A few ramblings about knitting, mainly vintage stuff and other bits and bobs

Thursday 16 January 2014

Sirdar 1085 - Lady's Fitted Jacket


Wonderful double cable cardigan in a 34" bust. This is a great style and could easily be added to another cardigan if you needed to up-size the pattern
 
Date: early 1940s
 
Measurements: bust 34"; length 21"; sleeve seam 17.5"
 
Materials: 3-ply or light fingering; 2.75mm US 2, 3mm US 2.5 and 3.75mm US 5 needles; cable needle; 7 buttons
Original used 9 ozs Sirdar Majestic Wool 3-ply or Sirdar Kasha Wool 3-ply
 
Tension: 7.5 stitches to 1 inch using 3.75mm US 5

Friday 10 January 2014

Bestway B2559 - Feather Stitch Twin Set and Scarf

 

I love this twin set and that it can be just a single colour or you can add some stripes to mix it up a bit. I also love that there is a matching scarf

Date: estimated early 1950s

Measurements
Jumper - bust 34 to 36"; length from shoulder 18.5”; sleeve seam 6.5"
Cardigan - bust 34 to 36"; length from shoulder 19.75”; sleeve seam 18.5"
Scarf - 10" by 38"

Materials: 4-ply or fingering; 3.75mm US 5 and 2.75mm US 2 needles for the twin set; 4.5mm US 7 needles for the scarf; 5 buttons for the cardigan and 6 press studs for the jumper
Original used for the striped set 5ozs of natural and 1 oz each of green, blue, yellow and rose (approximately 2 ozs natural and 0.5 oz of each contrast for the jumper and 3 ozs with 0.5 oz of contrast for the cardigan or 8 ozs of plain for the set
Scarf uses 1 oz of main and 0.25oz of 3 contrast colours or 2 ozs if working it plain

Tension: Over the pattern 7.5 stitches and 8 rows to 1 inch after pressing

5 pages

Thursday 9 January 2014

Bestway 852 - Lovely Fair Isle Jumper


 Bestway 852 - Lovely Fair Isle Jumper

This is such an elegant jumper. I love the gently puffed sleeves and the lattice pattern really lifts it.

Date: estimated Early 1940s

Measurements: bust 34" to 36"; length from shoulder 19.5”; sleeve seam 3.75"

Materials: 3-ply or light fingering; 3.75mm US 5 and 2.75mm US 2 needles;
Original used 5 ozs Sirdar Super Shetland Wool in main colour and 2 ozs in red

Tension: 8 stitches and 9 rows to 1 inch using 3.75mm US 5 needles over stocking stitch (after pressing)

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Time to start


I have this astonishing collection of knitting patterns that show that we can be glamorous and stylish and fabulous and unique.

I started collecting them when I wasn't knitting and thought how cool they were but now I realise they tell another story too, not just of the fashion of the ages but the social history too. They tell of technological developments in textiles and knitting wool. They tell of the way that we have become larger in the past 70 years. They tell of how and what a woman was expected to be but also how we consider that today. They show that some things truly never go out of fashion.

It is an amazing collection but I am a bad curator. I just let it sit unexplored in boxes occasionally I'll dip into them and have a look through but the actual amount of knitting that I have done with them is practically zero.

Because of this I have decided that opening an Etsy shop would be a great way to share them among other collectors and knitting aficionados.


This is my first box (there’s over 250 patterns there) either Patons or Bestway and under my bed is another 7 boxes of similar size and boxes of 1950s and 1960s Pins and Needles magazines, and a couple of decades of Stitchcrafts from the 1940s to the late 1960s. So it’s a work in progress and it might take me some time to get through them all.