And here's its package:
It's a retro computer! It's made out of cardboard and its sole purpose is to show how to make sweaters, but it's a computer nonetheless. Makes me think of this: Antikytherea mechanism.
How is it supposed to work? It's made of 3 circles. The big circle is in the middle and two slightly smaller circles surround the big one. The big middle circle has columns of numbers (on both sides) that go in toward the center, and sizes around its edges. (One side is for kid sizes and the other for adults.) The smaller outer circles have cutouts that reveal the appropriate columns of numbers on the middle circle. These outer circles also have instruction text on them, and these instructions line up with the numbers revealed by the cutouts. All of these circles are connected in the center so you can rotate them with respect to each other.
So, you pick a size by lining up the cutouts with that size. The wheel is also color-coded so can easily match the sleeve instructions with the sleeve column, the sweater front with the sweater front column, etc.
One more thing - the wheel says, "Copyright 1969 Bea Freeman, P. O. Box 87, Bryn Mawr, PA. 19010, Pat. Pending." So here's to Bea Freeman, a computer designer of whom I had been unaware until now.
There are other sites that offer pics and descriptions - here are two of them: knittingfool.com and menwhoknit.com.
