A knitting student first introduced Ava T. Colman to the knitting of Anna Marie Jensen. Ava recalls that the student wanted to make a doily like the one made by Anna Marie, which she had purchased as a child. Here’s Ava to tell us about another lace doily made by Anna Marie, but this one was knitted for a queen!
Imagine being a resident of a small town in eastern Colorado and receiving a letter from a queen asking for your help. That’s exactly what happened to Danish-born Anna Marie Jensen of Brush (2000 population, 5,117) in 1971.
Ava T. Coleman’s knitted doily, which was featured in the May/June 2011 issue of PieceWork. She used Anna Marie Jensen’s pattern for The Queen’s Lace. Photo by Joe Coca.
Queen Ingrid of Denmark (1910–2000) was an avid knitter. She wanted to make a doily like one that she had in her lace collection but needed the instructions.
And she knew exactly whom to contact for help. Then Crown Princess Ingrid and her husband, Crown Prince Frederick, had met Anna Marie and seen some of her lace knitting during their visit to the Eben Ezer Lutheran Care Center in Brush in April 1939. Anna Marie, her trip sponsored by the queen and financed by the Danish Guild for the Promotion of Handiwork, returned to Denmark to re-create the directions for making “The Queen’s Lace.” In a 1982 interview, Anna Marie told Eben Ezer staff member Libby Scalise, “The doily was like a spider web . . . in fine-silk threads,” Anna Marie noted. “Her Majesty was quite satisfied with my work.”
—Ava T. Coleman
Download a copy of in the May/June 2011 issue of PieceWork to read more about Anna Marie Jensen in Ava T. Coleman’s article, “The Queen’s Lace,” and make Ava’s stunning project, “The Queen’s Lace Doily to Knit,” which was based on Anna Marie Jensen’s pattern for The Queen’s Lace.