Monday 25 October 2010

Vintage knitting finds and shopping on the darkside.

Well hello there!

I had a fabulous Saturday! Despite a crashing hangover from too many grape juices with a pal the night before I managed to hoist my feeble frame out of bed and to the local charity shop.  My local shop isn't a big chain like Oxfam, instead its a hospice shop. I tend to find these are much better for a bit of vintage luck, both because they don't have "experts" on hand to price things up and because grateful people leave their worldly goods to these shops so you find all sorts of interesting bits and bobs that elderly folk have hoarded away.

In particular, this place is a gold mine for knitting supplies and lo and behold, what did I find on Saturday morning but three skeins each of some beautifully coloured vintage wool, one being Paton's, a brand I have seen listed in several 40's patterns.




I also found three vintage knitting patterns.  There were more but I really only wanted these three.  The red 50's cardigan is knit in one large piece, so no seaming (yay!) and the little evening number is just beautiful.  I'd really like to post the full patterns up but I can't work out how to get scanned images onto my blog...any tips welcome.



 The whole haul only cost me £3.50, unfortunately not enough to remove the stain on my soul for following this up with a quick trip to Primark, where I picked up a leopard print brolly, leopard print socks, a peacock feather fascinator and some leather gloves and a belt.  The belt, being plaited, is pretty 70's looking, but I'm sure I can work this into a more 30's look with a hand knitted jumper, my new pleated skirt and the right hair.




I also bought some incredible (read incredibly bad) jeggings as a joke gift for my friend Fleur de Guerre which I gave to her that night, as we attended the inaugural Candlelight Club.  It was a fabulous night that I've only just recovered from.  I'd like to blog about it but I didn't take any photos so hopefully someone else will post something soon.  I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend, even yesterday's long slow recovery.

I hope you all had a fab time yourselves.

7 comments:

  1. OOOOOHHHH - so excited when you put up a shopping post - you always find such great things! I'm sorry I don't know how to put a scan up on the blog - if you find out how you should, and you could have a 'knit along'!

    Love your animal print things and those gloves are just so pretty. Keep shopping! :)

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  2. "Keep shopping" hahaha, oh I will. Though I need to do a little selling too, to fund the shopping.

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  3. Great finds, my mum is the knitter but more and more i feel I should start again, I'm not very patient at it though, takes ages to finish anything but good look with yours!

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  4. I so wish I could knit! I used to work in a wool shop and they tried to teach me but I don't seem to be cut out for it!

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  5. I know what you mean about Primark. It's great for accessories but at the same time I'd quite like to don a headscarf and dark glasses just in case someone I know sees me. Having said that, I am quite liking the headscarf and dark glasses mental image in my head now, so I think I will switch to wear hipster jeans with fake pink uggs and a puffer jacket...

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  6. Brilliant finds. That blue is lovely. I never find vintage yarn here (but Patons still produce yarn - it's just they, of course, don't have all of the same types that they used to =[)
    -Andi x

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