I’m now obsessed with Vintage Vogues.

This post was supposed to be one of those “sale and resource posts”, but I couldn’t manage to get up the strength to collect all the links. Mainly because I bought 10 balls of Rowan Kid Classic from Bo Peep’s Wool Shop 50% off sale. They don’t have much in stock, so its slim pickings, but its probably worth a look.

Oh, and Little Knits (Sue is so awesome - she actually refunded me some of my shipping charge in my last order!) has a variety of yarns on sale. I picked up some Classic Elite Blithe, because I drooled over it in Knitche for months until the last of it was gone.

I’ve decided to justify my evil yarn buying ways by noting that Wool and Company is not doing their 40% off sale this year. Instead, it’ll be 25% percent off everything in the store for a week, with certain yarns 40% off on certain days. I guess some people got all mouthy about standing out in the cold for 2.5 hours, waiting to get in. Personally, as one of those people who did that, it meant that I felt justified in buying even more yarn, because I had sacrificed, and my feet were totally numb.

Also, don’t forget to send in your nomination for the Knit Blog Awards. Joe of QueerJoe is organizing them, and I donated the domain name and hosting, so don’t nominate me. Not that I even deserve to be nominated, honestly. There are much better blogs out there, so go nominate them.

Now, on to the meat of the post. I’ve recently gone on a vintage magazine/pattern ebay binge. My first purchase arrived last night. It’s a 1961 Fall/Winter Vogue Knitting Magazine.

Let’s start with the ads, which, I must say, are awesome.

Can you imagine an ad like this in a current knitting magazine? I mean, not just the smoking. She’s so elegant. Don’t you want to be her? Most ads in magazines these days are more down to earth, and much less aspirational.

Okay, see, I could tell you what I thought when I saw this ad, but I can’t remember exactly what these peopel were called. They were tiny little people that would steal things like pins and little things that wouldn’t be missed, and made little rooms and houses. It was a book. Not The Littles - these folks were more Victorian. They had a teenage daughter, and there was a wife and husband. I loved that book.

Anyways, I thought about those people when I saw that picture, and thought they better keep their grubby hands off my yarn!

Edit: I rememered! It’s The Borrowers! I so loved those books.

On to the patterns. First, I’d like to point out that men’s fashioned have so not changed in 45 years.

Other than perhaps that sweater on the upper right, you could see any of those sweaters in today’s knitting magazines. When guys complain about the lack of patterns for men, its because when it comes down to it, men are BORING. They don’t wear new shapes. Those five sweaters cover almost the entire permissable man sweater spectrum. There isn’t a vest, and the collar on the cardigan would need to be updated, but really, there you go.

Another interesting point is that the aran sweater is the bulkiest thing in the magazines, at 3.5 stitches to the inch.

This is my favorite sweater in the issue. I’m not sure why - I think its the crocheted bands, actually. Its knitted carrying two different colored strands of fingering weight, and then it directs you to line the collar, presumably to keep it nice and stiff.

The main problem, with all vintage patterns is that people back then were tiny. Here’s the size chart - the above sweater only has directions for size 12, 14 and 16:

What’s interesting is that the size chart for a Bernat college issue from the 1940s is actually more liberal - a size 16 in that magazine has a 38 inch bust. In the Vogue Knitting, its a 36 inch bust. In contrast, Banana Republic’s size 16 has a bust of 41.5 inches, and that’s a bit on the small size, as modern sizing goes. Speaking of Banana Republic, they have one hell of a sale going on right now.

But, not all was attractive in the 1961 Vogue Knitting. There were the typical knitted bathing suits, but I decided the very worst is this knitted skirt:

Any skirt that makes the tiny 1961 model look hippy is not good. Plus, there’s the risk of leaving bobble impressions on your butt if you sit down.

That just about covers it. Oh, and if you haven’t already, please sign my Frappr Map. I have no one from the south at all! Woe is me!