Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Vintage Knitting Booklets

It's Vintage Thingie Thursday, and today I'm pulling out a couple of vintage knitting booklets that I found on my thrift store adventures this past summer.  

I love these primarily on the basis of retro style, and secondly because while I don't knit or crochet myself, I appreciate the work that goes into making such beautiful clothes.

The first booklet (the one pictured on the left above) is dated 1939.  These are such great, classic looks.



Love the collar on this sweater below (the booklet calls it a blouse, but to me, if it's knitted, it's a sweater).

The second booklet is dated 1941.  The U.S. officially entered WWII in late 1941, after Pearl Harbor was bombed and as the Nazis continued to wreak havoc across Europe.  

I imagine these sweaters being knitted in front of the radio as news was relayed of the war overseas, or as the Andrews Sisters sang "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."

The final booklet is of men's fashions from 1945.  The props used in these photos give me a chuckle, with golf clubs or other sporting equipment and pipes being predominant. 


Great classic style once again.  The sweater below is called The Vacationer.  Gee, I don't see many people looking so dressed up on vacation anymore, do you?


This guy in the following picture looks like my first Ken doll.  Also a little like Elvis, although Elvis was so young when this booklet was published, his voice hadn't even changed yet.


 My favorite men's sweater is this one:


Look, he's got both a ski pole and a pipe!  Wonder if he can do both at the same time?  Now that's talent.  And who doesn't like a little fuming pipe tobacco to go with all that crisp, alpine air?

Hope you had fun peeking in on these vintage knitting patterns today.  Be sure to see the myriad of other Vintage Thingie Thursday treasures at ColoradoLady!

14 comments:

Ordinary Hiker said...

Hey! Found you off of Vintage Thingie Thursday.

I love the imagery in the Jack Frost Booklets :). I have a Jack Frost "Knitting Socks on Two Needles" booklet, and it's awesome for photos, and instructions (patterns in it aren't too shabby!) But your booklets are in awesome condition.

Great Post!

Pam Kessler said...

I am amazed that people somewhere out there in the world can actually knit those sweaters. I had such a problem knitting winter scarf and that's about as easy as you can get. Great post.

Postcardy said...

It's fun to look at those old knitting books.

Blue Ridge Altered Art said...

You have a wonderful collection. I love looking thru them it gives such a wonderful picture of the styles of the day. ~~Sherry~~

Kathy said...

I enjoyed looking at the hair-dos from that era. Sometimes my own hair looks like that and I don't want it to!

LV said...

Anyone that knitting would dearly love these books.

High Street Cottage said...

Hi P, thanks for stopping by my blog and your lovely comment. Lovin' those Vintage Knitting Books, you know those ladies styles will still work today. Vintage looks are in now, and I think pretty feminine sweaters never go out. You're invited also to participate in my soon to be giveaway, we'll have several winners, so keep checking back, I'll announce next week, hugs from California, tami

Shay said...

I loved looking at knit fashion from yesteryear. Vintage sewing books are a hoot too. Especially from the 1970's.

I think holding a pipe and ski pole was meant to make him look manly and outdoorsy. For all you know he'd just beaten someone to death with that ski pole and was enjoy a smoke after.

Wow - my imagination is over active this morning.

Tammy @BeatriceBanks said...

These are cute! The men really look dapper!

Coloradolady said...

Wow...how they styles have changed!! Great post. Happy VTT

Anna said...

This is a fun post. Oh, I love all the ladies sweaters - they're so stylish. And that hat on the cover, too much. I have to say the men look a little stuffy to me, a little too Pleasantville, but very handsome.

Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said...

Great post. You're so funny, I was thinking the same thing...pipe & skiing, what a combination. Most of these fashions would fit right in today. Thanks so much for sharing, and yes, he does look like Ken.

marian said...

wow some of those styles are way out..isn't it fun to see how fashion changes. great vintage patterns :)

Annie said...

I guess I'm not as crazy as I thought. I, too, have a collection of old knitting books. I don't knit! The books were free, so I snatched them up!