Saturday 9 March 2013

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny 1940's Style...............

Jumper!!  Yes, I know that doesn’t rhyme but that was the song that popped into my head when I was stitching up this jumper of most minute proportions and I bet you’ll soon find yourself humming that song too! :o)

This is my most recently stitched up jumper, a rather stylish 1940’s number knitted from a Lavenda pattern.  Don’t know about you, but I think this pretty model might just be wearing a hair piece!! ;o)



I’d wanted to knit the pattern for a long time having seen some other people knit it in the rather popular red, white and blue colour way, but tracking down the pattern had proved difficult.  After much lurking on eBay, I managed to get a seriously tatty copy for just a couple of pounds!  A bargain in my book when you consider a good copy of the same pattern went for over £10!  

Anyway, the jumper should have a base colour and 5 contrasts but with 4 ply colours being somewhat limited, I couldn’t find 6 colours that went well together and so ended up with just 4 instead, opting for cardinal, fern, silver and cobalt.  They might seem like an odd batch of colours to mix up but I’ve used them before for the waffle jumper and they have been very popular.  

It’s such an easy pattern to knit but the end result makes it look far more complicated than it really is – always a plus point :o)  Once the K1, P1 rib is done, it’s simply a case of working in stocking stitch with every 4th stitch carried as a slipped stitch over 3 rows. 


  
Sewing up is a different matter though with a grand total of over 150+ ends to sew together/run in but the final result is definitely worth the extra time taken in sewing it up properly.



Button wise, I didn’t have any which were just the right shade.  I don’t know about you, but I find reds are one of the hardest shades to match up.  Instead, I went for my "go to" button, the little faceted plastic ones.  I think we have over 2000 of these which were picked up at a car boot sale a couple of years ago for just £5.00!  Bargain! :o)



When knitting straight from a pattern i.e. not making any size adjustments at all, I find that the jumpers come out pretty close to the original size, give or take an inch.  In my enthusiasm to get it knitted, I didn’t think to look at the pattern size.  I should have checked though because the original was for a petite 32”-34” bust! 

True to the pattern, and proof that using modern 4 ply on a vintage pattern that states 3 ply is ok, this jumper has come up at the 32”-34” bust it was meant to.  I just managed to wriggle it on to the well travelled “Doris”, but it is very much “sausage in a skin” like and needs to be on a much smaller model. 

This jumper is coming with me to the fair in Norwich tomorrow.  Lets hope it can find a loving new home with a petite, vintage loving lady :o)

If you fancy giving the pattern a go yourself, I have a PDF versions for sale through my Facebook page which you can find here.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, I love how you matched the colors here :) This would go perfectly with a certain pair of Miss L Fire shoes I have. I just might have to hop over to Facebook and buy this pattern from you ;)

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  2. Ooh it's lovely, the colours you've used look so pretty together :)

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  3. So pretty! I am sure there are some smaller ladies out there who would love it :)

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  4. Hi and love your work you always knit fab jumpers. The pattern for the so often seen red, white and blue victory jumper that many people wear is available free of charge from the Victoria and Albert Museum website. They have many vintage knitting patterns that are also available free of charge and are really worth checking out. Heres the link for anyone that may be interested.

    http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/1744

    Looking forward to seeing more of your wonderful knits.

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  5. Fantastic! I really like the colors you picked.
    -Emily

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  6. You did a beautiful job on this sweater! Love the colors and pattern! Also, yeah, that model's definitely wearing a hairpiece or two--haha!

    Jordan
    http://jordansvintagekitchen.blogspot.com

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  7. Very pretty and love the colours. Hope you have a lovely weekend. Karen :)

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  8. Gorgeous as usual, Lucy. Just a thought for you: when I do colourwork, if the colour changes aren't to far apart, instead of breaking off with the coloured yarn, I run the it up the side of the work where it will form part of the seam. Might save you from 150-odd ends to sew in next time.

    - Pam

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  9. This is the reason I want to badly to learn how to knit as soon as possible. I sew and crochet but this would really improve my vintage lifestyle greatly! Thanks for such an inspiring blog!

    Oakley
    www.thriftedthoughts.blogspot.com

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