patterns into a book form?  And, are your patterns available in retail stores?  If yes, which ones in the San Francisco Bay Area?  I go to several and have never come across your patterns (I came across you in the latest Vogue Knitting magazine).

Thanks.

Peggy Chiang

3/26/2000

I just placed my first order for Grace's sock patterns.  I began knitting just a few years ago and while my friends and the people at the knit stores rave about famous knitters, I get frustrated that it's too artsy and not enough fun.  Then I saw this little article about Grace's pattern’s in Easy Knitting magazine, found your web site, and discovered the person I will call my inspiration!!!  I am continually frustrated that I can't find a pattern to go with the yarn I'm accumulating.  After reading about Grace on the web site, I know that I too can design patterns - for sweaters - and not be confined by what other designers deem stylish! I am looking forward to receiving my order and wish you great success in sharing the talent this lady had!

Barb M.

4/3/2000

I just read your article in Family Circle Easy Knitting (Spring/Summer 2000) magazine.  It appeared in the article that you had a book with a selection of Grace's patterns.  However, I don't find a book on your order page.  Could you let me know if you sell a book. By the way, I lived in the Los Angeles area in the '50's and I have about a dozen of Grace's patterns.  I made about six pairs of the beer mugs socks, also the bowling, 2 on a match, stop and go lights and several of the diamond pattern.  I always wondered what happened to Graphic Knitting Patterns, as I looked for them later and no one knew what I was talking about.  I have treasured the patterns I have, but now more so since reading your web page story about Grace.  Thanks for bringing these back.

Marty Johnston
Irving, Texas

4/15/00

Dear Graphic Knitting Patterns:

I learned to knit 50 years ago with these very same sox patterns.  How excited I was to "find" them again!! I still own several patterns that were purchased in the early to middle 50's..they are my pride and joy.  I am still knitting sox!! I have taught several others to knit sox too...they are very habit forming and wonderful take with you projects.  Thanks again for keeping up the tradition!

Nancy Susanne
Bend, Oregon

4/25/2000

Reid David:

This is so amazing.  I picked up my latest Patternworks catalogue this morning and the ad for Grace Ennis sock patterns struck my eye.  Only a couple days ago, my mother and I were talking about the jet airplane and bowling socks I knitted when I was in high school (class of 1956). I am struggling to relearn sock knitting and have often wished I had my old patterns.  I enjoyed your web site and will soon place an order.  What a wonderful thing you have done!

Regards, 

Dorothea Clymer

4/2/2000

Wowie zowie!! -- this is a post I wrote to KnitU this morning.  Thank you so much for this information.  I can't wait to order some of these patterns.!!!

Thanks!

5/24/2000

Hello… 

On the knitting about site http://knitting.about.com they just set up a link to a web site for Grace Ennis's charted sock patterns.  Grace was a designer from the late 30s and 40s.  I can't believe it!  On there is the pattern for the air plane socks and the beer stein socks my mother knit for my dad a zillion years ago (with angora trimming - tre chic).  I always wondered what happened to those patterns.  I can't wait to order some, heck I want them all but there are about 60 patterns!  Even if you are not a sock knitter the story of Grace and how her patterns were supposedly lost in a fire is very interesting and inspiring.  Wow, was I glad to hear about this web site!!  This is the web site for the charted socks.

Hester

6/30/2000

Mr. David:  

I have finished a Christmas Stocking with my son's name on it, the same pattern that I wrote to you about my aunt knitting 48 years ago.  I don't have a photo of either stocking, but I did scan both stockings, in 2 pictures each since they are too long for my scanner bed! Would you want me to send these images to you so that you can post them on the website, or would they be too cumbersome to use?  Please let me know.  The pattern was very easy to use and I enjoyed recreating some of my past!  I am now working on a second stocking and have promised one more to a family member who the aunt didn't knit for! 

Sue Jensen 

8/30/2000

Hello,

I received my order in great condition.  I am very pleased that you are making this pattern available to the people again.  I unfortunately do not know how to knit, but am interested in learning.  I received this stocking as a gift when I was born in 1965.  A lady who was a friend of the family made it.  It has become a tradition in our family that when a new child is born, the first Christmas present they receive is a stocking with the name and year of the child on it. Recently my brother had his first child and the remarkable lady who made the stockings is now 87 years old and can no longer make the stockings for she is legally blind now.  Her heart felt great sadness in turning down the opportunity to take upon another stocking.  So, since her original pattern was in shreds and could not be read, I thought to hunt on the Internet for one similar.  I never thought I would find the exact pattern.  I was elated when I did.  So now it is up to me to try to learn how to knit and become the next person in our family to make and pass on the tradition that was started so long ago.  I want to Thank you for making the pattern available.

Signed as my stocking reads,

Brenda
1965

9/12/2000

I read the story of Grace Ennis with great interest.  My grandmother made me a lovely knitted Christmas stocking when I was born.  When she died four years later, her yarn and accessories were handed down to her eldest daughter, and then, forty years later, to me.  After a recent move,  I found the original patterns, in their original postmarked envelope, dated 1952.  As you may have guessed, the patterns were from Grace Ennis .  I think Grace and my grandmother would have been pleased to know that I have continued the "stocking" tradition, using those patterns,  for all the family babies who come on board.

Happy knitting...

Noel 

9/12/2000

I was at my knitting guild tonight showing your patterns for Santa/Tree and Santa/Chimney.  I am knitting a Santa/Chimney that is similar to the pattern you offer. It is for a person whose entire family has Christmas socks just like it, and there being no pattern, I had to figure the pattern out.  As I was finishing off the sock, I discovered your Grace Ennis Christmas sock that has to have been a pattern (or the work of an adaptive knitter). 

One of the members of the guild ran across the room and pulled out a sock that her family has knit (also by looking at existing socks) that is nearly the same as the Santa/Tree pattern.  She was so happy to see the pattern and wanted your URL.  If you have other Christmas patterns, I suspect other folks will find their family patterns.

Tom Epps 

10/16/2000

Thank you so much! I have a knitted Christmas stocking that was designed by Grace that I received as a child. My children also have stockings designed by Grace. Unfortunately, we thought that this would be the last generation to receive these stockings as my mother's pattern was so fragile and well used. Imagine how thrilled I was to see these designs had not died when her designer passed away. Thank you so much for keeping these wonderful designs alive! My father wore many of her designs as knitted by my mother. I am the next generation to keep knitting alive and subsequently thought I would be inheriting these wonderful patterns...now I can get my own and many more! Thank you for your extremely prompt service. I will be ordering more soon! A happy customer,

Theresa Henehan

11/2/2000

Dear Mr. David,

Thank you for bringing these sock patterns back.  As styles come and go, there is always the time when old styles and ideas seem right to bring back to new audiences and this is the time for the period of my childhood.  I hope you are successful with this venture.  You have seen an opportunity to make available again the work of a creative lady and hopefully the time is right.

As a very young knitter I remember the thrill of going to "Prue's Knit Shop" on the New Jersey shore on a rainy day and picking out yarn and a pattern to work on because we couldn't go to the beach.  Yarn and patterns were considered expensive and I had to choose carefully.  I did knit a number of pairs of argyle socks, changing the colors from Grace's colored patterns and trying to remember which color meant which according to my new choice.  I did the skunk pattern with angora for the tail and Mother did the beer stein and the martini glasses.  These patterns were the big thing every summer at the shore when we were knitting them.  I even remember the old patterns sitting in Mother's knitting basket years later,  folded and fading.

There was a question from a twelve year old on your site, asking if it would be too hard for her to knit them.  I know I was eight when I made my first pair of striped socks and about eleven when I started knitting from Grace's patterns and we didn't have the books about knitting and the other resources that we have today.  Kids should just dive in and do it... they can, I know!

Pam Jackson, who still knits 

11/6/2000

Hello............

Well, just on a whim I tried to locate you tonight.  It seems a dear ("senior") friend of mine is making her 11th Christmas Stocking for a new granddaughter to the family............she was commenting on how she wished she had another copy of her much loved, much used Christmas stocking pattern..........I asked her what it was, and she said it was.......old, old, old.... I think she said 1948 old.......like for 25 cents........!!  This is the same pattern she has used all these years for these family stockings..............IF I am writing to the same or original designer/company, this is all the better!!!  The pattern is called (to the best of my knowledge) "The Christmas Stocking" by Graphic ................Graphic Knitting Patterns.......and the number is 9001C...... Can you help me get a new book for her????? Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Peggy

Hello again.............I "spoke" tooooo soon, there the pattern is!!! I am going to write to her RIGHT AWAY.........so disregard my email, and

thank you!!!

Peggy

11/6/2000

Reid,

Yes, I think pattern prices are fair as it looks like you have built in wholesale prices in quantity for yarn shops, yet individuals can get patterns one or two at a time also.  And yes, I may buy a few later on now that I know they are available.  Right now I have too many other projects on needles for Christmas to add to my "to do" pile. Just going through your site gave me a nostalgia trip and thinking about very happy times.  These patterns are brand new to most knitters when I consider how old I am now and the fact that I was a child when they were popular!  Even though you are riding on the nostalgia theme perhaps some marketing as new ideas would be good.  Just an idea.  Thanks again for making them available.  Now to get the word out!

Pam Jackson

November 11, 2000

Dear GRKP,

A friend gave me the pattern 9001C to make the stocking for her little boy.  When my son was born, I made one for him. When my two daughters were born, I made one for each of the, too.  From then on each time a new person joined our family, they got a stocking.  I have made at least 12 of them so far and my pattern is so worn it is hardly readable.  I wrote to the company address on the pattern but the letter was returned to me just last week.  Since it was copyrighted in 1948 I was afraid it would be impossible to replace it.  I belong to an email loop for cross stitchers and one of the members knew I was looking for this pattern and she found it on the computer!  Needless to say I was more than delighted!  And just in time, too.  My copy is beyond repair and most difficult to read! Thank you for making it possible to continue our family tradition.

Sincerely,

Frances Bonner

11/14/2000

I just wanted to let you know a few really "cute" things in our knitting family.  My mother taught me to knit when I was 5 years old.  People made fun of the way I set up my hair but, not at my knitting.  She was the knitting instructor at Famous Barr (biggest downtown St. Louis department store) for ten years (around the 60s).  Our family name is Giles and my Dad's name was Rastus (actually he went by Ralph) and his co-workers (because of the Argyles he wore) called him R Giles (using the hard G instead of a soft G) and nicknamed him Socks.  My sisters and I still knit and it is good to know knitting seems to be coming back.

Thanks, Melanie

11/23/2000

Hello Reid,

Found you with a search engine. My husband's grandmother used to hand-knit Christmas stockings for the entire family. She stopped just shy and our third child never received hers. So, even though I am only an occasional knitter with a rather unspectacular record on finishing projects, I am picking up where Grandma left off. Several years ago, I completed Emily's and one for an exchange gift with a teacher friend. But now I want to continue the tradition for our future son-in-law and (someday) grandchildren. It has not been easy to find patterns. Even your site currently shows the Christmas stocking page as unavailable. Please send information, flyers, etc. In this age of the superstore, it's amazing that I can no longer find double-pointed needles within a 30-mile radius of my home, nor one Christmas stocking pattern in either flyer, book, or magazine.

Ofilia
Idyllwild, California

November 24, 2000

Hello Grace Ennis Socks,

I did a search for knitting on internet.  I've been looking for knitting patterns from 20's,30's, and 40's ever since a friend of mine showed me a wonderful book she found at a used bookstore. I still haven't found that book yet, but looking for it I found your site.

Thanks!

December 5

Hello.

My husband and I were visiting friends in Ohio this past wk. end and our friend teaches voice in three of the local colleges in Springfield. She had a rehearsal scheduled and took me along. I sat in the back to listen and a woman came in to wait for her husband, who was in the chorus, and she sat beside me. She pulled out a Christmas Stocking she was working on and I admired it and told her I just finished one two days earlier for my new grandson. She said she was looking all over for a new stocking pattern and can't find one. I told her about my pattern and got her name and address and told her I send it to her. I then said it was a real coincidence, because was looking all over for a patter to knit a Santa and couldn't find one. So, she gave me directions on hers. I wrote down your name and thought I'd try on the internet and thus, here I am..

Carolyn Bush
New Mexico