Fontana number 77

At yesterday's church fair, amidst a groaning table of books, was an old manilla folder of knitting patterns. It was taped up, and I felt sure that the very secrecy of it, the fact I couldn't see what was within, indicated that there would be treasure within. I had to have it.

Most of it will go to the Sallies. If I want patterns from the 1970s onwards, I have access to Mum's stash. But it is this book, which I think is from the 1950s, which has captured my imagination.

Apologies for the photography. The blue is my dressing gown. I am having a dressing gown day, in which I refuse to leave the house or indeed do much more than mollycoddle myself out of my streaming nose state through the use of large amounts of ginger and tissues.

This is the one I first liked best.
The cables on this are even better, but I would want to change the neck to a scoop. In fact, if I could change the neck to a scoop, this would be the perfect jersey.


This is the other good option, but without the hanky pocket.
Although this is a great looking cardigan, it is way too streamlined for me. I think it is the best pose though, with the old style telephone. I remember talking on a telephone like that when I was a little girl at Grandma and Grandad's house. They lived on a farm in an area where the phone service was still the old party line. I was quite proud when I was old enough to be able to run in and recognise the ring and report back to Grandma at the washing line.

So. In reality these cardigans are way too hard. They are sized a lot too small for me, plus with the fitted style I would need to make some kind of full bust adjustment. It would take me a million years to knit one, by which time I could be a different size entirely and only at the end would I know if I liked it. I haven't ruled out taking on such an enterprise though. After all, I have knitted about seven rows of a doll's pinafore this week. Why not take on something requiring a miilion times more commitment?

The clothing table was groaning as well. Five dollars to fill a plastic bag. But that was easy to resist. I could tell from a medium distance that there was nothing in kelly or emerald green, and that is all I am looking for at the moment.

But the curtain table was another matter. I gave it a cursory look, not expecting kelly green curtains. But here were some lovely floral curtains, made of 100% cotton (in England! How old is that?) in a light-ish weight, probably similar to quilting cotton.

Five dollars for the pair. I've washed them and now I'm planning a skirt. Even I, with my ever increasingly ridiculous schemes, can see that the pattern is too big for a dress. It will be a swishy skirt.

So my rules around taking more stuff out of the house than what comes in are broken multiply this weekend. I haven't even written about the garden stalls. Plus the children were the lucky recipients of hand me down bags this week, so they are wandering around looking newly trendy. How useful is it when the mothers of your big kid idols give you their clothes? Very useful according to my kids and according to me.

I've started the little girl bag for this week's birthday party. All the pieces are cut out and the interfacing is attached in the right places.