Monday 5 January 2009

In a dark, dark corner....

....of a dark, dark cupboard I found three folders full of patterns I'd collected, mostly fron the 1980's. They weren't lost or forgotten, just languishing, because I hadn't given them any thought for so many years. Over Christmas I decided to dig them out and look them over. What a treasure trove! It was great looking at the fashions of 20+ years ago, remembering the things I'd made, or hoped to make.
Many of them were so dated - huge baggy sweaters, completely shapeless, and the shoulder pads!! Those patterns have no place in the 21st century! It did make me realise though how things have changed and how lucky we are now to have so much choice and so many beautiful fibres to choose from. These photos show some of my favourite designs from my trip down memory lane. The first is a design from a Patons leaflet that I fell in love with al over again. All the designs were quite innovative for the time - highly textured and assymetrical. I made a close fitting DK cardi in 2 stitch patterns with a front closure from the left shoulder acoss to the bottom right side of the welt - very trendy! The sweater in the photo is dk, the jacket chunky, and I think they both still look great.
The crew necked cable sweater in the 2nd photo is another of my favourite knits - I made it in peach brushed dk and I loved the deep ribbed welt which buttoned at both sides.



The last 2 photos were made in Hayfield Lugano, which was a beautiful mohair yarn. I never got to make these because then as now, I really cannot wear pure mohair. It drives me crazy! Fortunately, 25 years on, we have mohair blends that knit to the same tension on the same size needles.
I want to make all of these sweaters as part of my 2009 knit from stash challenge. I've got yarn for all of these - plenty of smooth dks for the highnecked textured design, some Rowanspun chunky for the jacket, which has been waiting for just the right project to come along; some brushed dk in pale blue for the side buttoning cabled favourite; and many balls of Sirdar blur for the 2 mohairs.
So, no skeletons in my cupboard. Just several hundred semi-vintage knitting patterns, which will now take pride of place on the bookshelf!



1 comment:

picperfic said...

oh what fun these patterns are! I have some from that time too, and photos of me wearing some of them too. I made a Patricia Roberts waistcoat in 1987which took me an age but I have never worn, I feel a blog post coming on!