Sweater Girl Knits - Vintage Knitting Patterns

My mother and I began a new super secret project while I was home for the Holiday season.  Any guesses?  We made some rather spectacular progress, if I do say so myself.  I enjoyed the way the colors looked arranged against the crisp white of my laptop.

There's something about sewing, and watching people sew that I just love.  It's one of those few arts that, as far as I know, has been done the same way for a long time.  Needle, thread, stitching.  Which is not to say that there haven't been obvious advances - but the basics seem timeless to me.  Something about pulling the thread, seeing the progress made, simply makes me happy.

By far, my favorite needle art is stamped cross stitch and embroidery.  Checking back and forth between a cross stitch chart and my canvas just drives me crazy, and needlepoint makes my fingers ache.  But stamped patterns can be so enjoyable - it's one of those arts that I can't understand why it's disappearing.  Like many cross stitch arts, the stamped patterns available at many stores are less than fashionable.  I see such beautiful patterns in my vintage magazines, that I do believe it's time for a revival.  Here's to the transfer!

So, say that you've just found that perfect new knitting pattern at some awesome website and you need the perfect yarn!  Most of the best patterns call for fingering weight yarn, which like all fine quality yarns, can get very expensive.  The best tool that I've found for getting high quality yarn at an affordable cost (which, as a grad student, is absolutely necessary!) is rip, reclaim, reuse.

There are many sites that will teach you how to take apart old sweaters and gently unravel them, but if you don't feel like scouring the thrift stores and spending an hour or so squinting with a pair of tiny scissors, please: allow me!   There's something about winding the yarn onto balls, seeing the colors enrich as each strand lays atop the other - it makes me realize that a good part of my desire to shop comes from my love of color and fabric.  This is an inexpensive way for me to sold my stash-hunger, and my shopping hunger in a way that I don't have to feel guilty about!

Well, except for the mess of fiber-bits that ends up on my living room floor, causing my sweet hubby-to-be no end of frustration, and my cat no end of glee.  Two with one stone.

I am now offering, through Ebay and Etsy, reclaimed yarns that I have selected myself.  These are all yarns that I would use for a project, and I can offer them to you at a price exponentially lower than you would pay for a yarn of similar quality and fiber content.

If you have any questions about how to reclaim your own yarn, or about my yarns, don't hesitate to shoot me an email!  I am working on my first project with reclaimed yarn as we speak - can't wait to share it and all the other things I've got on the burner with you!

I could repeat how crazy things have been: moving to a new city, starting a new career, planning a wedding ... but those are all excuses, really!  So I declare my New Year's Resolution to be a better blogger.  That means more posts, updating you on my projects, suggesting new ones, and my favorite, sharing some of the fascinating selvedge material from my vintage knitting book collection.

Just what do I mean by selvedge material?  Why, those bits on the side, of course.  Collectors of vintage magazines know that often the most fascinating things about them are the advertisements and filler articles.  Knitting magazines are no exception.  Armed with my knew scanner, I can't wait to share some of my favorites with you!  Fair warning: my analysis of this material will stem from a feminist perspective - some of those ads will not be treated nicely (even if the women are dressed fantastically!).

So I hope not to have lost you forever by my absence, and that you'll check back again in a few days to see what I have to offer.

SGK

Whew doggie, hasn't it been awhile!  There has been lots to say, just not much time in which to say it.  We have a new knitting pattern coming to a book near you, very soon, new knitting patterns to make available for sale, and of course this new blog.

Things have been terribly hectic here on the other end of the blog - a move to a new city, and the beginning of a new career.  Consider this my pledge to you, dear readers - that as soon as things normalize, this space will have a spot on my calendar.

It is finally progressing!  My super sweet 1930's sweater is on its way to being completed.  I have adopted a row counter and some stitch markers that my cute future husband got me -and it is amazing how such simple little gadgets have made my knitting project so much less stressful!

The garment is looking a touch small, I'm afraid, but the lovely ladies at my local yarn store assure me that you want to knit cotton garments to be skin tight and at a tight gauge because they will inevitably grow.  Well, I'm pretty sure I've got that down!

I hadn't realized from the pattern images that the purl side is the right side.  At first this had me concerned, but I've found that my purl side is actually looking even more standardized than my knit side.

So, being a classic movie buff, I frequently decide that so-and-so is my favorite actress or actor.

This month?  I'm all about Barbara Stanwyck.  Stanwyck was in so many darned movies during the 1930's and 40's (she was one of Frank Capra's early muses), my favorites of which are "The Lady Eve," and "Meet John Doe" and of course "Double Indemnity."  She was knonw for being particularly gutsy, referring to herself as a tough broad from Brooklyn, she wasn't afriad to play somewaht underhanded characters.  Though impeccably glamorous (evident to the right) she was also often cast as a bit of a fallen woman: a murderess, petty criminal, unwed mother, etc.

For the purposes of this blog, however, we must talk fashion!  Stanwyck s always who I think of when I think 40's glamor.  Her clothes in "The Lady Eve" are simply fantastic.  As a wily gambler attempting to lure in poor Henry Fonder while crossing the pond, she unleashes every trick in the book.  I particularly love this architectural neckline and cinched waist.  Get me on a transatlantic voyage this instant!

And look at the shoes ... I swoon, and dream of my future life as an independently wealthy lady with trunks of glamorous things and nothing better to do than hop from ship to ship showing them off.

And knitting of course!

No, this post is not about dreamy fellas and holding hands - I'm talking first sweater girl love.   That's right, the first time I fel in love with a vintage sweater pattern.  Here it is: I loved it from the moment I saw it.  Now, keep in mind that this was also my frist sweater, period, so I was delighted to find a pattern that was essentially stockinette stitch and ribbing, but still had such a stylish design.

Now, of course, being my first sweater it didn't turn out perfectly.  That adorable straight-line yoke in the photo?  It kind of chokes me if I button it up all the way.  And, of course, the first time I attempts to make buttons and button-holes line up, I ended with a slightly less-than-perfect result.  I am a huge fan of the 1/2 length sleeve, so I went ahead and made them a little shorter than the pattern called for.  Even with the problems, I still think it's pretty great for my first attempt at a real live sweater, and I've gotten lots of compliments on the finished produced.

It's made from Cascade 200, 10% merino wool, so it's back in the Rubbermade container until next winter and I'm eagerly working on some coton beauties so I can keep my motivation up during the hot Southern Summer!

Woo, what a couple of weeks it's been!  I got tremendously ill (don't worry, it's not swine flu) fought my way through a week of work, lost my engagement ring (or thought I had for a few hours, at least) and struggled not to injure myself while taking up yoga.  Typing it out, it doesn't sound like that much, but boy have I been stressed out.  And what makes me feel better?  Yarn, naturally.  But what doesn't make me feel better in these harsh economic times?  Spending money.  How, gentle reader, is one to handle these competing impulses?  The desire to partake of a healthy dose of retail therapy combined with a serious spending money guilt complex?

In a word: rummage.  I visited my local SPCA rummage store, which has the benefit of being inexpensive and supporting the wonderful animals at the local shelter.  And look what I found!  This picture is terrible, I know, but if you look closely, you can see four, count them, four recycled yarn sources!  The green is 100% cotton worsted, the white is the softest darned acrylic worsted weight, the orange is a light finger/lace weight 100% cotton, and the tan is a fingering silk/ramie combo.  It was the perfect solution to my new yarn needs, and each cost me only $2.00!  And, don't worry, all those kinks will come right out when I knit, plus I know they're enough for a sweater because they were all large sweaters to begin with!  The orange was even a men's large, which makes me very excited because I've been dying to take on a lace weight project.  I think it will be the next in my queue ... but what pattern?  Oh, the joy!  I need to finish my 1930's pullover so I can get going.  I've been so exhausted due to my illness that I haven't had the energy to do anything when I come home from work.  But, I promise that this will change and I'll have more projects and more updates to the site very soon!