Two-Skein Sweater. no. W-770. J. & P. Coats, Clark’s O.N.T., 1960. [Leaflet].

When I saw that this pattern not only uses Red Heart yarn, but that Coats&Clark used to own the brand, I was admittedly surprised. I've scanned so much C&C that they feel like Disney.

Beneath the read-more I'll put the scanned version of this pattern, but it's also available for free on Ravelry!

I came across this knitting manual while secondhand shopping, drawn in by its bold energy. Within its unassuming 50 or so pages is like....the most comprehensive breakdown of knitting finishing techniques I've ever seen. After learning the story of the author (through great effort of locating her), I will likely scan the entire manual one day.

While I kind of go between MLA and APA formatting (I don't keep record of how I previously cited something, so I do it from scratch each time and hope for the best), properly attributing what I share is really important to me. My motivation to preserve such things is why craftmausoleum exists in the first place. As such, I had to provide an accurate citation for Finishing for Pride and Pleasure, and the first step was figuring out who Peggy Liddle is. The following is my process of getting that answer.

What I considered truths:

This manual was written between 1970-1979. Even if you ignore the visual clues, the fact that this is a detailed self-published booklet with a singular name attached to it (and not an organization, like a university/guild/church) made me believe that this is also a timeframe where doing so was attainable for the average woman.

Given that there is no foreword pointing towards Peggy Liddle as a part of something bigger also made me consider that perhaps she made these booklets to circulate within an assumed known group. That is to say...whoever had these manuals after printing would know who Peggy is, and need nothing more to appreciate her wisdom.

Given the timeframe of publication, Peggy would have needed to have been born in no later than 1960.

Possible names could be Maggie/Peggy/Margaret Liddle/Little/Liddell (variations in last names sometimes happen when reported by third parties).

And so I began my search. Obviously the first stop was straight up googling the manual, though all of the listings were unhelpful.

These were the next few steps:

Googling the name Peggy Liddle with and without quotations. I came up with a dozen or so potential obituaries, but none of them matched up/were too barren in sentiment for someone who almost certainly was very involved in the community. Woman's intuition.

Searching for Peggy Liddle within digitized newspapers. I'm not sure why I thought that would really nail it, maybe because I don't often have to look further. I did find a potential Peggy Liddle related to a New York charity, but she seemed too young.

Back to drawing board- realized that even if the manual uses one name, an obituary or third party source may use Maggie or Margaret. So I then conducted the same 2 steps for each name. 5 million opened tabs.

Taking a leap of faith and Googling all first name variations + "knitting". I discovered a Maggie Liddle who co-authored a book entitled A Shetland Pattern Book in 1992. There wasn't a terrible amount of additional information, but the publisher (Shetland Times) is based out of, well, Shetland. Is Peggy Liddle Scottish?

Given how mint my 50 year old copy is...picked up in Minnesota...I guess I just assumed she had to have existed within the region. It didn't occur to me that Peggy->Maggie->Margaret Liddle could be across the Atlantic. A potential link to Scotland was the final piece of the puzzle, I FOUND PEGGY LIDDLE!

The reason I had difficulty finding anything recent/Google being unhelpful is because she passed nearly 30 years ago, over in the beautiful Orkney Islands of Scotland. Rousay Remembered is an organization centered around preserving the memories of the island's inhabitants, and this is a page dedicated to preserving Peggy Liddle's.

Mrs Margaret Liddle, who died on 24th January 1996, was a long-serving member of St Magnus Cathedral, and a dedicated member of the Women’s Guild. As well as being good at painting, sewing and knitting, Margaret was also good at writing. She was encouraged by her grandson, Dave Gray, to write down her childhood reminiscences, and the Rev. Ron Ferguson quoted from some of them at her funeral service.

Sweaters for women, "Military". Knit-A-Dress-A-Day Knitting Book. Joan Rattner, 1968.

"Dressing for fall celebrations". Decorating & Craft Ideas, Apr. 1984.

The first photograph is just so dreamy. Unfortunately, even in real life the photograph of the sweater back panels don't show a lot of detail. Or rather, the light source is facing the knitting directly, so the depth of the stitch patterns is kind of missed.

Either way, continued knitting instructions beneath the read-more line,

"Classic Yarns, Classic Sweaters". Decorating & Craft Ideas, Apr. 1984.

Beautiful two-page design. Continued pattern is beneath the read-more line ;)