Belding Corticelli Bk KP 13

This is one of my most favorite vintage knitting books; the designs are not too haute or over-the-top, but they are classic 1930's. You'd look right at home on the set of "The Black Cat" in any of these outfits (although whether you'd match the creepy repartee of Lugosi & Karloff in that film is another story entirely - Bela warms my cardiac cockles when he says "Superstitious? Perhaps. Baloney? Perhaps not.").


I bought this and some other 1930's knitting books in a flea market in Landisville, NJ a couple of decades ago. I'll be posting patterns from this book periodically (as well as others). If you've got something you're particularly interested in, send me an email and I'll see if I have a pattern for it. WARNING: It may take me awhile to get back to you or post something. If you're in a huge hurry for that perfect pattern, I'm not the person you want. Hey, at least I'm not pretending to be organized.

I would love the pattern for this hat!

My guess is that it's made of Red Heart Super Saver. His ma probably knitted it for him - sweet! {I highly recommend that you click on the photo for the enlarged view - not only can you appreciate the hat that much more, but you can appreciate that it was taken on what looks to be a firing range...this should be hanging in a museum next to American Gothic.}

Rather Stupid Article About Knitting

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/05/02/searchers-up-for-wild-knitting-nights

I must say, I like the 21st cent. revival of knitting better than the early/mid-1980's version (many ugly patterns during that time). Perhaps because there was nothing like the internet, anyone doing odd, radical, creative, punk knitting never got noticed or known. I only had a couple of friends in the punk scene who were into knitting, and no one was getting all that creative (I was the weird one with my vintage patterns).

On an unrelated topic, I learned something new about Blogger; if you take months or years to publish a draft, it shows up on the date you started it, not the date you published. Since it takes me forever to publish anything, if you're looking for old patterns, you may wish to check the archives for previous months. I just published something I started in Feb, and that's where it is on the post now. Arse biscuits! I have a suit from the late 1910's - early 1920's that I hope to publish, but I started it last month, so it won't show up in May...you'll have to travel back to April something or other to see it.

Swagger Scarf

1930's Scarf pattern from Lorraine Yarns vol W1 (magazine has F.W. Woolworth's imprint on the back). I haven't made this one up yet, but I thought I'd post it for anyone interested in vintage accessories. I'd love to get photos of the FO, if someone makes it up! (Apologies for my unsophisticated presentation of the visuals - perhaps someday I'll be inspired to improve my blogging skills, just keep holding your breath!)

The Harmsworth

Knitting suit from Harmsworth's Household Encyclopedia vol. 6

I recently scored this book for a ridiculously low price; I found it on a sale cart at a used book store, and the first article it fell open to was an article on taxidermy for amateurs. Too wonderful, I thought, and immediate a list of at least half a dozen people came to mind who had to see this (yes, I know people who are almost as, er, unique as I am). $2 and 2 hours later, I discovered what an amazing book this is! If civilisation ever collaspses, this is the book you want to have, absolutely. I found too many articles to mention, tons of recipes, instructions for furniture, fences, and wireless receivers, among other things. It's so wonderful I'm almost afraid to track down the other five volumes - I might never leave home again, my consciousness possessed by such volumes of wisdom from the turn of the 20th cent. I really do love old books.


Anyway, I found these lovely knitting patterns contained within, and thought I'd share them with you. I hope to post other fascinating tidbits from this book from time to time, and if there's anything you'd like me to look up in there, lemme know and I'll see what I can find and send you a scan. You'd be amazed what you find between the letters STR-Z in this book (like knitted suits!). Click to enlarge, folks, click to enlarge!



PS - I haven't knitted these up, but I thought some would find them interesting. Also notice, on the first page, the article on suicide - ha!

Kiki

My orchid is in the process of having a baby (a kiki apparently is what these offspring are called). This flower is growing out of the little three-leafed two-inch-long kiki (which is still growing out of the mother). This flower is huge (four inches from top to bottom, about the same across) - you can't even see the kiki behind it. And kiki is producing a second flower just like this one. I know nothing about orchids - but I'm really impressed with the huge, beautiful bloom my little kiki has produced! (Click on the photo to see a larger version of it - the better to appreciate her intricate beauty!)

The Surge

Sometimes reading doesn’t pay off, at least not in a positive way. I was just reading the latest edition of the NYRB (3-15-2007); the first article is “The Surge” by Peter W. Gailbraith about Bush’s Iraq policy (in case you had some other surge in mind). He relates the following about General Petraeus (hopefully this quote doesn't piss the copyright gods off):

“Petraeus, on whom so much now rests, served two previous tours in Iraq. As the American commander in Mosul in 2003 and 2004, he earned adulatory press coverage — including a Newsweek cover story captioned “Can This Man Save Iraq?” — for taming the Sunni-majority city. Petraeus ignored warnings from America’s Kurdish allies that he was appointing the wrong people to key positions in Mosul’s local government and police. A few months after he left the city, the Petraeus-appointed local police commander defected to the insurgency while the Sunni Arab police handed their weapons and uniforms over en masse to the insurgents. Neither this episode nor the evident failure of the training programs for the Iraqi army and police which he ran in his next assignment seemed to have damaged the general’s reputation.”

Not that I actually thought the surge strategy would be successful but, without a doubt, Bush picked someone to lead it who is pretty much guaranteed to make sure it’s a failure. Of course, the Democrats are holding lots of hearings about Petraeus mismanagement of his previous Iraqi assignments – or not. Definitely not.

Delancey Scarf (Minverva Bk 36, 1934)

{It was pointed out to me that there was a missing asterisk on the row 9 instructions; I have corrected it, and I apologize to anyone who was wondering why it wasn't knitting up properly!}



Cast on 36 sts. Knit 6 rows (3 ribs), then work in pattern for 29 inches {or desired length}, knit 6 rows, bind off.

Stitch Pattern

Row 1: K2, * yo, k2tog; repeat from * to end of row.

Row 2: P

Repeat these two rows 3 more times.

Row 9: K1, *k2tog (k through back of sts), yo; repeat from *, end with k1.

Row 10: P

Repeat these two rows 3 more times; there are 16 rows to one complete pattern.

{Below are photos of my Delancey WIP, unblocked. I'm working it on some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that I had left from another project. I like the way the direction of the decreases automatically forms the nifty, jagged border - it's a very easy stitch pattern.}

Everybody's Happy Nowadays

Recently I've been seeing an AARP ad which uses the chorus "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" from the Buzzcocks' song. I wonder if anyone involved in making this ad paid any attention to the lyric content of the rest of the song; if I remember correctly, the chorus was meant to be ironic, right? Admittedly, I haven't listened to my Buzzcock's recordings since the early '90's, but I thought the verses of the song had a rather dystopic, or at least disillusioned content, and that the 'happiness' everyone seems to be experiencing stems from a disengagement from reality. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong; or if you have the inclination to search for the lyrics, please post them and let me know that I've totally missed the point.)

I like to think that the AARP is perhaps trying some subliminal advertising*; that the future holds little for us as we age that is positive, and that banding together in a radical body is the only chance we have of happiness that isn't an illusion - that otherwise, we really do have No Future**, just decades of personal and societal disappointment.

*This bit of fantasy on my part shows a complete disengagement from the nature of advertising, and reality in general; warning to the reader, an ex-boyfriend once told me I had a "rich inner life" and he did not mean it as a compliment. On the other hand, I like harboring images of the AARP turning into something like Hamas for older, non-wealthy Americans.

**Please reference the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen."

And while I'm on the topic of the Buzzcocks, didn't they have a line in a song that was "same as it never was?" Heh, Jennifer 'Sexpot' Hewitt seems to have kiped that for the name of her store on "Ghost Whisperer."

{God, I've been watching too much TV - this has to stop, I tell you!}

KFYS

I don't know about other countries, but Americans seem obsessed with resolutions for the new year. I try not to set up too many, or I try to keep the ones I have flexible. Part of my problem is I'll forget the resolution. If I make a list of resolutions, I'll forget that I made it most likely, or if I remember its exiestence, I'll forget where I put it until I eventually forget I wrote them down. Anyway, I'll try posting something on the blog I never write to (another resolution, but I'll spare the unfortunate reader the details), in hopes of coming up with better results.

So, like all knitters, I've got stash, too much for an apartment the size of a walk-in closet (not much of an exaggeration - really!). Below is my own personal version of Wendy Johnson's Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon (www.wendyknits.net)

1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through December 31st, 2007 -- a period of 12 months.

2. I will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:

• Sock yarn does not count. (If I end up with a box of new sock yarn, I may have to change/delete this exception.)
• If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that I really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.
• If I am knitting something and run out of yarn, I may purchase enough to complete the project.
• I get two "Get Out of Jail Free" cards -- I am allowed to fall off the wagon twice. {Wendy's is set for nine months - mine is set for 12; I figure I deserve two tumbles off said yarn wagon.}

3. I am allowed to receive gifts of yarn.

4. Trading stash is allowed.

5. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt. {Heh heh, I just took up spinning...my cunning plan is to spin if I can't control the need to acquire more yarn...bwa ha ha ha!}

6. I will finish all UFOs, or frog them, and get them out of my life!

It remains to be seen how long this will last; I bought some yarn Saturday (nothing exciting) for a pillow I had promised last year, long before I came across KFYS. I suspect the gift one will be the one to cause me the most trouble and trips to the yarn shop. Also, this does not cover books, magazine, needles and other knitting toys. I'll keep track of those purchases here, too - not that I think they'll be interesting reading but if I'm going to shame myself publicly, I might as well do it well and thoroughly, instead of half-assed. I certainly consider myself a half-assed knitter; someone else has claimed the title {http://halfassedknitter.blogspot.com/} so I'll just have to be one without the honorific. I'll start posting photos and readers can see for themselves what half-assed truly is. Who knows, the only attention I may get as a knitter could be as an example of how not to knit.