Retro Knit Friday!

We had a short stretch of very hot weather, but the weatherman just said that the temp should fall by twenty degrees this weekend. That's good, because the spouse plans to paint the kids' room, and it would be nice to open all the windows without letting in 106 degree air. I am nearing the toe on the second Trekking red sock and have set in one sleeve on the green cardigan.

Now, on to more outfits from the 1949 Bear Brand booklet. The one-piece dress with lapels is called 'Year Rounder'. It is knit of Caprice, a textured dress yarn at 8 1/2 sts/inch that blocks out to 8 sts/inch. The skirt has 8 faux gores formed by purl ribs, and it is attached to the bodice at the waist. The lapels are double thickness with sc around the edges.

'Tailored Cable' is a suit of classic shape trimmed withcables at the front button band, the pockets, and the cuffs. There is also an all-over cable pattern of short lengths of cable on a stockinette ground.

I think 'Smart Lines' is very chic looking with the smooth lines and stripe trim at bodice and pocket. Also smart are the gauntlet gloves and cute hat. Her head is turned but I think there is some kind of feather or trim on the other side of the hat. Not that that has anything to do with knitting, but the accessories make the outfit!

'Two Toner' also has a classically simple shape with contrast trim at color and tab trim on the front. Most of these outfits are knit on size 1 needles at 8 - 8 1/2 sts/inch.

'Rope Twist' is a very fitted, cropped cardigan with the cables knit in contrast colors. Judging by the accessories, this cardigan is more sporty and casual than the other garments.

The classic pullover has a texture pattern and is knit at 9 sts/inch. This is 1949, but already the little tied scarf around the neck is making its appearance.

I am already thinking about the next sweater. Will I start the yellow or blue?

Back To The Cardigan

Now that we are digging ourselves out of the construction mess, I found that I had lost the two sleeves of the green cardigan. We still have one bedroom to paint, so that closet is still sealed up with dropcloths, and I suspected that the sleeves were stuck in there somewhere. But no, I found them yesterday in a knitting bag in another bedroom, so now I am gung ho to finish this sweater. As you can see in the picture, I have finished knitting the neckband and am sewing it down. Today I am going to start setting in the sleeves.

I have finished one of the Trekking socks and started the other. When I bought the yarn, the color looked all dark red and black, but knitted up it is full of fuchsia and goldy highlights. M has been hinting that I should stop making plain socks and make her some with a stitch pattern, and she suggests Broadripple (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer03/PATTbroadripple.html). That will be my next sock project.

We seem to be heading into another session of hot weather, perfect for sock knitting. Since I was out of town last week and skipped the retro knit day, I will show one picture from the 1949 booklet. This sweater is named 'Decolletage', and is knit from fingering weight yarn on size 1 and 2 needles. The pattern is written in only one size with a finished bust measurement of 34 1/2 inches. Here's the description: 'Instructions are written for sweater with a low neckline both back and front as illustrated. Changes are given (at end of instructions) for a High Square neck in front and High Neck in back, giving a choice of a high or low neckline either back or front.' There's no picture of the alternate necklines though.

Back Home

We just got back from two business trips, one to Carmel two weeks ago, and just now to Vegas for a tax convention. I went to Knitting-By-The-Sea in Carmel and got the Sockotta and Tofutsies.

We decided to drive all the way to Las Vegas which takes about 10 hours. During the week, while the spouse learned even more wonderful things about taxes, I went shopping. I went to Wooly Wonders on E. Tropicana and another yarn shop whose name I can't remember. I bought (what else) sock yarn. The green yarn is some alpaca sock yarn I got at a booth at the farmers' market in Tehachapi on the way home. We were surprised to see that someone torched the train station in Techachapi last month and they are raising money to rebuild. I think the tragedy was due to fireworks and adult beverages from what I heard from a local fundraiser.

This is going to be a busy weekend with two birthday parties. Today I have to bake a chocolate cake and some rolls and wrap some presents. I may be able to get to the retro knits by Monday.

Pink Sockotta Socks Finished

Here is the photo M sent me in an email. I managed to load the pic onto my computer and store it, which for non-techy me was quite an accomplishment. Took me a while to find out where it went to, but I'm not complaining. As far as the socks go, matching the stripe pattern came out as near to perfect as one can hope with sock yarn except for the toe on the right-hand sock. One toe has a little more light color than the other.

We are busy taking down the dropcloths and moving furniture back into place. Yesterday I got the drapes back up after the spouse finished up the painting. We still had a can of paint left from the bedroom repainting some years ago so we had the can reshaken at the hardware store and used it to repaint the patched up wall. No hassle with matching the paint color! We are loving the new windows. This is actually knitting content because I am recalling the way I had to use a pair of knitting needles to wedge up the slider on the old unlamented windows to keep it in position so the rain wouldn't leak in. After the spouse pried out the knitting needles I see that they are good as new after their years of service, so I will wash them up and put them back with the other needles.

Retro Knit Friday!

I finished up the Sockotta socks and gave them to M, but I forgot to take a picture of them. She says she will send me one. I started those socks on a Friday, and finished them on a Tuesday, so that is pretty swift for sock knitting, for me a least. I started up a new pair in Trekking and have hit several snags. I tried to pull the yarn out from the center of the ball and ended up with an unholy mess so had to rewind the whole ball. During the winding, I noticed that the ball of yarn contains TWO knots which is pretty bad.

This week I am showing the sweaters from Bear Brand Hand Knit Fashions, published in 1949. The book, according to the stamp on the cover, was originally purchased from the Medallion Shop on Haight Street in the City. The color cover shows a dressy sweater called 'Angel Wings' that calls for fingering weight yarn knitted at 8 1/2 sts/inch. The collar, whose points stick up at the shoulders, is knit in a k1, P3 rib and then smocked afterward with crystal beads.

I really like the next dress, called 'Corsage' for obvious reasons. It is knit in a dress yarn with interesting texture and has cap sleeves and a ribbed skirt. The flower design is knit by the intarsia method using six-strand embroidery floss wound on bobbins. The booklet provides a nice big chart for the design.

'Triangle' looks very comfortable with lots of roominess under the arms. It is knit in a dress yarn called Tricolaine at 8 1/2 sts/inch. The V-shaped bodice design is highlighted by a design in metal thread.

The two-piece outfit has a Mandarin collar and 3/4 sleeves with turn-back cuffs. The design element on the yoke gives the outfit its name: On The Square.

'Streamliner', another two-piece dress, has stripes on the bodice front and three peculiar curved things on her right bodice side. OK, the instructions say to knit three pocket backs, so those must be pocket openings. All of these dresses are knit at 8 1/2 sts/inch. Like a lot of the older booklets, there is not very much color photography except for the two covers, but this booklet does not mention suggested colors for the outfits.

The windows are done, but now the spouse has to paint the window walls. This means that my books are still all packed up at the storage place, but at least I can now get to my yarn stash. It is amazing to us how much cooler the house is with the 60-year-old windows replaced by modern double panes. Quieter, too.

New Socks

These socks are for M. She picked out the yarn at Lofty Lou's in Placerville. We were both surprised at how different the knitted sock looks from the yarn in the skein since we didn't expect it to be so stripey. I was hoping it would look just like the skein with little splotches of colors. It is knitting up very fast - I started the first sock last Friday. The yarn is Sockotta, Color 6063.

The workmen are still here working on the windows, but at least the interiors of the two bedrooms are done, which means we can set the furniture back up. While they have been working today, I made regular basil pesto. I also tried making sundried-tomato pesto and it turned out very well. Now my freezer is almost full of pesto and vegetables.