#found on ravelry

[leigh1485]

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[paws-n-dogs]

Sweater for webkinz on the bond (knitting machine)

Ravelry pattern posted February 2008

[handweavers]

got several balls of a vintage mohair blend yarn at an antique shop in this really lovely light saxon blue colour so i'm going to knit a slipover with it :)

[sundancefemme]

starting the fifth repeat!

[hotcinnamonsunset]

you know what? *knits our red strings of fate together*🧶

[bakingmoomins]

started an aperiodic monotile (the hat) hat and i am so excited and scared to see where this takes me

[daisydocked]

Sorting thru the stash

Ok so I moved to a new place in March and I kinda was using my spare room/office as storage space and it got out of control. I need the space back by August so I'm starting the dreaded task of figuring out What I Own.

This is all of my yarn that is not currently on needles or being worked. I'll sort thru that....tomorrow...some other time not tonight

It's truly not as bad as I thought it would be. I sorted it into bags by weight and if I already had a dedicated project for it. Some of the stuff IS legitimately 15+ years old because it's from high school which is embarrassing but now I know what I have so.....

Good stopping point

[annaplexis]

Antefix fingerless mittens. Pattern available in English and German on Ravelry 🧶

[lightlyknitted]

Where to find free patterns

Vintage patterns can be a great resource for all sorts of knits and because many are out of copyright they are free to access. 

I have two websites I go to for free vintage patterns. They are freevintageknitting.com and freevintagecrochet.com. These are my first stop for newer vintage patterns because it collects old out of print pamphlets and makes them easy to read. The sites also have information on discontinued yarn, hook and needle conversion and more. They are a great start to historical (or vintage) knitting. 

For older books you can head to archive.org/details/knittingreferencelibrary. Books in this collection are simply photocopies so you would need to translate the patterns yourself. But it does contain Victorian to WW 2 books. 

Blogs and sites like Ravelry are also a good place to start looking for patterns. There are many free versions of vintage patterns and paid for ones can be helpful because the authors will do the work of updating the needles, yarn and pattern wordage. 

When working with vintage or antique patterns there are a few things to keep in mind. One is stitch definitions — always check what the pattern book describes as each stitch you’re making (this is very important for crochet!) Another one is to convert the needle size and find a good yarn substitution. 

Before you start transcribing or picking a new yarn, make sure it can fit you and if you’ll want to try grading. Vintage sizes are different than modern ones and it is best to use a guide to get an estimate. 

Here’s a quick chart with some measurements for vintage sizes https://purplekittyyarns.com/vintage-body-measurements-size-chart.

The next step is to start transcribing and depends on how old the pattern is. The older the pattern the more likely you'll want to read it through and decide if you need to transcribe it.

This can include typing up the pattern in a way which makes sense for you or to map it out on a chart. This can take a few tries and I like to start with smaller and less complicated patterns. Occasionally you might not even need to transcribe it. 

Next you’ll need to find the yarn substitution which will give you needles as well. If the pattern includes a gauge use that as a guideline to find a substitution. For a more in depth read visit https://knitpal.com/blogs/knitpal/how-to-substitute-yarn-for-vintage-knitting-patterns. 

And once you've found the size you'll need, made the pattern readable and found your replacement you're ready to start knitting. Happy cast on!

[escaping-samsara]

No-Nylon Sock Yarn

This might be the hardest task for knitting without plastic. I’ve gone to some local stores and snooped around online looking for sock yarn and every time I do I get the same canned response.

“You know those will wear out, right?”

It’s easy to find 100% wool yarn, even non-superwash (yes superwash yarn contains plastic), but you’ll be darning them often if you wear them very much.

So is it fruitless? Well no, there are non-plastic alternatives to nylon that can give a yarn strength, such as mohair and silk. There are construction techniques too that a good sock yarn should have regardless. High ply-count and longer fiber strands, for example. BFL wool is notorious for its longer staple length, so does corriedale and targhee. And if the ply is 4 or more it will make for a better sock yarn foundation.

The most trouble I’ve run into now has been finding yarns that can fit this bill.

I’ve spent the past week trawling through Ravelry’s advance search for yarn, and the process has been slow and insightful. The more particular I search, “silk OR mohair, AND wool, AND NO manufactured fibers, 4-ply OR 5-ply+, AND NO superwash, AND not discontinued”, the less results I get. But still, there are results.

One would expect, with a search this tailored, you’d have at least a list of options, but I’ve still hit roadblocks. These come in two main forms: insufficient tagging or unavailable for purchase.

I cannot count how many times I’ve found a yarn that got me excited, only to click on the about page and read “80% SW Wool”. ‘SW’ meaning superwash. Or even worse, no mention of superwash on the about page, and then finding out the yarn is in fact superwash when I went to a retail listing. It makes me ask, if you’re using superwash wool, why not tag that as part of the care instructions so it can be searched through Ravelry? Why use superwash wool at all if you’re just going to recommend people handwash only?

The other pitfall is that these small dyers (as the majority of them are) don’t have the stock or have all together discontinued dying, yet haven’t updated their yarn’s about page to show it’s no longer available. Or, equally sad, when there’s simply no buying option available at all. Ravelry doesn’t always find every online store, so I try to look up the producer by name, and this sometimes gets me to an Etsy shop--But still, some yarns just seem to exist on their about page but nowhere else.

Still, I’ve managed to make a short list of yarns that pass the inspection and have some method for purchase. And honestly, all you need is one good product line for a lifetime of knitting if it fits all the bills. But I look at the number of yarns I could otherwise choose but are now discontinued (1/4th of them!) and wonder how long my current list will last.

So remember to support small dyers and yarn makers, and do your due diligence to make sure you’re getting the right product.

[robotvitamins]

Hello I found this free, Palestine-inspired colorwork beanie pattern on Ravelry last night. Pattern is by Aml Mabrouk (@fulla_crafts on Instagram), it's in English only.

[briscrochetunderground]

Reminder that almost any truly vintage and antique knit or crochet pattern can be found FREE on many sites including:

On both internet archive and project gutenburg it helps to know what book or magizine you are looking for but you can still do a regular vague key word search and find something.

Even your local library and ravelry might have antique pattern books on file! On ravelry you will have to exclude all purchasable patterns instead of just looking for free for some reason, then get past the first page or two of patterns people thought "looked antique" but once you get to the black and white photos you are golden!

So please don't buy an etsy shop's antique pattern when there is really no reason to, and if you are one of those selling these patterns, know I am judging you big time!

[foragerknits]

A turnip hat, fresh off the needles. Absolutely in love with how this turned out!

Edit: I forgot to mention that this was inspired by the Rad Radish socks by Stone Knits on Ravelry!

The link can be found here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rad-radish-socks

[koniknits]

Bart & Francis haul time! They had special sales today.

I can always use some black fingering yarn. I sadly forgot to take a pic of the tag, but it's "pure merino" and I found it on Ravelry.

These little buddies were 2.5 euros today actually. They're tests for the Merinosock yarn, and they are offered in matching batches. For fun time with colourwork!

Glow in the dark yarn on the left, touchscreen yarn on the right. I already have touchscreen thread but it's very slippery and a bit hard. This is softer and I hope it is more pleasant to insert into gloves and mittens.

I never dared buy braids before because they're usually almost 20 euros and the colours weren't quite worth that to me. But today I got three for 5 euros.

I quite love these. They're merino, but dyed with natural dyes. Not sure what these specifically have been dyed with. I do kind of feel bad that it mentions lichen, because ... dying with lichen on an industrial scale... no likey

This one was a bit of an impulse buy... 5 euros and green so... into a shawl you'll go

[too-crafty-ladies]

@shortiemcbealle I have a fondness for leaves, probably because I love autumn.

Pattern is Woodland Walk Socks by This Handmade Life and can be found on Ravelry. Yarn is Pieces of April colorway from BlueBarnFiber.

[tyrhinosaurus]

Just started the 2nd ball of handspun wool for this shawl.

Never knitted anything in lace before, this the Shetland butterflies shawl by Susan Gutperl, found on ravelry.

It's merino and so soft and squishy, I'm always amazed I spun this so fine!