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.

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.

More Vintage

I seem to be stuck in a vintage mood of late. Whilst the wool for this crochet jacket is very new the pattern is from a book called Glorious Crochet Sweaters edited by Nola Theiss which despite being many years old is still available on many book sites. I love this book and have made 3 or 4 different designs on the 'aran' theme from it.

This knitting is a real blast from the past. Not only is the pattern vintage but the Patons Diana brushed chunky is from the same era. It came from some wool that I had donated to me from an old lady's stash. She must have bought it back in the 80's. I made this sweater many times but of course I was much younger and slimmer in those days. I am making this a little larger than the leaflet and am hoping that it will fit mewhen it is finished. If not then it will find another home. I am limited as to how large I can make it as I only had one ball extra to the pattern requirements. As you can see the knit row is on a 12mm and the purl row should be on 4.50 needle. Hence the name Oddpin knitting. I am actually using a 5mm needles as I want the sweater to be larger than the largest size on the pattern. This is my plain knitting for when I go to knit outs and knit club as I can't concentrate on patterns whilst I am chatting.

These patterns are the first of a batch of vintage patterns that I ordered online. The cardigan on the left is one that I used to make for my son. I loved it as it was easy to make, had pockets which my son loved and was very boyish looking. The centre pattern I have never had before but it looks like a really nice crochet stitch pattern if somewhat girlish. The entrelac sweater pattern I did make for myself years ago and still have the sweater somewhere in the wardrobe. I don't wear it much as I itch too much with anything vaguely woolly or fluffy. I wanted the pattern to refresh myself as to the actual entrelac stitch as I have seen scarves and shawls on Ravelry using this method. It is easier to do than it looks but I just could not remember the technique.

Today is lovely and sunny but still cold. Hopefully it is a sign that Spring is on it's way which is a good job as I got my gas fuel bill today and as it was for the coldest period of the year it was a bit of an eye popper. I am not going to cut down on heating and be cold no matter what the cost. I will just have to cut down in other ways. I have quite a warm house though and once the sun starts to shine then the heating gets switched off for the summer. What I have to spend in the winter to stay warm is balanced out by the savings that I make in the summer. I should make myself more warm shawls before next winter and then I can cuddle up in those and keep the thermomenter lower. I don't think that I am using more gas than before it is more that the gas prices have risen so much.

I got a letter this morning dated the 7th March cancelling my hospital appointment for the 6th March! They are re-booking me to the 14th. There was a short apology note inside about the fiasco on Sunday. They are blaming the clerical and nursing staff for not turning up for clinic. The nursing staff were definitely there it was the specialist who was missing. Admittedly there was no clerical staff or files but surely if they knew this was the case they could have told us on our arrival and saved us all a 2hr wait for nothing. At least this appointment is for a Monday and not so early in the day.

Today is food shopping day so I will be scooting off to Tesco this afternoon. I had hoped to start crocheting this morning but as usual other things sidetracked me. I want to get on with it as it needs to be finished very soon and posted off so that I have time to knit my elder niece's birthday jacket for the 3rd April. A crafter's work is never done. Perhaps I should whistle while I work to make my fingers fly faster. The back is the largest piece so once that is finished I should move a lot faster.

Time to stop blogging and get something done.

Another Vintage Baby Pattern

I am knitting a second Patons Vintage pattern 221 with the remaining two and a bit balls of Sirdar Snuggly Quick Knit. I have made the two sleeves and am part way up the body with about another 8 rows to go before I divide for the armholes. After that I link everything together to knit the yoke.

This is another pattern that I made a couple of times for my son when he was a baby. The waffle type stitch is made by putting the wool to the front slipping 3 sts purl wise then knitting 1 stitch. On the following knit row the looped thread is picked up on the central stitch of the slipped 3 sts and knitted together. On the next set of rows the stitches are slipped in an alternate way so that on the row that the stitches are clipped together it forms a little diamond shape or waffle stitch.

I hope to get the rest of it finished off tonight. After that I don't know what I am going to start next. I have a few projects in my head but nothing has yet been decided on as I am waiting for my instructions on what to knit for my younger niece with the charcoal grey wool I ordered last week.

Eek It's Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and I still have loads to do. I could do with time standing still for a day to give me time to finish off everything. I have crocheted all of the pieces of my Sister in Law's sweater but still got to stitch everything together. I have started a short sleeved cardigan for my Niece's Mother in Law and praying that I can finish that in time. The buttons are now stitched on my niece's cardigan so that is one thing finished.

My great grand daughters knitted jackets will not even get started nor will I have time to finish off their crochet jackets. They are not their Christmas presents so I am not too bothered if they get them in a couple of weeks. They will be the next on the hook and needles after Christmas.

As you can see my vintage patterns arrived from The Vintage Knitting Lady. The grey knitted Patons patterns are replacements for ones that I had and lent out. This time I won't be lending them out as I have lost so many patterns this way. I made a lot of them for my relatives and my son so they must be at least 42 yrs old. Some of the other patterns are a bit newer than that but are out of print now. The doll patterns are again mostly replacements for ones that I had previously. The ones in the bottom photo I made long before I married and the Lavenda pattern is one that I made for my own doll when I was just a child. So many memories are tied up in these patterns.

I must get on today as I could also do with running the vacuum cleaner around the house and flicking a duster about. Steady Jan you will be accused of turning house proud once again. I decided long ago that life is too short to waste it on housework so I only do the essentials and am certainly not Mrs Neat freak. My ex will probably call tomorrow and hold his hands up in despair whilst his partner wrinkles up her nose. I have told them not to call as with the bad weather I haven't been able to get them any presents this year but they will probably call just the same.

Can I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas. I hope that you spend it with your loved ones and have a great family Christmas. I don't bother about the presents given to me although I do get a lot of pleasure from giving gifts especially hand made ones. To me it shows that I care enough about my family and friends to give them my time and effort. I hope that they see it this way. I think that they do as they always ask me to make them something instead of buying a present.

Thanks to everyone for your welcome support over this last year. I do appreciate each and every one of you and I will catch up with your blogs once Christmas is over.

I am off to stitch up a sweater now so Happy Christmas one and all. xxxxx

Back To Crocheting Again

Thankfully I think that the presents that I have still to make are all done in crochet. I can get on so much faster with crochet than with knitting. I think that I am safe to put a sample of my Sister in Law's Christmas sweater on here because as far as I know she has no idea that I have a blog. The sample is the back. Thankfully she is a very slim lady so not as much to crochet.

The pattern is Sophie from Patons Crochet Inspirations Book 3. I am using Patons Cotton DK in a dark navy blue. I got the pattern and the cotton from Purplelinda. I have put in another order with Purplelinda even though it may not arrive before Christmas. It doesn't matter as I have ordered baby wool to make a couple of jackets for the Kings Arms barman whose partner is expecting a baby girl in February. I have known Phil to chat to ever since I started going to Knit Club. His lady is into vintage clothes and so I think that she will like some of the vintage patterns that I have ordered from Vintage Lady (the link that I showed you yesterday.) There is something about those old matinee styles that is so timeless. Purplelinda also sells Sirdar Quickerknit that I need for some of the patterns although she only stocks it in white. I used to love the Patons Quickerknit for babies. It was soft and loosely twisted and quick enough to knit but finer than the double knit yet thicker than 4ply. Once again like the vintage patterns this order may not arrive until after Christmas with the postal delays because of the snow.

There hasn't been any more fresh snow today but the pavements have frozen and are like a sheet of ice so I am only going out if I really have to. I still have 2 presents to buy but I think that they will have to wait until the ice thaws on the pavements and roads. It is too late to order online so I will just have to hope that I can find something suitable in the local shops as there is no way I am entering into the melee of Christmas shopping crowds in Bury or Manchester.

If anyone took a look at Beverooni's blog and the Santa hats and beard can you give her your opinion. She wants to know if she should write up the pattern for sale. I think that it is unique and a fun thing and it will definitely be a winner. Perhaps not this year unless people are very quick crocheters and Bev is a quick writer but definitely one for next year.

I am hoping to finish crocheting the back of the sweater tonight although dark navy is almost as bad as black to work with. I still have the girls crochet jackets to finish and to start a crochet waistcoat in beige so I may give my eyes a rest and work on the lighter colours tonight.

Two More Baby Cardigans

I have finished off the pink baby cardigan and have also this afternoon finished off a white baby cardigan. The pattern for the white cardigan is also another of my vintage patterns. Both of these cardigans took just 1 x50 gram ball each of Hayfield Baby 3ply. Although they are a bit more fiddly to crochet I do like very small babies in finer cardigans. I am not as keen on knitting fine wool though and I still have a partly knitted baby cardigan in 4ply from last year that I lost interest in. The baby that I started it for has now grown well out of that size so maybe I will finish it off one day for another baby. I had chosen a boring pattern as it was for a boy so that didn't help my concentration either.

I know that I said I would photograph projects from my new books but I think there are enough photos on the blog today so I will try to put them on tomorrow.

Today started off nice and sunny although cold. This afternoon the wind has arrived and is blowing the trees everywhere. Perhaps it will blow away that cloud of volcano ash and the planes will once again be able to fly. My neighbours got back safely from their holiday in Paris. Fortunately they had decided to go by Euro star instead of flying and had booked their tickets in advance so got a seat home. They are having a new bathroom fitted as I mentioned before but have hit a bit of a stop as their electrician is stuck waiting for a flight home from his holidays. The re plastering has come to a stop as he has to fit a new light fitting and the electrics for the shower before they can finish plastering the walls and then tile them. A bit of a shock. They came back expecting their bathroom to be finished and instead they haven't got one. It's a good job that they are members of the local gym so that they can, at least, have a daily shower there.

I still haven't started the Lacy Duster Coat. I was trying to finish off the baby cardigans so that I can give them to my friend when I see her on Thursday. Once I start and put my mind to it I should have the Duster Coat finished in a week or so.