Free Pattern - 1940's A Charming Stitch Jumper

This knitwear model has an amazing hair do! And those eyebrows! I think this is such pretty jumper, perfect for under your suit for spring. It is knit in a lacy rib and has a moss stitch yoke and has typical 1940's strong shoulders. It is finished with a set of crochet buttons. The pattern is for a 32-34" bust. Remember to check your tension before you start!

I like finding a pattern with the stamp of the wool shop that sold it. This one was sold at The Readicut Wool Co Ltd, Briggate, Leeds. I managed to find a picture of it here. If you know Leeds the wool shop was where Harvey Nichols is now. Readicut was founded in 1928 in Wakefield. They supplied pre-cut wool for rug making. Prior to this crafters had to cut the wool themselves from skeins. I have some vintage rug patterns somewhere, it was a very popular activity. I will have to dig the patterns out.

So here is another pattern to add to my ever growing list!

2017 in knitting

It is time to look back over last year and see what I got up to with my knitting. You can read about 2015 here and 2016 here. I feel like I haven't knitted all of the things that I wanted to knit this year. There are just so many great patterns! I am very pleased with what I have made and I enjoyed making them so I have to remember that. These are more or less in the order that they were made. Things do get moved up and down the list when deadlines or other occasions mean a change in project is needed.

This 1960's cravat and tam makes a super set but the pattern required a bit of tinkering. The cravat works very well and I made it and the tam in a lovely mustard Sirdar Baby Bamboo. It is 80% bamboo and 20% wool. I love everything about wool but it does not love me back. It itches me beyond belief, even a fine merino or when blended with silk. That is why I always wear a scarf and long sleeved tops with my cardigans. I thought I would get away with this one but not round my neck, so my mum now has the cravat. The tam is lovely but has no rib and no hatband (as per the pattern) so it just does not stay on my head. I have threaded elastic through it and that kind of works now. I can cope with wool in a hat as I have a big fringe so it never touches my skin!

I wanted to crack the pattern so I had another go in this lovely red Wendy Merino. I added some rows of rib and this one does fit and stay on. I don't normally wear red so this one was going to be for sale but I was surprisingly pleased with how it looked on so I kept it! I knitted the matching cravat too but I don't seem to have a photo of it.

I knitted this Aran pattern hat for my niece in Sublime Merino. She loves yellow and I love knitting cables so it was a good match. It was great fun to knit. There was a small moment of difficulty when she found that the pompom wasn't quite the colour green that she had picked out in the shop, (well remembered by her, age 3), but we have got over that now!

Next up was the completion of this lovely 1950's lace panel cardigan which I knitted in Millamia. I knitted the back, sleeves and one front in 2015!! It then sat in the naughty corner for a good long while as I got a bit confused working out the instructions for the other front. As is the way of vintage patterns, it just said to reverse what you did on the other side and I could not make it work. Helpful with lots of yarn overs and lace. Eventually, I sat down with my mum and she read out all the possibilities that a row could be whilst I knitted them to see what looked right. That way we got the pattern and I could finish my cardigan! It is a beautiful teal, the colour isn't exactly right in any of these photos.

This Marriner's tank top was one that I put on my 2017 knitting wish list and is in fact one of two projects from that list that got started in 2017. I started it on the train on the way to Edinburgh Yarn Festival. I have knitted the front and back, in Fyberspates Scrumptious and have stalled on the armbands. It is currently languishing in the Knitting Bag of Doom from which it deserves to be rescued rather soon. I would like to wear it.

This 1940's cardigan from a Canadian pattern has such a lovely texture, nice and squishy, and has great forties shoulders. It was knitted in Drops Merino and the colour is more like the second photo then the top one. It was a great pattern to knit. This one hasn't featured on the blog before as it was a commission knit.

I knitted this baby helmet from a 1950's pattern for a lovely friend's baby. I like the look of these traditional helmets and they must keep a baby's head nice and cosy. The decoration on the top is a button that you knit a little cover for and then sew to the centre of the helmet. I first knitted one of these helmets for my niece as a Christmas present when she was four months old. It has a bit of a family tale behind it. You can read the story of here.

This was another one from my knitting wish list. The model is holding an egg timer as the pattern states that this jumper can be knitted in eight hours. If you follow me on Instagram you will already know the sad story of this jumper. In brief, no, you can't knit it in eight hours and nor can you knit it with the yarn that I used (a Sublime silk/cotton mix) without it looking like a dish cloth. An expensive dish cloth at that. So it had to be pulled back and the yarn is back in my stash waiting for a more suitable project.

This is another unfinished project, it had to be put aside for more pressing matters but I do intend to go back to it. I really like 1940's tank tops/pullovers and have a great collection of men's patterns. This one gets bonus marks as it also fits into my Men Smoking collection. I have knitted the back and done the rib of the front. It might be for sale, it might be for me, we shall see!

I was on a beret mission in the latter half of 2017 as I wanted more of these most useful hats and had plenty of patterns to try out. This 1960's one is knitted in Debbie Bliss Aran in a fabulous duck egg colour. It was lovely to knit and I like the pattern. No photos of it on yet but I plan to remedy that soon.

I recently wrote a post about this beret pattern which you can read here so I won't repeat the details.

I also made a black one as a commission:

Squeezing in as the last knit of the year on the 29th December was a cream version, in alpaca and silk, for me.

In November I started another garment for myself. It is a 1960's sleeveless jumper with a big collar for pining brooches on. It is not finished yet but I can share the beginnings of it. I have knitted most of the front and have about an inch more to go on the collar. So about halfway there.

2017 appears to have been a year of hats and unfinished things. I'm aiming for more garments and more completed projects in 2018. What about you?

A 1960's knitted beret

What an outfit! What a colour!

However, for the purpose of this post all we are interested in is the beret. I have been after a knitted beret for a good while, and am going through a phase of finding all the beret patterns that I have and knitting them up one by one to find my favourite. Berets are so versatile in their look and in their period correctness and I have a gap in my hat wardrobe.

I have knitted the Sunday Pictorial Beret from A Stitch in Time by Susan Crawford but I can't get it to look right on me, though I have seen it look fabulous on others. It has a separately knitted and stitched on bow and I think it might be the placement of that which is causing me problems. I need to remove the bow so the weight doesn't pull the beret down and then I can position it on my head more to my liking. So whilst that is on the 'to fix' pile I am trying other patterns out.

I bought this fabulously soft, beautifully coloured yarn from Temporary Measure when I saw them at Yarndale in September. It is 100% baby alpaca DK and it knits up beautifully with a lovely drape and good stitch definition. It is most lovely and warm too.

The colour is a bit lighter than this really but I can't get a good photo of it in this winter gloom! I love the radiating decreases.

This is quite a big beret; I would say it is larger than the pattern suggests. I rarely check my tension if I'm knitting an accessory for myself and the yarn is pretty drapey. I rather like the extra slouch; I can wear this like a tam which is a style I am comfy wearing. I'm going to go down a needle size for the next one for myself for comparison. The headband is just garter stitch so I probably would like that on a smaller needle for a closer fit.

This is it hot off the needles and straight on to my head, hence the bad lighting and the sofa selfie. I liked wearing it straight away.

It has continued to get lots of wear. This is me early in the morning on a freezing station platform waiting for yet another late train to work! It keeps my ears nice and cosy. This is a better idea of the colour too.

I have knitted another one as a commission knit. Here it is:

This one is knitted in black Drops Merino DK and it feels lovely.

Finishing touches - woven labels and vintage thread.

I have a beret from another pattern knitted up which just needs seaming so that should be getting tested out in a few days.

Do you have a favourite beret pattern?

Gorgeous gifts for knitters

Do you have a knitter in your life that you are struggling to buy for? Maybe you don't know what they already have or are nervous about buying them yarn or you just know nothing about knitting so you can't even imagine what a gift for a knitter may look like. Well, help is on hand with my gorgeous gift guide.

My criteria were that it had to be both beautiful and useful, be of great quality, would feel like a treat to receive and come from small, independent businesses as I believe makers should support other makers. This is not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share the love! I have shopped with many of these businesses before and for others I have admired their goods but haven't treated myself. Yet.

I'm sticking with knitters as that is what I know best but many of these gifts will suit the crocheters in your life too. Make sure you take a look at the other wonderful things these companies have to offer.

This is the Garter Stitch Printed Panel from Beyond Measure This lovely print is by the artist Jan Brewerton and has been digitally printed on cotton calico. It is £12. I like the focus on the stitches but also the strong image of the hands. As makers, our hands are our most important tools and we don't always give them credit.

The marvellous thing about this panel, apart from the great design, is how versatile it is. It could be framed and hung in your craft room, turned into a cushion for your knitting chair, made into a knitting bag or pouch as is shown above. It could also be embroidered on or embellished.

How true the statement is on this rather fabulous Tillyflop Designs tea towel! It is £10. Who wants to dry up when they could be knitting?! But sometimes these mundane tasks do interrupt our knitting time so why not make it better with this lovely tea towel? Of course, tea towels don't have to be used for their intended purpose. This could also be framed or made into a knitting bag.

The Travelknitter has a really gorgeous range of special yarns, dyed in a range of glorious hues. I haven't knitted in it yet but have given it a good squish and stroke at yarn shows and it is beautiful stuff. As yarn can be a tricky choice for a gift this fantastic £5 travel tin full of stitch markers fits the bill nicely. You can never have enough stitch markers and these come in a really cute vintage ticket style tin to keep them safe. Easy to chuck in to your knitting bag and no more loosing them all down the side of the sofa!

My Random Makes produce textile accessories on a variety of materials using decorative free hand machine embroidery. These fabulous knitting brooches are a great way for a knitter to show their love for their craft. They could be worn as jewellery or pinned to your knitting bag. As they are free machine embroidered no two are exactly the same which is rather lovely. In the top photo those on the left are stitched on boiled wool, £7. The ones in the middle are button badges, £6. The one on the right is a medal, £10. If you have a particular colour in mind Wendy takes requests.

If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen another fantastic brooch from My Random Makes.

The best Christmas jumper brooch ever!

To the uninitiated this may look like a rather adorable floral sheep face with random holes in it but to a knitter this is an extremely useful tool! This pretty needle gauge from The Knitters Attic is one of the most glorious needle gauges I have seen. It is £6.50. The gauge measure the width of a needle and tells you what size it is. This is particularly useful if you are using double pointed needles as they don't always have the size on the needle itself, just the packet. Needle sizes also rub off needles through wear or, if like me, you use lots of vintage needles these are in the old needle sizes and a gauge will tell you the modern needle size. So, beautiful and useful. Tick. Tick.

Yarnisty have a great range of knitting goodies in their Etsy shop. These lovely leather knitting ribbed pattern key rings really caught my eye. They are £5. So handy and with a great pattern on them. I'm quite fussy about key rings, I don't like them too large or bulky or novelty like so I think these are spot on.

Max's World makes knitting themed jewellery and gifts for crafters. These knitting earrings with their tiny balls of wool and needles are such fun, I couldn't resist them. They are £10. The needles are silver plated. The earrings come in a wide range of colours. I liked the glitz of the white and gold pair and also the more subtle grey pair. You are sure to find your knitter's favourite colour.

A knitter can never have enough bags to put their knitting in. They need bags to transport the knitting around such as these gorgeous knitting bags from the fantastic Temporary Measure. To prove my point I can tell you that I have both of these. I love both the illustrations and the text which is so spot on and makes me chuckle every time. They are £12.99. All their bags are printed in The Lake District on either organic cotton or ethically certified cotton.

Knitters also need smaller bags that are ideal for an ongoing project. If you knit several things at once, like me, you might have each project in a small bag and then pop them all in your larger knitting bag. These project bags are £12 and whilst it was very hard to choose I finally went with the alpaca one. But, that raccoon is calling to me!

Finally, knitters need even smaller bags to put their bits and pieces in. Mine contains a pen, tape measure, tiny scissors, stitch markers, yarn needles, stitch holders and a needle gauge. These little cases are perfect for this job and are £10. Then you can just pick up your case and bung it in with whichever project you are working on, knowing you will always have all the tools you need.

I hope that has helped you find a gift for the knitter in your life, or indeed, for yourself. If you need one more idea, many local yarn shops do gift vouchers so you can give your knitter a fun shopping trip and still support a local business.