Retro Knit Saturday!

This has been a week with absolutely no knitting. Wait a minute......I just ran and knit 5 stitches on the rescue mission hat, so there, I did knit this week. I did go to the Yarn Boutique and cash in my gift certificate for Mother's Day though. I got two patterns, one for a sweater and one for a really cute shrug, three sweater clasps, some Addi lace needles, and some cable needles. I really wanted to get some sock yarn, but the girls made me promise to get stuff for myself and not sock yarn for their socks.


Now we will finish up the fashions from the Minerva 1939 booklet. You really got a lot of patterns for your 25 cents back then, but even in the fifties you could buy a pound of hamburger for under a quarter, so I guess it was a lot more money then than it seems now. The little girl's outfit was written in size 10. All three pieces are knit at 8 sts/inch. There is a pullover blouse, a cardigan, and a suspender skirt. The materials list says that the blouse is white, the skirt is colonial blue, and the sweater is scarlet. Both the skirt and blouse have a ribbed pattern. Look at all those buttons on the cardigan - a dozen of them.


The cropped cardigan blouse uses the striped pattern to add fashion interest with the stripes changing direction on the yoke. The description calls it a 'dressmaker sweater' and says that the use of three colors gives that 'straight shoulder, slim waist appearance.' The sweater was knit of three possible yarns, Velveen (love that name, so descriptive), Woolgora, or Featherdown. There are three possible color schemes listed, and it is fun to see what was considered a hip color scheme 50 years ago. The first is White, American Beauty (red or rose?), Lime, and Imperial Blue. The second is Sea Green, Larkspur (a blue), White, and Rose Red. The third is White, Lime, Fuchsia, and Regina Blue.

This bold striped pullover is knit at 6 1/2 sts/inch in White, Turquoise, and Lagoon Green. The contrast placket, collar and pockets are knit in Navy.




A fairly simple fitted cardigan with lots of buttons. Even the pockets have two buttons. They certainly liked their necklines high and small in those days. Notice also how high the cut of the armhole is. From the chart it looks like only a 7-inch armhole depth.

Instead of my usual knitting, I have been sewing summer Mexican blouses and summer jumpers for me. Last year I used my old denim jumper so much, especially in Las Vegas, that I decided I needed a few more. I have a beautiful overdyed denim, a cocoa brown denim, and a floral linen to make jumpers from. I am almost done with the brown jumper.

Retro Knit Friday!!

M called me a while ago from the local Beverly's to tell me that the new Lion brand sock yarn is in stock there. Apparently it is wool and nylon and about $10/skein, said skein being big enough for a pair of socks. That seems pretty reasonable, and she said the colors are good too. This annoys me because I was just down to the Beverly's buying some sewing notions and forgot to look at the yarn (well, I glanced into the yarn isle to see if there were any sale signs, then moved on).

Our retro knits are still from the year 1939. The first outfit is a jacket with a fitted pullover. The jacket is worked in a pattern but I can't really tell from the picture what kind of pattern it is except that it has vertical rows. The jacket is trimmed in very wide grosgrain ribbon. It is knit of 'Spanish Knitting Worsted" at 8 sts/inch on Size 1 Steel Needles.


The description for the cardigan says, "This cardigan is exclusive on account of its ribbon lacing, snug waistline, accessory neckline and slenderizing ribbing". It is also trimmed in grosgrain ribbon and has decorative buttons. It is knit of Germantown yarn at 6 sts/inch on Size 4 needles.


The dress is knit of 'Heather Flake' yarn at 8 sts/inch on Size 2 needles. It is a one-piece dress with interestingly shaped pattern pieces. The front bodice is knit separately from the yoke with V-shaped front, then the two are seamed together, and two pockets are formed at the top of the front bodice (you can see a hanky peeking out of one of the pockets). There are instructions to knit the 8 belt tabs which are then sewn on.

This kind of sweater with the pattern creating spaces for embroidery crops up from time to time in vintage knitting books. It is sometimes called a 'Tyrolean' sweater so maybe they had sweaters like this in Tyrol (which is in Austria, I think). Here it is called 'Germantown Jacket'. It is knit of a knitting worsted weight yarn at 6 sts/inch on Size 4 needles.

A classic fitted slipover with ribbing on the midriff and stripes on the yoke. The sleeves are shaped at the top with darts sewn in during assembly. The sweater is knit at 8 sts/inch.

Another cardigan with the standard late 30's/early 40's silhouette, this time in ribbing with cable trim at the lower bodice and on the sleeves. The instructions say that when setting in the sleeves, to ease the fullness at the top. These sleeves don't look eased; they obviously have big tucks or pleats at the top. The sweater is knit at 10 sts/inch on Size 1 & 2 needles.

The poor apple green cardigan is still in pieces, waiting for me to feel like putting it together. Right now I am sewing some Mexican Peasant blouses for the daughter, so it will just have to wait for awhile.

Hot Weather Retro Knits!

The radio weatherman is saying that the heat wave "has been busted" meaning that the 102 degree weather has gone away. High today is supposed to be in the eighties, thank goodness. The garden has been loving the hot weather though and the cucumbers especially have put on a growth spurt.

Today we have more sweaters from the 1939 Minerva booklet. The first sweater is a blouse made of 'Modeen', a dress-weight yarn knit on size 1 needles at 8 sts. per inch. Most of the top is knit in seed stitch with a stockinette pattern of hearts interspersed with French knot embroidery. The pattern is echoed in the heart-shaped pockets. The edges are finished with single crochet in the contrast yarn.

The name of this dress is 'Fresno' for unknown reasons. The description says that it has a 'pencil silhouette' and 'a military suggestion of buttons'. In this pattern, the plan of action is to knit pattern pieces that are then treated in a dressmakerly manner with fashion details created during the assembly. The upper yoke and midriff are shirred, and there are buttons at the shoulders. The outfit is knit at 9 sts/inch on size 1 needles.

This fuzzy sweater blouse is knit in a yarn called 'Woolgora'. It must be a blend of wool and angora. The interchangeable yarn chart says that it came in a 1/2 oz. ball with 131 yards in the ball. It was a dress-weight yarn. This blouse is very attractive with its close fit and front opening highlighted with three contrast stripes. The materials list says that the sweater is off white with rose red trim. It is knit with size 2 needles at 8 1/2 sts/inch.

Another woolgora sweater blouse in wide ribs with lace trim at the neck and sleeve bottom edges.

The slipover is knit of 'Spanish Knitting Worsted' which I have never heard of before. Why Spanish, I wonder? It is knitted in a fairly firm fabric of twisted stitch stockinette. The neckline is high and pointed in the front (how uncomfortable would that be??) and there are pockets at the bottom front.

Another very fitted pullover, this one with a straight neckline in the front. Let's see what was considered an attractive color combination for the time: white, amber, talisman blue, red orange, limerick green, and black. It is worn with a gored skirt knitted in white.

The kids gave me a gift certificate to the good local yarn store for Mother's Day. I have been pondering what to get with it, since I usually buy sock yarn to knit for the daughters, but since this is supposed to be for me, I will have to think about what to get.

Summer Sweater

I went over to Borders this morning to see if the new BWOF had arrived, but no, it had not. While looking through the magazines, I found this one lone Sandra magazine (May 2008). I love the sweater shown on the cover, very Jane Austen in feel. I would lose the drawstring (hate drawstrings), and make it shorter, but everything else is so pretty. I like a few things about the grey sweater too like the openwork pattern stitch and the high waistline, but that other pattern stitch on the lower portion looks like bats to me.

My knitting has slacked off, I am sorry to say. The poor green cardigan is waiting to be sewn together, the rescue mission hat is progressing slowly, slowly, and the sock is at a standstill. The reason is that I am busy designing embroidery patterns for the Mexican Peasant Blouses I am going to sew this summer. I haven't done much embroidery in years, but the stash of colored threads is calling me. I am also going to try a little machine embroidery using the computer machine I bought a few years ago. Wait, I remember taking a class for the new machine during the time of the Oakland hills fire, so that would be 17 years ago. Holy cow, I did not know I have owned the machine that long. Time to use it, I think. Also time to get back to the knitting machine.

Retro Knit Friday!

I see that there is a new book of retro knits on the market. I am going to have to go down to the bookstore and check it out!


The booklet I have for today is a Minerva booklet from 1939. The cover shows a classic twinset with a Brooks cardigan. I don't know where the Brooks term came from and haven't been able to find out, but it refers to the classic cardigan with ribbon trim on the button and buttonhole bands with the ribbon applied to the outside edge. The cover sweater has prettty plaid ribbon instead of grosgrain. All of the adult sweaters in the booklet are written out for size 16 only. They do supply a schematic drawing to help you draft it to whatever size you would need.



The 'Glenwood' is a one-piece dress with pleated skirt and pleat-topped sleeves. The front opening of the dress is faced with grosgrain ribbon and the neckline is bound with fabric. The bodice is sewn on to the skirt with machine stitching. It is knit at 8 sts/inch on size 2 needles.



This cardigan has a mock-vest look to it. The front is princess seamed with the darker color on the outside and the lighter color on the center bodice pieces. During construction a ribbed border is sewn around the armholes, bottom, and seam edges of the contrasting color.





The description of this sweater says it is called a "Midriff" probably because of its short length. It is knit in a rib stitch with plain stockinette borders down the front and around the square neckline. The buttons are crocheted in matching yarn.

The back cover shows a selection of other Minerva booklets of the time period. I don't own any of these, sad to say.

Hats

One day, years ago, I had to come up with a project to keep several small girls amused and busy for one summer afternoon. They ended up making papier mache heads using newspaper, flour paste, and balloons as the base. The surviving head was drafted into action this morning to serve as a model for the hat I finished today using the pattern I found online:

http://www.needlebeetle.com/free/seacap.htm

I really like this pattern and enjoyed knitting the hat. It comes in several sizes, and this is the size Large, which fits me a little loosely so should be a good size for a man.


The above hat was knit by hand, but I have invented a pattern for a double-layer hat that I knit mostly on the machine. It is very thick and warm and pretty easy to make:

Machine Knit Hat with Hand Knit Decreases

I used knitting worsted weight yarn leftovers for these hats, probably about 4-5 ozs.

My gauge was 4 1/2 sts//6 3/4 rows

Cast on 88 sts with an open cast on (my Elna bulky machine does a cast on with a yarn through it that is easy to remove for picking up the stitches later) or use waste yarn.

Work even in stockinette st for 20 inches. Take sts off the machine onto a size 7 or 8 knitting needle.

You will be knitting a decease section at the top and at the bottom of the knitted piece.

Row 1: K6, K2tog across row
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: K5, K2tog across row
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K4, K2tog across row
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: K3, K2tog across row
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: K2, K2 tog across row
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: K1, K2 tog across row
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: K2 tog across row, cut yarn leaving long tail.
Row 14: Thread yarn onto needle and draw through stitches pulling tight and fasten off.

Repeat this on the other end. I usually stagger the decreases a little to make seaming easier in this manner: on row 1, I knit K5, K2tog, then K6, k2tog across the row, ending with a K1, and continue in this manner on subsequent decrease rows. This is because I usually seam with a mattress stitch, but it will depend on how you do the seam.

After the decrease section is done on both ends, seam the whole thing up the side, then tuck one end up into the other to form the hat. I usually do a backstitch through both layers around the drawn-up stitches to hook the two sides together. Turn up the brim about 2 1/2 inches and the hat is ready.

Retro Knit Friday!

We spent this morning going into Oakland to attend the bead show. I did not buy much except for some lovely kasuri beads from Kenya, but I enjoyed taking pictures of the colorful beads. I love African beads, especially the yellow ones, and yellow and blue together is my favorite combination.

I found this Bernat booklet at the thrift store a few weeks ago. It dates back to 1964 and was photographed on the grounds of Blarney Castle, seen in the background in the cover photo. Most of the sweaters are classic in design and most are knit in Blarney Spun, which I think was a knitting worsted weight yarn. The cover shows two shawl-collared cardigans and a lovely aran cardigan.

Also with a shawl collar, this pullover is done in a two-color pattern stitch and has a placket front.

The lace pullover has single-crochet borders and 3/4 sleeves. The yellow basket-weave patterned cardigan has a bias-knit garter stitch border and is worn with that sixties icon, the pillbox hat, which is crocheted.

Two more classically styled pullovers.



A crocheted pullover that wins this week's prize for Ugly! I do hate those bobbles, be they knitted or crocheted.

I am knitting a new hat for the rescue mission using what so far seems to be a very interesting and good pattern I found online:

http://www.needlebeetle.com/free/seacap.htm

I like the way there is a turning row for the ribbing and that the ribbing extends into the cap portion past the turning row for better fit on the head. The shaping seems cover a larger area than other caps I have seen, and all in all, it is a nice-looking cap. I am making one in coffee colored acrylic yarn.