Vintage Knitting!

MissQueenie · Aug 30, 2005

I don't know if anyone out there knits -- I'm just a beginner, myself! -- but I am aspiring to great things. Like vintage knitwear! My boyfriend's mother had a handful of vogue knitting books from the 80s that contained a large number (about half) of vintage patterns for women AND men. They're really neat, and most are "average" difficulty.

There are also several pattern companies out there right now who are doing some amazingly cute vintage inspired pieces. I'll look for the ISBN on the vogue books, and in the mean time, check out this link (Rowan's older mags have some vintage inspired pieces, too, as do the Rebecca Knitting magazines):

http://www.knitrowan.com/html/magazines_slide_show.asp?productCode=ZM35&serial=50

Annalai · Aug 30, 2005

Hi,

I do not knit but I would like to start. I did some knitting when my children was small but it is 10 years ago since I knitted anything.
I have just ordered a knittingbook. This one http://www.colourway.co.uk/rowan/vink/vink.htm but I have not got it yet so I do not know if it is good or bad.

Here is some other links to free patterns and such things.
http://www.vintage-knitting-patterns.com/index.html
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/knitting/1940s/index.html
http://www.whiteliesdesigns.com/patterns/lpullovers.html
http://www.knitty.com/archive.html a lot of information and free patterns
This for example just so cute and unusual http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer04/PATTbetty.html

Annalai

MissQueenie · Aug 30, 2005

Annalai, these are great! I love knitty -- I've been eyeing some of their patterns for a while! Thanks for the inspiring links, I can't wait to hurry up and get good at knitting

~ Queenie.

Lauren · Aug 30, 2005

Ooh! I didn't know you gals knitted too! I learned a few years back primarily from the internet and the "Stich N Bitch" book. Fun stuff. I've put down my needles for a while, and I limited myself to mostly hats and scarves because of my lack of patience, but it's good to know there's fellow knitters on the Lounge.

MissQueenie · Aug 30, 2005

Patience is a virtue...

That I do not possess. I've been pretty much sticking with hats and scarves, too.

Woe is me

I am, however, very slowly inching my way through a simple cardigan with neck ties (no button holes, hurrah!). It's absolutely terrifying, and I tend to work on it in fits and starts.

I've always associated knitting with my great-grandmother. She supported her family (sometimes single-handedly as my great-grandfather was a professional gambler...during prohibition...and not always up on his luck) during the depression by knitting sweaters, socks, mittens, etc and crocheting blankets to sell. She could knit more than a sweater a day! She was an amazingly strong woman and I feel close to her when I'm fumbling with yarn.

jitterbugdoll · Aug 31, 2005

I'd really love to learn how to knit--so many of those 1930s-40s sweaters and dresses are absolutely darling!
(Plus, I think if I can distract myself with knitting/sewing projects in the evenings after work, I will be less likely to go on wild, albeit fun, online vintage shopping sprees

)

So, how hard would you say it is to learn? Think I can pick it up by reading alone?

CherryRed · Aug 31, 2005

I have done some knitting but more crocheting because it is simpler. I want to do more knitting because I have stacks of vintage knit booklets from the 1940's and 50's that belonged to my great-grandmother and grandmother. I love them for the photos alone! My Mom has them right now but I plan to get them when I go back home in October.

MissQueenie · Sep 1, 2005

Amanda, I think you could probably learn to knit out of books. I pretty much learned that way, and by watching video clips of certain stitches (increasing, for example) online. I didn't learn very *well* by learning out of a book, but your luck may differ. I'm sure you could master the basics (knit, purl, increase, decrease) on your own.

Cherry, you have to post pics of your creations! Or at least of the booklet covers

~ Queenie

CherryRed · Sep 4, 2005

Cherry, you have to post pics of your creations! Or at least of the booklet covers

As soon as I get them, I will be hapy to post them.

decodoll · Sep 4, 2005

jitterbugdoll said:
I'd really love to learn how to knit--so many of those 1930s-40s sweaters and dresses are absolutely darling!
(Plus, I think if I can distract myself with knitting/sewing projects in the evenings after work, I will be less likely to go on wild, albeit fun, online vintage shopping sprees )

So, how hard would you say it is to learn? Think I can pick it up by reading alone?

I taught myself to knit from a book a couple of years ago for the same reason. Then I got to the point where I decided I was ready to start my first sweater from a 1940's pattern....and realized that it was going to take me years to finish said sweater! The thing about vintage knitting patterns, unlike modern ones, is that they are all done with the tiniest of needles! So, unless you have the patience of a saint or a lot of spare time to knit, I'd say learning to sew would be the better option. For clothes anyway. You could always learn to knit too and make vintage accesssories.

CWetherby · Mar 19, 2006

Vintage knitting?

I'm curious--are there such things as vintage knitting patterns?

Miss Neecerie · Mar 19, 2006

CWetherby said:
I'm curious--are there such things as vintage knitting patterns?

oh yes....ebay has a ton of booklets with patterns for making various knit things.

mmm ebay.....

magneto · Mar 19, 2006

Vintage knitting patterns

There are also a couple websites that have free vintage knitting patterns, I found some links ago--a google should turn it up!

(I'm convinced the modern mania for big needles and chunky yarn is a direct reaction to vintage patterns' seeming to tending to favor tiny ndls and fingering weight yarn)...

humblestumble · Mar 20, 2006

Yes! There are

Vogue has some books out of vintage patterns as well as some of the companies - at least at my barnes and noble.

On my website list, there's some vintage needlework pattern websites :

http://www.geocities.com/mclittledrink/links_category.html#needlework

Mrs. Foss · Mar 20, 2006

Reproduction Patterns

This site has some nice reproductions of old pattern books. I am currently working on a sweater from one of the 30's books.

http://www.ivarose.com/home

~Mrs. Foss

Irena · Mar 20, 2006

http://www.vintage-knitting-patterns.com/
this site has great pattern books for sale, plus if you sign up, they send you free vintage patterns all the time. There's also a site for crochet.

CWetherby · Mar 21, 2006

Wow!! I'm loving these sites! I've been knitting for only about a year, but it seems that maybe 2 out of every 3 movies I see from the 30's and 40's, shows someone knitting and I'm dying to know WHAT they were knitting.

Thanks for the great links, Ladies!

"I'm knitting my bit for victory"

magneto · Mar 22, 2006

CWetherby said:
Wow!! I'm loving these sites! I've been knitting for only about a year, but it seems that maybe 2 out of every 3 movies I see from the 30's and 40's, shows someone knitting
...

Just your 40s trivia for the day: Joan Crawford was an expert knitter and during WW2 while waiting on movie sets "knitted enough socks to outfit a whole regiment".

In the late 40s-50s it was de rigeur to knit your swain/fiance Argyle socks (an answer for the person elsewhere who was looking for some Argyle socks...

)

CWetherby · Mar 22, 2006

Well, now I have renewed respect for Joan!

Here's one of my favorite sites I've found:
http://www.redcross.org/museum/exhibits/knits.asp

It reminds me of the Cary Grant movie, was it Mr. Lucky?, where they teach him to knit for the war effort.:fedora:

AtomicBlonde · Mar 23, 2006

Hi ladies,

I've come to discover that having a father who is a packrat can often lead to me getting a few goodies now and then.

I came home yesterday to visit my folks, and was talking about trying to sew some stuff for myself and whatnot... and my dad says "you know, I think I remember years ago finding some sort of knitting books that you might find interesting, they're in the linen cabinet if you want to dig for them."

So, I go digging, and not only do I find a 1943 "LOOK" magazine with instructions on how to draft, sew, and alter your own dress patterns, (just what I need!!) I also find about 7 knitting magazines that range from 1934-1947. Soooooo, I have scanned the covers of 3 of the more interesting ones, and scanned a couple images from each, which can be seen here: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jessicagracewise/detail?.dir=9cd1&.dnm=927c.jpg&.src=ph

Since some of the ladies here are interested in knitting, within the next few weeks or so I'm going to see if I can scan all the images, transcribe the patterns, and stick them on a website as a way to sort of share my findings. Some of the dresses and blouses are really pretty, and would be nice to make. The patterns dont seem to be very difficult, although I'm an experienced knitter... however, they seem to cater a little to people with less knitting experience.

Anyway, enjoy the photos, and I'll see about getting some of these patterns up online within the next month or so.

-Jess

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