My Curlicute cardigan (and free vintage pattern)

My latest knit is a cardigan from a 1940 pattern and I'm kind of in love with it!

The pattern name is Curlicute. Which is adorable, but also a play on words for the original yarn the pattern recommended, Bucilla Curlicue, a mohair and wool blend.

Obviously I changed it to long sleeves, because a short-sleeved worsted weight cardigan just makes no sense where I live.

I changed the shape of the front of the cardigan to be a gradual v-neck. I like how it looks with collared blouses on my Bestway stranded cardigan, so I did the same thing. Instead of crocheting the button band like in the pattern, I knit it separately. I have several 40s patterns with crocheted bands and I admit it's not my favorite look. I thought I'd try it on this one but as I suspected didn't really like it, so I swapped it for a knitted band style that was also popular in 40s patterns. The band itself is just (k1, p1) over 8 stitches, with the first stitch slipped purlwise on the right side for a nice smooth edge.

My trick to getting the band the perfect length: I knit about 3/4 of it, sew most of it onto the cardigan, then eyeball it and sew an inch or two at a time as I finish knitting it. (Make sure to stretch it slightly as you sew it so it doesn't look floppy.)

The pattern gauge is 3.5 stitches per inch, but I knit it at 4.5 spi and then blocked it aggressively to open up the ribbed stitch pattern. If you like the traveling ribs more pronounced you could block it lighter. I wanted a trim look so I knit it with about 2 inches of negative ease at my bust. (I don't recommend this if you plan to wear it buttoned up a lot, or you'll get gaping over your girls!)

I always wet block my knitted garments. I knew from swatching that my gauge would change a lot after blocking, even if during knitting it looked like I was knitting it for one of my 7-year-old nieces.

I like how the ribs travel across the back and the sleeves although the sea of red was blinding on camera.

Thanks to Rochelle for helping me choose buttons. These are translucent red vintage buttons with rhinestones in the center. Love them!

I have desperately needed a well-fitting, basic red cardigan forever. So glad to cross this off my list because I already know it goes with eeeeverything!

outfit details

30s trousers: made by me

blouse: Time Machine Vintage

earrings & vintage bracelet: gifts from my mom

Interested in knitting this cardigan yourself? Download the free pattern from 1940!

Vintage knitting patterns: 1947 sport socks

On Monday I shared my new socks to secretly tuck inside my ankle boots.

And I promised I'd share a free vintage sock pattern with you. Actually, I'm sharing two! A plain and a cabled pair.

Both patterns are from the same knitting booklet from 1947. The plain socks are knit to 8.5 stitches per inch, casting on 52 stitches for the ribbed cuff, with the rest of the sock knit on 60 stitches. The cabled socks don't specify gauge (only row gauge, which is rather silly for socks since you're mostly knitting to desired length for the cuff and foot anyway), but the cuff is knit on 62 stitches and the rest of the foot on 72 stitches. Keep in mind cables and ribbing pull your knitting in, hence more stitches for these socks.

Both are knit using vintage size 12 sock needles (AKA double-pointed needles). That size corresponds to our modern size 1, which is 2.25mm. That's the size I usually knit socks on unless I'm using heavier yarn. If you'd like to knit socks as short as mine, simply knit a shorter ribbed cuff and then launch straight into the instructions for the heel. If you have wider feet or ankles, you can always cast on an even number of extra stitches, or go up a needle size.

Download 1947 sport socks patterns (pdf) 

I love the name of some vintage yarns. These socks were knit using Fleisher's Wonderized De Luxe Sock and Sport Yarn.

I wish more things were "wonderized" these days, don't you?

Vintage knitting pattern: 1954 Mother & Daughter Shrug

I don't know about you, but I have had shrugs and boleros on my mind lately!

As the weather finally seems to be staying nicer and I creep closer to rotating my closet (yay for seeing pretty spring and summer fashions that have been hidden away for months!), I've been thinking about what cover ups I like to pair with my not-too-cold weather clothes. I have a multitude of boxy cardigans, but lately I've been really wearing a couple of my favorite boleros the most. I love that they're just a bit less bulky and nip in at the waist, which is perfect with dresses. I really need more of them in my life!

So I thought what better time to share a vintage shrug knitting pattern? (Though I think of this as more of a bolero, but that may just be me.)

This one comes from my somewhat tattered copy of a Fleischer's knitting book called Cardigans... Cardigans... Cardigans. Half the cover is missing but I was able to date it from another eBay listing as being published in 1954.

There are a few things I like about this pattern. It's knit in fingering weight (or sock or 4-ply, depending on where you're from) at 8 stitches an inch, so it wouldn't be too bulky for spring or cool summer days to throw on over a blouse or sun dress. It has dolman sleeves which I adore in boleros, and it's knit flat in one piece. Because it's in stockinette, it would be a relatively quick knit. Although due to the shaping, I definitely don't think it would be a mindless knit.

Plus there's a child-sized version, too! Of course if I'd really been thinking ahead, I would have posted this on Mother's Day. ;)

The other thing I think is really fun is the recommendation to finish it with braid or bead trimming. What a great way to use up some vintage trim in your stash! I think it would be lovely with a design done in cording, too. I'm not sure the technical name for this, but I have some sewn on one of my shrugs and it's very smart looking. I'm always inspired to try it myself.

I hope you enjoy this pattern, too!

Download: 1954 Mother and Daughter Shrug (pdf)

My lovely stranded cardigan!

Hi everyone, I'm back home! I have massive catching up to do on my feed reader. My, how everyone's been posting like a maniac!

We had a lovely, albeit somewhat brief, trip to my mom's outside of Washington, D.C. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet up with any D.C. bloggers, however with Thanksgiving and a family party, and my best friend from college visiting too for part of the trip, time was very limited.

Just before we left for our trip, I finished up my latest sweater! I'm over the moon about it. The pattern is Bestway B2637, called Fair Isle Cardigan. You can purchase the .pdf here, and find it on Ravelry here. I don't have an exact date, but the pattern is from the 1940s.

You can see I didn't stray very far from the original pattern colors. I liked the color scheme so well I didn't see a need to go in a different direction. Lately I've been more inclined to do that with vintage colorwork patterns, because I like the original so much.

While I kept the color scheme about the same, I made a few other changes. The first change was gauge. The pattern was knit at 9 stitches per inch in fingering weight yarn. As someone who loves vintage styles, I knit a lot with fingering weight. However 9 stitches an inch is generally a bit more dense than I like to knit sweaters. I prefer to knit fingering weight on somewhere between 7 to 8 stitches per inch for a sweater, obviously depending upon the yarn and pattern. So this pattern I knit at 7.5 spi, though in the end I blocked it closer to 7 spi.

Changing the gauge as I did, I also had to tweak the sizing a bit. The final width around the bust is 1" larger than my full bust. While it looks like there is shaping to the body, there isn't. The ribbing is knit on about 10% fewer stitches than the body, then in the first body row I increased to the full number of stitches that was knit with all the way up to the bust.

(Oh yes, here's the new haircut too! Only this isn't representative of how it looks after a fresh set, but is how it looks the day after if I don't put rollers back in at night, except for my bangs. So they are much softer curls.)



The complicating factor about changing the sizing of an allover colorwork pattern is making sure the colorwork lines up the way you'd like it to. That took a little bit of doing. I started by charting out the pattern, so I knew it was 16 stitches across for one pattern repeat. I decided where I wanted the center stitch across the back to be, and worked around to the front from there.

I knit this with a combination of yarns. Mostly St-Denis Boreale, with a bit of Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift and KnitPicks Palette. I knew the Shetland yarn was stickier than the other two, but it was just the right gold I was looking for and all the yarns played well together.

Because I changed the sizing in the pattern, I had to change the sleeve cap. I wanted the rows of the pattern to match up from the sleeve to the shoulder, so I had to make sure the sleeve cap was two things: 1) exactly the same number of rows as the upper body of the sweater (from armhole to shoulder shaping), and 2) started at exactly the same row on the chart as on the body after the armholes. The excess ease could not be worked in along the pattern, otherwise it would throw off the row-to-row seaming. So I gathered the sleeve caps at the top when setting in the sleeves, which I did with mattress stitch.

The chart doesn't flow from the sleeve to the body (even I'm not that anal!), but the rows line up quite nicely. The gathered cap works great with this style, too.

This project was steeked. A steek is a bridge of extra stitches knit where you would like an opening to be. You later cut through the steek, leaving the opening. One major benefit of steeks when used in stranded knitting is not having to slow down to purl in a stranded pattern, as well as being able to cut away all loose ends so you don't have to weave them in.

In the body of this sweater, the front of the cardigan and the armholes were steeked. I also knit the two sleeves together separated by steeks for the length of the sleeves, then for the sleeve caps. Once they were cut, I seamed up the sleeve seams. I could have knit them separately, but it ensured they were perfectly matched and I didn't have to weave in any ends.

I reinforced the steeks with sturdy hand stitches prior to cutting. This wasn't really necessary with the wool I was using, as it's grabby enough not to ravel, however it leaves a very neat and tidy edge inside. I didn't even bother to tack down my steeks. (Incidentally, these are all topics I'll cover in the long term in Colorwork: 101! But I'll be writing up more posts about basics, first. I did post a number of photos with explanations on my Ravelry project page, if you'd like to see more.)

The lumpy bits you see at the top of the shoulder in the below photo is from the end of the sleeve cap steek and the gathering of the top of the cap. This actually worked a little bit like sewing in a shoulder pad, so I didn't need to make any!

I'm just in love with this cardigan. The fit is perfect and I love the design and colors. I've worn it several times since I finished it, and I only finished it last Monday. Even though I have a million other projects planned, it makes me want to run right out and knit one just like it, but with another colorwork chart. I had a couple of people yesterday on Ravelry say it reminded them of the 1940s Shetland fair isle cardigan that knitwear designer Kate Davies posted about on her blog, which is a huge compliment to me.

I hope my sweater looks as good in 70 years as a real hand-knit one from the 1940s does now!

Vintage Knitting Pattern: Campus Compliments Cardigan

Hi everyone! Today I have a free vintage knitting pattern to share with you before I jet off to San Diego for my cousin's wedding over the weekend.

It's a great basic cardigan that should easily fit into any Fall/Winter wardrobe!

Don't you just love that photo? It's from a 1944 knitting booklet called Campus Classics for Knitters (one of my favorites!). It's rather unusual for that decade, as it's written in four sizes (34, 36, 38, 40) in two weights of yarn, fingering weight and sport weight. Which gives you a nice variety of options, and makes it pretty easy to resize smaller or larger. It also features drop sleeves and makes use of a technique common in traditional Shetland (and I believe some Scandinavian) knitting patterns, which is picking up stitches for the arm directly from the armhole and knitting it down from there.

While in the booklet it's called pattern #407, I think it's much more fun to call it Campus Compliments Cardigan, from the header at the top of the pattern!

It's a classic boxy style, something I mentioned in my post on campus-inspired vintage fashions for fall that was popular in the 1940s for juniors and women. I'd recommend knitting it with zero ease (knit to your actual bust size), or one or two inches of positive ease for a slightly roomier look. If you have a long torso, simply knit it a little longer than the pattern calls for, as there's no shaping in the body to worry about.

It's such a great basic pattern, I hope you enjoy it! And you'll be hearing more from me about this cardigan soon. :)

Download Campus Compliments (#407) Cardigan (pdf), or find on Ravelry

Vintage knitting pattern: Date-Maker cardigan

In my post on campus-inspired vintage fashions, a number of you expressed that you really liked the Date-Maker sweater pattern that I showed! Here it is again...

It comes from Columbia Style Book vol. 108, a 1946 knitting booklet in my collection. I like the striped sweater on the cover, too. Even better, the original owner signed her name on it!

Since so many of you liked the pattern, I thought I would share it. At least a couple of you asked about a knit-along, so it's something I'm contemplating for fall or winter. What do you think? If there's enough interest, I'd definitely consider it, even though it would be a somewhat challenging pattern to talk about resizing as it's primarily knit in ribbing that angles diagonally. However the good thing about ribbing is it's pretty forgiving.

The interesting thing about this knitting booklet is that the original owner, Ms. Jesky, appears to have only knit Date-Maker out of all the patterns! It's the one pattern in the book that's marked up. In fact, she marked up the pattern in the same way I do (although I always do it on a copy of course). Here's a bit of what the original looked like:

Not very easy on the eyes! I debating between transcribing the pattern or just cleaning up the original scans. I ended up opting for the latter as I felt you'd probably all prefer to work from the original pattern. So I tried to clean it up as best I could.

It looks like a great pattern and should be a quick knit, in worsted weight yarn at a gauge of 5 stitches an inch, with a short overall length and no button bands. You'll also need a crochet hook along with basic crochet skills to crochet around the buckle and opening edges of the cardigan. The pattern as written is for a 32-34" bust and calls for 12 oz. of worsted weight yarn.

A really fun vintage cardigan pattern from 1946! 

Download: Date-Maker cardigan (pdf)

Vintage knitting pattern: Topnotcher

Happy Friday! For you vintage knit-alongers, just a little note to say I'm going to let the preliminary post simmer for a few more days to get more opinions, and then next week will reveal the winning pattern so we can start thinking about yarn and supplies. :)

Today is cold. This is old news for Chicago in January. But I thought I'd share one of my favorite winter items: my  Topnotcher bonnet. You'll have to pardon the fact that it was a super sunny day when these photos were taken so I'm all squinty.

I knit this for myself last winter and it's one of my favorite cold-weather items. It's pretty friendly to vintage hairdos, it's cute and it's warm. I love hats that cover my ears and pretty much couldn't make it through the dead of winter without them!

I mentioned it was sunny, right?

The coat I'm wearing is not vintage (though my brooch is). I bought it on Grafton Street in Dublin. Along with an Irish sweater bought on Inishmor, the largest of the Aran Islands, this coat is the other big-ticket purchase I made on our trip to Ireland last Fall. I wasn't in the market for a new coat, but I loved the red red color, the pleated peter pan collar, the slightly puffed sleeves and the two closures at the top. The rest of the closures are large hidden snaps and it's impeccably tailored on the inside. I definitely think it has a vintage feel. I love it, and when I wear it I think of our great trip.

Back to the bonnet. Literally, the back of the bonnet.

The most amazing thing about this pattern is that it was part of an entire set! A bonnet, mittens and a sweater. Can you believe it?

Who wouldn't want to go ice skating in this lovely ensemble, like the girl from the pattern? With a little wool skating skirt, warm tights and ice skates.

I've gotten a lot of requests for this pattern from Ravelry over the last year, so I thought I'd finally post it. It's knit in DK weight (I used two strands of fingering weight held together). 

For all the other cold climate vintage lovers out there, this one's for you!

Download: Topnotcher vintage knitted set (pdf)

Vintage sweater knit-along: Preliminary post #1

This is the first of probably a few preliminary posts for our vintage sweater knit-along! (Never mind the fact that I’m having to write this twice, since I accidentally deleted my draft that I’d spent hours working on. Oh no, we won’t talk about that since it might incite rage in me.)

Anyway, I wanted to talk about some of the basics for the knit-along. We’ll be knitting a short-sleeved sweater from a vintage pattern. There will be one main sweater that most of us will work on, but obviously I can’t guarantee that everyone will love the same pattern, and I don't want to exclude anyone. So if you’d like to join us but want to work on your own vintage pattern, you’ll be free to do so. Just know that I’ll be gearing any advice and tips towards our knit-along pattern. :)

Prerequisite skills for the knit-along

Let’s say I’ll be gearing this for advanced beginners or intermediate knitters and up. If you’re an old pro and don’t need any tips along the way, great, just play along with us and ignore those parts of my posts! And if you do need some extra help, I’ll be providing a lot of info along the way.

Skills you’ll need (or not be afraid to learn as you go along):

• Cast on/cast off, knit/purl, yarn over (has a few different names around the world including ‘wool round needle’), m1 increase (making 1 new stitch), and a few different ways to knit two stitches together (k2tog, ssk, etc.)
• Mattress stitch or your preferred way to seam two pieces of knitting together

Really, that’s about it! If you’ve never knitted a sweater before you can totally do this with us.

Things I’ll challenge you to do (if you don’t already do them when you knit)

We will be checking gauge before we start knitting our sweaters. No, this is not optional. If you want to make sure you knit a cute vintage sweater that will fit you and not look like you’re wearing either a potato sack or something meant for a five-year-old, you will need to know your gauge. I don’t care if you do a cheaty gauge swatch like I sometimes do (shhh, don’t tell), but we will definitely be doing one for this knit-along.

I'll also make you think about your actual body size (and how you want the garment to fit you). Now, if you buy vintage clothes online or if you sew you probably know your measurements, but if you don’t, you’re going to need to know. There’s nothing like being disappointed in the finished product because you guessed your bust size and were wrong.

I will probably spend a lot of time on gauge and sizing, because those are two really crucial pieces to the 'fit' puzzle.

Possible patterns

Since I want this knit-along to be accessible for everyone, I want to pick a pattern that’s relatively basic. Not too much fussiness, no all-over stitch pattern unless it seems pretty easy, you get the idea. Fortunately there are lots of patterns that fit the bill.

Here are the ones I’m currently thinking about. I’ve linked those patterns that are available online (you can click on an image to see a little bigger version, too). If we go with something in my stash, I will provide it.

Double Dates 1940s		Lacy Yoke Blouse approx. 1950
Briar Rose WWII		Allegro 1950
Style 2426 1953		Neat and Feminine 1942
Songster 1940

I don’t know about you, but Briar Rose is my favorite of the bunch right now. I love the adorable chevron-shaped pocket and matching collar, how cute is that??

It also would allow you to show off just a few awesome vintage buttons. You could work the pocket and collar in a contrasting color (or even stripes!), or easily omit either if you wanted. Knit it in a light color for Spring, or a darker green or khaki for kind of a W.A.C. look. 

Another plus about the pattern is that it would be easy to size up and down (something I will be covering in-depth), and I could provide different sleeve alternatives for those of you who either hate seaming sleeves or who don’t want that 40s-style pleated sleeve cap. And I think the pattern that would be a great jumping off point for customizations by the more advanced knitters in the crowd.

So, what do you think?  I don’t want to select it if a lot of people don’t like it, so opinions, please!

Timeframe

Okay, this one I’m not that sure about. We’re just about to hit February, and I want to make sure everyone has enough time to get yarn and supplies once the pattern is selected (along with time for the word to spread a little to anyone else out there who might want to join in, so please feel free to let your other knitty friends know!). I’m thinking perhaps an official start knitting date of March 1st? I want to nail down the pattern soon so I can talk about yarn and supplies.

And how long should this last? Do you think two months is sufficient, or would you feel comfortable with a little more time? I’ll plan out my posts on the knit-along according to our schedule.

Feedback?

Okay, I think I've covered most of the basics. Are you getting excited? I am! Once some of the details are worked out I'll create a couple of small ads you can use on your blog for the knit-along if you'd like. Please let me know your thoughts on patterns and the timeframe, anything I'm missing or anything else you want to add! I'm really looking forward to knitting with you vintage lovin' gals. :)

Knitting in a new direction

Sometimes a project just isn't meant to be that project. Case in point the short-sleeved sweater I started a couple of weeks ago, Fair Isle Yoke from the book A Stitch in Time, a beautiful book of vintage patterns that have been re-worked by the authors. The neat thing about this book is they show the modern pattern and the vintage pattern, so if there's any question or you're curious about what technique was originally used (though the authors are quite true to the originals), you have the vintage pattern as a reference.

Anyway, I was working Fair Isle Yoke. I changed my mind yesterday. I'm knitting the body in the round up to the armpit, where I'm separating for the front and back to work them separately (leaving two less seams to work, something I sometimes do). Right at the armpit level I decided hmm.... I don't think this wants to be Fair Isle Yoke. I think this wants to be Knit it in Flag Colors.

Knit it in Flag Colors is a free vintage pattern from the June 13, 1942 issue of Australian Women's Weekly. The newspaper has been digitized and the pattern is available online. It's been electronically translated so there was actually a mistake that I was able to fix for them. :)

The fun thing about simple stockinette sweaters is that you can do things like this. "Oh wait, I want to knit this instead..." Obviously there's a point of no return, but I wasn't there yet so here I am, working on a different sweater entirely now at the drop of a hat.

Instead of the same color scheme as the original pattern, because I was already working in red, I'll just be flip-flopping the white and red, so the body will be red and the top of the yoke and sleeves will be white.

Not sure if I'll be doing the collar yet. What do you think?

Don't worry, I'm still pulling ideas together for the vintage sweater knit-along! I'm prepping for a preliminary post on that soon...