Mainer Knitting
This photograph was taken in Pittsfield, Maine, sometime in the second half of the 19th century.
(Click for bigness--the detail is excellent.)
I wish I knew more about her, but as is so often the case with photographs such as this, it bears no information about the sitter.
Isn't it wonderful that she chose to have her knitting in hand for a formal studio photograph?
I haven't been able to find any information about a photographer named Howe in Pittsfield, Maine. I suspect he he may have been an itinerant photographer, traveling from town to town.
For another early knitter who chose to be captured knitting, see this earlier entry.
If I live long enough my nose and chin will meet. I wonder if we're related.
Posted by: Lucia | January 30, 2008 at 12:09 PM
I'm impressed that she could keep her hands still enough for a photo.
Posted by: Maia | January 23, 2008 at 11:39 AM
I picture her knitting while the photographer fussed with plates and things. Because if you know you're going to have a couple of minutes to wait for something, what else would you do?
Posted by: RobinH | January 21, 2008 at 12:44 PM
If memory serves, I believe Howe (there may have been more than one, even brothers) went around MA and other parts of New England as photographers. I think the Greenfield Historical Society (MA) has pictures with the Howe imprint.
Posted by: Diane H K | January 20, 2008 at 09:36 AM
She's working on three needles so I'm thinking socks, and best of all, she's a continental knitter! I knew I liked her.
Posted by: Sharon | January 18, 2008 at 12:13 AM
She probably had a Christmas knitting deadline to meet.
Posted by: Laurie | January 16, 2008 at 02:32 PM
I love the sense that industry/knitting was important enough to be photographed. No idle hands for her.
Posted by: Cassie | January 16, 2008 at 08:32 AM
That really is an awesome photo. If I ever have my image made again down in Gettysburg I'm going to be holding my knitting this time.
Posted by: Carole | January 16, 2008 at 07:10 AM
I love the fact that you cqan see so clearly that the background is a painted "flat". And her shoes - well-worn but lovingly cared for. So much richness of detail!
Posted by: Carol | January 16, 2008 at 05:41 AM
I LOVE her! She looks more serene than sad, but appears to be in High Mourning - I'd love to visit with her. (There's a little story forming in my head about her sweet self!)
Posted by: dale-harriet in WI | January 16, 2008 at 02:11 AM
Did you try asking here: http://www.pittsfieldhistoricalsociety.org/
Posted by: Catherine M | January 16, 2008 at 02:05 AM
Her dress appears to be very much like a dress my great-great was wearing for her photo in the 1880's. I'll have to pull that out and see what the date is.
Posted by: GailR | January 16, 2008 at 12:40 AM
I take things like knitting with me to all sorts of places. It cuts down on anxiety for me. I call them my "ritual comfort objects."
Maybe that's what her knitting was. :)
Posted by: Janice in GA | January 15, 2008 at 10:04 PM
In noticing details, and wondering about her choosing to be photo'd with her knitting, I am thinking about her glasses perched on her head. This seems like an informal formal portrait, almost like a candid shot, which seems unusual for the time period. She also has a lovely dress!
Posted by: danana | January 15, 2008 at 09:40 PM
I'm curious now to find out if anyone in my husband's family was ever a photographer in the northeast. My last name is Howe and while it's not unheard of, it's not super-common either. And "wandering photographer" is just the sort of thing someone from my hubby's family would be all about, lol.
Posted by: Charissa | January 15, 2008 at 09:16 PM