Friday 15 April 2011

Vintage Patterns From Australia


These vintage baby patterns arrived yesterday all the way from Australia. One of my Ravelry friends Margaret (Marg41) asked me if I would like some vintage baby patterns and of course I said yes. Vintage are usually knitted in fine wools but I don't mind that for a newborn baby. I think they look so delicate on a small one especially if they have a small birth weight. Thanks so much Margaret. Very much appreciated.


I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the Patons book (in yellow) and found on the first page the very shawl that my Mum knitted for my son 42yrs ago. I still have it packed away upstairs. I saved it for my granchildren but since my son married into a ready made family then I will save it and see if one of my nieces has a baby sometime. It is in almost brand new condition as the shawl was small and round and my son was big and tall. I will have to pray that any more babies in the family are more lightweight than he was,

My Mother knitted both of these designs of vests for my son as it was an extremely cold winter when he was born and he was inclined to be chesty so she wanted to keep his chest warm. He wore the ones with the buttons for quite a long time as they were pure wool and I had to handwash them so they seemed to stretch with him. There were no such things as automatic washers and tumble dryers when my son was small. Well there might have been automatic washers but they were very expensive so I just had a hand me down twin tub for his terry nappies and bedding and our clothes. Baby clothes were always hand washed years ago. Mums today have it far easier than we did.


This book also came yesterday from one of the second hand book sites. It is a Vogue pattern book revamping styles of the 50's - 70's into thicker wools and into 1985 style of fashion. There are still some basic jacket and sweater designs that I would wear today. I don't think that standard basic designs ever really go out of fashion. Well not for my age group.









I knitted until the sparks flew yesterday and now have a back to match the two sleeves of my Sister in Law's cardigan. I got up fairly early this morning and got my weekend food shopping done so that I can settle down for another day of knitting. The housework will once again have to wait. I am on a deadline.
I can't tell you how much I am longing to crochet. It is dangling like a carrot in front of me urging me to finish off both of the knitted jackets so that I can heave a sigh of relief and do some crochet.

Coffee time now and clickety click. Pass me my neoprene wrist straps as my arthritis is playing up as once again it is a chilly morning. Thank goodness I don't have any snow as Bev (Beverooni) does. I looked at her blog and she has inches of the white stuff. Brrrr.

4 comments:

Sharon Marie said...

You really do like your patterns. I confess, I'm a pattern hoarder myself. To me, looking at patterns gives me the same thrill I got as a little girl looking at the toys in Christmas catalogs. Enjoy yourself. :)

Ana Luisa said...

Lucky you, such gorgeous pattern books! You're going to be quite busy with so many patterns to choose from, enjoy yourself!
Have a good weekend. :)

Anonymous said...

Loved walking back in time with your new books. I too love them. They are so much fun to see and to crochet.

I love the brown cardigan. Doesn't it look warm and yummy?

crazymotheringchick said...

What fun it must have been to go through the vintage books and find patterns your mother made. I would have loved that. Not that my mother knitted........ but you know....... ha ha.

I agree with you about styles not going out of fashion, particularly for our age. I do love that belted brown jacket. Very pretty. I probably have a pattern I can make into something very similar.