I promised to show you some of my latest projects in this post, but frankly I haven't managed to accomplish a whole lot of needlework during the past week. Most of the knitting I'm doing is at a point of my needing to really concentrate and count stitches and I haven't had the time or solitude for much of that, so I've mainly been playing about with a fun, super-easy knitted patchwork project to use up small amounts of yarn leftover from other projects. It's very relaxing to work on and doesn't require much focus--a plus when I'm watching television in the evenings. 

Here's what it looks like thus far:

Isn't this fun? It's a pattern I found free at this link:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-patchwork-recipe 

One of the best features, to my way of thinking, is that you can join these squares without sewing. (Of course, you can join them by sewing if you want to.) And you can make them in any size and from any weight of yarn. They are SO simple!

Here's what the back looks like:

I'm making mine of lightweight wool yarn. I also made a big square of wool worsted weight yarn to add to my sampler squares (featured in an earlier post; you can find it here:
http://sheertrashroadshow.blogspot.com/2013/01/yahoo.html )
That collection is growing slowly but surely, rah rah!

Okay, now for something completely different.

I have a stack of vintage McCall's Needlework and Crafts magazines from the 1960s and 1970s, and I enjoy perusing them and occasionally making some of the projects featured therein. It's fascinating to see the fashions, trends, and ads I remember from my youth, but invariably I run across something so bizarre and outlandish I can only shake my head and ask, "What was somebody thinking?!"


For instance, how about this example of "Knits for Playtime" in the Fall-Winter 1966-67 issue?

Can you imagine somebody going to the trouble to knit Aran-style leggings for a little boy, and then sending that poor kid outside in public wearing that ghastly outfit? The sweater is fine--but handknitted longjohn pants? And in white? Good grief! The kid must have felt like a total fool being sent outside to play with the guys dressed in this get-up. He's probably spent most of his adult life in therapy in consequence. 

Here's a massive knitting project that would have required major time and effort to achieve, and you'd be guaranteed to look 20 pounds heavier whenever you wore it. What an incentive! This pantsuit pair is from the Fall-Winter 1971-72 issue:

 Of course, if you'd prefer to show off your legs instead of encasing them in half-inch thick bobble-and-cable bellbottoms, you could don this dashing ensemble:

The "Tyrolean mini shorts with suspender top" will will go perfectly with your favorite body stocking. (Does anybody out there remember wearing a body stocking? I had a bright yellow one I wore in high school a few times--suffering with dehydration because nothing would induce me to attempt wriggling out of it and into it again during the three-minute between-classes dash to the restroom.) 

Well, I'm signing off! Tune in again for more trips down memory lane. I should have another post up in a day or so.