Retro Knit Friday!

Looking through my boxes of old knitting pamphlets, I found this Capes and Stoles, Book No. 514 from 1957. The cover cape is knit of knitting worsted in a seed stitch, requiring about 20 ounces for the large size. The edges are trimmed with black cord braid and the collar is trimmed with "applique braid". It is knit from the bottom up, and there are side seams and darts sewn in the front top bodice to give it shape.

This green cape below is knit in a puff stitch on size 10 needles. This cape is the same general shape as the cover cape but is knit from the top down and is shorter.

The shawl shown below has crocheted motifs added to a fabric base. The instructions give directions for cutting the tubular jersey for the shawl base to which the motifs and a fringe are added. The motifs and fringe are made of fingering yarn and Knit-Cro-Sheen metallic thread.
The turquoise stole is made from hairpin lace and has an attractively tied fringe.

I have been knitting a lot this week, working on the periwinkle blue cardigan. I made the fronts in one morning and have knit the back already this morning. I hope to finish the sleeves today, too.
The panels were quick to knit by hand. I discovered that it is better to have the second stitch from the inside edge be a knit stitch rather than part of the purl background, because that helps keep the fabric from curling under after seaming.

I have also started in on the next cardigan, knitting the ribbings of a lovely cocoa brown. I think the brown cardigan will be mostly plain with just a few narrow cables up the front like I did on the fuschia cardigan.

Yellow Cardigan Finished

I sewed the buttons on and got all the ends sewn in, and my new yellow cardigan is ready to wear. The first picture is taken in natural light and doesn't show the cornmeal color at all accurately, and the second photo is taken with a flash. The sweater has a lowered front neckline and 3/4 sleeves and is a bit fitted at the sides.

Here's a closeup of the front panels, a lace panel bordered by two-stitch cables. The band needed a little stability added to it, so I made an edging of backwards crochet.

Now that the yellow sweater is done, I have already started the next one, a periwinkle blue. The ribbings are finished and ready to hang on the machine, but I wanted to make small decorative panels up the front edges by hand. This picture shows the start of the panel which has an extra stitch cast on at the inside edge for seaming.

The instructions for this half-diamond cable design came from 'A Treasury Of Knitting Patterns" by Barbara Walker, p. 270, and is called Two-Texture Rib. The instructions did not include directions for the reversed version, so I am just reading the line of instruction backwards and substituting front crosses for back crosses, etc.

My goal with all these cardigans is to upgrade my 'mom' wardrobe of pants and sweatshirts to a more tailored look of pants and colorful 3/4-length sleeve sweaters for wearing around the house. I have been watching 'What Not To Wear', and the hosts frown on the worn-out sweatshirt look, however comfortable and practical it may be. I have finished four sweaters and have 8 more to make.

Yellow Lace Panel Cardigan

I finished up the cardigan today, sewing on the last buttons a few hours ago. I will try to take a picture of it tomorrow, since tomorrow is supposed to be a pause in the storms we have been having. This must be the wettest drought in history. I really think the papers should wait until the entire rainy season is over before they declare a horrible drought.

Retro Knit Thursday!

Well, so far this has been the wettest drought I can ever remember. It has been raining off and on since the papers were full of gloom and doom about the water prospects for the coming year. Today is supposed to be a break in the showers. Spring has already begun here in California, and the almond trees are blooming, and you can now see daffodils opening up in yards around town.

Today I am going to show the rest of the fashions from the 1940 Chadwick's Red Heart booklet, 'So You're Going To Knit A Sweater'. There are several patterns in this booklet for the popular little boxy jacket seen in so many pattern books from the period. WW II was already in progress in some parts of the world, and these little jackets were quick knits and practical for a world where the women worked in factories and had to make do with shortages of supplies for making garments. This first sweater has the square 40's shoulders and is knit with knitting worsted held double on size 13 needles.
The next jacket is also knit of knitting worsted, this time with a single strand, in a checkerboard pattern of knits and purls. This jacket has front pockets, though neither jacket has any front fasteners. The description says: 'Casual chunky cardigans are the big news of the year! Whether they're straight and boxy or whether they button snugly, you'll find them grand sports companions. Knit one to wear over slacks, knee length skirts, tailored dresses, or with gay accessories for winter sports.'

Winter sports sweaters appeared with regularity in booklets from the 40's. This ensemble contains the cardigan, a hood, hat, and gloves. It is knit of knitting worsted weight yarn in reverse stockinette with horseshoe cables. The cables are decorated with embroidery when the knitting is completed.

The next page shows two pullovers. The top one is knit of sweater wool at 7 sts/inch in a basketweave stitch. The description says that the sweater has well-set shoulders and 'that long-stemmed lean look that's so new'. The bottom pullover is knit in ribbing with a 'beautifully finished hemmed neckline'. The instructions only give a row gauge for the knitting, perhaps because it is in ribbing.

The description of the last sweater says, 'Little girl smocking is a charming touch on this slim sweater that fits like wallpaper! The smockin's worked in while knitting...easy, too.' Instead of embroidering the smocking later, it is formed by using wrap stitches over the rib pattern. The sweater is knit of sports weight yarn .

I finished knitting the yellow cardigan and have to start the assembly of the pieces. Meanwhile, I have pulled out the long-suffering Must Have Cardigan and am actually knitting on it. Maybe this will be the year I finish it.

One Sleeve To Do

I have made the back and one sleeve of the yellow cardigan. I don't make step bindoffs on the top of the sleeves but do short rows instead. When the short rows are finished, I do a row across them all, then I take the stitches off onto a knitting needle and bind the cap off neatly but sort of loosely so that the stitches do not pull in. The shoulders are also short rowed and will be seamed with a double needle bindoff. It took me about 2 hours to knit both pieces, but I wasn't working on it steadily.

I hear it was snowing many inches up in the Sierras. Maybe we will not have so bad a drought after all...

Both Fronts Done

Both fronts are now done, and the plain sleeves and back will go a lot faster. The lace pattern and cables are knit by hand selection of needles and transferring of stitches. This is why I like machine knitting - two mornings of work while listening to a book-on-tape, and the finicky part is all done. I think it is interesting how the center front edge is all stretched out when you finish knitting the piece, but it all snaps into place so easily and well when you put the band on.

The rich yellow color looks washed out in the photo because we are having overcast and rainy weather (hooray!).

Yellow Cardigan In Progress

Finally got a new cardigan onto the needles. This will be a 3/4-length sleeve cardigan with a lace and cable panel up the front center. I already have knit the bottom ribbings by hand and have started knitting the left front. So far I have had a series of goofs like forgetting to turn the cables and having to drop the stitches and latch them back up, cabling as I went. This was a hassle, but I listened to a book-on-tape mystery while knitting so the time went by faster.
I found the pattern for the lace panel in an old book of mine, though in the book it is presented as an all-over pattern stitch, and I redrafted it as a panel:
Here's my chart for the lace panel. I bordered the panel with purl stitches and a two-stitch cable turned every 10 rows. It is easier to remember to turn the cables if you turn them when the row counter says 5 or 10 or multiples thereof, unless you forget them altogether like I did.

In weather news, it is actually raining out there, and it is, hopefully, snowing in the mountains.