1950s Vintage Knitting Pattern- Smog Helmet hats- toddler to adult sizes

This is a lovely PDF of a knitting pattern from the mid part of the 20th century- to help and instruct you how to knit and make wonderful 'Smog' hat helmets. A great talking point and we think when made up they would be great for cold icy weather today.

The suggested yarn is 3 ply and DK and the sizes range from babies/toddlers to adults. You could thought make these from fun multicoloured modern yarns to make them funky

Smog/thick industrial fog was a big problem in the UK in the mid 20th century and these helmets would assist the wearer to be able to protect their lungs from the pollution. They are a wonderful little piece of social history

During the 19th and early 20th century, London was known for thick fogs that occurred in late autumn, due to pollution from the city's large urban population.

Factory emissions and smoke from domestic coal fires produced the smog phenomenon.

The smog, dubbed 'pea soupers' (due to the smog's yellowish colour) caused disruption and disease.

But these conditions reached a new level of danger in December 1952, when a high-pressure weather system moved over London and stayed there for several days.

The cool air its brought meant that Londoners burned even more coal to stay warm, but the smoke from burning coals became trapped under the air - mixing the fog with smoke and keeping it close to ground level.

Many schools and businesses closed. Airports and most forms of public transportation could not operate.

Even movie theatre-goers weren't able to see the screen, as the smog entered via building ventilation systems.

Building facades became black from the soot, and most deaths were due to heart or lung damage.

So you can see that these smog helmets would have been considered very useful