#knitted vintage

[littlealienproducts]

vintage 90s white and blue floral embroidered knit by PASTELFOX

[knittinghistory]

Patterns from The Garfield Knitting Book by Joy Gammon, 1990. The book can be read for free in entirety here, courtesy of the Internet Archive.

[vintage-every-day]

A wee knitter and friend. Ca. 1939. Shetland Museum and Archives, Scotland.

[nathanielthecurious]

these moles have an interest in astronomy. if you even care

[gameraboy2]

Cat Knits by Melinda Coss, 1988

[a-secretkey]

peilieeshop

[knithacker]

Cool Sweater Alert: Knit a Penguin TriBand Classic Paperback Featuring 1984 ... Or Any Book You Like: 👉 https://buff.ly/3roCnUp

[cedigcrafts]

Yesterday, I finished this cropped jumper. It needs blocking because the bottom edge keeps curling up (note to self: going down a needle size might prevent this in the future!)

I made this with various sockweight yarns, but with 2 strands together and using 6mm needles.

I may turn it into a cardigan by steeking up the front like I did with my snowflake jumper, but I will see how it fares as a jumper before I make a permanent change!

[retropopcult]

1966

[fewcanafford]

Patons Wallace & Gromit - Gromit [Full pattern PDF: Google Drive / archive.org]

[lightlyknitted]

Where to find free patterns

Vintage patterns can be a great resource for all sorts of knits and because many are out of copyright they are free to access. 

I have two websites I go to for free vintage patterns. They are freevintageknitting.com and freevintagecrochet.com. These are my first stop for newer vintage patterns because it collects old out of print pamphlets and makes them easy to read. The sites also have information on discontinued yarn, hook and needle conversion and more. They are a great start to historical (or vintage) knitting. 

For older books you can head to archive.org/details/knittingreferencelibrary. Books in this collection are simply photocopies so you would need to translate the patterns yourself. But it does contain Victorian to WW 2 books. 

Blogs and sites like Ravelry are also a good place to start looking for patterns. There are many free versions of vintage patterns and paid for ones can be helpful because the authors will do the work of updating the needles, yarn and pattern wordage. 

When working with vintage or antique patterns there are a few things to keep in mind. One is stitch definitions — always check what the pattern book describes as each stitch you’re making (this is very important for crochet!) Another one is to convert the needle size and find a good yarn substitution. 

Before you start transcribing or picking a new yarn, make sure it can fit you and if you’ll want to try grading. Vintage sizes are different than modern ones and it is best to use a guide to get an estimate. 

Here’s a quick chart with some measurements for vintage sizes https://purplekittyyarns.com/vintage-body-measurements-size-chart.

The next step is to start transcribing and depends on how old the pattern is. The older the pattern the more likely you'll want to read it through and decide if you need to transcribe it.

This can include typing up the pattern in a way which makes sense for you or to map it out on a chart. This can take a few tries and I like to start with smaller and less complicated patterns. Occasionally you might not even need to transcribe it. 

Next you’ll need to find the yarn substitution which will give you needles as well. If the pattern includes a gauge use that as a guideline to find a substitution. For a more in depth read visit https://knitpal.com/blogs/knitpal/how-to-substitute-yarn-for-vintage-knitting-patterns. 

And once you've found the size you'll need, made the pattern readable and found your replacement you're ready to start knitting. Happy cast on!

[littlealienproducts]

Vintage 1970s 100% virgin wool embroidered cardigan from merriweathergoods

[knittinghistory]

A unknown group of knitters c.1921, photographed by Harris & Ewing.

[canelacola]

I got a soviet knitting machine for free, so excited to try and figure it out. 1975 severyanka-1 in its original wooden case, almost my whole height, perfect condition but misses the manual. Did i say she was absolutely free? She was. I paid in my both arms function, i think i busted something dragging it home. So fucking heavy that thing is built to outlast your whole family i swear

[briscrochetunderground]

Reminder that almost any truly vintage and antique knit or crochet pattern can be found FREE on many sites including:

On both internet archive and project gutenburg it helps to know what book or magizine you are looking for but you can still do a regular vague key word search and find something.

Even your local library and ravelry might have antique pattern books on file! On ravelry you will have to exclude all purchasable patterns instead of just looking for free for some reason, then get past the first page or two of patterns people thought "looked antique" but once you get to the black and white photos you are golden!

So please don't buy an etsy shop's antique pattern when there is really no reason to, and if you are one of those selling these patterns, know I am judging you big time!

[gameraboy2]

Wit Knits: Lively And Original Hand Knitting Designs by George Hostler and Gyles Brandreth, 1985