History Main / KnittingPregnancyAnnouncement

** In the TV movie''Hollyrock-A-Bye Baby'', Wilma learns that Pebbles is expecting a baby of her own and immediately gets to knitting booties for the new arrival.

* The second ''Film/TheThinMan'' movie. Nick has just solved a very complicated mystery, but has yet to deduce that his wife Nora is expecting--until he realizes that she is knitting a baby's sock.

* In 1937's ''Shall We Dance'', the Creator/GingerRogers character is assumed to be pregnant because she's seen knitting. She's actually repairing a ''dog sweater''.
* It happened in ''Film/EnemyMine'' when the asexual reptile guy revealed he was knitting some small garments.
* By 1940 and ''Film/KittyFoyle'' this was old enough to be lampooned. In the satirical prologue, the wife reveals that she's pregnant by making a needlepoint that says "Baby".

* [[http://madcoversite.com/mad192.html Cover of issue #192]] of ''{{Magazine/Mad}}'' magazine, parody of the 1976 ''Film/KingKong'' remake.

* By 1940 and ''Film/KittyFoyle'' this was old enough to be lampooned. In the satirical prologue, the wife revals that she's pregnant by making a needlepoint that says "Baby".

A woman learns that she is expecting a baby. Does she directly inform her husband of this? Not necessary. She just sits there looking smug and knitting something (often a very small sock), and he gets the message.

Basically, knitting = pregnancy. This is based on a couple of cultural artifacts from an older time period: There was not a large source of store bought clothes (which were generally very expensive), so most clothing was hand made, and a new baby would obviously require new clothes. Knitting was a common activity among women.

Is hardly a DeadHorseTrope or even a ForgottenTrope today, as any woman who knits in public will tell you--and, in fact, may have been rescued by the resurgence of knitting as a hobby.

* The second ''Film/TheThinMan'' movie. Nick has just solved a very complicated mystery, but has yet to deduce that his wife Nora is expecting. Until he realizes that she is knitting a baby's sock.
* ''Film/TheAddamsFamily''. Gomez realizes in the last scene that Morticia is knitting a baby's jumper. With three legs.

* Lampshaded and Subverted in ''Series/ILoveLucy''. Lucy and Ethel think their husbands are going to join the army, and take up knitting. The husbands notice them doing this, and naturally assume they are both having babies.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' had a sort of "false alarm" in this regard. At the end of one episode, Fred accidentally sits on Wilma's knitting needles, and finds a bootie. Fred jumps to conclusions and runs out of the house with it (He had told his rich uncle that he had a kid named after him; he didn't, but now it looked like things were different) before Wilma can tell him that it was for Betty's niece. Of course, later on that season, Wilma showed him another "bootie" which Fred mistook for a nose cover, but this time...

* ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp''. Lady tells Jock and Trusty that her female owner "Darling" is knitting booties. Jock and Trusty realize that "Darling" is going to have a baby, and try to explain that to Lady.

* The WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} cartoon "Fathers Are People" ends with Goofy saying that, despite all the hardships of having a kid, he wished he had a million of them. Then his wife shows him a tiny sweater and Goofy gasps in horror... then sighs with relief when she puts it on the dog.

Basically, knitting = pregnancy. This is based on a couple of cultural artifacts from an older time period: There was not a large source of store bought clothes, so most clothing was hand made, and a new baby would require new clothes. Knitting was a common activity among women.

Is hardly a DeadHorseTrope or even a ForgottenTrope today, as any woman who knits in public will tell you - and, in fact, may have been rescued by the resurgence of knitting as a hobby.

Basically, knitting = pregnancy. This is based on a couple of cultural artifacts from an older time period: There was not a large source of store bought clothes, so most clothing was hand made, and a new baby would require new clothes. Knitting was a common activity among women, who were mainly housewives.

Is hardly a DeadHorseTrope or even a ForgottenTrope today, as any woman who knits in public will tell you.

Is a DeadHorseTrope or even ForgottenTrope today.

* At the start of the third series of CallTheMidwife, [[spoiler: Shelagh]] is shown sewing a baby's nightdress. [[spoiler: Subverted in that she isn't pregnant yet, and later finds out she ''can't'' get pregnant because of complications from TB. There's also a DoubleSubversion in that she and Dr Turner adopt a baby girl in the third season finale, and Sister Julienne returns the nightdress to the Turners.]]

* The WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} cartoon "Fathers Are People" ends with Goofy saying that, despite all the hardships of having a kid, he wished he had a million of them. Then his wife shows him a tiny sweater and Goofy gasps in horror... then sighs with relief when she puts it on the dog.

* Cover of [[http://madcoversite.com/mad192.html Mad Magazine #192]], parody of the 1976 King Kong remake

* In 1937's ''Shall We Dance'', the Ginger Rogers character is assumed to be pregnant because she's seen knitting. She's actually repairing a ''dog sweater''.
* Exploited in {{Chicago}}, where Roxie is made to knit during her public trial to play up the claim of her being pregnant.
* It happened in ''EnemyMine'' when the asexual reptile guy revealed he was knitting some small garments.

* In RaymondEFeist's and JannyWurts' ''Daughter of the Empire'', Mara of the Acoma knits while pregnant in order to appease her abusive husband. She is terrible at it and has no expectation of ever knitting anything useful. Her husband just expects that is what she should be doing.
* Saw it in the Sookie Stackhouse novel ''Dead and Gone''. Sookie knows her fairy-aunt Claudine is preggo when she sees her knitting baby clothes. Though Claudine also tells Sookie straight out that she is expecting.
* Technically the "Polgara and Ce'Nedra are both pregnant" reveal toward the end of the ''[[{{Belgariad}} Malloreon]]'' is the two of them [[MorningSickness puking over the ship's railing]], but this gets invoked on the trip home when Polgara teaches Ce'Nedra how to knit. (Though Velvet also gets knitting lessons, and ''she'' doesn't become pregnant until the epilogue of ''Polgara The Sorceress''.
* Stephanie Pearl-McPhee recounts a real-life encounter with this trope on a bus in her first book, Yarn Harlot.

* Lampshaded and Subverted in ''Series/ILoveLucy''. Lucy and Ethel think their husbands are going to join the army and take up knitting. The husbands notice them doing this, and naturally assume they are both having babies.
* Parodied in a later ''{{The Honeymooners}}'' episode, may actually have been a reunion show. Ralph thinks Alice is pregnant when he finds her knitting materials. However, rather than a sock, she's apparently knitted a baby's sweater -- complete with one hole for the head and two for the arms. The holes are unrealistically tiny, but then again, a baby is small. Of course what Alice was really knitting was [[spoiler: a cover for Ralph's bowling ball]]
* Done in an episode of TheTwilightZone where a man gives a love potion to the gal he is truly-madly for, but within months grows tired of her cloying devotion. He plans to kill her with a "glove cleaner" sold to him by the same mysterious old man who gave him the love potion. However, he drops the poisoned drink in shock when she presents him with a tiny knitted bootie.

-->UsefulNotes/HilaryClinton is about to become a grandmother. She's busy knitting tiny pants suits.

* ''WesternAnimatio/TheFlintstones'' had a sort of "false alarm" in this regard. At the end of one episode, Fred accidentally sits on Wilma's knitting needles, and finds a bootie. Fred jumps to conclusions and runs out of the house with it (He had told his rich uncle that he had a kid named after him; he didn't, but now it looked like things were different) before Wilma can tell him that it was for Betty's niece. Of course, later on that season, Wilma showed him another "bootie" which Fred mistook for a nose cover, but this time...
* The TexAvery cartoon "Little Johnny Jet" has an airplane find out his wife is expecting when he catches her knitting a little plane-shaped sweater. At the end she has a long line of them after the government orders ten thousand more.
** This happens in another Tex Avery cartoon, "The Flea Circus". Francois comes home to find his wife Fifi knitting a flea-sized sweater with human-sized knitting needles (they also have a human-sized home and Fifi delivers in a human hospital). In the final scene, Francois enters Fifi's dressing room and is shocked to see her knitting away again.
* The ChuckJones cartoon "I Was a Teenaged Thumb", a comical take on ''TomThumb'', has the mother knitting microscopic booties. At the end, her husband is aghast when she starts knitting a giant bootie.

* This happened to Daffy Duck once. In the cartoon, Daffy finds his wife knitting a sweater. Assuming it's for him, he takes it and tries putting it on. Suffice to say, the sweater's too small for him and he can hardly breath through the tight garment upon putting it on.

* Technically the "Polgara and Ce'Nedra are both pregnant" reveal toward the end of the ''[[{{Belgariad}} Malloreon]]'' is the two of them puking over the ship's railing, but this gets invoked on the trip home when Polgara teaches Ce'Nedra how to knit. (Though Velvet also gets knitting lessons, and ''she'' doesn't become pregnant until the epilogue of ''Polgara The Sorceress''.

Basically, knitting = pregnancy. There was not a large source of store bought clothes, so most clothing was hand made, and a new baby would require new clothes. This is based on a couple of cultural artifacts from an older time period: Knitting was a common activity among women, who were mainly housewives.

Basically, knitting = pregnancy. This is based on a couple of cultural artifacts from an older time period: Knitting was a common activity among women, who were mainly housewives. There was not a large source of store bought clothes, so most clothing was hand made, and a new baby would require new clothes.

Examples!!

Basically, knitting = pregnancy. This is based on a couple cultural artifacts from an older time period: Knitting was a common activity among women, who were mainly housewives. There was not a large source of store bought clothes, so most clothing was hand made, and a new baby would require new clothes.