An Expert Knitter reacts to Knitting in Call the Midwife 

OMG CALL THE MIDWIFE!! One of my favorite shows and I LOVE LOVE LOVE to see all the hand crochets and hand knits!! They seriously need to release either a pattern book with patterns from the show or inspired by the show OR they should release what patterns were used for the vintage baby clothes!! Also I would love to know if the baby costumes are recreations like new hand mades from old patterns or are they actual vintage pieces the costume department has sourced from places??

EK: "Do I qualify as a master knitter?" Also EK: "Okay, so I've completely broken down how this vintage sweater was constructed. I will now recreate it from scratch with yarn from a recycled sweater."

Imposter syndrome is a pain isn’t it? You are definitely an historical knitting expert! Would love to see more of these. I remember knitting for babies as something people continued to do even after they got less keen on knitting in general. Glad there’s been a recent revival in the craft as it gave me a lot of enjoyment until my health retired me.

As a former yarn shop owner and a 50-year knitter/crocheter, I too noticed (and drooled over) all the handmade items on Call the Midwife. Just can’t get enough of that show! Thank you for doing this video so I know I’m not the only one who thoroughly enjoys this mini-history of yarn creations.

🌟 🌟 Yes, more of these!!! Here in the UK vintage community, the stand out tv drama for knitwear is 'HOME FIRES' (aired 2015-2016 uk) It only ran for two seasons but Oh My Goodness 😲 the costume designer went forties knits crazy!!! They must have commissioned dozens of original patterns to be made up for this show. It is truly drool worthy 🤤🤤🤤

Another scene with a lot of knitting and crochet in it is when they make squares and hand sew them together too make a blanket for Chummy when she's in the hospital and having a hard time after giving birth.

tw mention of miscarriage. I watched the first season years ago and really loved it, but had to stop watching when I had my pregnancy loss. now, I have a beautiful 20 month old son and - thanks to this video - a reignited excitement to revisit this show. definitely gotta work on this beautiful blanket pattern while watching!!🧺🥺

My late wife used to love Call The Midwife, and, just like you was a knitter/crocheter so whenever there was any knit/crochet work featured there would be an appreciative cooing coming from where she was sitting (or much shouting/ranting if anything was being done badly/wrong!! LOL) Oh, and just to let you know, the "vest" featured in your video at about 7.00 is commonly known as a "Tank Top" in the UK (no, I don't know why either!!) keep up the great work, and Carry on Crafting!!

OMG! One of my friends that comes over for our weekly stitch night JUST finished that baby blanket!

yay!! i recommended that you take a look at call the midwife a while for another *knitter reacts* video. so happy you’re doing a deeper dive!

I stopped watching Call The Midwife a long time ago, as my Trixie loving heart simply couldn't handle her storylines anymore, but you might have just inspired me to give it another go. This show truly changed my life and brought me joy at times when I desperately needed it (which I'm now realizing I am in another time where the comfort of this show would be helpful ... how interesting).

I love to watch this show. Thank you for introducing the knitwear from this show. The receiver of this baby blanket will be so happy! It looks so pretty! What kind of yarn did you use?

I've made a knit version of the baby blanket for my coworker's new baby girl. I have no clue if they use it (I can only hope) but I do love the pattern so much that I plan on making another for when I am expecting.

I love Call the Midwife! Hell yes to a series about all its beautiful knits!

The baby blanket you’re crocheting in this episode is my absolute favorite! Each of my babies has one (except my oldest since she was born well before the series started)

I loooove Call the Midwife(or as much husband calls it, Screaming: The Show 😂)! My absolute favorite knit from the show is from Season 8, episode 2, the purple mohair sweater that Miss Millgrove wears. It's lived rent free in my head for years now. 💜💜💜

One of my favorite programs too. It really makes one aware of what was expected from women - cooking, cleaning, knitting, sewing, crochet, child minding, gardening, shopping, baking and so much more. Many had jobs outside the home too. It just seems that the Dads go to work and come home to put their feet up.

Quiet funny that I've just become hooked on Call the Midwife since watching it with my family over Christmas, and this is the year you've decided to cover the crafts in it! In 8 days and I've already caught up to season 5 😅 and I have a growing list of favorite clothing pieces I'd love to see you discuss the other knits and crafts in the other seasons if you want to!

This is so perfectly timed! After years of being afraid of it (squeamish about childbirth), I finally started and it's living up to years of hype. Loving all the ways textiles pop up within the storylines, too, not just as set dressing or costuming.

You may not see this, but I'm a 57 yr old British daughter of a knitter, also thr daughter of a knitter (my Nana was born in 1898!!) And in my 50 years of knitting I had never heard of 'Parlour Knitting' until very recently 😅 if it is a genuinely historical term, it certainly isn't widely used by any means. No one referred to styles of knitting here until very recently. It was just knitting. Ilove your channel - its really interesting, informed and entertaining, thank you!

Loved this one! Such a great to see Roy Hudd who is no longer with us. Birdy

I love call the midwife, I’ve knit three of those blankets for different people and each one has been loved. I wish they would release a knitting/crochet book to go with the show. I’ve been enjoying using the call the midwife cookbook.

Yes, please, I would love to see more knitwear! I'm also relieved to know I'm not the only one who was paying as much attention to the yarn crafts as I was to the stories. 🙂

I would love to see more videos about call the midwife! Especially some more of the crochet from the show. I love watching the show and trying to spot all the different handmade items

That purple and cream cardigan is incredible!

Oh my reading Jennifer Worth's memoirs was a life changing experience for me and Call the Midwife has become a must watch series. If only because it's one of the few shows on telly that centres female stories, and keeps the actresses of the UK in work! There are so many incredible insights about fashion and textiles in the books. There's a long section where she talks about the cost of clothing, how it's cheaper to go to a dressmaker, but also the difficulty of finding a good one! She complains that many couldn't make their own patterns so you ended up with the same dresses as everyone else on your street. And if you found a good one you kept it quiet! Poaching someone's dressmaker was a big no-no! I so enjoyed this video. Please do more 😊 Also I once sat next to the actress who played Jenny on the train in London and I wasn't brave enough to say anything 😅 I've always regretted it!

My sister-in-law and I binged the whole series during lockdown then once caught up we continued to watch it! It's such a great show!

would love to see more of this. seeing different examples of vintage knitting is very cute, especially when you can find patterns of them too

Great episode . Love Call the Midwiife and also have noticed all the knitting and especially the woolens ! Don't forget the soakers. They were a staple in vintage baby knits! Love the pattern for the Baby Blanket. Thanks for including it . I plan to make it. I made a larger adult version quite similar in a mag that included patterns called Australian Country Crafts.

You had said the original pattern for the Call the Midwife blanket had been converted from a shawl pattern, however baby blankets in the older days were actually referred to as shawls, probably because they were wrapped around the baby like a swaddle. The person who recreated the blanket pattern posted on Ravelry got permission from Patons to use after she discovered there was a real pattern published by them of that design. I started making it & even though filet crochet is not my favorite, I like making this pattern. I love the show too! 🥰 Thanks for posting!

For a show that's so careful with their knit and crocheted pieces, it always makes me laugh when they're knitting granny squares 😂 would aboslutely love to see more of this! it's a lot of fun to hear what you have to say, always makes my day! :)

I loved this video, Call the Midwife is one of my favorite shows too. I am also a knitter, for 50 years having been taught by my Grandma and my Mum at the age of 7. During lockdown I spent my time knitting blankets, hats and cardigans for my local Neonatal unit. They loved them. Now for the last 3 years I have been knitting hats and fingerless gloves for our local homeless charity, managing to send them 40 hats and 40 pairs of gloves this winter. I love modifying patterns and experimenting with colour combinations making every piece I knit unique. Many parents have appreciated the hand knit baby outfits and blankets I've made for them. My most treasured piece was a christening shawl I made for my daughter. It was done in cobweb 1ply pure wool I bought from Scotland. It is so delicate and took me 5 months to make. I can't wait to check out your other video's. x x

Sr. Monica Joan knitting Parlour Style makes COMPLETE sense as it's said to be the style upper class ladies used to show off their delicate hands and jewelry.... And everyone who has read between the lines in S1 or watched the S5 Christmas Special knows that would very much have been the style she was taught. Miss Marple knits in the same way - all actresses.

A kids movie that includes lots of bright knitted and crocheted garments is "Christmas on Mistletoe Farm". I enjoyed watching for the many and varied changes of hats, etc.

The knits on All Creatures Great and Small are swoon worthy!

Ooo I'd love you to cover the new series of 'All creatures great and small' knits - they're stunning and do mostly look uniquely hand knit 🧶❤

Looking at the cream and purple cardigan, I'm thinking it might be seed stitch worked in stripes? And it might be knit in pieces and then sewn together along the raglan seams? I'd love to see the inside of it!

I would LOVE to see more video's like this! Call the Midwife is one of my favourite shows and I'm so sad it's no longer on Netflix in my country... I haven't been able to watch it in years..

Yes please do more knitwear from Call the Midwife.

I have made this blanket many many times and each time I make it I fall in love with it again and again. I have tried to make it knit, but as of yet not successful.

One of my fav shows love how they went through all the years loved all the people making a blanket myself

I would love more episodes like this!

I would gladly watch a whole series of these. My favorite show and I’m always ogling all the knit and crochet items!!!!

I’ve made the blanket you are crocheting! And I learned to sew on a 1907 Singer sewing machine with the foot pedal that you had to work manually! ☺️

I’m always ready for more Call The Midwife content! Absolutely adore the show!

I remember when everybody was looking for that blanket pattern. It was all the rage! I made it twice, and both were donated to charity. It’s a lovely easy pattern to crochet too.

That's a beautiful baby blanket, I'm very tempted! I love the knitted pieces in All Creatures great and small, as well!

I want that purple and cream colourwork cardigan. It's beautiful.

Just want to call out the edit! Bringing in all the show clips and your clips. A lot of work, and excellently done.

I saw this notification literally 5 minutes after finishing the first episode of the new season! Perfect timing, lovely video 🥰

Happy New Year! You are definitely an expert knitter! Love the blanket, I wish I could crochet that neatly. I think the purple cardi looks like a seed/moss stitch patter rather than a slipped stitch one, but it's not easy to tell from a video! Looking forward to lots more of your creations, and I hope to have the time to make your vintage cardi pattern that you released, it's in my to do list 😊

This really made wonder about the history of working-class knitting and how much we know of it

This made me want to watch the whole series again to look out for the knits! My highlight of 2023 - a guided tour of the outside filming location at Chatham Historical Dockyard in Kent (with a 'midwife').

I knitted several things including a complete set for my first baby. Baby knits are so cute and cuddly 😊

I was lucky enough to be taken by my daughter to a talk at V&A - CALL THE MIDWIVES ....writer and creator Heidi Thomas, executive producer Dame Pippa Harris and Helen George to replace Jenny Agutter who couldn't make it. Afterwards, we mingled with them with our glasses of wine and chatted. Thank you for bringing back the Happy Memories of February 2018 ❤

Your hair is STUNNING 😊 👏🏼!

I noticed you were crocheting in the video....I too love pattern for the baby blanket......I know the knitting done by the older nun seemed strange but we need to remember she had dismeschia.....and maybe she never Knitted before.....I really loved this program..❤❤ you did a great job...thk you..😊

That same blanket pattern was used in an episode of outlander as well. There is a part where you see Bri and Roger's son wrapped in a blanket and when I looked at the blanket pattern closer I noticed it was the Call of The Midwife blanket

Lovely episode! Would love to see more!

That last crocheted baby blanket would be frowned upon in modern crochet circles. The large holes can get twisted around tiny fingers and cut off circulation. At least, that was a precaution I have read

I love to knit and was once extremely good (beg pardon for boasting, but it's true!😊). I did Aran, Fair Isle, Entrelac, Intarsia..... all of it. Sadly, severe arthritis has gradually taken my hands, and now I can only knit small and comparatively simple items. I would love to knit lots of baby garments, but nobody wants them nowadays, not even for newborns. Socks, hats and gloves are nice to knit, but what do you do when everyone you know has a dozen each, and even the charity shop say they don't sell much in the way of knitted baby things? I really miss my knitiing... so sad😢.

I've always enjoyed the knitting and crochet from Call The Midwife. There is one episode of the Turner kids in Christmas sweaters and mittens that was cute. I also enjoy seeing the English smocking on the kids' clothes. When my four daughters were young I really enjoyed dressing them in hand stitched smocked dresses, knitted and crochet items I made them.

Absolutely love call the midwife. Your jumper is gorgeous. I knit vintage patterns and so love the style. Thank you for such a lovely video and of course would love to see more.

I’ve made lots of the call the midwife blanket, it’s so easy when you learn from RU-vid tutorials. I love the show as well ❤

Very excited for this to become a series!! Really enjoyed it.

This is a fabulous video yes yum!!! more!!!! you have so much incredible knowledge I feel like I have just found a whole new world of easter eggs with all the different kinds of textile work in shows!

I think I have to make this blanket. It's different from anything I have crocheted before. ❤

There's also some absolutely gorgeous knitwear on the show Home Fires ❤

in Argentina it's very common to knit raglan garments in pieces and then sew them, it could be the case of the cream and purple cardigan

Love! Yes more please.

I’ve never actually watched the show but I’ve made myself an adult size version of that baby blanket (almost 1.4 by 2m). And just last night I threw it over my duvet for a bit of extra warmth during a freezing night. It certainly was a long term project but very relaxing to crochet and I absolutely love the result.

I just loved the show

I loved this show got lost with all the changes through later season

My favorite show. Thank you for this video. I made the blanket you showed. It’s crochet. It looks like small crosses into the pattern. I’ve made this as gifts many times. My favorite go to pattern for baby blankets.

I watched a couple of seasons of this series years ago and enjoyed it inmensely. Now that I'm a mom I can compare the series with the current world, and how lucky we are of having epidurals and modern medicine in general for giving birth, lol (the birth of my daughter was super chill!). The variety of baby knits is adorable; I'm lucky to have lots of older women around me who knitted stuff for my baby and many of those were vintage patterns like these ones! Bonnets in particular are sooo cute in the show and I'm glad they've a comeback in recent years. But at the same time, we're lucky now to have access to baby clothes that are easier to wash because oh boy do they need regular washing😅

Oh I would love to see more of you covering 'Call the Midwife' knitting. Would you consider covering Season 1 of Outlander as well. If you had followed that series.

Call the midwife is a favourite of mine - I need to re watch it! Father Brown is another show with SO MUCH vintage knitwear!!

You're definitely expert compared to most of us! I think my kids, now in their 30s, were the last generation when hand knitted baby garments were much coveted. It seems the skills of laundering handknits then got lost for most and handknits fell out of favour. Such a shame. Especially that bulky acrylic yarns seem the go-to now, the fine and such pleasing aesthetic of baby garments is about cute not necessarily pretty.

I would love to hear and see a discussion on the tea cozies

Love the show and all the vintage knit & crochet garments featured. I especially admire the use of fine gauge yarns in so many of the items, it's hard to imagine how many hours went into the creation of these things. The costume and set designers for the show are so knowledgeable and careful in their selection and/or reproduction of the sweaters. Have you checked out the tea cosies used in Nonnatus house? There are lots of patterns out there to make your own. Just a small investment of time and you can warm your teapot like Sister Monica Joan!

I love to watch Call the Midwife while knitting! I wish we could watch it here in Canada more easily. It's been so interesting to see the knits progress in later seasons too. People went a bit nuts when they saw Vintersol (worn by Zephryn Taitte/Cyril) in an episode. It made me want to knit it even more because of the fun colours they chose for their version.

An amazing show for so many reasons! The "art" of the colors and photography in CTMW are stunning. I noticed the baby with the blanket was in a handmade bassinet that looked like it may have been crocheted. What do you think? Thank you and please continue with showing the handmade items. They're truly one of the "characters" in the scenes. What kind of yarn would they have used?

I hope you show the cardigan that nurse Phyllis makes for Nurse Lucille, I think it was in season 11? And I believe it was pink and with lots of cables!

I new to your videos, but I'm a sewer from way back! Still, I'd love to pick up knitting and crocheting once again eventually (Im 68+) , I will find lessons soon, although living in warm Brisbane is not very cold at all. I also loved Call the Midwife and I will pay extra attention to the knitting, I look at their clothes! Cheers

Fun episode! I haven't seen the show for years, since we stopped cable😔

While I have heard of the show I've never seen it. The knitting and crochet looks really lovely.

Love this!

BEEN WAITING FOR A VIDEO LIKE THIS ❤❤

love this one, please do some more :)

"I will link it down below"... mmmhhhb

Tbh I don't really feel qualified to say if someone is or isn't an expert knitter, because i've only been knitting for a year and it's hard for me to assess what is hard or easy skillwise. That said, I think the fact that you can do a wide variety of knitting techniques, as well as those that are widely considered more challenging (flat colorwork, more complex or strange sweater construction, interpreting incredibly vague vintage and historical knitting patterns, recreating garments to fit you without a pattern etc) then you are DEFINITELY an expert lol. If you're not then I don't now what is 😂 Though I actually don't think there's anything wrong with briefly explaining why you are an expert. It helps outline what that might entail to new viewers who aren't familiar with your videos (that clearly show your expertise) or don't know anything about knitting or what it means to be an expert knitter. Unfortunately a lot of people on the Internet posture themselves as experts and authorities on subjects without any evidence of them being that, and even if you are the exact opposite of that in every conceivable way (and your entire channel is evidence) , explaining your expertise does remind the viewer that they _should_ expect some level of evidence from content creators about things they claim to be experts about. It doesn't always have to be in the form of a verbal explanations, as in your case people can watch your vidoes to see that you are an expert in your craft.

I loved this ! I am definitely going to make that pattern for the baby blanket although I think I will make a shawl ! 🎉

I never knew there was more than one (the English) style of knitting until fairly recently! But then I am English, so that is what I grew up with.

My DIL sent this to me, but I don't knit🤣🤣. I will have to sit with her and watch this, so she can explain🤣🤣. But, I LOVE Call the Midwife....I have even listened to the books! 🥰

There is beautiful knitting in the Lassie movie ( colour). I was trying to find it just yesterday.

omg! I didn't now there were new seasons!!!!

I have done alot of hand knits, and l-o-v-e vintage patterns but have not been very successful in adapting vintage patterns to modern yarns, have made 2 garments which turned out well but that's it I envy you if this is something you successfully do again and again

I’ve learned “parlor” style recently, but under the term “Traditional English lever knitting” or, when the straight needle is kept static under the arm, “Irish cottage knitting.” The RU-vidr Knit with Hannah knits like this and specializes in beginner tutorials, if you’re curious to try. I like to alternate it with my more familiar English flicking to use different tendons in my right arm. Continental knitting aggravates my elbow. 😊

love this.

I love call the midwife a lot, and series 13 is off to a great start so far!