Knitting and Crochet Fashion 1976

Yesterday I got 3 lots of vintage patterns in the post. I will start by showing some from this book. I originally had this book in the late 70's as it accompanied the Knitting Fashion programme on BBC with Pam Dawson demonstrating the stitches, interviewed by Jan Leeming. I have put the link to one programme in my title so that you can watch one of the surviving programmes on You Tube. My Mum and I used to be glued to this programme which went out once a week on BBC for ten weeks in 1979. I never missed an episode as neither did most of our wool shop customers. I managed to find a rather battered copy of the book through a second hand site as our book had long ago vanished.

As the book has been wet at some stage in it's life and a lot of the photos are in black and white I can only show you the ones that are still legible to photograph. This jacket reminds me of the paintings by Lowry. It is in 4ply, however, so not on my list of things to make, I am too impatient to knit 4ply for myself.

The sloppy joes style was very popular in the 70's and the silk cardigan although very pretty is another fine one.

I did make this top in Poodle wool as the wide sleeves were very popular back then. As it is made with little shaping it would be an easy thing to adapt the pattern to narrower sleeves. The man's jacket is crocheted aran and of course where would we be without a granny square poncho which still appear as new patterns on Ravelry looking very much the same as this one.

The shawl is timeless as are the fair isle childrens cardigans. I think that the adults patterns have also stood the test of time.

Aran patterns are never really in fashion or out of fashion and the little crochet top with, or without, the ladybird motif is another top that could be modernized with a slightly narrower sleeves.

I made this mohair sweater for myself in pink. Even though I used to softest most expensive mohair I still itched everytime I wore it. It was very pretty though and I got a lot of compliments.

I would still wear these plain crochet jackets. They are so comfy to wear. I think that if they were done in a interestingly textured yarn they would still be practical for wearing now.

I don't know if any kiddies would want to wear a crocheted loopy jackets these days but I have seen adult versions for sale in places like Top Shop quite recently. I had a cream one and a black edge to edge jacket in my youth and once got tangled up in Tony Christie's cufflink as he passed me by a little too closely at a night club way back in the early 70's. He was very polite whilst I untangled him and joked that it was a novel way to snare a man!

These crochet waistcoats can be made p lain or with the loops on the inside making a sort of woolly sheepskin lining. That could be lovely and warm in the winter.

The very basic 'sloppy joe' sweaters are a style that I love to wear about the house. I have two kinds of crochet, My going out lacy crochet and my everyday practical crochet.

This is the cardigan that I am making for my Sister in Law. I have finished off two sleeves and am now half way up the back. I am still picking bits of twig and sharp bits out of the wool. I spoke with a friend on Ravelry who has also used RYC natural silk aran and she had the same problem. I do hope that I haven't left too many sharp bits in. I have tried my hardest to take them out as I knit.

I also got a Vogue knitting book and some vintage patterns that were sent to me from Australia but I will show you those tomorrow.

Becks asked me whether or not I thought one of the patterns in the King Cole book was OK was someone to try who wasn't a very experienced crocheter. My advice to anyone is that you never know what you are capable of unless you try. I would, however, have a practise run at a motif and the pattern stitch in some spare wool oddments before I bought any new yarn. The size of the motifs is crucial to getting the size right. If I don't enjoy working a stitch then I know that I won't finish the garment and so if I am not sure about anything I always have a little practise first. If we don't go out of our comfort zone sometimes then we will never know what we are capable of. I don't recommend starting something when you are not sure that you have sufficient experience as that can lead to stress and I don't know about you but I crochet to relieve stress not add to it.