Mystery Solved

Thank you Practical Katie for the vintage mags! Imagine going into a thrift store and finding those!

Now I hear that my Dad is driving around Ottawa with a trunkful of his wife's old knitting magazines for me. Don't throw them out, Dad! Ask Frances to hold on to them for me, please.

Mary Lou, I have to confess that I had to look Adam Ant up on wikipedia. For some reason my mind draws a big blank on the late seventies and early eighties, just when I should have been most attuned to popular culture.

My recollection of girdles is limited to a vague memory of envying our friend Charlotte who had one in the early sixties. We used to get dresses handed down from her and I was always hoping we'd get the girdle. What can I say, I was only about 6.

Mystery

I opened the mail today and found these four beauties in a plain brown envelope, sender anonymous:

What fun! Sunglasses and slouching seem to go hand in hand:

They were pushing plaid on the knitting public as long as 51 years ago:

It's amazing how thin people were and how they constricted their figures:

And not just women. This pullover looks very stiff:

I've nothing of my own knitting to show right now. I'm halfway through my second Double Diamond Border Scarf (Victorian Knitting Today). I keeping wondering why I'm not experimenting with the technique in a different border pattern. It's a gift and it was supposed to be knit in black yarn. On closer inspection, six inches into the pattern, the yarn revealed itself to be a very dark navy. That's fine. This way I'll avoid Mary Lou's curse of the black shawl

I'm also nearing the end of a swing jacket which just may be my biggest mistake in years. I'll let you know how it turns out. Not much hope. Picture two shades of red and a lot of horizontal stripes.

Also, there are socks to be knitted. Anyhow, I'm at the point where I'm kicking myself for not having recognized various warning signs in connection with the swing jacket and wondering why I'm not finishing up the Pine Tree Palatine or working with the wool I bought in Iceland. Such is life.

Oh, and many thanks to anonymous for cheering me up with these magazines!

Catching Up

It's been a while, I know. Summer is racing by. What with going to the cottage and a feeble internet connection, I've managed not to post anything for a good two weeks. So, what have I been up to?

My last post showed two pictures taken while at our annual family reunion in Wakefield, Quebec. Even though it rained a bit every day, it was a wonderful break and really great to see everyone. There was plenty of knitting too. My sister Christina just about finished a cardigan with yarn she saved by unravelling the failed Minimalist Cardigan. My nephew was knitting too, as he does each year when we get together. He first picked up knitting in the Toronto Textile Museum in the hands on exhibit one summer. He happens to be wearing his first knitting on his right wrist. You can just see it in this photo:

Aniko had knit night at her house and I got to meet Wakefield Potter and Katdry.

There was even knitting in the canoe:

I finished one knee sock and started the second out of Paton's Stretch Sock. Meh.

I finished the Garter Eyelets Cardigan (Gayle Bunn), published in the June 2009 issue of Knitn'Style. I pretty much followed the pattern except that I lengthened the sleeves and didn't use the yarn they called for. I used Queensland Collection Invito Print. The colour variations almost completely hide the stitch pattern, but I think that's fine. You can see the original on this page. It's the tiny photo at the bottom right. See the big copyright notice. If only the picture were more visible, people might be more tempted to knit it, hey? One of my peeves is that not all publishers seem to have taken full advantage of the web for marketing. Instead of letting us all see a proper picture, all we get is this small thumbnail with a copyright notice over it. Are they afraid that someone will see it and figure out how to knit it without buying the pattern?

Anyway, here's my version: