A Little Cowl/Big Swatch - Using the Black Evening Blouse Stitch Patterns

I will be the first to admit that this little cowl is far from my finest knitting. But I was impatient to start the sweater....

I made this cowl using the stitch patterns from the Black Evening Blouse pattern. I cast on about 147 stitches. I used the gauge measurement of 7 stitches per inch to determine the number of stitches needed to pull the cowl over my head or about 21 inches. I didn't want to mess up my hair when I put on the cowl. Vain, I know.

The pattern calls for a 2 inch section of stockinette stitches before starting the Hive pattern. You can see from the pics that I wasn't completely successful in maintaining the pattern throughout the Hive stitch section. I thought about ripping it out, but then I decided that the cowl wouldn't show the stitch problems because it will probably be scrunched down around my neck or under a jacket. It most likely will not be visible all at one time unless it's laying on a table and I'm showing it to someone.

The middle section is the Lace pattern, which is used for the ruffles around the sleeves and neck. I wanted to see what that section would look like as well. I didn't worry too much about the holes in the lace work. The cowl will be scrunched down when I wear it.

I knitted in eyelets to weave I-cord through. I thought it would be nice to be able to pull the cowl close to my neck and keep the wind from blowing down my coat. And, if necessary, I can cinch up the I-cord and wear the cowl as a hat.  A lesson learned after I had finished the hat and was threading the I-cord through the eyelets was how to determine the correct number of eyelets. I had an odd number of eyelets so I have one eyelet that isn't threaded. An even number of eyelets would have allowed both ends of the I-cord  to pop out the front of the cowl. 

The cowl is finished. I learned that the acrylic/nylon yarn was a little too soft, stretchy, and fuzzy for the sweater. While I still love the feel of the yarn, it just wasn't going to work for this blouse. That meant I had to buy some new wool yarn. I had to buy a pair of size 1(US) circular metal needles, too. The new yarn is a beautiful juciy wine color, but the color is too dark for me to easily see the individual stitches on dark wood needles. My eyesight is not great right now, working on the sweater would blind me. The metal needles will provide a nice contrast to the yarn color and allow the wool to glide freely across the needles.

I will be posting updates on my progress for the Black Evening Blouse as I go along. Stay tuned.

Happy knitting!

And the Swatch Continues - Black Evening Blouse

We are continuing on with the growing swatch for the Black Evening Blouse. The original post can be found here. I should have included a pic of the blouse in the original post, but it didn't even occur to me until after the post  went live on the blog.

This is what the sweater looks like:

I am finding that making the swatch is helping with my tension. My tension was all over the place when I made the first, little swatch. I am used to working on heavier weight yarn.. I usually work with worsted weight yarn, so everything knits up fast. My first original swatches were small - I cast on 30 stitches on size 3US needles. The swatch was about 2.5 to 3 inches wide. 

The info that we could find on the Botany Saxatones yarn is for the 1 ounce size skeins. The 1-ounce skeins contained about 170 yards. The yarn is 100% wool. The pattern calls for 4 or 5 of the 2 ounce skeins of yarn.

The pattern can be found here.

Happy knitting!

A Big Swatch - Black Evening Blouse

I found a lace weight yarn I wanted to try, but I didn't have a pattern to use it on, until Alison sent the Black Evening Blouse pattern to me.

The yarn I wanted to use is an acyrlic/nylon blend, and not very expensive, but is so soft. I had to go buy a pair of metal needles size 1US at a local yarn store that sells the needles I like to use. The owner suggested that before putting in the work with this tiny yarn, that I knit up a large swatch and run it through the washer ten times to see how well it holds up.

I definitely don't want to do all of that knitting only to have the sweater pill on the first few washings and wearings. I really really dislike swatching. But I could see the sense in creating the large swatch. As I made peace with the idea of swatching and washing, I realized this could be the perfect opportunity to show the stitch patterns that are used in the pattern. The patterns aren't completely visible in the picture of the sweater. This first pic of the swatch shows the Hive Pattern from the pattern.

 


I have to use a lifeline (the peach colored cotton thread running through the swatch). I forgot to add it when I switched from stockinette to the pattern and ended up having to rip out about 10 rows of the hive pattern (unknit is the new term for ripping out stitches, I think). I decided that I was tired of unknitting and that a lifeline would save me time in the future. We were camping and I was so excited to be knitting by headlamp light that I wasn't paying as close of attention to the pattern as I should have been. I guess that makes me a nerd knitter.

I found that placing a stitch marker on row 1 of the pattern repeat made it easier to figure out where I am in the pattern when I pick up after setting it down for any length of time.

I will be posting more pics as I get further along in the swatch (or cowl).

Happy knitting!

1940s Jiffy Raglan Sleeve Sweater - A Quick and Easy Knit

I thought I had posted pics of the 1940s Jiffy Raglan Sleeve Sweater Button Front (knit) a while back, but that was not the case. So, without further ado, are pics of the sweater.

We posted this pattern quite a while ago, and I had always been intrigued by the "Jiffy" part of the title. It turns out that this really was a quick knit. I know I have mentioned that I may be the world's slowest knitter. I am always hopeful that my knitting speed will increase, but it has not yet happened, so I was amazed at how fast I was able to knit this sweater.

I used some "vintage" Lion Brand Wool Ease that I had purchased years and years ago to make my husband a sweater vest. The yarn is a navy/light blue twist - an acrylic and wool blend.

The vest didn't happen because he thought I was a little nuts to be making him a sweater vest. So, the yarn sat in my stash, maturing like a fine wine, waiting for the perfect project to come along.

It can be difficult to find vintage patterns that use worsted weight yarn. That's why I like this pattern. Large yarn, easy directions.

The pic on the left is a close-up of the lacy, yarn-over stitch used for the majority of the sweater. 

I found the use of stitch markers invaluable when it came to working the yoke. The raglan increases were easier to see when I used the markers. The button band was crocheted on, and so much easier than I expected. 

In vintage terms this is a 16-18 sized pattern. I currently wear a medium or large in sweaters. That would put this sweater more in the 12-14 size range, depending on how aggressively you block the sweater.

Happy knitting!

1940s Snood/Headband - Crocheted Double Quick

This is a fast crochet project. I started this cute little snood and had the band finished in about 2 hours. It was great, and super motivating to finish the body of the snood in one sitting. I used our 1940s Snood & Hat, Calot, Pill Box & Bandeau pattern. I had 2 balls of Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Thread, size 3 that we had purchased for a different hat. But that was a couple of years ago, when we had no idea how to estimate yardage and balls of yarn needed for a hat pattern. We guessed wrong - so wrong that I didn't have enough to even finish one portion of the hat. Those 2 balls of crochet thread were perfect for this little snood.

The color of the crochet cotton is Copper Mist, a copper metallic thread. I just discovered that the brand has been discontinued by Red Heart and replaced by Red Heart Fashion Crochet Thread. This color didn't seem to make the new color card, which is unfortunate, I'd like to make another snood out of this thread. 

It turns out that working with the size 3 crochet thread isn't nearly as scary as I remember it being, when I first started crocheting. The pattern calls for a size 0 steel crochet hook (3.25mm). That's a US size D. It's not that tiny for working with crochet thread. It's awesome!

Finished measurements, laying flat are: 2 inches wide x 10 1/2 inches - measured down the center of the band.

Happy crocheting!

A Boat Load of Aprons

We have a bunch of aprons to show today....

All were made using guidelines and patterns from our 1940s Aprons and Bibs Sewing and Crochet Patterns & Ideas booklet. I decided to make the aprons that were calling to me....

The first apron is a cute little one to wear when serving cocktails at your next dinner party. You can look cute and stay drip-free in this apron. The ruffles make it fun and kicky! The front circle panel features a pocket. 

Gay Ones for Cocktails Apron

The pocket view

The Heart Interest apron is a fun little hostess apron. I had this fabric in my stash, and I knew immediately that this goose print fabric was going to make up as the heart apron. Sometimes the fabric just talks to you.

Heart Interest Apron

Closeup of the hearts & bows

Of course I had to make the Knitter's Delight! This is a neat apron. Alison has her hands in the top pocket, but if you look carefully below the triangle pocket you can see two buttons that show where the bottom pocket is located.

Knitter's Delight

The pockets

More aprons will be coming soon. I am working on a few more in between all of my other projects that Alison insists I work on.  You can find the booklet in our Etsy store.

Happy Sewing!

Measurement Chart from 1942

We have a measurement chart from 1942. It's a fun (possibly horrifying) way to keep track of your measurements when getting ready to start a knitting or crochet project.

 

Click here to download the pdf of the chart.

Happy knitting & crocheting!

Modern Substitutions for Nomotta Ruban d'Art Ribbon Yarn

Alison found a few booklets by Nomotta, featuring patterns made with their Ruban d'Art yarn. It's a vintage and discontinued yarn. We wanted to make a pattern or two from the booklet, but didn't have any Ruban d'Art - until Alison found some on eBay and won an auction for 10 spools of black. The color isn't ideal for making projects and posting the pictures online, but we decided to pair it with a modern ribbon yarn (which turns out is also a discontinued yarn). More info on that as I finish the Jiffy Knit Sweater and start on a ribbon yarn project.

When I first went looking for modern equivalents to the ribbon yarn, I didn't know what size ribbon yarn I was supposed to be looking for.

Once we had the spools in hand, I wanted to show what the weave of the ribbon looks like. It makes looking for a substitute ribbon yarn so much easier when you have an idea of what the original yarn looked like.

The Ruban d'Art looks like a lightweight rayon taffeta fabric, without selvedge edges. The edges are "fused" so the yarn is the same weight and thickness across. It is about 5mm wide.

Happy crafting!

It's Moving Pretty Quickly (for me) - Jiffy Knit Sweater

I just started working on a new project: the 1940s Jiffy Raglan Sleeve Sweater from our shop. I was really happy to find that I could use yarn already in my stash: a wool/acrylic blend. I purchased the yarn about 15 years ago, back when we still had a Ben Franklin craft store in town. I bought the yarn and started a sweater vest for my husband. I thought he would look cute. He thought I was nuts! So the partially completed vest has been in storage since then. I purchased so much yarn that I can probably make two of these sweaters.

The sweater is knit from the top down. Once you hit the bottom of the sweater, the vast majority of your work is already completed and your project is almost ready to wear. That seems pretty fantastic to me. In the first pic, I have the sweater waiting on my circular needle cable while I work on the sleeve.

I used a modified traveling loop that I first found a few year ago on YouTube to work the sleeves of the sweater. Liat Gat has fantastic knitting videos that are really well done. This is the video that I used to get me going on the sleeves. I might break down and buy a 16" circular needle if I make the sweater again. I think it might go faster if I didn't have to fiddle with the cable on every single round.

I will be posting my progress on the sweater. It should go fairly quickly since it is the Jiffy Raglan Sweater.

Happy knitting!

February Free Pattern Posted

Click on over to the Free Monthly Pattern Downloads page to download this little cutie. We have a Shell Stitch Vest/Blouse pattern for you to crochet. This is a great beginner pattern.

Try one of our patterns for free!

Happy Crocheting!

Clean Dishes in the New Year

One of Alison's friends does embroidery. She was kind enough to make the tea towels from the 1940's Victory Garden Transfer pattern.

Sam's thoughts for working with the transfers....

"I got that iron-on pen and used tracing paper. Place the tracing paper (ink side down) over the image and trace your design. Then turn the tracing face down and iron it on to the towel...."

"It's easy to get the lines a little too thick so be aware of that as you are tracing the design. You want the thread to cover your lines as you embroider the design."

Two of the towels were purchased at Michael's, the rest of the towels were flour sack tea towels purchased on eBay.

Towel back.

Happy stitching!

The Bonham Fascinator

We have a completed project to show off. . . the Bonham Fascinator from the 1940s Fascinators Mantilla Head Coverings Scarf - 4 Knit and Crochet patterns.

This is a knit lace project. When Alison sent me the pattern, I immediately fell in love with it and had to make it.  I saw the black sparkly yarn and knew immediately that I was going to use it for the fascinator. I wasn't really thinking about how well the yarn would photograph. Turns out, black is really difficult to take a great picture of. That's why we have included a picture of the lace made in a dusty rose yarn.

Finished size: 55 x 22 inches (not including fringe).
I made slightly smaller than pattern called for.

Materials used:Vanna's Glamour Yarn
     - Yarn weight: Category 2 - Fine
     - Content: 96% polyester, 4% metallic
Circular knitting needles, size 10 1/2

The bobble sample:

Sample was knit with two different needle sizes. 

The top section was knit on size 8 needles. The lace is tighter and the bobbles are smaller. 

The bottom section was knit on size 10 1/2 needles. The bobbles are bigger and the lace is more open. The sample was not blocked.

Close-up of the bobbles.

 Blocking the fascinator:

On the blocking mats. It is neat to see the yarn relax and the lace pattern come to life.

I steam blocked the poly/metallic yarn. I started by inserting the blocking wires into the edges of the fascinator. Once I had the blocking wires placed how I wanted them, I pinned the wires to the mat (pins went in front of the wires to keep them from moving back and forth on the mat). Once everything was pinned down, I covered the edging with towels to keep them from flattening out with the steam. I made an edging sample to see if I liked the blocked or unblocked look. The blocked edging looked flat and lifeless to me.

Steam blocking the fascinator.
The iron does not touch the yarn. It is held above the yarn.

I held the iron several inches above the fascinator for several seconds and steamed it like crazy. This was the second time I had steam blocked a synthetic fiber, and I really like this method. It makes the shawl lay flat, and really makes the lace pattern open up. All in a relatively quick manner. I don't really have the space to wet block items, and even if I did our cats would have a heyday picking at the project.

Once I finished steaming the fascinator, I let it lay on the mat until it was completely dry. 

I purchased anti-fatigue mats from a tool company for blocking my projects. I join them together to make a blocking area that fits my project.

The pattern can be found in our Etsy store.

Free Monthly Pattern Download for May

We are back and we have a new pattern to share. . . .

Spring has sprung and summer is just around the corner. Channel the 1940s in this one-of-a-kind ribbed bandeaux summer top/bathing suit top. This knit pattern will draw all eyes to you.

Click on the pattern link or check out the "Free Monthly Pattern Downloads" page to be taken to the free pattern compliments of eStitched.

 

Pattern Info:

3-ply Fingering yarn:

*  4 balls of color A for one ribbed bandeau

*  4 balls of color B for other ribbed bandeau or

*  2 balls of colors A and C for the striped bandeau

 1 pair 14-inch No. 2 Straight Knitting Needles

Steel Crochet Hook No. 2

1 yard Round Milliners' Elastic for each bandeau

Gauge: 

Ribbing -- 10 rows make 1 inch; 

Stripes -- 8 sts make 1 inch.

Free Monthly Pattern Download for March

We have a truly vintage item for this month's free pattern download.... A Fern Strip Chair Set with Fringe. It is a knitting pattern from 1944.

Click on the pattern link or check out the "Free Pattern Downloads" page to be taken to the free pattern compliments of eStitched.

Pattern Info
Measurements:
Chair Back 13 1/2" x 15"
Arm Pieces: 7" x 10" including fringe
Materials Required:
J&P Coats or Clark's ONT Pearl Cotton, Size 5 (8 balls)
Knitting pins, size 1