The weekend before Thanksgiving my friend Cheryl, who has an online vintage store, was part of a big vintage market in Chattanooga. Michelle and I went for the day to check it out. I looked at lots of stuff, but somehow managed to buy only one thing: a button! It was almost overwhelming, all the vintagey goodness. Anyway, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to wear an amazing vintage sweater that I recently was given. It is a fair isle sweater that my grandmother knit for my mom about 50 years ago. 
I have had it for about a year now; it has been sitting on the shelf in my closet, I take it out once in a while to admire it, but I had never worn it. Vintage Chattanooga was the perfect place for its debute.
I have had it for about a year now; it has been sitting on the shelf in my closet, I take it out once in a while to admire it, but I had never worn it. Vintage Chattanooga was the perfect place for its debute.
The sweater is a wool cardigan with five colors: cream, brown, green, rust, and yellow. There is a fair isle design on both the front and the back, the design on the back is simpler than the one on the front, but still beautiful. I have always thought it was amazing... but once I started looking at it closer, I saw all the intricate details that my grandma included. The finishing on this sweater is 
amazing - you can tell that she was a perfectionist. There is grosgrain lining on both sides of the button band and all of the button holes are finished with thread. The buttons themselves are beautiful, nothing that could be found in a store these days. The seams are all perfect, and she even put seam binding on the shoulder seams to prevent them from stretching. I posted more pictures on my flickr account, if you're interested.
amazing - you can tell that she was a perfectionist. There is grosgrain lining on both sides of the button band and all of the button holes are finished with thread. The buttons themselves are beautiful, nothing that could be found in a store these days. The seams are all perfect, and she even put seam binding on the shoulder seams to prevent them from stretching. I posted more pictures on my flickr account, if you're interested.I am finishing up a cardigan of my own, the Carolyn Cardigan from Knitty, and my grandma's work inspired me to tak
e more care in finishing the sweater. It won't be as grand as her sweater, but it will be wearable. I finally learned how to do the mattress stitch (using this tutorial) for seaming. I don't know why I was so scared of it... it really wasn't that difficult once I figured it out. And it really works wonderfully. The first few seams weren't the best, but once I got better at it, I could hardly tell where the seam was!
e more care in finishing the sweater. It won't be as grand as her sweater, but it will be wearable. I finally learned how to do the mattress stitch (using this tutorial) for seaming. I don't know why I was so scared of it... it really wasn't that difficult once I figured it out. And it really works wonderfully. The first few seams weren't the best, but once I got better at it, I could hardly tell where the seam was! I am almost finished with it... I had a hard time finding large wood buttons, but finally I found some at Walmart (!). They only had five and I needed seven, so I will have to go to another one today to see if I can find two more (There are 5, yes 5, Walmarts in the Huntsville area!). But, the neck/collar is really wide and I don't like it... so I think that I might take it out and try to make it smaller and more fitted. I'm not sure how to do that, but I'll try to figure it out. If I do that, I think that I might just put 5 buttons on the sweater instead of the seven the pattern calls for. It doesn't really need seven 
buttons anyway. This sweater has taken me almost 6 months to complete. I knit the first sleeve three times before it came out the way I wanted it. And now I might redo the collar... but I think that it will be a really great, wearable sweater, so its worth it. And Grandma has taught me that its the little things that count. Even if no one will notice them but me and her :)
buttons anyway. This sweater has taken me almost 6 months to complete. I knit the first sleeve three times before it came out the way I wanted it. And now I might redo the collar... but I think that it will be a really great, wearable sweater, so its worth it. And Grandma has taught me that its the little things that count. Even if no one will notice them but me and her :)Thanks, Grandma.
1 comment:
Beautiful sweaters.....Grandmas are great. I have a cool duster-style jacket my grandma crocheted in the 70's. It's all different granny squares of all colors. It's pretty crazy, but I love it and everytime I wear it I get TONS of compliments. She gave it to me last year after Christmas. By far, the best gift I've ever received from her. I'll share it sometime.
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