Does anyone know what these things are?

#1

I was given some knitting supplies and yarn and these things were also in the box…I have never seen anything like these before in the 40+ years I’ve been knitting, and assume they were used in some kind of knitting. Would anyone here happen to know what they are and how they were used?

#2

Looks like a super cool alternative to the standard bobbin used when knitting or crocheting designs or small sections of color into a piece. I’ve never seen them before either. Perhaps they are from another country?

MGM

#3

Well, there was a needle sizer that said Canada on the back of it and some of the yarn and accessories had Mary Maxim on them…maybe someone from Canada would know.

#4

They look like bobbins used in tying flys for fly fishing.

I wonder if someone could have been using them as bobbins for lace making?

#5

I’ve never seen the like.

#6

I’ve never seen those either. On my things they have a clear plastic tube that you can see on the blue and pink one where the yarn is pulled up through it…a lady suggested to me that maybe as a person is knitting along they pick up the yarn from this gadget to add in a few stitches of a different color (and I guess just let it hang till you pick it up again)…I don’t know.

#7

I wonder if they are some sort of bobbins for intarsia knitting? That was my first thought.

#8

I’d contact Mary Maxim on their Canadian site (the site give the option of either country) and ask them directly.

#9

One glance and my husband concurred with cacunn that they are for use in tying flies for fishing.

#10

I found my answer…I found a name along the white edge and looked it up…check this out…

#11

So now the question is, why did they stop making them? Didn’t sell? Didn’t work? Cougar1, give them a try and tell us what you think! By the way, it’s hard to tell from the photo because it doesn’t show clothing or hair style, but they must have been manufactured before 1963 because there’s no zip code for the address, and zips came into use in that year.

#12

wow, those are really neat. Seems it would make intarsia easier, or at least not as tangled. would be interesting if some manufacturer would make them again. linknit41

#13

I went back to where I found that picture and the lady says she found that ad in a 1962 McCalls magazine.

#14

Just under the wire:-).

#15

My DH saw this and reported to me that he had been wrong about the the fly tying bobbins. Maybe the pink on the one should have tipped us off they they were something for women, although I suppose women tie flies. LOL They do look pretty much the same though as the one cacunn showed.

They sound good but I’ll bet they didn’t work all that well or we’d still have them around.

#16

I wonder id the “inventor” was a fly tier or knew a fly tier? Fly tying bobbins have been around for quite a few years.