It's metallic

It's finally sweater season here, which means that I'm actually wearing some of my past creations. The 1900s and the 1920s sweaters have both gone to work a few times, but it hasn't been cold enough yet for the 1910s. I envision that particular sweater coming in handy for watching hockey games or going on winter walks. It's no lightweight.

Meanwhile, I'm knee-deep in the 1930s. I have a fair number of 1930s pattern booklets and, boy, do I love them. Check out the two pictured above. A friend found the "Crocheted Dresses" book out on the street (yep, like trash!) with a stack of other vintage patterns and very kindly rescued it for me. I adore the styles and patterns, but the idea of making an entire dress out of crochet just fills me an intense feeling of foot-dragging reluctance. Also, I think I'd incur some pretty serious tendinitis. I think I get too tense and nervous when I'm crocheting and so my hand and wrist hurt after a while. In any event, the dresses are fabulous, but not for this project. The mittens are also wonderfully sharp and crisp in their classic black and white designs, but the deal here is sweaters. Maybe I'll make some mitts after I complete my century.

In addition to the two booklets above, I have a couple issues of "Home Arts Needlecraft" magazine from the '30s. I like these magazines because they provide good illustrations in a large format and a mix of articles about knitting and needlework plus pieces on contemporary fashion, cooking, and home design.  The "News Flashes--From a Needle-Minded New Yorker" columns are especially informative (two-fabric frocks! checks! vests! stripes! tatting! rick rack!).

Plus, the magazine was published right here in Maine (Augusta, to be exact). I have the November 1937 and February 1938 issues, which contain a few knitting patterns: one for adorable Scottie dog mitts and the two designs pictured below. Forgive my blurry image; I'm getting used to a new camera and now it's too dark to do re-takes. I came very close to selecting the lower sweater for my project, but had some concerns about that angled surplice-style front fitting correctly.

 

And that all brings us to this book from 1939, which you met several posts ago, following a little jaunt to some antique malls.

The great thing about this booklet is that it's got all of your fashion needs and situations covered. Heading out on a bike ride and looking for a cute wool top? Check.

Need something smart to wear to the Easter parade? Check.

Looking for that perfect knit item to complement the sweeping full-length skirt that you'll wear to the year's swankiest soiree? Check.

This is "Cocktail Jacket no. 124" and it's the one I chose, with some help from my husband. I liked the fitted look of it with the puffed sleeves and yoke and it's significantly different from my first three sweaters. It was hard to figure out the stitch pattern from the photo, so I read through the instructions several times. I couldn't quite picture what was going on, so I grabbed some needles and started swatching. Turns out, it's almost a smocked design: you knit a garter ridge to start, then several rows in stockinette, then another garter ridge, and then you knit back down into the first garter ridge to create a series of scallops or scales.

The best part, though? The original pattern calls for two types of yarn. One is " Fleisher's, Bear Brand, or Bucilla Angel Crepe," which, as far as I can tell, was a wool/rayon blend. The other is "Fleisher's or Bucilla Metal Thread." Yep. METAL THREAD. The pattern is worked with the two held together for the smocking sections and just the Angel Crepe for the stockinette sections, which means that the sweater has a super cool '30s metallic sheen to it.

And, in a near-miraculous stroke of stashing luck, I just happened to have a large cone of silver metallic yarn and a giant skein of steely gray yarn of indeterminate composition. I believe I purchased both at a deep discount. The gray skein was in the "seconds" section at a dye house as it has just a few areas where the color is slightly inconsistent, but, fortunately, these become invisible within the stitch pattern. It took a little while to achieve a workable gauge and I'm sure I'll be doing some math all the way through the project, but I think it will all work out.

The scalloped metallic design is fabulous. And time consuming. But mostly fabulous. I'm just about halfway through the back. Stay tuned.

Summer Break

After finishing off my 1920s sweater last month, I pulled out my '30s patterns, looked through them all at least twice, considered my options, and thought about which yarns to swatch. And then I took a break. Not just a break from knitting, but an actual vacation away from home and away from work. That hasn't happened for my husband and me for quite a little while. We spent a week camping on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with extended family. It was great. I swam a lot, ate pasties, sampled local beer, hiked for miles and miles, sat around the campfire, marveled at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, explored nearby towns, and just generally enjoyed my family's company for the week.

But, I didn't knit a stitch. I didn't even bring knitting on the trip. I did, however, stop by the Knitter's Niche in Marquette, where I met the supremely friendly and welcoming owner Trisha as well as Rose, the woman who raised the sheep that provided the wool for the squishy-soft, cozy-dense, oatmeal-colored skein of Shetland/CVM that I brought home. The sheep's names are Anna, Aurora, and Milik. It's a beautiful skein of wool. I see some cozy winter accessories in my future.

Speaking of winter accessories, that's about all I've made in the last several weeks. Once I've finished all my current projects and had a little break, it always seems to take some time to get a project going again. A friend was really excited about the new issue of Twist Collective, especially the Svartifoss pattern, which looks so temptingly different. We agreed on a knit along, but I'm pretty sure I started and finished without her. I opted for the Svartifoss mittens:

They're up on my Ravelry page with the knitting details and play-by-play. I found an error in the lace chart, so please check my project page for the fix before you get too far in making them yourself. I do love them. Although they are incredibly warm, they will be strictly dress mittens. No walking the dog or shoveling snow in these beauties.

Next up is a sweater for my little nephew and two pairs of custom Chucks and then I'll dive back into the 1930s. I have two new pattern booklets (gifts from a fellow knitter) to share soon, too.

1921: In the Books

 

 

Another decade completed! I used this cool, cloudy, showery July Sunday to its fullest knitterly potential and spent most of the day completing the final details and finishing my 1920s sweater. For appropriate period atmosphere, I did all this work while watching more than a couple episodes of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. It seemed only right. 

 

With its short sleeves, worsted-weight-gauge, and comparatively minimal finishing, this project was a breeze. And the pattern was very good, too: I found no errors and made only one modification throughout the course of the project. It was a simple one: I decided to crochet rather than knit on the top border along the front checkerboard. Easy!

As with my 1910s sweater, this one was knit in one piece, sleeves and all. I picked up stitches along the neckline and sleeves to add the garter-stitch checkerboard pattern, which was a little fiddly on the wrong side as the colors had to be carried in front and moved to the back to work the knit stitches. The portion along the neck was fairly time-consuming and done in two sections, but I really like the results. I was worried that the sleeves would be too tight once bound off, so I opted for Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off. It ended up creating a rather pleasing flare.

Overall, I really like the completed garment. I think it will be quite wearable across the seasons and I like the way it looks and fits. I'm not even sure that it looks like it's a nearly 100 year old design. Does it?

 

I'm looking forward to working on the 1930s next! 

 

Specs

Yarn: Cascade 220 in navy blue and white

Amounts: 3.75 skeins of navy and < 1 skein of white

Needles: size 8

Crochet hook: G/6/4.25mm

Started: 3 July 2016

Finished: 31 July 2016

Quick as a bunny

In case you missed it, here's my pattern-choosing-process for the 1920s. I ended up picking the creatively-named "Knitted Sweater" from the 1921 Columbia Book of Yarns. It's a sweet little short-sleeved sweater that will be perfect for July knitting, plus it has a very intriguing knit-on neck treatment in a very pleasing checkerboard design. The shape is a bit more forgiving than the long, lean, straight lines of many other sweaters of the era and yet the high contrast geometry of the borders nevertheless seems to capitalize on the new trends in '20s fashion.

In reading through the pattern (a mere 4 paragraphs long), I noticed that the construction of this piece is very much like my last knit. The body and sleeves are made as one piece from the bottom hem of the back, up around the shoulders and sleeves, and down the fronts. There are two bands of 2x2 ribbing at the lower edge, but everything else is done in garter stitch, just like my 1919 sweater. Although no gauge is listed in the pattern, I estimated that a similar gauge to that previous sweater (4.5 stitches per inch) would produce the desired fit, which made my yarn choice very easy. I'm going with Cascade 220 once again. I purchased 5 skeins of navy blue and have 1 nearly full skein of white in my stash. I don't believe I'll have to make any modifications to the pattern (fingers crossed).

I started knitting last Sunday; garter stitch and short sleeves are already making this project feel lightning fast! I'm also enjoying that this sweater has:

1. No sash
2. No skirt
3. No double layer cuffs
4. No wide collar
5. No crochet edging

 There's a lot to like here!

Women's hockey, knitwear, and the 1920s

We've made it to the Roaring '20s! I've been looking forward to exploring the knitwear of the 1920s for a while now: longer, leaner silhouettes with modern, graphic sensibilities. Faux fur trims, luxurious fibers, matching hats and parasols, sporting ensembles, swim suits: the '20s have it all.

Again, my personal collection is somewhat lacking in 1920s patterns, with just a few designs that very much recall the 1910s. I really wanted to pick a pattern that made a distinct change from the first few sweaters I've made, so I browsed around online for a while. There are quite a few '20s pattern books available as reproductions. The Antique Pattern Library offers the 1922 Corticelli Yarn Book by Mrs. L. Addie Crandall Smith, which features some lovely, colorful designs with bright stripes and geometric patterns. I highly recommend a browse! There is also a nice selection of 1922 patterns on "A Good Yarn." You'll see tuxedo jackets, accessory sets, and activewear there. And then there's the Iva Rose Vintage Reproductions, which has loads of '20s pattern books available as reproductions, including this Columbia Yarns booklet from 1921. If you scroll down to the fifth picture, you'll see a pattern that particularly struck me. It's a trim crocheted suit with a matching hat, but the model appears to be carrying a hockey stick! This is very different from the usual golf club or tennis racket. I was intrigued.

As a lifelong hockey player myself (I started playing goalie for my local girls' team at age 13 and am still playing 23 years later), this image immediately sent me down the delightful rabbit hole that exists at the intersection of women's hockey and knitwear. Of course, I knew that today's hockey jerseys started life as sweaters and that if you're playing hockey outside on a frozen pond good knitwear is essential. But I did not really know the early history of organized women's ice hockey, which dates back to the 1890s in Canada and rose in popularity through the '20s and '30s. In the US, we see it taking hold in the 1910's and '20s. I love photos of these early-twentieth-century teams, like the one below of the Gore Bay, Ontario team in 1921. Their boldly striped sweaters, toques, and socks are fabulous and I love seeing pictures of these female athletes with their teammates. The camaraderie that I know from my teams over the years is so palpable here, in this group of women, standing elbow to elbow with their sticks and skates nearly 100 years ago.

Credit: Library and Archives Canada/PA-074583

There are so many more pictures like this. A Google image search will provide plenty of pictures of knit-clad women on the ice through the years.

But, I digress. I did eventually find my chosen sweater pattern for the 1920s, with my husband's kind assistance. There's an album of photos and patterns from the 1921 Columbia Book of Yarns, 22nd edition, volume 2 freely available on the Vintage Knitting Crochet Needlework Patterns Dazespast Facebook page. I picked this one:

Visit the Facebook album for more pictures from this volume!

I'm off to buy yarn! More soon.

1919: Done!

The thunder and rain stopped and the sun came out just in time to take a few pictures of my completed Goldie Golf Sweater from 1919. I think I really like it! It's very much unlike any sweater I currently own and it's super cozy and warm. For the knitting play-by-play and pattern modifications, see this post.

Greeting my counterpart in 1919!

I love the collar: it's wide, warm, and has a very pleasing crochet edging.

The pattern called for a 2-yard-long sash. I found that it looked best when crossed at the back and knotted at the front. I guess it can double as a scarf if needed!

Specs

Yarn: Cascade 220 in colors 9562 (brown) and 9452 (teal)

Amounts: 7.25 skeins of brown and 1.25 skeins of teal*

Buttons: 7 (9 if I had attached the pocket), about 1"

Needles: size 8

Crochet hook: G/6/4.25mm

Started: 30 March 2016

Finished: 28 June 2016

 

*I want to mention (read: brag) that I bought exactly the right amounts of yarn.

Maybe for the first time ever.

 

The 1920s await! 

 

 

So close...

The 1919 Goldie Golf Sweater is finished! Unfortunately, as it's gray, foggy, and damp today, I don't have any pictures of the complete sweater just yet. I'm hopeful that the weather later in the week will be more conducive to knitwear-modeling and picture-taking, though I don't expect to wear this sweater for real until much later in the fall. It is super warm. In the meantime, I'd like to share my modifications and notes about the project in case anyone out there is interested in making their own version. Or in case anyone out there just really enjoys the nitty-gritty details of someone else's project (I know I do)!

Overall, the sweater was an enjoyable knit. I appreciated the ease and abundance of garter stitch in this project; it really does make the finished product cozy and well-fitting. The one-piece back-to-front construction of the sweater is something that isn't often seen in today's adult sweaters (though I've certainly seen it in contemporary baby garments), but I think maybe it's due for a comeback. I liked building in the sleeves to the body of the sweater and knowing that there wouldn't be quite so much seaming at the end.

I made a few modifications to the sizing, adding 4 garter stitch ridges (8 rows) to the back, 6 ridges to the sleeves and shoulders, and 4 ridges to each front. Although the pattern didn't specifically call for it, I shaped the fronts just like the back, decreasing 1 stitch every fourth ridge towards the waist. I knit the buttonholes on the left front, making the top hole 3 ridges from the neck and subsequent holes every 7th ridge. I made the skirt, collar, and sash as directed with no changes.

Just like the 1900s sweater, this one called for a fair amount of crochet edging. I worked 2 chain stitches and a slip stitch around the edges of the skirt and collar and did a few rows of single crochet along the buttonbands and lower edge of the body. The chain/slip stitch combo made a sort of picot edging on the skirt and collar and helped define the scalloped edges with a really pretty effect. The single crochet on the other sections stabilized the edges and made sewing up really smooth and easy. This was especially welcome as the skirt really needs to be gathered in to fit against the body. I used a size G/6/4.25mm crochet hook.

Here's a quick snap of the sweater mid-finishing, as I'm gathering the skirt to fit. I sewed the seam from the center out to each edge to ensure an even fit.

The sleeves came out a little short and the cuff instructions were a bit unclear, so I had to improvise on those. I picked up 43 stitches around each sleeve and knit 20 more garter ridges in brown. Then, I switched to teal for 10 ridges and bound off. I folded the cuffs back and, per the pattern, sewed a decorative button to the center of each cuff. The pattern describes making a "ruffle" in folding back the cuff and tacking it back under itself, but I'm not convinced that ruffling is really possible (or desirable) with garter stitch at this gauge. In any event, my cuffs seem to be similar to the photo in the pattern and I like the way they look and fit, so I'm calling it good. I have no doubt that a knitter in 1919 would have approached this iffy part of the pattern in her own way and figured out an acceptable solution as well!

I decided to skip the pocket. As you'll see in the finished pictures, it would have been a very awkwardly placed pocket.

And that's it for modifications. As I mentioned, it was a fairly smooth project, even if it did take about three months to complete. There's a lot of knitting in it! More pictures soon.