Saturday, February 04, 2006

I got yer vintage knitting right here, baby!


I'm a pattern ho...I admit it. And if it's vintage, I lose my mind. I went to the thrift store yet again and hit the mother lode! All 6 of these for $3.89...including tax! I practically squealed right there in the store, but quickly regained my composure. I was combing through ebay last night, and saw the Aran Fisherman knits book and was lusting for it...(I'm going through my Aran phase right now)....imagine my delight when I saw it for 44 cents!!! I'm still in a state of shock. I can't wait to make something from any or all of these! (I know. I'll never get to all of them, but a knitter can dream, can't she?)

And speaking of vintage knits, and I am....I can't believe I never posted about this sweater. Oh, the story. Back when I first learned how to knit, I saw this in Vogue Knitting and fell in love. My sister was visiting me in south FL and helped me do a yarn conversion. I immediately cast on with those size 2 Boye needles and began a long arduous journey. The only "yarn shop" available was a craft store called Poston's, and choices were limited. We figured out that I needed 10 skeins to make this, so I scooped up South Maid Cotton 8 in coral. Knitter's nightmare set in when I realized I didn't have enough yarn. I quit knitting completely until 1999. One day, several years later,
I found this old project and thought I'd finish it...uh oh! Not enough yarn. I frantically searched-almost daily- on ebay for 4 years!! Then one day, a seller had 1 skein in coral and I won the auction. This is one of the oldest ufos that actually became a fo.
Here are the specs....Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 1990 pg.53
Yarn: South Maid Cotton 8 in coral 11 skeins (this stuff washes and dries in the dryer quite well. shame that it's discontinued)
Needles: size 2 Boye straights
start to finish-1990 to 3-18-04
Oh yes, and her name is "Coral Castle"......after the edifice located in Coral Gables, FL.

Last, but definitely not least...you must check this out if you love vintage knitting...
http://www.vintageknitting.net/ What beautiful work!

2 comments:

Jen (pieKnits) said...

Wow what a find!! I love thrift store hunting but I've never found any good patterns. Even a stitch dictionary, I'm so jealous. :)
Congrats on finishing that sweater too, that's some persistence!

Ling said...

Gorgeous sweater! Congratulations on finishing it after such a long break.