Saturday, September 16, 2006

What A Great Find

Now many of you know that I collect tortoiseshell knitting needles, but I also collect something else knit related, vintage knitting patterns. I find these wonderful old patterns in op shops and of course buy the occasional one from ebay. The great thing about these lovely old patterns is that you never quite know what gems lie beneath the front cover.


As was the case with this beauty, that I bought off ebay for 99 cents, the postage was more than the book itself. When you buy from op shops you have the advantage of being able to see what the book or leaflet contains but when you purchase from ebay quite often the only clue to the contents is the title and what is pictured on the front cover.


This one, titled Socks and Mittens Fashions in Wool styled by Hilde, promised some socks and mittens and the seller had mentioned that it was published in 1953 in the US.


So imagine my surprise when this 23 page booklet turned up and it contained 24 patterns for some of the most amazing vintage socks, mittens and a couple of other surprises as well.


These lovely old bed socks and knee caps amongst them, these pages contain knitting history from a time when women would not only knit these items out of love for their family but as a necessity in a post war decade.


I have only included a few of the pictures here, to save this entire post being full of photos but it was so difficult to pick just a few as they are all worthy to be displayed. The socks are just magnificent examples of vintage sock knitting and have the same rich textures and great designs that you can find in Nancy Bush's Vintage Sock Knitting book, so yes I was very happy with my $3.00 purchase this week.




I will finish this post off with the sleeves to the Central Park Hoodie, which I am knitting together on a circular needle, as I have this problem of cabled sleeves never quite being exactly the same. I have found however if I knit them at the same time, with the exact same shaping they have to match. Well that is the plan anyway ;)

24 comments:

My Five Sons said...

You are amazing! When I start a new jumper theres a fair chance it will not be finished for that season!
Maybe I have too much on the go..I spun some white merino today simply to get it off the wheel so I can try the caramel alpacca silk and wool roving I bought ages ago,I could have finished a sleeva nd started the second so I can just see me being the last to finish the CPH!

MrsDrWho said...

One cabled sleeve looks much the same as any other dish cloth to me...carry on knitting !!!!!
Carry on knitting on the train??? the latest Carry On Movie. Will the conductor check your tickets and your moles??????

Anonymous said...

Excellent knitting: you are almost finished!! My sleeves etc match as I obsessively write down every row!!
Fantastic pattern bargain: all those socks!!!

Anonymous said...

Love those patterns! What a find!

Anonymous said...

Your CPH looks so good! I wish I were coordinated enough to do 2 sleeves at once - with my luck, I'd probably knit them together. Congratulations on the great find - I'm envious!

Tracy Batchelder said...

That pattern book is a treasure! I love old knitting patterns too.

Anonymous said...

The vintage knitting patterns are a real find - particularly for just 3 dollars. I love to collect them too, but generally don't seek them out.

Rachael Elswyk said...

I often keep a look out for old patterns in the op shops up here, 'cos I know you collect vinatge patterns, but I'm afraid there must be another collector up here, it always seems like they've been picked over already! What a gem of an ebay find, congrats on the purchase, can't wait to see some of those knitted up.

And as for the CPhoodie, OMG!!! wow, it looks fantastic!!

Anonymous said...

What a great find! The men's cross pattern socks look a bit like the Gentlemen's Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. Is it difficult to "translate" from old terms to new terms? But maybe the 1950s isn't so old to cause a problem.

Nana Sadie said...

Gorgeous knitting, as always! And I think vintage patterns are cool, too!
(((hugs)))

Suzi said...

What a great find! My treasure is a old pattern book of tea cosys and cushion covers. A few other oddments also I think have crept in with them. More for novelty value I picked it up rather than actuall desire to knit from! I will have to bring it along to the meeting after next!

The sleeves look great, I can't wait to see the hoodie done!

Suzi

L. said...

Great buy on ebay, Sharon!

I just bought a Christmas ornaments booklet from ebay which didn't show the cover, just explained the condition and number of pages. I was disappointed when it arrived today because it's all little animals, santas, etc.

I was hoping for actual ornaments rather than figures or toys. The date of the printing is 1982 and I paid $8.00 for it not including postage, so I'm going to be very careful next time.

melissa said...

i love vintage glove patterns . i just finished one glove to see how it knitted up and the construction was so different to the modern ones ..actually i had concerns but should of just trusted the pattern ,it knew what it was doing !

Ann said...

Nothing like vintage patterns - have bought a few from ebay & they are great! Your sleeves are knitting up very quickly & knitting them at the same time is also my favorite way of knitting sleeves!

Knittinreed said...

What a fun find! Vintage socks and more :-)

Your sleeves look perfect. I can't wait to see the finished hoodie. (And some clogs?)

Procrastiknitter said...

Wow! I am so impressed...as always! I would like to see those patterns. I'm going to start looking for those myself!

Anonymous said...

you, ann, and cindy are all such fast knitters!!! i think it will take me ages to knit one!!

Larjmarj said...

eBay rocks. A friend of mine just gave me a vintage stitch book. It's really cool and smells like my grandma's attic ;-)

Craftybernie said...

What a great find on e-bay. Can't wait to see what you make first!

It's great that you can knit the two sleeves together. I was taught to do this when I was a kid and I haven't forgotten. My only problem is managing the yarn. It always ends up in a terrible mess.

Hope you get the sleeves finished soon - looking forward to seeing the finished article.

Hope you're feeling better.

Anonymous said...

The vintage patterns are so cool. Do you have trouble following instructions, or are the directions pretty similar to today's abbreviations?

Your CPH looks great! I knit the sleeves together too (as well as the left & right fronts). You are so right...much better chance they come out the same!

Sherri said...

I'm jealous. I just love those books! Your hoodie is just beautiful!

Stephanie said...

I came across an online resource for vintage patterns --- you may already know about it.

This site has knitting, crochet, tatting, and other fiber art patterns.

Enjoy!

http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/

amanda j said...

What a lucky find - the book looks in really good condition! Maybe the 1950s knitter bought it and looked at it and planned to knit but never got around to it. The more things change the more they stay the same!

Nora said...

You must knit in your sleep!