Monday, January 29, 2018

Monday Vintage Craft Book Feature: The Sweater Book (Great Britain, 1982)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books.  Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm.  Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

The Sweater Book - Great Britain, 1982





I almost left this book behind, just based on the cover image.  I couldn't imagine finding anything I wanted to knit in it.  Fortunately I took a closer look, since this book does hide a few treasures behind the cringe-worthy retro designs.

Unless you really want to go authentic for an 80's themed party, the sweater designs are not very appealing.  It was actually difficult to pick which pages to show in this post, since they were all so humorously bad, but here are the best (worst?) of the bunch:



So if the sweater designs aren't good for more than just a laugh, why was this book worth getting?  Well, while the sweaters themselves are pretty terrible, some of the color and stitch patterns are actually quite neat.  Re-imagined into different shapes and styles of garments, many of the patterns would be very stylish.  That alone is what tempted me to keep the book, but the sheer volume of instructional information in the book is what sealed the deal.

This book is nearly 150 pages long, and most of that is dedicated to the 50 sweaters.  But fully 50 pages are given to instructional information.  It is a veritable how to manual for knitting.  It is restricted to techniques used in the sweater patterns, but that is still quite an extensive list.  Each technique has clear descriptions and multiple helpful illustrations.  On top of this is added sections on yarn types and styles, caring for knitted garments, multiple conversion charts and even a bit on how to alter the patterns to your fit.

For anyone who doesn't already have a dedicated how-to reference for knitting, scan the vintage knitting books at the local thrift store.  You may just find a treasure like this with all the info you need to tackle that new challenge.  And the sweater pictures are always good for a laugh.




Monday, January 8, 2018

Monday Vintage Craft Book Feature: Macrame Magic (USA 1975)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books.  Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm.  Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

Macrame Magic - (c) Craft Course Publishers, Inc.  Rosemead, California, 1975

The cover page.  I personally really like the hanging shelf
 This was another thrift store find (if you couldn't tell by the price tag) and it is pretty self explanatory.  At 23 pages it is a thin book, but it is filled to the brim with cool macrame projects.  I am sure we are all familiar with the basic macrame plant hangers, but this book takes things a bit outside that box.

 The thought of little brass bells hanging around the plants and chiming in the breeze is appealing to me.  Though the designs are definitely from 1975, I like the idea and may well use it as inspiration to make my own more modern plant hanger.  Also, I really like the image of a surround sound system hanging from the ceiling in my living room.  I am know also picturing a little macrame hammock in a window for my cat to sleep in.  As an idea book, this is a good one.  Many of the knot patterns are interesting and could be easily adapted to jewelry or other smaller projects.





If you did want to make any of the projects in the book, the instructions are also quite good.  Everything is thoroughly laid out and each step is explicit.  On each project there is a scale to let you know if your work is the same size as the model pictured.  Also included is an actual size picture of the cord used.  The introduction even tells you to take the book with you when material shopping so you can compare the cord to the pictures and make sure you're getting the right size for the project.  I find this a very handy feature when looking for materials which may not be easily found by the same names or brands as they were in 1975.  The back page has instructions for the specific knots used throughout the book, which is also a handy reference.


I imagine the huge outdoor hanger would also make a wonderful place to put a jack-o-lantern.