Vintage knitting

Midge

Midge

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I have finally, finally finished two knitting projects that have been in the making for ages... I love knitting, and when I am into it, I sometimes can barely stop myself, but I admit I struggle sometimes with the finishing, especially when there's a gazillion threads to finish off in the end, not just the sewing up by hand :BAGUSE:. In that aspect, these were both not the best choices, but I am very happy with how they turned out of course!

My second Mary Maxim and the fist I made for myself, using the pattern "Chicopee" - this one's a 1960s edition. It also has the options for the classic cardigan, but I just wanted a chunky sweater for cold days snowflakeemoji. I used Lana Grossa Superbingo for this, which is merino wool.
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And my second one from this charming little 1940s knitting booklet from New Zealand (I've already made the one on the cover) - the buttons I used are vintage too:
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My next projects are going to be newer vintage (an 80s tacky Christmas sweater pattern for my best friend... her birthday is in October, so the idea is to give it to her then so she can wear it for Christmas :hysterical:) and modern one (a Moomin sweater pattern :wub:).
 
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You're GOOD at this Karin!! I love the cardigan especially and the Mary Maxim looks like it would lower your heating bill in the coziest way.
 
Oh wow! These are fantastic Karin! Are you on Ravelry? There's a vintage knitters group on their forums. Just in case you want somewhere else to share them. I took part in their 1920s knit along last year.

I've just finished a sweater for my mum, and have now cast on a sweater for myself, but both are modern patterns.
 
Midge said:
I admit I struggle sometimes with the finishing, especially when there's a gazillion threads to finish off in the end, not just the sewing up by hand
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I quite enjoy seaming, but darning in ends is always annoying. I've learned to splice wool together when I change ball, which means no ends to sew in! It doesn't work for colour changes though, so you still have to sew those in, unless you can carry them up the sides.
 
Thanks Amanda! Here's a couple of vintage projects.

I posted about this one once before, it's from a 1920s pattern, I chose it because it thought it would look quite modern. It's crochet rather than knitting. It came out just slightly too small across the chest, and the dome shaped covered button means it looks very odd worn underneath anything, so I don't actually wear it much. I will try and block it a bit wider and change that button, because I do like it otherwise.


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You can see a few more projects on my ravelry page, but I don't always get around to photographing them when I've finished.

I've been working on a 1950s bolero on tiny tiny needles, but I put it aside to start something else!

I also often pick up vintage yarn from charity shops. I have a small quantity of unused yarn that probably comes from circa 1930s. That's the oldest yarn I have, but I also have quantities of 80s mohair! Mohair knitting was definitely a "thing" in the 80s, and I regularly find 80s brightly coloured scratchy mohair yarn and can't resist buying it.

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/RetroRuthUK
 
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I quite enjoy seaming, but darning in ends is always annoying. I've learned to splice wool together when I change ball, which means no ends to sew in! It doesn't work for colour changes though, so you still have to sew those in, unless you can carry them up the sides.
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Splicing... never thought of that, will have to check it out. I just darn the ends in. Tough on the cardigan here there was sooo much, I just knotted the threads in two's *don't tell anyone* - as it's only for myself :BAGUSE: and it doesn't bother me. My mom said she'd probably do the same in this case :rolleyes:....
The ugly Christmas sweater I've now started has a Garfield dressed as Santa motif - all intarsia knitting. More threads - hoooray :booze:! I came across it when I was looking for ugly Christmas sweaters for the Fashion Parade theme, and on a Skype marathon with my friend showed it to her for a giggle because we were talking about ugly sweaters - and she went like "I need that!". So I thought, that's the birthday present she's going to get, because with no travelling etc. there's much less chance this year of finding fun stuff for her - and her birthday is at the end of October, so I think that fits pretty well. The Moomin pattern is thankfully only two colours... that'll be pretty easy!

I love that 20s pattern, Ruth - and the finished item looks great! I've heard of Ravelry, but I'm knot a regular knitter and probably already on enough social media...

I knitted the cardigan mostly in front of the TV, so I can't really say how much time I took, but I think a lot of Downton Abbey was watched whilst I was at it :).
 
Midge said:
I've heard of Ravelry, but I'm knot a regular knitter and probably already on enough social media...
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It's a great resource - you don't have to get involved in the forums, or show off your items unless you want to.

But it's HUGE database of patterns and yarns which I find invaluable. Lots of free patterns too.

I also use their 'stash' feature, to track how much wool I have and which box it is in (yes, I have collected so much, I need that!). It's helpful because if you put in the amount of yarn you have, it tells you the yardage, so you can see if you have enough for a particular pattern.

Then I started enjoying keeping track of my projects in their notebook feature, and I occasionally I ask questions in the various forums.

When I needed 'just one more ball' of a discontinued wool to finish a project, I was able to get it from another raveller. There's quite a lot of buying and selling of wool and equipment on their forums.
 
I see... I don't have much of a wool stash - not like my fabric stash! Mostly I buy what I need for what I'm making, and if there's any left over, I've actually started selling it on the online auction site here in Switzerland - my mom told me she does that with whatever she has leftover and it works well. I've already sold all my Lana Grossa leftovers :). I used to have a bigger stash, all thanks to my mom, but used it up over several years to knit squares for a huge plaid, and after that I only bought what I was needing.
My mom is the big knitter in the family, always was, besides the sewing. Sewing was done during the day, knitting in the evenings in front of the TV - that's how I grew up. She is always knitting sweaters for herself, from vintage and modern patterns. I am a bit of a periodical knitter - something comes along and I really want it, so I make it - and then I go back to doing other things. Like with sewing, after school, I got back into it at first by knitting stuff for my Barbie dolls. I have two fantastic books with lovely, realistic-looking patterns, so I started raiding my mom's wool stash for that, as that was also the time when we had the doll club here and anything to do with my dolls was my main hobby. That's also how I learned to read knitting patterns in English, as they are American books.

Here's a few of my dolly things...
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First thing that I ever knitted for a doll... part my own invention, part from a doll knitting pattern booklet.

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These were all from the pattern book - the beige wool is alpaca, and I still have two skeins - I've kept hold on to it because it's so special!

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Brenda is a 16"/40 cm doll, so larger than Barbie. Again the alpaca wool - it was a leftover from my mom, I think for something she'd made for my granddad, so it's easily 30 years old...
 
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