I won Vogue Knitting Book 35 on eBay a few weeks ago. It was a fairly quick purchase but I’d been thinking about it for a while. I love vintage knits but own very few actual patterns, which seemed silly, and this excellent post on needled reminded me that I really ought to go back to the original vintage designs if I want to understand them. So, a lucky bid later (okay, it wasn’t lucky – I planned my bid strategy like an army General) and this lovely book was mine. I believe it to be from 1949, based on their numbering system, the date on the American version, and some calculations, but I may be slightly off. I’ve posted some photos of my favourite patterns, plus my notes and thoughts, into the rest of this entry.

(It may be worth mentioning that this is the British version, and that the American one seems to differ in terms of pattern content. The cover is slightly different too.)

Cover – stocking stitch jacket Although this is knitted in the simplest of stitches, I love it. It’s nicely finished with turned hems, pockets and a flared double-thickness collar, and it would be a peach to accessorise.

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Pattern: February Beret (free) (my Ravelry project page)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers, colour #4011 “Sparrow”
Needles: 3.75mm and 4mm

It is now officially Hat Requirement Season. Yes, I made that term up, but it’s still entirely true (in England, at least). Getting out of bed with a spring in my step is a thing of the past, especially when the duvet is so warm and snuggly and five more minutes under the covers won’t hurt… except of course that it does, and I’m inevitably then in a rush, on the brink of being late for the bus. At times like these matching my accessories to my clothing is surprisingly not the first thing on my mind, so it’s good that I seem to be acquiring a hat for every outfit in my wardrobe. That’s my excuse for my endless list of hats-to-be-made, anyway.

This one, the February Beret, might just be one of my favourites. The yarn is sturdy pure wool in a subtle but attractive colour, the pattern is a nice mixture of lace and garter stitch and, while quick and simple, didn’t bore me. The original February pattern was Elizabeth Zimmerman’s February Baby sweater (there’s a beautiful example over at brooklytweed), which then evolved into the recently popular February Lady sweater. (I like the patterns, but A-line jumpers that button only at the top don’t suit me in the slightest.)

My modifications were not extensive. I ditched the i-cord edging for something more secure – I cast on 98 stitches and worked 10 rows of twisted rib on 3.75mm needles before I went back to the pattern and started from Round 1 on 4mm needles, but increased to 147 stitches instead of 189. I must take a moment to thank Phoe for the yarn – the rest is being put to good use too, as I’m making a matching scarf.

In other news, I think my Christmas knitting is under control. I say this cautiously, and this weekend has been a bit of a wash-out in that regard, but I am hopeful. It’s not so much that I have a lot as that it’s fiddly… and I have half a dozen started projects of my own that require less concentration. Somehow they seem more attractive at the end of a long day. Funny, that! However, my holiday starts on Wednesday and I will be making up for lost time.

Next time I write, I’ll share some pictures of my latest eBay acquisition: a Vogue Knitting Book from 1949…

The nights are drawing in (they seem to start at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon), the weather is worsening (we had snow on Sunday!) and it is the perfect time of year to stay indoors with a book. Or indeed several books. I have a to-read pile that’s beginning to rival the Eiffel Tower, so I really shouldn’t be looking for more reading material, but I can’t help it! I think it’s my version of hibernation. Anyway, it seemed like an idea to share some of my recent online findings. Some of them are rather good.

I think most people are familiar with Project Gutenberg, a site with over 25 000 free ebooks (mostly older texts whose USA copyright has expired), but I recently discovered ManyBooks.net and like it even more. It has most of, if not all, the PG texts, but allows you to download them in almost any format you like. (Since most PG texts only come in .txt or html formats, this is a real boon.) Where applicable, it also links to the LibriVox recording of the book.

I love old books and the richness of their language, so I leapt at The Castle of Wolfenbach (written in 1793 by Eliza Parsons) which is seriously Gothic and mentioned as one of seven “horrid novels” in Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I also liked The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe. Both feature copious amounts of gloomy castles, strange men, and fainting women. They’re a wonderful escape from modern life, enjoyably thrilling, and not a little silly.

There is a fine collection of P. G. Wodehouse, always a treat and a joy to read. I’ve just finished Mike and Psmith and am about to start Psmith in the City. I could sing Wodehouse’s praises for days, but suffice it to say that he is a very funny, witty writer of clever, light-hearted books.

The whole Pirate Tales category looks fascinating, ditto the Nautical one – but I have just been reading Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander, so am particularly susceptible to anything involving backstays, t’gallants and studding-sails (all parts of a ship).

Continuing the theme of old books, the site fromoldbooks.org has a good collection of online reference books and images. Of particular use to the modern reader might be the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – “a dictionary of the slang of the British underworld produced in 1811″ – which contains definitions for such delightful words and phrases as “captain queernabs“, “frummagemmed” and “malingeror“. I’m also enjoying Nathan Bailey’s Canting Dictionary.

A recent and wonderful discovery is Real Life in London, published in 1821 in two illustrated volumes. (Although it’s available at ManyBooks.net, it didn’t come with any of the pictures which the Project Gutenberg version contains.) The full title is in fact Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. Or, The Rambles And Adventures Of Bob Tallyho, Esq., And His Cousin, The Hon. Tom Dashall, Through The Metropolis; Exhibiting A Living Picture Of Fashionable Characters, Manners, And Amusements In High And Low Life, which I think says it all, really! An extract that made me laugh follows below:

A vast crowd of dashing young Beaux and elegantly dressed Belles, calling about them for oysters, lobsters, salmon, shrimps, bread and butter, soda-water, ginger-beer, &c. kept up a sort of running accompaniment to the general conversation in which they were engaged; when the mirth and hilarity of the room was for a moment delayed upon the appearance of a dashing Blade, who seemed as he entered to say to himself,

“Plebeians, avaunt! I have altered my plan, Metamorphosed completely, behold a Fine Man! That is, throughout town I am grown quite the rage, The meteor of fashion, the Buck of the age.”

He was dressed in the extreme of fashion, and seemed desirous of imparting the idea of his great importance to all around him: he had a light-coloured great-coat with immense mother o’ pearl buttons and double capes, Buff or Petersham breeches, and coat of sky-blue, his hat cocked on one side, and stout ground-ashen stick in his hand. It was plain to be seen that the juice of the grape had been operative upon the upper story, as he reeled to the further end of the room, and, calling the attendant, desired her to bring him a bottle of soda-water, for he was lushy, by G—d; then throwing himself into a box, which he alone occupied, he stretched himself at length on the seat, and seemed as if he would go to sleep.

(I think it’s the phrase “It was plain to be seen that the juice of the grape had been operative upon the upper story” that really gets me.)

I can’t finish without mentioning a valuable non-fiction resource: the Antique Pattern Library. In their own words, “This ongoing project is an effort to scan needlework pattern books that are in the public domain, to preserve them, so we can keep our needlework heritage in our hands”. Truly a worthy goal.

So far this weekend, I’ve finished the back of Garland, my very purple batwing-sleeved jacket. I’ve started the fronts and am debating the wisdom of pockets. (Arguments for: they are always useful and most of my clothes don’t have them, and they’re in the pattern. Argument against: they might be bulky and I wouldn’t want to spoil the silhouette.)

A few weeks (months?) ago I bought a cheap lambswool jumper from a charity shop. It’s a fine knit, so the resulting yarn is probably lace or cobweb weight. It’s 29 WPI, anyway. I have the feeling that using my 2mm needles will result in a loose fabric, and I may well have to look into something smaller (says she, slightly daunted by the prospect of using 1mm needles… Er, I should perhaps mention that I’ve no intentions of knitting anything for myself on 1mm needles, but there are smaller bodies around here than mine). I’ve only unravelled one sleeve, and already have more yarn than I really know what to do with. This evening I will wind it into a ball and swatch.

Some other knitting that has been started is not-so-secret Christmas knitting. It required the writing of a pattern, in fact the writing of a chart, which is a first for me. I will say only that it involves cables (a lot of them) and bell-ringing. More on this next month, at some point after the 25th.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve been busy:

I would like to expand on the photos, but as ever, have run out of time. I’ll just mention a rather unusually beautiful video I saw today: a Guy with a camera in his head broadcasts footage from inside the flames. Eerie and moving.