Socks n sandals

Ahoy there! It's been a while... I've been down on the coast renovating a house.

Hoping to refocus on the blog in the coming weeks. Hope the socks and sandals trend has been a feature of your summer!

EDITED TO ADD: Some of you have asked for the pattern for the splendid wooly accessories in the pic; click here to make the hat, gloves, scarf  (not pictured) and socks. To be worn all together with high-heeled wedge sandals and denim shorts, naturellement!

What I call a stall

When I spied the Judith Mansfield Books stand at the Knitting & Stitching Show in the pretty northern spa town of Harrogate this weekend, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven...

Just a teeny part of the stall

Packed with secondhand books and magazines about sewing, knitting, crochet, weaving, embroidery, cross stitch and printing, not to mention the boxes of old sewing patterns, this was a vintage craft book collector's dream come true.

Wonderwall

Or it would have been if I'd not been working. I was hoping for an hour off from teaching workshops to have a proper rummage, but my classes were all booked up and all I could manage was a dash to Judith's stand just as the show was closing. Judith herself wasn't there but I had a chat to her husband, who told me they don't have a website or sell online, but they do have a seven-day-a-week stall at the Hebden Bridge Antiques Market I feel a special trip back to Yorkshire coming on!

Knitting in Iceland

Rainbow-coloured unspun wool for sale at the Handknitting Association

I've just (reluctantly) returned from my favourite place in the world – the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, a paradise of beautiful friendly people, hot spring baths, smoked salmon breakfasts and midnight sun (not to mention delicious cocktails and homemade gin).

A pile of lopi sweaters, handknitted by Icelandic sheep. Or something

Icelanders just sort of seem to have their priorities right and, as you might expect in a country where cosy woollen clothing is a year-round necessity, and to describe the winters as long, dark and cold is an huge understatement, knitting is BIG here. 

The doorway to a knitter's paradise

Tucked up a side road off Laugavegur, the sweet main shopping street, on the way to the cathedral is The Handknitting Association of Iceland shop. Step through its humdrum front door, head to the back room and you'll be dazzled by floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with characteristic Icelandic lopi sweaters, each one a unique colour, pattern and size. Fashioned from Icelandic sheep wool by local women (and men?), it seems everyone in the country owns at least one of these super-warm circular-yoked sweaters – and what better place to buy one?

Mitten display at the National Museum of Iceland

The next day we paid a visit to the National Museum of Iceland. Partway through finding out all about the country's history and after marvelling at the rest room with an inviting single bed you can have a quick lie down on if you feel fatigued looking at the exhibits, we stumbled upon an area devoted to knitting. It was small and mainly consisted of colourful mittens displayed in a cute 'holding hands' arrangement. 

Hands up who loves these two beautiful pairs of embroidered rose mittens

Thence to the museum shop. I was so very tempted to buy these beautiful embroidered rose mittens but they cost 9500 ISK (£50) and, as I already have Icelandic mittens from my last trip, I made do with a photo – alongside a 'Happy summer' postcard, which I also regret not buying!

I have so much to learn about Icelandic textiles and I'd particularly like to find out more about the saumaklúbbur, or sewing clubs, that I've heard all Icelandic women belong to. If anyone knows anything about these, I'd love to hear it in the comments!

Bæ bæ Reykjavik, til next time!

School library scoop

I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I happened upon a massive collection of 60s, 70s, 80s (and one 30s) craft books in my local bric-a-brac market yesterday. All from a school library in East Dulwich in south east London – and at £1 a pop, I bought as many as I could carry.

Sadly, for reasons of shelf space, I had to leave behind titles on macramé, plaiting, braiding, soft toy making and other skillz just a little out of the scope of my interests, but this little lot will keep me going for a while. Watch this space for some of the highlights.

Knit-a-rama

Published by Collins/Conde Nast (1972)

Two new (read: 30-year-old) craft books recently came into my possession, both on the subject of knitting - must be something in the air (er, that would be the snow, sleet and rain).

The first – the Vogue Guide to Knitting, I picked up in Oxfam in Tooting (a nice area of south London I venture to rarely and which makes me think of Citizen Smith and 'Power to the people'. I was in that neck of the woods getting some advice at the amazing Wimbledon Sewing Machine Centre, which, incidently, is attached to one of my favourite museums, the weird and very wonderful London Sewing Machine Museum).

I clocked the 'Tiny bikinis' referred to on the cover, and then the 'Exciting designs' – for example a terrific smock (with rolled-up jeans, thick socks and sandals), and a fair isle sweater and matching beret worn by a rather stern child:

I also just love the floral/stripey pullover on the cover (not to mention the girl's hairdo). Here she is again, looking as if she's holding an iPod in some bizarre knitting-meets-time-travel experiment.

The shape of things to come

Click here for a (as always free) PDF of the pattern for her lovely floral pullover.

Published by Marshall Cavendish (1982)

The second book, Aran and Fair Isle Knitting, I received as a gift from someone who knows me only too well. 'Tis a technicolour treasure trove of Scottish knitwear, such as this lovely jumper:

Getting it in the neck

and I also just really like the colours in the stitch samples and the diagrams:

Add caption

I'm spoilt for things to share with you from this book so I'm plumping for the adorable pompom mittens shown on the cover. You will need three balls of Aran wool and these instructions.

Stay cosy!

Happy new year!

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy, crafty and prosperous 1958 2013! Thank you for reading – I'll be so 'glad if you can make it' for more of the same over the next 12 months and beyond – cheers!

Golden Hands fashion drawings

Whenever I'm flicking through my Golden Hands books and partworks magazines which, let's face it, is quite often, drawings by one particular illustrator always catch my eye.

Design in dressmaking: pockets (part 3, 1972)

Her name is Anna Kostal and she's credited in issues of the publication dated 1972-1973, but that is all I can find out about her.

Design in dressmaking: pockets 2 (part 3, 1972)

As well as loving – almost without exception – all the clothes, accessories and hairdos she chose to illustrate, I also adore the style of the drawings, the movement and interaction between the figures – but mainly the attention to detail.

Knitting design: darts and shaping (part 81/vol 6, 1973)

I know that when you're illustrating stitching techniques for craft books and such like, it's essential to emphasise the details – but this lady has really gone to town. For instance, can you spot the heart-arrow brooch in the 'collars' picture below? Nice!

Design in dressmaking: more about collars (part 81/vol6, 1973)

I also really like her use of (lovely sludgy) colour for the main article of clothing and black and white for all the rest.

Reversible fabrics (Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Dressmaking, 1973)

I mean, checked shirts, tweedy skirts, capes, chunky tights with sandals, sailor collars, clogs... what on earth is not to like?!

Reversible fabrics (Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Dressmaking, 1973)

I also think the way she draws hair is just out of this world...

Tailoring (part 7, 1972)

I'd love to know what happened to this brilliant artist after the Golden Hands 1972-1973 heyday, whether she carried on drawing and where she is now. Anna Kostal, if you are out there, I hope you are still doing what you do best!

Knitting design: darts and shaping (part 81/vol 6, 1973)

Man socks

Marlboro Man

I just love the way this photo has been taken - up the chap's ironed chambray flares with the focus on his 'house socks'. Do you think the photographer could have been under the influence of this album?

We'll never know what type of socks Curtis wore beneath his flares

I found the man socks in question in this American sewing guide. It may have been published 35 years ago, but it looks so now with its lowercase Helvetica title:

Cute hair, cute jumper, cute mitten, cute expression, rubbish scan

Now, as Jacquard/Fairisle-type socks go, these are quite easy to make. The pattern is embroidered (or Swiss darned, to use the technical term) after you have made the basic sock.

Three equally 70s designs to choose from

But – as with most sock patterns, double-pointed needles are required. If you're not familiar with this method, why not learn a new skill... in fact here's a guide. It's easy when you know how!

And not forgetting the pattern.

This post has been brought to you by Make It Yourself (Columbia House/New York, 1975).

Going undercover

It's a sad fact of life that some craft books lure you in with a dazzling exterior, then dash your hopes and dreams by containing nothing but reams of text and a few forlorn grey diagrams.

But that doesn't mean such books are without their charms, so here's a little round-up of books of disappointing content that I have bought for their covers alone...

Published by Hamlyn (1972)

I lugged this 500-pager back from Totnes in Devon years and years ago, already having come to terms with the fact that its content in no way lived up to the cartoon Clarice Cliff landscape with yellow brick road leading to a giant sewing machine that graced its cover. How could it really? Still glad I got it though.

John Gifford (1969)

This was an ex-library book I bought when they had a sale in Hornsey Library in Crouch End c2002. The foxy 60s chick on the cover belies the grainy black and white photos of granny squares within.

Chartwell Books Inc (1973)

Liberated from a south London charity shop, this is an American craft book FOR MEN. It has chapters on woodwork, leathercraft and metalwork as well as printing, weaving and mosaics. Sadly it's all written and illustrated in the most boring way imaginable. Lovely cover though.

Doubleday & Co Inc. (1974)

I picked this up at the secondhand bookshop at the National Trust property Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk. With chapters called 'Something up your sleeve' and 'Pressing your iron into service' the writer had a sense of humour but unfortunately the designer was in no mood for fun.

The Knitting Council for Schools (1973)

To be fair I bought this *for the cover*, off eBay, and it's only a leaflet so what did I expect. Nice though innit?

Van Nostrand Reinhold Co (1973)

And last but least, one of my all-time favourite craft book covers and titles ever. I got this at a car-boot sale on a boiling hot morning in Kent a few years ago and although the few colour plates it does have make it absolutely worth its shelfspace, 70% of the photos inside are in black and white. Nooo... the whole point of patchwork is colour!

It takes Allsorts

Really sweet

I was lucky enough to stumble upon* a huge collection of Sunday Times Magazines from the early 1970s at the weekend, and if it hadn't felt like a sauna in the shop, I'd have gladly loitered around and looked through the lot. As it was, I only sweatily flicked through a few choice issues with good covers. I must go back!

70s Lady Macbeth

Nevertheless, this Sunday colour supplement was so good design-wise in those days that after a mere moment's leafing through the 28 February 1971 edition, I was feasting my eyes on Big Deal, a brilliant feature on Pop Art-style furniture...

You don't have to wear black to use this furniture but it helps

As well as the false-teeth sofa, giant hand chair and industrial-sized fruit cushions, overleaf there was a kiddies' sofa in the shape of a pile of super-duper kingsize ciggies...

Fag mountain

a massive telephone chair...

The antithesis of the mobile phone

... and the pièce de résistance, a sneakers sofa:

Elton John must have been missing a pair of plimsolls

All this reminded me that somewhere I had a pattern for knitted Liquorice Allsorts cushions... and after a bit of a rummage, I found it in the A-Z Colour Guide to Homemaking Crafts by Marie Katherine Burne-Jones (Published by Langham Press 1983).

This is them:

That's a toddler's hand on top, to give you an idea of scale

OK so I know XXXXL sneakers or false teeth would have been even better... but this is close enough to Big Deal-style Pop Art furniture, non? Click here and here for your free giant Liquorice Allsorts knitting pattern.

*thanks to eagle-eyed Rich for spotting the pile of mags on the floor

Swimwear special

All that glitters ain't gold but is possibly Lurex

Now summer has finally come to London, and the Olympic Games are in full swing (almost literally on my doorstep), my thoughts turn to swimming – it's all I want to do when it's hot, and probably the only Olympic sport I'll bother watching. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the synchronised swimming team took to the Aquatics Centre pool sporting gold crochet one-pieces like this?

Or the bikini this Cybill Shepherd lookalike (who was out of focus on a deckchair at the back, above) is wearing on her own page:

Both of these beautiful bathing costumes are taken from one of my trusty favourites, The Home Pattern Book of Needlecraft by Joan Fisher:

Published by New English Library, 1979

Fancy yourself in a hand-crocheted metallic bathing suit? Here are your (free, printable) instructions.

Not put off by its unseasonal cover image, I had a flick through The Ladies' Home Journal book of Crochet...

Published by Mason Charter, New York, 1976

...and discovered a pattern for this pretty white one-piece with flower-shaped cutaway (shame about the dodgy shell-tasselled shawl). If you'd like to make yourself one (a swimsuit, not a shall-shawl), click here for all you need to know.

This is the daisy age

If you're not a crocheter, I've also dug out this lovely 1930s 'Simple bathing costume' pattern for your knitting pleasure:

How very daring

This must have been rather risqué at the time. Not many people wore two-piece swimsuits back in 1939 when The Pictorial Guide to Modern Home Knitting was published – after all, the word 'bikini' wasn't coined until 1946.

Edited by Catherine Franks (Odhams Press, 1939)

The book has a textured cloth cover and particularly nice endpapers:

Caught red-handed

For your ahead-of-its-time 1930s knitted bikini instructions, click here.

All the above swimsuits are probably better for lounging around by the pool or at the beach than actually swimming in – imagine how heavy and uncomfortable they'd get when wet!

Well, I promised a swimwear special – and I haven't finished yet, I love the illustrations on old sewing patterns and I can't help slipping the odd one in now and again, even though I can't share the actual patterns. This cute beachwear collection is from New Zealand from 1969:

Still the daisy age: see toes, left

And last but not least... this one's not makeable, but what a fantastic image. Jackie magazine had THE BEST fashion illustrations EVER:

Jackie magazine, 12 June 1976