Knitting Mag February

A pretty impressive ‘Knitting’ magazine this month (February’s edition) it’s gone all vintage, using the land girls as its inspiration and including an article by vintage knitting champion Susan Crawford (one of her lovely patterns also features).

Patterns include a great 40s-inspired fair isle tank top, a gents military-style cardigan (which Mr Skiff has got his eye on) and cool satchel-style bag.  Must admit, not many knitting magazines inspire me to pick up my needles but this one’s making my fingers itch …

How to Knit

Okay, it wasn’t a figment of my imagination, my ridiculous imaginary project I’d dreamed up to keep me company instead of doing any real work … here it is! No really, it’s a book about How To Knit (did you guess from the title?). And you can download it from this site, lucky you. It includes a cool 1940s dress trimming pattern as an easy first project, hopefully to tempt you further down the road into those wonderful vintage suits and blouses.

Tell your friends and watch out for the next one, coming soon … well … this year sometime, hopefully, erm … did I mention it’s the first in a series?

How to Knit

I haven’t blogged for a week or so – not just being lazy, I’ve been trying to finish off a small booklet I’ve been working on about knitting basics.  Should be finished in the next few days so I’ll post it when I’m done in a .pdf format.  It’s the first of 3 or 4 instalments and covers the very basics – casting on, knit & purl, casting off … I’ve been working on it for the last few months and it’ll be good to finally get it out there – check out the free 1940s dress trim pattern!

How to Make Common Things

Loving the latest addition to my vintage craft library … How To Make Common Things (for Boys).  Written by J.A.Bower and published in 1902 by the Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, this was obviously an attempt to keep the male youth of the day on the straight and narrow (idle hands and all that).  There’s also a note that it was ‘Published under the direction of the General Literature Committee’ – how very Orwellian.  I’d love to know what kind of age-group it was aimed at – I imagine early teens, as some of the projects are quite involved: ‘How to Make Simple Apparatus for Chemical Experiments’, ‘To Make a Galvonometer’ and, fascinatingly, ‘How to Make A Telephone’.  Mind you they weren’t so hot on health and safety then, so maybe there were some scarred-for-life 7 year olds out there (all in the name of religion of course).

The inscription at the front of the book reads that it was presented to (appropriately) Fred Lord ‘for learning and repeating psalms’, although the odds were stacked in his favour with a name like that. The pencilled name on the opposite page is ‘Alan Lord’ so maybe he passed it onto his son.  I’d like to try out some of the experiments in the book with my own son, and just hope I haven’t lost him to computer gamedom and cynicism by the time he’s old enough to ‘Make a Needle Telegraph’

Knitting Fashions of the 1940s

Well 1940 didn’t rhyme.  Ah, Knitting Fashions of the 1940s … I’ve had my eye on this book for ages and now it’s mine, all mine.  I’ve ordered some great jumper weight 2-ply from Jamieson & Smith, a wonderful Shetland wool specialist in Scotland, I’ve got my size 12 needles and I’m ready to go.  Sometimes it’s nice to knit up a vintage pattern knowing that someone has done the adapting for you, although I’m still lining up some originals … I think if you’ve got the patience to knit on small needles with fine wool you can make some wonderful garments which you just won’t see anywhere else.  Occasionally though I just need a quick fix for something quick and easy in between, so I’m knitting a small jumper for Lucas at the same time.

Vintage craft books

I’m adding to my vintage craft book collection and it’s such a joy to go through the pages I thought I’d share some of them here.

I feel such a geek listing them … erm, some justification was meant to finish this sentence but I can’t find one, I am a geek.

They exude an enthusiasm which I feel around again at the moment in the craft revival and I think they’re apt for right now.  Many of them are from the war or just post-war period so they were a necessity – how to use your scraps, how to make do and mend, and the Government issued leaflets along similar lines.  Just think, not only was craft seen as a great and useful hobby, it was of national importance!

They include:

• ‘Pins & Needles: Treasure of Family Needlework’ (2nd ed 1953)
• ‘Modern Knitting Illustrated’ (1st ed, approx 1945)
• ‘Wooden Toymaking Step by Step’ (2nd ed, 1963)
• ‘Practical Knitting Illustrated’ (1st ed, approx 1940)
• ‘Encyclopedia of Needlework’ by Therese de Dillmont (1st ed, 1897)
• ‘Gifts You Can Make Yourself’ (1st ed, c.1940s)

I think we’re at a time when recycling and cutting back are high on our agenda at the moment so I can only think the craft renaissance will continue.  Materials can be so expensive now – if you look at the knitting books on the shop shelves you’d be forgiven for thinking that there are only about 3 wool manufacturers worth buying wool from, and that a size 12 jumper will cost a minimum of £45 to knit up.  It’s about time we saw some cheaper alternatives coming to the fore, but I think that will only happen when knitters develop the confidence to experiment a bit more, to read their wool bands, do their tension squares and think ‘hmm, this will knit up the same as that Rowan wool for half the price’.  I’ve been a sucker for that myself in the past but no more, I’m going to do some more research and find out some good quality alternatives.

It’s time there was a bit of a backlash against the expensive brands – in these times of fiscal need, craft should be a more satisfying and fulfilling way of saving a bit of wedge here and there.