Vintage Knitting

I love to buy old knitting patterns, the weirder the better, from Laurie at Vintage Knits. My personal fave vintage pattern is one for a tiny knitted golf bag (with clubs!) which I've shown here before.

Often these old booklets have hand-written notes and recipes tucked in them. The front of this one says, "Mildred, I have another like this so keep." Apparently the knitted turban pattern was quite popular in 1962.




This 1961 issue of McCall's Needlework and Crafts shows a living room scene. Do you think many people in 1961 had gravel and ponds in their living rooms?



I love the photo styling for these patterns, don't you?




Check out the wild knitted cottage tea cozy. To the bottom left of the photo is a brown knitted bull. It doesn't really look like a bull but I'm glad I have a pattern for one anyway.

I've had a few questions from people about downloading my patterns and booklets at the Lulu store. You go to the store, add the items to your cart, then pay. Then you click on "My Account" at the top of the page. Then you either click on the name of the item or the little round download graphic at the right to download it.

Let me know if that works out - otherwise I can email anyone the .PDF files if they're having problems. Also, I wanted to let everyone know that
Stranded Color Knitting has now sold over 600 copies. I remember when I wrote it thinking that selling 300 copies would surpass my wildest dreams. Thanks to everyone for purchasing it and helping rabbit rescue!

Tomorrow I'm going to have some wild and wacky vintage knitting patterns to show you.

Although DH and I are procrastinating about buying a house, I have been thinking a lot about my future knitting/sewing room. I've been looking over photos of people's craft rooms at this Flickr site along with the artist's studios HERE. There's a lot of inspiration on the web for getting organized.

I know the room will be white. I plan to hang a lot of my knitted items and designs on the walls so this will be the only white room. I also know there will not be carpet - if we have to we'll install Pergo or even a fun color of linoleum. I need bookcases and storage for spools of sewing thread and a cutting table and a sewing desk and a file cabinet and a spot for my spinning wheel.

And of course I need a place for all my yarn. I'll probably continue using the neat cubes storage system I already use but I really need to neaten it all up.

Here's the photo I chose of Peaches to enter the CO HRS rabbit photo calendar contest. There really weren't any other finalists. I have cuter photos but this one completely captures her grumpy-sweet essence. You can't quite tell if she's about to come up to you to be petted or to charge growling because you're not opening the treat container quickly enough. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as there are prizes (baskets of rabbit treats) for the top finishers in the contest.

I'm working on the foot on the PGR socks. The colors are a bit darker than in this photo but still not as exciting as the colors used in the book.




We got lots of good stuff in our CSA box this week including roasted green chiles and more excellent strawberries. I have to admit I'm not that fond of purple potatoes even though purple is my favorite color. I'm going to make baba ghanoush for the first time with the eggplants.




I have to choose a photo of Peaches for the Colorado House Rabbit Society's calendar photo contest. I'll show the finalists here tomorrow.

Christmas Knitting in Color booklet

The Christmas Knitting in Color booklet is officially ready for purchase at my Lulu store. There are four patterns - the Hollyberry Gauntlet Mittens, Knitted Christmas Lights, Child's Holiday Gift Hat, and the Knitted Poinsettia. I also included my recipe for Painted Sugar Cookies. The price is $11.99 for a print copy or $5.51 for a .PDF/ebook download. There are quite a few color photos and color charts and as before, all profits go to nonprofit rabbit rescue.

More information on the booklet and my other knitting patterns HERE.
More info on my Stranded Color Knitting technique booklet HERE.

Here are the Northeast Iranian/Afghani Socks from PGR's Ethnic Socks and Stockings. There are a few 3-color rows and the colors on the chart aren't completely the same as the colors shown in the sock photo. The chart has several colors that are very difficult to distinguish from each other so I'm going to just end up fudging the colors as I see fit. I'm using size 3 dpns and yarn from the sock yarn stash.

Knitted Poinsettia

Here is the knitted poinsettia. It is easy and fast to knit and I think it could be used on top of a hat, in a Christmas tree, in a wreath, or as part of a holiday centerpiece. I should finish the Christmas booklet by Sunday night. I can't seem to get the colors right as usual but the dark leaves are green, not black.



Here are all four patterns again:




My next knitting project will be a pair of socks from Priscilla Gibson-Robert's Ethnic Socks and Stockings. I'm not sure which pattern but preferably something without intarsia in the round. I need something mindless to do this week while finishing the booklet.

Anne sent me these photos of an adorable dog coat she knit. The dog is a Chihuahua puppy named Josie who belongs to her friends. She used Kroy sock yarn and one of Charlene Schurch’s sock patterns as a rough guide. As she turned the heel, she did two 10 stitch buttonholes, and used an Alice Starmore Fair Isle chart for the center snowflake. Once the little coat was finished, she picked up stitches at the buttonholes and knitted a k1p1 rib tube for about an inch to cover Josie’s little fore-legs. I just love the colors she chose and the excellent fit of the sweater.

It is my favorite time of year in NM. I become very happy when I see the arrival of these lovely contraptions all over the place.




Next comes skids piled high with large burlap bags.




Ristras are everywhere - the chile harvest is finally here.



The bags of chiles come in mild, medium and hot for around $11 to $18 and it costs a few dollars more to get them roasted.



The roasters are loud - they sound like hot air balloons - and the smell of chiles roasting is heavenly.



The finished product.

Christmas Present Hat

Here are some photos that show the colors properly. Can you believe how green it is here in NM? Amazing.

Happy Labor Day (and Peaches 4th birthday) to all!

Here is a child's hat I did for the Christmas pattern booklet. I wanted it to look like a wrapped present with a big bow on top. I need to take actual photos instead of a scan because as usual the colors are way off. The main color isn't red - it is really hot pink.