History Main / KnittingPregnancyAnnouncement

Often used in works made before it was considered okay to discuss the subject of pregnancy, as it has the benefit of also informing the audience that the woman is expecting a child without actually having to say it out loud.

This is hardly a DeadHorseTrope or even a ForgottenTrope today, as any person (man or woman) who knits in public will tell you--and, in fact, may have been rescued by the resurgence of knitting as a hobby. Contrast NeedleworkIsForOldPeople, where the knitter is presumably to old to be expecting children of her own.

* The 1935 adaptation of ''Film/{{David Copperfield|1935}}'' makes it clear that Clara Copperfield is pregnant by showing her embroidering a pillow wit the words "Bless The Baby".;

This is hardly a DeadHorseTrope or even a ForgottenTrope today, as any person (man or woman) who knits in public will tell you--and, in fact, may have been rescued by the resurgence of knitting as a hobby. Contrast NeedleworkIsForOldPeople because if the old person is a woman, she (presumably) can't be pregnant.

* ''ComicBook/SupermanAndBatmanGenerations'': When Bruce Wayne's wife goes to tell Bruce she is pregnant, she holding a pair of knitting needles with partially knitted booties on them behind her back.

# Since store-bought clothing wasn't as readily available as it was today (and was also typically very expensive, even compared to modern times), most clothing was made and mended by hand. And hand-me-downs were also very commonplace.
# A new baby would require new clothes.
# Whether or not they actually had children, knitting was a common activity amongst women.

This is hardly a DeadHorseTrope or even a ForgottenTrope today, as any person (man or woman) who knits in public will tell you--and, in fact, may have been rescued by the resurgence of knitting as a hobby. Contrast NeedleworkIsForOldPeople because if the old person is a woman, she can't be pregnant.

* Lampshaded and Subverted in ''Series/ILoveLucy''. Lucy and Ethel think their husbands are going to join the army, and decide to take up knitting as a hobby. The husbands notice their doing this, and naturally assume they're both pregnant.

* Invoked by Bender from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' when he was "pregnant" with beer. He was knitting beer bottles.

# Since store-bought clothing wasn't as readily available as it was today (and was also typically very expensive, even compared to modern times), most clothing was made and mended by handed. And hand-me-downs were also very commonplace.

* ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp''. Lady tells Jock and Trusty that her female owner, "Darling," is knitting booties. Jock and Trusty realize that Darling and her husband, Jim, must be expecting a baby (specifically their first child) and the two older dogs try explaining what a baby is to Lady.

# There wasn't a large source of store bought clothing (which was typically very expensive), so most clothing was made and mended by hand, and hand-me-downs were most likely commonplace.

# Whether or not they actually had children, knitting was a common activity among women.

* The second ''Thin Man'' movie, ''Film/AfterTheThinMan''. 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 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, using wool coming straight from a nearby sheep. Then it fades to the next scene, in which the Flintstones and the Rubbles are on a plane heading to Hollyrock... And Wilma is somehow ''still knitting'', to the point that [[ExaggeratedTrope what started out as booties have now become a long lump of fabric reaching the floor of the plane]].

* It happened in ''Film/EnemyMine,'' when the asexual reptile guy revealed he was knitting some small garments.

# [[CaptainObvious A new baby would obviously require new clothes]].

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

# Knitting was a common activity amongst women (whether or not they actually had children).

This 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.

* An alligator female in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' knitted underwater, very pregnant.

* The Creator/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.

** 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, using wool coming straight from a nearby sheep. Then it cuts to the next scene, in which the Flintstones and the Rubbles are on a plane heading to Hollyrock... And Wilma is somehow ''still knitting'', to the point that [[ExaggeratedTrope the booties have become so long, they're now trailing down to the floor]].

** 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, using wool coming straight from a nearby sheep.

A woman learns that she's 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 [[TruthInTelevision a couple of cultural artifacts]] from an older time period:
# There wasn't a large source of store bought clothes (which were generally very expensive), so most clothing was made by hand.

# Knitting was a common activity among women (whether or not they had children).

Basically, knitting = pregnancy. This is based on [[TruthInTelevision a couple of cultural artifacts]] from an older time period: there wasn't a large source of store bought clothes (which were generally very expensive), so most clothing was made by hand, and [[CaptainObvious a new baby would obviously require new clothes]]. Also, knitting was a common activity among women.

Often used in works made before it was considered okay to discuss the subject of pregnancy, as it has the benefit of also informing the audience that the woman is with child, without having to actually say it.

* 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".

* The Creator/ChuckJones cartoon "I Was a Teenaged Thumb", a comical take on ''Literature/TomThumb'', has the mother knitting microscopic booties. At the end, her husband is aghast when she starts knitting a giant bootie.
* ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp''. Lady tells Jock and Trusty that her female owner, "Darling," is knitting booties. Jock and Trusty realize that Darling and her husband, Jim, are expecting a baby, and the two older dogs try to explain what a baby is to Lady.

* One of FoghornLeghorn's suitors decides she wants to have a baby and starts knitting, much to the annoyance of the other hens. IIRC, she found the egg, rather than laying it.

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* One of FoghornLeghorn's suitors decides she wants to have a baby and starts knitting, much to the annoyance of the other hens. IIRC, she found the egg, rather than laying it.

* In ''ComicStrip/TheAddamsFamily'', [[https://i.imgur.com/to55Crk.png the wife revealed she's pregnant by knitting a three-legged onesie]] before its occurrence in [[Film/TheAddamsFamily the movie]].

* In ''ComicStrip/TheAddamsFamily'', [[https://i.imgur.com/to55Crk.png the wife revealed she's pregnant by knitting a three-legged onesie]] before its occurence in [[Film/TheAddamsFamily the movie]].

* Smurfette does this in two alternate timelines in the ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story series with her two alternate timeline husbands (Hefty and Papa Smurf), only instead of it being used to announce a pregnancy, she does this to signal a yearning for a child from her husband in that timeline. Both husbands respond by just picking her up from the chair and taking her off to be alone with her.