Vintage Collectible but not sewing machine
 

Over the last year or so, I've dabbled a little with knitting. I knitted (poorly) as a kid and then not again for probably another 30 years. I made DH a sock for his cast when he broke his toe last year, and did a little arm knitting after his accident. Yesterday, while we were out, I decided to check a thrift store for some needles for a particular project and maybe some yarn to practice with. It was there that I scored this:

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Anyone know anything about these and why the likelihood of me finding one of these in Canada and in 2015 was so slim? I did find a little information last night (and no, I didn't know what I had until I Googled it) but I'd love to know if any of the QB members know about it. :)

No, I don't think I'll use the needles original to the case. I guess they're made of celluloid which is both flammable and fragile by this time. I may use the crochet hooks though. I don't know if they belonged in there, but there were 4 in that spot and another 6 in a separate bag tucked inside the case.

Cool. Love the case.

Very cool! It may not be a sewing machine but I'm glad you posted it here. The red white and blue makes me think American but I suppose it could be British as well. Either way it's a neat set-and that's coming from a non-knitter.
Rodney

Hey Rodney! It's definitely American. The set was made by Susan Bates for a very specific purpose.

I love the case and needles - and the crochet hooks - Score! I love vintage sewing/needlework/crafting anything.

I tried knitting years ago. After poking myself in the eye - twice - I gave the knitting needles away and took up crochet; it's much safer.

It's a bit hard to see this on my monitor, but the needles are Red, White and Blue. I suppose now you'll be looking for the missing ones

Well, the Canadian Red Cross encouraged knitting too - so far my favorite knitting poster is "Remember Pearl Harbor? PURL HARDER"

http://elinorflorence.com/blog/wartime-knitting

And see? I always thought the crochet hooks looked just wicked and was sure I'd stab myself with those! I use one tiny hook to pull stray threads out from under a light colored quilt top when it invariably gets in while quilting but otherwise have no crochet skills at all.

Yes, exactly - red white and blue. They're white needles with both ends painted. I've seen a couple of photos online where the blue or red is almost completely worn away so this might be a relatively ununsed set - or the needles that aren't missing weren't used a lot. Being cellulose though, a lot of them likely broke before now too.

From what I've seen of the few etsy and ebay auctions, the likelihood of getting the rest is pretty slim. They're very much in demand. Of course, should I come across some, I wouldn't turn them down. :)

They did indeed but I don't know if we had special needles made for us. So you've seen these before?

I have not seen these before, but do come across war effort stuff occasionally with my vintage sewing machines. I love reading about stuff like this.

I still have a few crochet hooks from my hairdressing days. We used to use them to pull the hair through frosting caps (early days of highlighting). My grandmother taught me and a couple cousins to crochet and tat (still have a couple shuttles). Because of a very long story I won't go into, I tense up when I hold a crochet hook with yarn around it. You did great. Just a different kind of needle other than sewing, knitting still involves needles. Congrats on the score!