OK – some of us have done more knitting lately than others. Some of us only knit when we get together; others have been bit by the knitting bug and attended Stitches West last week in Santa Clara! We had a stitch & bitch at my house a couple of weeks ago where I went through vintage knitting patterns and magazines (in English & German) from the 80’s that my mom brought over. This was entertaining considering the 80’s are back in fashion right now.
The patterns ranged from leg warmers and head bands to wide shoulder, boat neck items. Big hair and big shoulder pads were rampant in these pattern books, along with no bras and interesting see-through patterns. I lived in Germany in 1984 (5 years before the Berlin wall fell, which they insisted was going to happen, and I didn’t believe at the time), so this was especially memorable. It had one pattern in it that my mom had knitted for me in a great peacock blue with the feather and fan pattern.
We had some great news from Michelle that she is expecting and the morning sickness isn’t really confined to the morning or the first trimester. I am sure there is more knitting in her future (on a smaller scale) 🙂
I took tons of pictures at Stitches West and wanted mainly to find patterns that flattered my body, not just he mannequin or flat page of a magazine! I bought a yarn called Cha-Cha from Trendsetter Yarns. The had quite a few items in their booth with the knitted up. One of the items that was knitted with the black Cha-cha and white yarn looked like it was part of a French Maid outfit – very entertaining!
I bought the pattern for the sweater of Qiviut in peach color below. The pattern was not nearly as expensive as the Qiviut, which was about $90/ball! This sweater pattern inspired me to start knitting a lace cardigan sweater from a pattern I bought at stitches West a few years ago – but that is a subject for another blog (actually, I already posted it to Ravelry)!
