This post is the first official lesson in the Vintage Knitting College! I'm starting off with a series of posts for Colorwork: 101. Bestway #82 pattern As you know, you'll be following along with a pullover I'll be knitting from a 1940s pattern, Bestway #82. It's available as a .pdf from the Vintage Knitting Lady here, and available for your Ravelry queue here. But since my goal for the VKC is to ... Read more »
Kickoff tomorrow! Vintage Knitting College Colorwork: 101
I'm pleased to finally announce that tomorrow will kickoff my Vintage Knitting College series, with the first post in Colorwork: 101! I'll be talking about the very basics of stranded knitting over a few posts. Tomorrow we'll start off with how to carry your yarn and how to keep your balls of yarn tidy and your yarn tangle-free. Then in the next few posts after that I'll talk about keeping even tension while stranding and ... Read more »
A very spoooooky Halloween
Happy Halloween, everyone!Guess what spooooky project I've been keeping under my hat? Well okay, not under my hat. It is my hat! And surely a spooky bit of knitting will help strike the fear of Halloween into you!There are creepy black bats, flying across an orange background... Skeletons with ghoulish red eyeballs...Gross green worms inching along on a purple background...And, well, I think those are supposed to be ... Read more »
Best laid knitting plans…
I'm sorry to those of you waiting for my kickoff post for the Vintage Knitting College! Sometimes the best laid plans go awry, which has been the case for me. I wanted to use my new video camera that I bought, however once I finally had time to sit down and play with it, I realized it won't do close up without being blurry. Of course, I realized this after the return policy expired. I'm trying to figure out if I can ... Read more »
ghosts of Halloween past
Hello everyone! I'm back from San Diego and trying to catch up!Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, and Mel's as well. We usually dress up, though honestly haven't had any reason to for a couple of years unfortunately. Of course around Halloween you're reminded of all your past costumes. Yesterday, I saw that Andrea of PaperSparrow (an amazing DIY blog that's new to me that I'm already in love with!) did ... Read more »
Vintage Knitting Pattern: Campus Compliments Cardigan
Hi everyone! Today I have a free vintage knitting pattern to share with you before I jet off to San Diego for my cousin's wedding over the weekend. It's a great basic cardigan that should easily fit into any Fall/Winter wardrobe! Don't you just love that photo? It's from a 1944 knitting booklet called Campus Classics for Knitters (one of my favorites!). It's rather unusual for that decade, as it's written in four ... Read more »
My perfect satchel
Hi everyone! Well I've been super excited reading everyone's comments and stories on my post about bras and the 1940s bustline. Even if it's frustrating, isn't there some solidarity in knowing every one of us, no matter our shape or size, has some of the same concerns and issues? Anyway, a few days ago I got the best package ever in the mail. Since the beginning of the summer when I got my DSLR camera, I've been ... Read more »
Adventures in recreating the 1940s bust silhouette
This post is a long time in the making! Grab a cup of tea and sit down for a spell.Let's talk about something that most people, vintage aficionados or not, probably don't even think much about: the bust line silhouette. A delicate combination of the bra you're wearing and, well, whatever you've got in that bra.I don't like typical modern round cup bras. You know the kind, it's the shape of probably 95% of the bras on the ... Read more »
Indian Summer in St. Louis
This weekend we took a road trip to St. Louis to visit Mel's sister, brother-in-law and our niece and nephew. It was fantastic. We always have such a nice time together. There was grilling, relaxing on the porch, seeing butterflies at a butterfly house, looking for fossils and geodes by a river, skipping rocks, playing with the kids and reading bedtime stories. All in gloriously warm weather more reminiscent of July than ... Read more »
Sneak peek: Colorwork: 101 with the Vintage Knitting College
We're off tomorrow on a weekend trip to visit my brother- and sister-in-law, niece and nephew in St. Louis. I've been so busy this week and haven't even thought about packing yet. Eek!Before that, though, I wanted to share my official sneak peek of the first project for the Colorwork: 101 series for my new Vintage Knitting College! I promised to let you know ahead of time, in case anyone wanted to follow along with the ... Read more »
Shoes and plaids
Hi everyone! Thank you all so, so much for your compliments on my beret and gloves set! I'm so glad you liked them. They really were fun... okay, except the fingers on the gloves, but you already knew that. ;)This week is busy, busy, busy with projects, and I fear I don't have much time to write! So I thought I'd just share a few photos from the weekend. We inadvertently went out on Saturday both wearing plaid. My plaid ... Read more »
Fair isle beret & lace gloves for Fall
Fall! 'Tis the season for knitters everywhere to enjoy their woolies!I was determined to get a bit of accessory knitting in early for Fall, and diligently started back in August when I first got bitten by the Fall bug. My initial plans were for a matching fair isle beret and fingerless gloves from the book Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas, as well as a pair of gloves from this free vintage pattern and a beret in the same ... Read more »
Sewing and tucks
Hi everyone! This has continued to be one of those weeks where I struggle with my craft projects. Don't you just hate weeks like that? I went from not really having time to sew for over a month to trying to work on two projects this week and getting foiled along the way on both of them.This time, though, I'm not really foiled, just looking for opinions! I'm going to sew Simplicity 4608, a smart little blouse pattern from ... Read more »
Randolph Street Market Editor’s Choice for Charity
This weekend I was honored to participate in an event that was not only fun, but for a worthy cause!I was asked to be a part of the Randolph Street Market Editor's & Designer's Choice for Charity. Randolph Street Market is a big vintage and antique market that takes place in Chicago different times throughout the year. On Friday evening, I joined bloggers, designers and fashionistas for their first Editor's & Designer's ... Read more »
Introducing…Vintage Knitting College
Happy Friday! Thanks for all the positive comments about my sponge roller set tutorial! I'm so happy to know some of my tips may help someone else out there. :)Today I just have a brief post to unveil an exciting and big new project for my blog: the Vintage Knitting College!I was chewing on the idea for the Land Girl sweater knit-along after I proposed it ever a couple of weeks ago. There was some interest, but not as a ... Read more »
How I do a late 30s/early 40s sponge roller set (and avoid dents!)
I'm here today to talk about hair! Now that I've settled into a routine with my haircut at shoulder-length, I thought I'd show you one way I set my hair for a late 1930s/early 1940s look. It's just a nice hairstyle that I think is easy to wear and easy to style. No fuss, no frills. I know over the years I've learned a ton from vintage hair tutorials online, so hopefully this will help someone out there and I can pay it ... Read more »