1940s Vintage cardi FO

Finished Object – stripey 1940s short sleeved cardigan in 4-ply angora.

This was commissioned by a friend who does historical re-enactments, putting together a 1940s outfit.  She chose the pattern, the colours and the buttons, which saved me a lot of time as I am hopeless at putting colours together!  I love the gathering effect on the waist and sleeve cuffs, and also the fabulous pleat in the shoulders.

I am so pleased with how it turned out, but…will it fit?  My friend lives quite a distance away so we have not been able to do many fittings.  The pattern only gives one size and my friend is smaller, so I reduced the number of stitches.  Then I found that the pattern didn’t make sense: with stripes it is easy to count the rows, and the pattern instructed me to knit many more rows than are visible in the photo.  So I had to rely on my stitch gauge and my friend’s measurements.

Added to which, my friend did not want the pocket flaps or the collar.  The flaps were easy to miss out.  Then for the collar I worked a simple ‘pick up & knit’, 2 rows in garter stitch, and then cast off.  For some reason this was fiendishly difficult – the first attempt was puckered so I had to re-work with a much looser tension.

The sleeves look huge and I’m now thinking I should have reduced them more.  But perhaps they look huge because the waist is drawn in – maybe it will look more balanced when it is being worn.

My friend is coming to collect at the weekend – fingers crossed for a decent fit!

Vintage Knitting

This week I’ve been working on a commission to make this 1940’s striped cardi,  I love a spot of vintage knitting, and it makes a nice change to work with fine yarn and no 9 needles (US 5), when you’re used to handling needles the size of a broomstick.

My friend has chosen some fabulous colours, and a superfine angora yarn.

The pattern is from Subversive Femme, a fab website full of vintage inspiration.

Vintage patterns are interesting.  Only one size is given, so if that’s not your size, you have to work out how to amend it yourself.  On top of that, this pattern instructs you to knit almost twice the number of stripes you can see in the picture.  The shaping is accurate, which is a relief for such a fitted design.  But the given length is way off!

The only way to make sure I’m getting a good fit, is to do a fitting with my friend, in person.  We are now permitted to meet in a garden, if we keep 2m apart.  So I will have to pass her the Left Front, and the pins, and ask her to fit it herself.  Or ask her partner to pin the piece accurately on her.  This could be quite a challenge for a burly tree surgeon, especially when the sides of the piece curl in!  We certainly live in interesting times.

I have some lovely vintage buttons for this cardi, looking forward to getting this far!