December 1967: Appliqué Cats are Lucky

My project for December 1967 a.k.a. December 2025 was an adaptation of a cross-stitch design for a three-piece children’s room set.

“Cross-stitch Cats are lucky” says the caption in the magazine, and I could definitely use some good luck right now. Cross stitch, however, is not lucky for me. I really, really dislike counting tiny boxes on a pattern or tiny holes in a fabric, all of which are impossible to see even with glasses, and the cross-stitch aesthetic is generally not my favourite. I like crewel embroidery and appliqué. Stitchcraft gives three variations on the design, for a cushion, small rug or night-case. I made a slightly smaller bag that can be used for pencils or chargers or knitting/crafting accessories or any kind of little “stuff.”

My backing fabric was from the leg of an old pair of jeans from the upcycling drawer. I used the leg seam as the bottom of the bag and found some lining material to match. Cristanne Miller’s book on Emily Dickinson’s grammar made an excellent straightening guide.

What colour cat? The cats in the pattern are white (rug, on royal blue background), white (nightcase, on light blue background), or blue (cushion, on cream background). I could have gone more realistic, with light grey or charcoal grey or brown. It didn’t seem whimsical enough, though. The design is so cute and cartoony that I found it better to use an entirely unrealistic colour, like the blue cat on the cushion. I had a big piece of pink felt that looked great on the blue jeans, so there it was. I made a cut-out template by photocopying the magazine page enlarged.

I appliquéd the eyes with pieces of white felt and embroidered the pupils, face and whiskers: satin-stitch and stem-stitch for the eyes, stem-stitch for the mouth, a French knot for the nose and individual long straight stitches for the whiskers. I was nervous, because anything with eyes is tricky, but I was so happy with the result! I think I really nailed the happy, lucky cartoon cat vibe.

I tried out a few different ideas for the flowers before committing to sewing anything down. My design didn’t leave a lot of room for seam allowances, so I left off the decorative lines on the sides. A single flower at the bottom right looked good, but unbalanced, so I added two more flowers at the upper left and upper middle. I adapted the bow around the cat’s neck into a more simple collar and left off the bow on the cat’s tail.

I sewed it up with minimal stress, except for the zipper, of course. Ugh, I hate zippers. This one was finicky and ended up a bit wavy, but nothing on earth will persuade me to re-do a zipper, as long as it works at all. It wasn’t until I starting writing this post, two days after the bag was finished, that I saw that I had forgotten to sew down one side of one flower and one side of the collar! Whoops. That’s what happens when you try to sew in northern Europe in December — there is no light anywhere. Can you see it in the photo? I fixed the flower and collar and then the project was really and truly finished.

I am so, so happy with this project. It is so cute! The facial expression is perfect. I dare anyone, even cat haters, to look at this bright pink cat and not smile and feel happy. I would love to keep it for myself but I am going to give it to a cat-loving friend who could use some smiles and happiness right now. That way, it will bring both of us good luck.

Happy December Holidays to all of you, and all the best for 2026.

June 1967: Overview

“Knit for the SUN” is the theme of the June 1967 issue of Stitchcraft, and our cover model gives us the best example of that in her striped and sunny yellow outfit.

“Stripes and Colour” show up in different ways in this issue, combined with stitch patterns and stranded colourwork for novelty and texture. The pullover on the cover has normal stocking-stitch stripes on the front and back and a novel mini-cable pattern on the sleeves which mixes the four-row colour repetition with a two-stitch cable every four stitches on every fourth row, alternating left- and right- leaning cables for a zigzag effect. Another short-sleeved pullover has striped ribbing, but a plain body and sleeves. The “feathery lace” dress has vertical stripes implied by the ribbed lace pattern combined with plain horizontal colour stripes that look scalloped due to the stitch pattern. Love those sunglasses, too! And a sleeveless shell uses a slip-stitch pattern to make stripes with toothy ridges.

Fun stripes show up on the children’s garments too. There are shirts for boys with the same striped ribbing and collar, plain body and sleeves idea as the women’s top, and a dress for older girls with a stripe of colourwork flowers at the hem. “Junior” girls can “splash and paddle” (i.e. not really swim effectively) in a supposedly stretch-proof knitted bikini in vertical stripe stranded work — the strands should keep it from stretching too much horizontally in the water, but I’m not sure I’m convinced. The top is just two rectangles sewn together.

Stripes can be vertical or zig-zagged as well — either worked in colour as with the top on the cover, or in monochromatic stitch patterns. There are his-n-hers pullovers “knit to match” in a pattern similar to the sleeves on the cover design, but worked with 2-stitch twists instead of mini-cables, and a sleeveless polo in “Shetland mood” with a cable pattern on the front. (The caption says, “Janet sports her own jaunty beret, but Booklet 9775 is an easy one to knit — details on page 37.”) The two remaining garment designs, a cardigan and a blazer, have neither stripes nor zig-zags, but continue the theme of fun stitch patterns and this month’s trending colour of bright sky blue.

Homewares dive deeply into the Jacobean era, with an amazing wall panel that integrates complicated, historically-inspired stitch work and floral designs with a bold and oversized 60s aesthetic. Not Jacobean-inspired, but equally colourful and exotic, is the cross-stitch tropical bird. You can work it on a cushion or use it to cover a cake tin (appropriately, the name of the background colour is Biscuit.) For a real historical flair, you can make a cross-stitch wall panel adapted from a brass rubbing of Sir John Harsick, anno 1384, in Southacre, Norfolk. According to Stitchcraft, embroidery in the style of a brass rubbing “has become very popular over the last few years.” Interesting!

For an easier project, you can embroider sea-horses on a beach bag and matching deck-chair cushion (love the little aspirational illustration.) Or you can sew up a practical, and also cute and sunny, laundry-peg bag and matching apron and embroider them with big, cheerful daisies — “quick and gay to work on kitchen linens or for a bazaar.”

The Readers Pages reprint a striped knitted rug from the September 1964 issue, and the single full-page ad gives us another example of brilliant, yet meaningless, 1960s advertising copywriting and exceptionally 1960s colour combinations: the “Sunflower” Orlon-nylon jersey ensembles is available in olive/cyclamen, olive/burnt orange, midnight/avocado or burgundy/cherry. (A midnight avocado with olives, cherry and a nice Burgundy doesn’t sound half bad, if you took care not to burn the orange.)

I am tempted to make the brass-rubbing embroidery just for the weirdness of it, but realistically, my project will be the daisy-embroidered peg bag and apron. Have a sunny June!

May 1967: Fish and Crab Cushions

Ahoy! It’s springtime at the Stitchcraft Sixties and what could be more appropriate than some accessories for the garden? I don’t have a garden, or even a balcony, but I do love appliqué and these May 1967 designs with “modern shapes in brilliant colours of felt on crash” that “make practical and gay deckchair cushions.”

The shapes are a fish and a crab, and the “brilliant colours” unfortunately don’t show up in the black-and-white photo. The fish is turquoise, dark green and lime green felt on lime-coloured “crash” (heavy burlap-type linen) and the crab is orange, magenta and light coral on light grey crash. Both use black fabric for the backing. I used the colours from the pattern with the fish on a somewhat more lightweight almost-corduroy cotton, and the crab on a darker grey heavy upholstery/decorating cotton. For the backing, I used upcycled jeans in light blue (fish) and dark blue (crab), and I lined both cushions with upcycled shower curtain to better damp-proof them in the northern European summer.

The shapes were suprisingly difficult to trace and cut out without a transfer — hard to get the fish pieces to line up perfectly, and the seemingly random-shaped crab leg segments to come together properly. I drew the fish outline on the backing-fabric paper pattern, then cut out the entire fish as a paper pattern based on that, then cut out the segments.

I love that some of the pieces on both cushions were cut out with pinking shears, but then I forgot to do it and had to buy more fabric and cut all the pinked pieces on the fish out again. Sigh.

The actual appliqué was very fast and easy. In the pattern, it says to do it on the machine, which of course would have been even faster, but I like working by hand. I used a small running stitch instead of and over-edge whipstitch, which I would normally use.

I flat-lined the finished appliqué and back pieces with the shower curtain material (I did use the machine for that) and made them up into cushion covers with zippers — not specified in the pattern, but I wanted the cushion covers to be removable for washing.

The finished size was about 17.5 x 14.5 inches, as in the pattern, which is about 45 x 37 cm. I didn’t want to make up cushions, so I bought two 45 x 45 cm ready-made cushions, which adapted themselves to the rectangular shape well enough.

It was an easy, fun project and I absolutely love the bright, 1960s colours and friendly, cartoon-like “modern” shapes. I also like sea animals, so perfect. Sadly, I have nowhere to put them and so cannot keep them for myself, but will give them away to friends for birthdays and/or housewarming gifts. Then I can visit the friends and the cushions.

Hope your Spring is going swimmingly!

May 1967: Overview

Ahoy! It’s May 1967 here at the Stitchcraft Sixties, where “Cruise Mates feature the fashion for Crepe”, and we are “Holiday Bound.”

What fashions come to mind when you think of spring and summer holidays? Light and lacy tops? Airy dresses? Halter tops and swimsuits? If so, you obviously don’t live in a Northern European maritime climate. Stitchcraft knows what British “cruise mates” need on their summer holidays: multiple layers of thick, damp-repellent wool! Our cover ensemble of nautical blazer and striped “shell” top to go underneath will keep even the foggiest cruise mates warm, dry and fashionable. The double-breasted blazer (“from Paris”, which is not particularly near any large body of water, and also quite a bit warmer than coastal areas, just saying) is made in Totem Cameo DK wool with metal buttons, knitting piping trim and big patch pockets. The sleeveless top is made in the finer version of the same wool, Cameo Crepe. The “crepe twist” (tightly worsted-spun) in the wool makes for smooth, even knitting and good wearablility. You can cover it all up with a gigantic traveling coat made in thick, undyed “Capstan” wool.

Onshore fashions include a sleeveless mini-dress in DK-weight wool (“perfect for holidays”), a short-sleeved jumper in a cables-and-lace pattern, two more sleeveless “shells” for warmer days or layering, and a “classic sporty sweater” in a simple, but effective striped slip-stitch rib pattern. The light green “shell” has a slip-stitch pattern, too, and horizontal texture lines appear more subtly in the easy ridge pattern on the yoke of the dress.

It’s a good issue for menswear too, with a lightweight slipover in a reversible (!) textured pattern. I thought the stitch pattern would be some sort of fisherman’s rib, but it is is utterly simple: knit 1 row, then k1b, p1 for one row. It looks like fairly normal 1×1 ribbing from the “right side” and a sort of starry waffleboard pattern from the “wrong side”. How lovely to never have to worry about putting something on inside-out! The “Continental pullover”, on the other hand, is too wide and the cables on the lower half give a strange “skirted” effect. Perhaps they knitted the wrong size, or should have put it on a larger-bellied model.

There are some wonderful garments for children of various ages in this issue, starting with a comfortable bobble-trimmed top for a school-age girl and a warm sweater for a boy (make sure he’s wearing a proper shirt and tie to go under it while sailing his wooden boats at the beach.) Here too, the stitch pattern looks more complicated than it is: k1, p3 for one row, then p1, k3 back makes a interesting offset rib with minimal effort. Little kids can “paddle and splash” in a tunic, t-shirt top and/or shorts for beach wear. The horizontal stripes are knitted in and the vertical stripes are crocheted on later with chain-stitch. A note in the tunic pattern says, “We have allowed 1-inch extra in length on back and front of dress as chain-stitching tends to contract the work.” Smart!

Rouding out this excellent issue are some wonderful homeware designs, starting with a set of garden cushions in a seaside “fish” and “crab” design. Love the use of pinking shears to illustrate the fish’s scales and the crab’s pincers! Way back in the “Readers Pages” is another, versatile appliqué design, this time with crocheted flowers instead of felt cut-outs.

For cross-stitch enthusiasts, there’s a coffee-tray set with matching deep-pocketed apron, or a tea cosy featuring wool stitching on tapestry canvas. Beginning rugmakers can make an easy runner in chain and soumak stitch.

The most magnificent design, though, is this Chippendale-inspired rug and piano-stool set, rightly featured in full colour over the two centrefold pages. The stool cover is worked in tapestry using tapisserie wool in trammed tent stitch and the 36×62 inch rug is worked in cross-stitch in Turkey Rug Wool.

Even the ads are great in this issue! The model wearing Patons Fiona is happy rain or shine and look at those amazing swimsuits from the Scotch Wool Shop! I would wear either of them today. And don’t you love the Singer sewing machine that can be folded down into its own practical storage cabinet when not in use? Did any of you have one of these? I think it’s brilliant and would have loved to have one.

My projects from this issue will be the garden cushions and the crochet appliqué on a useful-for-whatever little bag. I somehow have lived my entire adult life without a garden or even a balcony, but I know people who have those things and would love to have a fun cushion as a gift.

Happy Spring!

November Excursion: Love Birds Jumper

EDIT December 26, 2024: Finished!

The November 1966 issue of Stitchcraft was perfectly nice, but the projects in it that interested me were either too much of an undertaking (i.e. an entire suit) or something I would like to knit later when I have more time to plan it out (the top-down round-yoke cardigan). I decided instead to make a project whose pattern and wool had been sitting around for a long time waiting for me to use them: the Bestway A2063 “Love Bird” jumper.

The booklet isn’t dated, but presumably from the 1940s. I got the pattern as a PDF from the wonderful Subversive Femme website. A few years ago during the horrible wildfires in Australia, Bex, who runs the site, offered a free pattern to anyone who donated to the fire relief fund. I did, and was very kindly given this pattern as a thank-you. The wool is “Darnie” by Studio Donegal, a fingering-weight lambswool in the perfect shade of green, which I bought in Galway while on a work trip to Ireland.

The original pattern has a tension of 8 sts/inch, which I don’t get even with the finest of wools and smallest of needles, but I am also larger than the 34 inch/stretch to fit 36 inch bust finished size. I have had good results in the past with making 8 sts/inch, 34-inch jumpers at 7 sts to the inch with the original stitch counts and just adding an inch or two to the waist-to-armhole length, but that didn’t work here. I love the wool — it’s quite soft and not at all scratchy, and the little bits of tweed catch the light beautifully — but it was impossible to calculate the tension even with a good-sized, blocked swatch. The wool is so lightweight that it stretches more in width the longer it gets in length, so the tension is variable even when knitted closely and evenly. So at some point around rib height, I had to rip back quite a lot and adjust the waist-to-armhole increases. I tried to keep it close to the original proportions, but make it fit me. That worked out pretty well, though I hoped it wouldn’t shrink or stretch too much in blocking.

The birds are worked in stranded intarsia, i.e. you use different short lengths of the colours for the four birds, and strand the light green main colour behind. I am very good at stranded work and not bad with intarsia, but I found the combination of the two very tricky! The yarns bulk up at the back and/or leave holes (in spite of twisting together and weaving in) and it is hard to gauge whether the strands are too tight or too loose. There are a hundred ends to weave in and they are all in roughly the same spot, so the back side is very “full” and doesn’t lie down flat easily. Presumably, it should block out?? Also, I should have used a larger needle for the bird section — too late!

Not to mention that the bird tails start BEFORE the armhole decreases, and since I didn’t read ahead (I know…), I had already finished the body to the armholes in the round and the entire back part above the armholes before I realised it. Yes, I should probably read ahead and also think ahead! Yes, I am also too lazy to rip everything back, especially since I had to re-do the upper back once already to get the sizing right. Oh yeah, and I also forgot, twice, to make an opening in the back neck to accommodate the close, high neck, AND since I started the birds at the armhole instead of below, the neck was even higher and tighter than it should have been. Sigh.

In spite of all of that, it looked good (even before blocking) and fit great (ditto). It does fit over my head and I don’t think it’s a problem that the birds sit a little higher than they should. I made the sleeves from the top down, picking up stitches around the armhole, and only had to restart them twice to get the decreases right.

It was so worth it, though! It blocked to exactly the knitted proportions without shrinking or stretching, and the birds flattened out well enough. (The tails, which I made in a different, slightly thicker red wool than the bird bodies, are still bulkier than the background. I will call it a “3-D effect” design feature.)

I am very happy with this jumper and it has gotten a lot of compliments already. Didn’t get the pose quite right for the photo re-creation — head tilted the wrong way! — but I thought the red curtain made a nice background.

September 1966: Overview

The September 1966 issue of Stitchcraft doesn’t have an introductory paragraph by “editress” Patience Horne, but it does have a lot of looks: the “Crepe Look”, the “Country Look”, “Carefree Sweaters for a gay look” (you would think that by 1966, they would have noticed that the meaning was changing), and my personal favourite, a “Fuzzy Look for a Party Extra”. Let’s take a look!

The “Crepe Look” is the smooth finish and good stitch definition that you get when you knit with a tightly-plied and/or long-fibre yarn. In this case, the yarn in question is Patons 101 Courtelle Double Crepe, a 100% acrylic yarn in DK weight. It’s used to make the cover cardigan, which is part of a twin-set, as well as a men’s pullover, a men’s cardigan, and a women’s pullover. The twin-set and the men’s garments make use of the good stitch definition with twisted stitches, cables and ribs. The women’s pullover (pictured two paragraphs down) is knitted in plain stocking-stitch, but sideways for easy placement of the vertical stripes. Cool and neutral colours are back: beige, grey, and white, with blues and browns for the colour accents. The only exception is the bright red jumper of the twin-set.

The “Country Look” features sturdy and tweedy garments for indoor and outdoor wear, with textures inspired by Aran and/or alpine knitting styles. The tweed suit on the inside cover is made in multicoloured “Glenora” wool and the Aran jacket in undyed “Capstan“. Capstan in the UK at this time was 100% wool; I’m not sure if Glenora was wool or a wool-synthetic mix. The boxy suit styling with collars and pockets shows the Chanel/Bernat influence, but dressed down a bit for “country living”. Those who want a little more fashion in their country life could make a trellis-and-rib pattern cardigan in Shetland-mix “Flair“.

Those who want even more fashion fun can knit one of the “Carefree Sweaters for a gay look” — like a fringed DK pullover in “Rose Petal” pink double knitting wool. Unlike many of the designs around this time, it’s shaped from the hem to the waist and the waist to the bust. The fringed edging is made by knitting a 9-stitch wide strip to go around the neckline, then casting off 7 stitches and frogging the remaining two stitches down the length of the long side, leaving loops. Then the strip is sewn into place to prevent further loss of stitches. That certainly sounds faster an easier than any other method I could think of! The other carefree, gay sweater is the sideways-knit pullover in “crepe look”. (Why limit yourself to just one look? The man’s twisted-stitch pullover is also both “crepe look” and “country look.”) Of course, your “Look” doesn’t have to fit in a category at all. It can just be a fun, nice design, like this “Charleston style” dress in emerald-green double knitting, or these absolutely wonderful children’s outfits in bright red with white bunny motifs.

The “Fuzzy Look for a Party Extra” design is also for a child — a fluffy vest made in “Fuzzy-Wuzzy” wool-angora mix. Best Patons yarn name ever! Speaking of party planning, how about a handmade hobby horse as a child’s birthday present? It’s made of felt stuffed with kapok, mounted on a broom handle and trimmed with ric-rac braid and fringe. The rings in the harness are curtain rings.

With that, we’ve moved on to the housewares, which are standard, but also showing a more modern flair. There are rugs in Soumak stitch or cross-stitch, or a somewhat abstract “sun” design for a cross-stitch cushion and chairback. The sun pattern doesn’t stand out much in a black-and-white photo, but I can imagine it would be very striking if made in the colours in the pattern: yellow, gold, olive, red, orange, black, scarlet and green. Even more striking (and continuing the yellow-orange-green colour scheme) is the felt appliqué wall panel commemorating the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. Love the photo styling — they really went all out finding the perfectly colour-coordinated wall and accessories.

The “Readers Pages” give us a reprint of a little tapestry handbag from May 1961. I tried to make this handbag. Spoiler: it was not a success, and made me realise that I don’t like doing tapestry as much as I think I should. We’ve also got a new comic, “The Story of Higgeldy-Piggeldy” in which we are introduced to two very neat and tidy teddy bears who are going to get the shock of their life in the next issue, when they meet an untidy bear in a house that is all higgeldy-piggeldy! Oh no! Whatever will they do?

The ads are fun — you can tell the Scotch Wool Shop has been working with a modern advertising agency lately, with that swinging singer-songwriter and the slightly goofy copywriting. The “Fabrics & Threads” book makes reference to those new synthetic fabrics, and the ad for Patons 101 Courtelle shows the “Crepe Look” in a well-styled photo.

This is a wonderful issue. There’s more than one project I would like to make — the bunny jumpers, the “Charleston” dress — but I would like a new cardigan most of all, so I’ll be making the one on the cover from the “Crepe Look” twin-set. Just the cardigan this time — I feel like I have enough short-sleeve jumpers at the moment, and I don’t see the point of a thick, warm DK jumper with short sleeves. I’ve already started (cheating, I know), so maybe it will be done by the end of the month? Who knows? Stay tuned and find out.

May 1966: Cushion For the Nursery

My May 1966/May 2024 project was based on an adaptable project “for the nursery” featuring cute little animals and flowers. The pattern as offered in the magazine could be used to make either a wall hanging in felt appliqué, or a cushion in wool embroidery. I chose to use elements of both designs and made a cushion in felt appliqué.

As always, the transfer was not included in the magazine — readers had to send 1/10d to Stitchcraft and received the transfer post free by mail. Obviously, that would not work now, as Stitchcraft is no longer published. Happily, the animal and flower shapes are quite easy to copy and individual illustrations of the dog, bunny and mouse are printed in the magazine.

Both the appliquéd animals in the wall hanging and the embroidered outlines on the cushion are intended to be made with non-realistic colours (the rabbits are blue and magenta, the donkey gold, the cat jade green, the dachshund magenta, and the mouse bright pink). I chose more realistic colours based on what I had in my felt-scrap stash, and I like cats, so I made two grey cats looking at each other over their shoulders. I had enough purple, magenta and yellow felt left over from the last appliqué cushion I made to make the flowers. I made the cushion cover itself in a natural-coloured linen, as intended in the pattern, and the inner cushion in leftover white and beige fabric from other projects.

The appliqué work was quite easy and pleasant, even the tiny leaves of the flowers. The flower stems are embroidered in stem-stitch. I was nervous about making the cat’s eyes (white felt embroidered in black) as the expressions can be very tricky, but I think they turned out quite nicely. Since I was on the road for most of this project and didn’t always have access to my sewing machine, I put in the zipper by hand, which worked out fine.

And there it was! I love making cushions and would make more of them if I knew what to do with them after they were done. I have more cushions than space already for myself, and this particular design, although extremely cute, is a bit childish even for my playful decorating style. Luckily, I have friends with small children, and this cushion will go to one of them, who is currently decorating her three-year-old’s room. I hope he likes it! I am certainly quite happy with my happy cat cushion and I think he will be too.

May 1966: Overview

It’s finally Spring!

We had a terribly cold April where I live, with rain and gloom and the sense that spring would never come. I had switched out my winter and summer clothing as part of spring cleaning last week and it all felt wrong. Then, all at once, two days ago, winter ended, the sun came out, and temperatures doubled. Perfect timing for the “Summer Plans” in the May 1966 issue of Stitchcraft!

The May to August issues always have lots of projects for travel and holidays: little summer tops, quick bulky jackets and sweaters for cooler weather or sailing holidays (aka normal summer in a temperate/maritime climate) and easy homewares to make in a deck chair while lounging about. The pullover on the cover is made in DK wool, so relatively warm, but with a lacy front to keep it airy. The photo is also almost an exact copy of the March 1966 cover photo! Apparently yellow is still trending.

Other women’s garments include a ribbed and a plain polo-neck jumper designed on “skinny lines” — the ribbed number is a special design for extra-slim Twiggy figures with a 30, 32 or 34 inch bust. For “figure-plus” sizes, there’s a summer blouse in bouclet wool with a wide, rolled collar and chequerboard lace pattern. There’s a plain DK cardigan in a range of average sizes to round out the tops, and an easy crochet dress with “practically no shapings”. High necks and clean lines are in, and stitch patterning is kept to a minimum in favour of little details of colour and finishing — see the smock-like embroidery on the “skinny” jumper, or the twists of colour on the collar and cuffs of the polo-neck. Colours are light but bold — light blue, white, green, yellow and pink.

The other members of the family are well served in this issue too. There’s a men’s “country pullover” in a zig-zag stitch pattern, as well as a bouclet “tennis shirt”, both in neutral colours of “Alabaster” and “Brandy” — even the names of the colours fit the image of 1960s masculinity. The “young fashion” set can have fun in a striped and belted mini-dress. Stitchcraft informs us that the “Young Colour Choice is mid grey and white”, which is interesting, considering that the adult women’s fashions are all quite a bit more colourful. Younger tots can make “Seaside Plans” in a t-shirt-and-trunks set for a boy or a little knitted dress and head scarf for a girl. (Why no trunks for the girl, whose dress is going to fly up over her as soon as she starts digging in the sand with that bucket?)

There are some nice child-appropriate homeware designs as well, starting with a thick, warm pram blanket in blue and yellow (to match the mother’s jumper!) The pattern is a herringbone tweed alternated with cable panels and the finished blanket is edged with satin ribbon. Then there are some wonderful decorations “for the nursery” featuring friendly animals and flowers. You can work them in felt appliqué on a wall panel, or in wool embroidery on a cushion. The animals are so cute! I love how the cat is both guarding its mouse and disdainfully looking away from the dog on the cushion. Whoever designed this obviously had a cat.

The normal homeware items are, well, normal: two different flower tapestries for a wall panel, the smaller of which can be used for a spectacles case; a tapestry chair seat, a stitched rug and waste-paper bin cover in an easy geometric pattern, a beach bag with beachy motifs (anchor, shell, beach grass) to embroider, or, for people who don’t like to relax on their holiday, a pair of intricately crocheted trolley cloths in a star design.

Saving the best for last, there are designs for two oversized, tall hats. The knitting itself is very easy, but the making-up is complicated, with lots of stiffening in the lining to make the hats stand up off of the head. It feels like Stitchcraft is finally getting into the “fashion fun” era of the 60s, albeit a little late and still pretty conservative.

In the back pages, there’s a teddy-bear motif to knit or embroider and instructions on how to make a pom-pom (two cardboard circles). Eustace the elephant from the children’s comic has eaten delicious buns for tea and helps a mother duck encourage her son to learn how to swim. Finally, “Slip Into Orbit” with these “deliciously private-eye-catching” undergarments from the Scotch Wool Shop! The space age has arrived and we are going to celebrate by wearing pretty underwear.

My project this month will probably be some variant on the animal/flower appliqué or embroidery. Enjoy the Spring!

April 1966: Knitted Lamb

My Stitchcraft project from the April 1966 issue was actually a reprint from the March 1957 issue: a knitted lamb as an “Easter gift for a toddler.” Knit a little lamb for your knitting friend who is about to have a baby, they said. It will be fun and cute and use up leftover bits of wool, they said…

My first clue should have been the fact that there is no accompanying photo of the finished lamb in the 1966 issue. Either the original issue didn’t have a photograph (I don’t have the 1957 issue in my collection) or they just didn’t reprint it along with the pattern, since the latter version only has a drawn illustration. Why would the editors not want to show a lovely photograph of the lovely finished knitted lamb? Why indeed?

I admit the next step was “my fault”. Since the pattern called for 4-ply yarn held single, and I mostly had fluffy DK-or-thicker alpaca left over from the tot’s coat in February, I chose to adjust the stitch counts for a stitch-per-inch gauge and try to make the lamb turn out the same size as in the pattern. I did the math correctly, but I suspect something may have been off in the row gauge . The pattern starts with the legs and the main body (top part) in multiple pieces (1/2 each of back and front leg) and involves a complicated series of increases and decreases for the shaping. The “corner” on the back legs seemed odd to me, but I know I followed the pattern. Surely it will all come out right when sewn together, I told myself. After all, I successfully grafted the top back “spine” instead of sewing it! Obviously I was good at this! And it did pretty much look like a sheep’s pelt when laid out flat.

The next piece in sequence is the under-body, which is almost the same as the top, just shorter/narrower. I sewed it to the main body as instructed and stuffed it well, as instructed. The back legs were longer than the front ones, and what was with those weird “hocks” now? Shouldn’t they be sort of… attached to the rear end of the animal instead of just hanging off into space?

No matter, I made hooves. I guess the hooves were fine. Then the head, which was made in three parts: two sides and the “head gusset” for the “chin” and neck. I sewed them together as instructed, and it looked like Frankenstein’s lamb. The head was … not as round as in the illustration, and the neck strangely proportioned. Had I done the math wrong? Was it supposed to fit onto the opening of main and under-body? It didn’t really, but I persevered.

Eyes. The lamb needed to have eyes, as well as a symbolic nose and mouth. This was the part I had been dreading. Ever since I tried to knit some decorative stuffed birds that ended up looking sad, psychotic and/or dead (see photo), I have been afraid to embroider eyes on a toy. The eyes in the illustration look like the lamb is rolling its eyes in high annoyance (at all the knitters who fail at embroidering faces, no doubt.) Not wanting to even attempt that, I had the brilliant idea to make “closed” eyes. Just a little upside-down “u” and a smiling mouth! Hurrah, it worked! Little Lamb is so happy not to have been eaten for Easter supper!

Side note, marijuana was legalised in Germany on Easter Monday, one day after I finished this lamb. Perhaps the lamb was celebrating early. In any case, it’s really, really happy.

At this point I was torn between giving up entirely or just seeing it through. Oh, and I had also run out of the alpaca yarn, so when I decided to just roll with it and finish the project, I switched to some mystery something that was also sort of off-white for the ears and tail. The ears looked nothing like the ears in the illustration, but I was getting used to that by now.

I sewed all the bits together and strangely, the head stayed up by itself. And the lamb could almost stand on its own, depending on what position you bent it into and how widely the legs were splayed out. (I do feel like that’s kind of accurate as to how real lambs look when they learn to walk, says the person who has never lived anywhere near the countryside or raised sheep.) The lamb’s “necklace” as given in the pattern was a complicated bit of braiding, knotting and embroidery, to which I said “nope” and made a little green collar with an easy yellow flower instead. (Thank you, Frankie Brown, for writing and publishing a great pattern for the flower. I donated to the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation and can promise you that I am not going to try to sell this lamb!) Luckily, the collar conveniently hid the awkward seams at the neck. Otherwise I would have had to go full Frankenstein and put in some screw-bolts.

And there it was! Behold the finished lamb, in all his / her / its glory. It is so wonky. The more you look at it, the more weirdness you see. But also, the more you look at it, the happier you feel. I love this lamb so much and challenge all of you to look at it and not feel happy with me. I almost want to keep it for myself instead of giving it to the baby… Maybe it can stay with me just a little while longer?

May all your imperfect projects bring you such joy.

April 1966: Overview

The April 1966 issue of Stitchcraft has a “continental” flair, with “softer feminine styling from Paris” and this “Swiss” design pullover in a new “Banana Cream” shade of beige. The cover photo is classic mid-60s fashion photo shoot: layered shades of gold, brown and beige, the model with bobbed hair standing in a diagonal pose, sans-serif fonts and a relatively long, high-necked, unshaped pullover with geometric design in the stitch pattern.

The other women’s fashions have the same easy feel and generous fit, but allow more colour: turquoise and blue are trending this Spring. “PARIS keeps the Crochet Look” in a bright turquoise buttoned jacket, or you can knit a short-sleeved “easy-line sweater” in turquoise and pair it with an unbuttoned “casual jacket” in turquoise and navy for a twin-set effect. Both jumper and unbuttoned jacket are made in a simple slip-stitch pattern with a nubbly effect. The green “blister stitch” cardigan achieves the same effect with simple increases and decreases in garter stitch and rib.

The promised designs from Paris are a knitted dress in “The Granny Look”, “demure in lace with draw-string waist”, and a tweed beret (of course, Paris). The beret marks the start of the mid-late 60s fashion for oversized hats, knitted large and stiffened with “Staflex” lining. It is knitted in reverse stocking-stitch in four parts which are lined and stiffened separately and then sewn together. The model looks so sad! Does she not like her beret? (She didn’t seem to like the crocheted jacket either.) Rounding out the regional fashion parade are his-n-hers pullovers in black and white panels for the “London Look”. I love the vintage coffee set and judging from the photo, so do the models. Maybe the sad model just needs some of their coffee.

It’s a good issue for men and boys: in addition to the black-and-white “London” pullover, there’s a thick, warm knitted “car coat” for men, paired with a boy’s cabled lumber-jacket in the wonderful centrefold photo. A father, a son, a car and a boat! Everything colour-coordinated in those manly shades of red and royal blue! Diagonal poses for everyone!

(Side note: these diagonal poses are very uncomfortable. Sometimes the photographer just holds the camera diagonally, but otherwise it twists your spine all out of shape. I would be a sad model too, if I had to do that all day.)

For “younger folk”, there’s a pretty short-sleeved knitted blouse for a schoolgirl, and yes, a “deerstalker” hunters’ coat and hat for a (presumed male) toddler. It gives me a “so much wrong” feeling. Also, won’t somebody get this kid some clothing for the lower half of his body?

There’s more to come in the homewares department, though Stitchcraft seems to get less and less creative with homeware design as the 60s go on. There are little rugs, either stitched or crocheted in rug wool, as well as an unusually-shaped half-circle rug in Florentine stitch to put in front of a bookshelf. The Florentine design can also be stitched on tapestry canvas for a tea cosy.

A similarly versatile flower design can be made in cross-stitch for a chair set of cushion and back-cover or in tapestry on a church “kneeler” hassock. There’s an embroidered mat set for your dressing table and an intriguing embroidered wall panel of different gourd-type vegetables on a black linen background.

Finally, Easter was in April in 1966 and there are some cute Easter-themed gifts and “novelties”: an Easter egg kitchen bag (to hold clothespins) in felt appliqué and embroidery, a “nursery nightcase” (not Easter themed, but advertised as a good Easter gift) in the shape of a bedtime bus (Side note: when did people stop storing their pajamas or nightgowns in a special bag during the day?) or a knitted lamb toy, reprinted from the March 1957 issue.

To round it all off, there’s a great bathing-suit ad from the Scotch Wool Shop and for the first time, a partner promotional offer from Patons and the Kelloggs cereal company — knitting patterns featured on the backs of All-Bran and Bran Buds packets. The natural laxative foods! These types of promotions became more common in the later 1960s and especially the 1970s. Finally, in our children’s comic, Eustace the elephant and Mark the mouse get invited to tea in a house that Eustace can’t fit into very well.

My project from this issue is already finished… is that cheating? I started it last week to get a head start and it went very quickly. It was the knitted lamb, and though it didn’t turn out quite perfect, I had fun making it and it brings joy to anyone who looks at it. I will post about it soon, along with another destash project from a later issue of Stitchcraft. Happy Spring!

January 1966: Overview

Happy New Year! It’s January 2024 in real time and January 1966 here at the blog. Get ready for shorter skirts (…finally. Stitchcraft is slow to catch up), horn-rimmed glasses, tweed bouclé and adventurous headwear. The theme of the January 1966 issue is “Colour for a Cold Spell”, with bright greens, redd and turquoise to carry everyone through the greyest month.

Our cover cardigan can be made long to wear as a coat as in the cover photo, or in fashionable hip-length. The trellis pattern is made by winding extra loops around the needle on the first row, then slipping this stitch on the next RS row to create a long loop stitch that is carried up via slip-stitches and knitted back in on row 7. The coat uses a whopping 28-33 ounces (ca. 750-900 g) of heavier-than-DK (modern worsted weight) “Flair”, so I would be wary about knitting this as it would presumably end up quite a bit longer than the 38-39 inches it should measure when finished. Love the pattern, though. I could imagine making the shorter cardigan in brown and embroidering it to look like flowers and plants climbing up a trellis.

Other women’s fashions include a turquoise pullover with both a vertical pattern panel and a horizontal stranded border. The matching hat foreshadows the weird and wild and fun and goofy hat fashions of the next couple of years to come. The trend for bold colour blocks is mirrored in the long-line boatneck pullover with its matching “helmet”-style cap. There’s a plain white pullover in slip-stitch rib and a very cute bedjacket — look at that come-hither smile!

Men’s fashions are oversized and conservative, in spite of the “New Look” advertised for this V-neck half-cardigan. The classic V-neck pullover with cable stripes can be knit in tweedy marled or smooth, plain DK wool. I like that the magazine includes photos of both versions, so that you can see how much of a difference the colour and style of wool can make.

“Junior Fashions” include a wonderful warm dressing-gown with knitted squirrels appliquéd onto the pockets and embroidered — so cute — as well as a winter going-out set of leggings, pullover and hat and an oversized cardigan-jacket. The jacket claims to be windproof, which seems an odd claim to make about something knitted in an all-over eyelet pattern. In any case, all the children’s fashions are colourful and fun, and we will start to see the influence on adult women’s fashion as the 60s get swingier. Older children — or adults with small hands — can get a pair of warm mittens knitted flat and sewn together at the side. The plaid-like pattern is made by embroidering the vertical stripes in chain-stitch onto the finished mittens.

There are lots of homeware projects in this issue, January being a good month to stay inside and do needlework. The stitched rug is warm and sturdy, made in a Florentine stitch pattern that never really went out of fashion. You can knit a doll’s outfit complete with underwear and shoes, crochet a “tangerine” tea cosy with green felt for leaves, or make a cross-stitch border for a cushion or waste-paper basket.

For advanced needleworkers, there are wall pictures of “needle etchings” (black-and-white pictures embroidered in stem-stitch to give the effect of a pen-and-ink drawing) of Sussex churches or colourful flower sprays, as well as a tablecloth in rare “shadow work”, where the thread carried on the back side deliberately shows through the filmy organdie backing fabric. (Personally, I dread the thought of the back side of my embroidery being visible, ever…). For expert crocheters, there’s a lovely lace doily with a linen centre.

On to our children’s comic! The two brave bunnies (both plush toys) are still in search of a real live rabbit. Not having found one at the carousel, cinema or department store, they try the seaside, because why not? They have fun at the beach and think they find a rabbit — alas, it is only an inflatable sea-water toy! Will they ever complete their quest?

I will leave you with the latest wonderful ad from the Scotch Wool Shop, which had just launched its own line of very pretty underwear, “Golden Charm”. Available in 49 lucky towns! I hope your town and your 2024 are equally lucky. My project for this month will be the embroidered mittens.

November 1965: Overview

Colour Radiance for Winter and Christmas Plans! At Stitchcraft, it’s generally either preparing-for-Christmas time or spring-summer holidays. This month, they countered the cold, grey days of November with bright, cheerful colours and easy homewares. Let the festive preparation begin.

The knitted sweater suit on the cover is made in an intriguing pattern stitch designed to give “the look of woven texture.” There’s a helpful close-up photo of the stitch pattern as well. Essentially, it’s made by making a wool-forward (yarn over) on the right-side row and then slipping that stitch over a garter-stitch base to make a horizontal “line”. The placement of the slipped stitch is staggered, to make a diagonal herringbone-type effect. Made in DK wool, I’m guessing the finished result is quite warm. The matching skirt is made in plain stocking-stitch. Note that the mini-skirt, or even anything-above-knee-length skirt, still hasn’t caught on with Stitchcraft’s more conservative readership.

Other women’s fashions include a bobbly-cabley “overpull” in undyed “Capstan” wool, made to be worn over a roll-neck knitted underblouse with or without sleeves. The underblouse keeps up the warm colour trend with the suggested colour of “Old Gold”. I love the model’s hairstyle!

There’s also a jumper for larger sizes with very ill-thought-out decorations going right over the bust, and a collared almost-cardigan with a deep placket and Peter Pan collar. The collared number is made in tweedy “Glenora”, one of the multicolour wools gaining popularity at the time. Men get a corollary set to the women’s “overpull” and “underblouse” with a slightly oversized bobbly-cabley cardigan and a 4-ply polo-neck in the same “Nylox” wool as the ladies’ underblouse. The “colour radiance” theme apparently does not extend to the men’s garments, being made in undyed Capstan and “Oystershell” off-white, respectively. The photo backgrounds colours are nicely chosen, though, to set off the diagonal poses and camera angles.

The photo of the girl’s twin set in the inside front cover photo also does a great job of harmonising the backdrop to the subject. Her set consists of a pullover with unbuttoned waistcoat in cheerful pink and blue. Her little brother or sister can go out in the pram or “toddling” in a warm set of hooded jacket and leggings. The child in the photo looks somewhat apprehensive, but the set looks quite snuggly.

And can we have a moment of appreciation for this “special gift” of a bedjacket? I love it! I would make it without the ribbon at the neck and wear it as a normal cardigan. The two-colour pattern is made by working and then dropping yo’s to make a “long” stitch, which is then carried up through the slip-stitch background. I am guessing it is quite spongy and squishy, and was also nice and warm in those unheated 1960s bedrooms. Love the hairstyle in the colour photo, too!

If the model on the left is looking a little suspicious, it’s probably because she was photo-bombed by Homer the Rabbit, star of our current children’s serial comic, “Two Brave Bunnies.” For the uninitiated: Homer (a home-made stuffed rabbit) and Sale Price (a store-bought stuffed rabbit) are on a quest to find a real live rabbit friend. So far, they have only met a merry-go-round rabbit, who assured them that he was not real, as he could carry children on his back. In this month’s episode, our two brave bunnies head to the Town, where they are eager to see “Miss Rosabelle Rabbit” on the cinema screen. Alas, she is only a film rabbit, so cannot communicate with our friends. No matter — they will persevere! Oh, right — and this month’s issue includes instructions on how to make your very own home-made Homer doll from felts.

Home-made Homer is one of this issue’s many small, fun “colour novelty” gift and decoration ideas, along with a felt Nativity panel mimicking stained glass, a couple of pot holders and a colourful ball to use as decoration or a baby’s toy. Embroidered gift ideas include a whimsical sewing apron and a cross-stitch calendar and chairset. I don’t really understand the calendar — it seems to be just a vertical wall panel that you attach the (tear-off?) small calendar onto. OK, I guess, but maybe not necessary?

You can also knit a stuffed panda bear, a snowman, or a garter-stitch blanket rug, or crochet a round disc to be adapted into either a girl’s beret or a round cushion. There’s a filet crochet table centerpiece and tapestry wall pictures of caravans or Bibury. Last but not least, there’s a counted-embroidery cushion-and-chairback set with a vivid purple flower design.

I don’t know about you, but I feel cosier already. My design for this month will be the bedjacket! The October 1965 cardigan blouse is almost finished, too, and I’ll update that post soon.

September 1965: Overview

Autumn is here, and the September 1965 issue of Stitchcraft is, as promised by its editress, a “bumper” issue with more colour photos (to offset the price increase to 2s. per single issue) and a new yarn from Stitchcraft’s patron wool company, Patons.

Called “Fiona”, it was DK-weight and made of 50% Shetland wool and 50% “Orlon” (one of the very first acrylic yarns). Shetland wool is beautifully warm and lightweight due to its being very lofty and “hairy”, and “Fiona” was marketed as combining these positive aspects with the easy-care, less scratchy and non-tangling qualities of synthetic yarn — a sort of “Shetland lite”, if you will. Real Shetland wool is excellent for traditional “Fair Isle” stranded colourwork patterns, since the hairs lock into each other in the stranding, but the “Fiona” designs in this issue employ smoother, textured stitch patterns. The cover cardigan-jacket has a bobbly lace pattern and the his-and-hers pullovers use a broken cable rib.

The other two designs for adults are made in standard 100% wools: a “young-looking sweater” with really, really unfortunately placed bobbles (directly along the bustline) in Patons Double Knitting or Crepe, and an Aran-patterned jacket in bulkier “Capstan”. An older brother might get this “Husky polo style” pullover in Patons DK and a fun reversed stocking-stitch pattern with more (and better placed) bobbles.

The trend for textured stitch patterns continues with garments for the younger set. The toddlers’ “walking-out set” of pullover, leggings and snug helmet-style cap (with more bobbles on the tie at the neck) is made in easy 2×2 ribbing in blue and white DK wool. Love the pre-Photoshop-era addition of a tree in the photo, to show you that he’s playing outside! His big brother gets a warm slipover in an easy zig-zag pattern, and tomboy sister, (with short hair and trousers) gets a set of cap and sweater in a fisherman’s rib pattern that is more complicated to do than it looks. You purl the RS rows and and on the WS rows, you *k1, purl into next st. but through loop of row below at the same time slipping st. above off left needle; rep from * to last st, k1. The vertical stripes are added later via Swiss darning aka duplicate stitch embroidery.

Above all, this is a bumper issue for homewares. There are multiple pages of easy projects for a “Sale of Work” stall at the church bazaar or what have you, including a “house” and “windmill”-themed apron, mat/cosy set and a “peg bag” for holding laundry pegs. Other quick novelties include a knitted scottie-dog toy and a cosy or cushion made out of odds and ends of wool.

More ambitious needle-workers can decorate an entire room from top to bottom with designs from this issue, starting with a needle-etched picture of a steam engine — a throwback to the Victorian nostalgia of the late 1950s and early 1960s — or a tapestry picture of the seaside village of Clovelly to hang on the wall.

For the furniture, there’s a beautiful “peasant” (their word, not mine) design for a cushion and chairback, made in embroidery wool on linen, and for the floor, a hand-made “Tartan” rug. It uses a latch-hook and the “Turkey knot” to make a soft, three-dimensional pile. Finally, church-goers can make a tapestry “kneeler” cushion in a pattern inspired by Gothic stonework.

And there’s a new children’s comic serial in the Readers Pages! This is a really cute and creative story about Homer the plush rabbit (so called because he was home-made) and Sale Price, the store-bought plush rabbit, who go out into the big wide world to try and find a real rabbit to befriend. Will they find one? Stay tuned! Oh, and I bought this issue on Ebay, so received a special… bonus? picture of an embroidered Christmas tree with no transfer or pattern instructions (and not from Stitchcraft.). If anyone can identify it, I will be very impressed!

My project from this issue will be the knitted cushion, by special request from someone who works on the computer a lot and would like a soft underlay to rest their wrists on.

March 1965: Overview

It’s springtime! And the March 1965 issue of Stitchcraft is celebrating it with a bright, cheerful issue full of fun designs, great photography and very mid-60s hairdos. Our wonderful couple in the cover photo has just returned from the farmers’ and or flea market, proud of their purchases and sporting two of this season’s trends: textured stitch patterns and crochet.

“The interest in Crochet continues” writes “editress” Patience Horne in the first-page notes, reminding readers that crochet is not nearly as difficult as some readers think, as it is “all founded on the simple chain stitch” and one “only requires a little practice and patience” to make a simple item. The cover dress is basically unshaped, and made in a relatively simple cluster stitch with a dashing fringed hem and neckline. Beginning crocheters can start with an easy bathroom mat in rug wool, or a crocheted chicken toy for a toddler.

Men’s fashions, like the cardigan on the cover, have a loose, casual fit and interesting stitch patterns, like the traveling stitches on the cover cardigan or the easy diamond-pattern stitch on the V-neck pullover. The traveling stitches are basically very narrow cables, except the cables never cross, and the diamond pattern is made entirely of knit and purl stitches. Colours are either warm and bold, like the red cardigan, or 1960s natural, like the “Golden Beige” pullover, and buttons are big and round.

The knitted women’s garments show a similar interest in flat, textured stitches, warm or neutral colours and bold buttons and trim. The skirt suit on the inside front cover integrates all three trends. There’s a similarly patterned, buttoned and collared beige-and-orange cardigan in DK weight Brilliante wool/nylon mix, a red belted pullover with a polo (turtle) neck and a more subtle skirt suit with choice of pullover or cardigan and pleated skirt, made in finder Bouclet wool. In all the photos, the warm colours of the outfit — green, red, or gold-beige — are intensified by the warm-toned photo background, and the bolder designs feature models with impressive bouffant hairdos. All of the garments are long, loose and unshaped, with the tops reaching to the hips and a skirt length of 25 to 26 inches.

There are some great designs for school-age children in this issue, with a “continental” cardigan-blazer in “Riviera Blue” for girls and a unisex jersey with a stranded yoke design. Here too, we see the large collar and bold, round buttons on the cardigan, and warm colour palette and textured stitch pattern on the pullover. For babies, there’s a pram blanket with (purchased separately, not home-made) bunny motifs.

The homeware items are mostly practical and versatile. In addition to the crocheted bathmat, there’s a stitched rug/mat “for the bedroom” in an elegant arrowhead stitch and some cushion and/or stool-top designs in counted cross-stitch. A floral embroidery pattern can be adapted to make a door panel, frame a cushion, or decorate the edge of a pillowcase.

I wrote “mostly” practical items, but there is one unusual exception: these “Brass Rubbings to work with your needle.” They are two fairly large (7×16 inches) wall panels with icons of medieval people in the style of “brass rubbings“, which are made by laying heavy paper over one of those brass plaques often seen in medieval churches . The designs were inspired by “the interest in Church embroidery” per the description of the project, but I don’t know if the figures are meant to be specific, recognisable historical people or just representative of a typical medieval brass burial plaque. (Do any of you recognise them? It’s interesting that both of them are portrayed with small dogs at their feet, which seems like it should be a clue.)

Last but not least, Easter is coming soon (well, not that soon — Easter 1965 was on April 19th, which is actually fairly late) and it’s time to get started on those Easter gifts and novelties! Continuing the chicken (and egg) theme from the crocheted toddlers’ toy, there’s a stuffed felt “egg nest” in the form of a chicken with tiny accompanying chicks, and a gloriously huge knitted “Humpty Dumpty”, guaranteed not to break into pieces should he fall off a wall, and featured in colour in the inside back cover photo along with the child’s stranded-yoke pullover.

As much as I love this issue for its general aesthetic and fun, happy vibe, there isn’t a project in it that really grabs me. The mid-60s fashion for long, loose, unshaped upper-body garments is a terrible look for me and the homewares are generally not spectacular. I would love to make either of the children’s garments and am asking around if any friends with kids that age would like me to knit one, but I haven’t had any takers yet. If any of you are interested in a custom order, let me know! Otherwise, I’ll probably embroider the flower design onto something practical, like a little bag or a tablet/iPad cosy.

December 1964: Overview

Stitchcraft sends good wishes for Christmas 1964! Yes, another year has gone by in a flash. Luckily, this issue is full of ideas for quick last-minute gifts, as well as warm clothing for the family.

The bulky partner-look cardigans on the front cover are timeless and modern – apart from the 1960s styling and lighting, and the man wearing a shirt and tie, this could be a modern advertisement for ready-to-wear knitwear. The jackets are made in „Big Ben“ bulky wool at 3.5 stitches to the inch, so they might just be finished in time for a winter cold snap. Similarly bulky, but lighter-weight „Ariel“ wool is featured in a vertically-striped („adds to the slimming look“) cardigan for somewhat larger women‘s sizes up to 42 inch bust, and there‘s a warm cabled „Cardigan for Driving“ for him with practical pockets and a big collar.

The women‘s fashions are more sleek, with classic straight lines and unfussy crew necks. A simple ridge-welt pattern can be knit from the bottom up with dolman sleeves for a horizontal stripe, or as a cardigan knitted sideways edge-to-edge for a vertical stripe effect. There‘s also a classic jumper with a twisted-stitch rib panel and a lacy sheath dress for parties.

„Juniors and Tots“ will stay warm in a fun stranded half-cardigan (zip opening from neck to waist – this is called a „Troya“ style where I live but Stitchcraft just calls it a jersey) with matching cap. Therre‘s another cap with cables running around horizontally, as well. „Tots“ from ages 1-4 get a sewn pinafore romper with a cross-stitch squirrel motif or a knitted tunic to wear over a jumper and tights (thank goodness, our child model can have warm legs for once.) Colours are warm and earthy — orange, brown and „Inca Gold“ for the adult and children’s garments and emerald green for the toddler‘s tunic.

The most important, and sometimes most entertaining, part of the December issue is the gifts, of course, and this one is full of „Last minute ideas“ — you can allegedly „make them all in an evening or two.“ Well, evenings are longer in the winter… There‘s a startled- looking owl to sew from felt pieces, and felt table mars with appliquéd butterflies. Felt is used for the draught-stopping caterpillar snake (with pipe cleaner feelers) as well, and cotton embroidered baby bibs shaped like a kitten and bunny rabbit complete the craft menagerie.

Other quick gifts include a knitted ball for a baby, a knitted and a tapestry tea cosy, and a knitted cushion — all good ways to use up scraps of wool. The „Ping the Peke“ stuffed dog looks a bit more time-consuming, and it’s probably difficult to achieve a really professional look with it.

Experienced embroideresses who have efficiently provided all of their Christmas gifts already and are not scrambling to get last-minute gifts finished can make a beautiful and very Christmas-y blue and green cross-stitch tablecloth based on a Rumanian motif. (For once, they didn‘t call a design from Eastern Europe „peasant“ embroidery! Progress.) Those looking for a simpler project can make a pretty dressing table set with flower motifs, or for the whimsically minded, there‘s a cross-stitch cushion „gift for a motorist“ with a picture of a prototype automobile on it.

The Readers Pages are full of ideas of things to buy (Stitchcraft subscriptions et. al.) plus an entire knitting pattern for a child‘s hoodie (2nd time reprint from 1954 — this must have been a very popular pattern) and instructions for an easy appliquéd spectacle case that a child could make „for Granny.“

My project will be the classic jumper with the twisted-stitch panel, in the same fun orange colour as the photo. Happy Holidays!

November 1964: Overview

“Winter Fashions and Christmas Plans” is the theme of Stitchcraft‘s November 1964 issue, with practical clothing for the family as well as gift ideas and a couple of glamorous items for parties.

You will be “set for winter” in the cardigan on the cover, knitted in bulky “Big Ben” wool at 3 1/2 stitches to the inch, with all-over mock-cables, a warm collar and practical pockets. The mock-cable pattern involves “losing” a stitch in the 3rd row with a sl1-k2-psso, then getting it back with a yo on row 4, making a “bar” and then a little hole for the mock-cable effect. There’s a handy close-up photo of the stitch pattern, so you can make sure you did it right.

The caption continues the use of a bit of word-play on the word “set”, which we saw in the October 1964 issue. There, the theme was “set to flatter”, whereby some of the items were part of an actual set, and some weren’t. Some of the other garments in the November issue really are a set, in that sense: this waistcoat suit in glowing fuchsia, for example. Rounding out the everyday women’s garments are a plain 4-ply jumper, a bright colour-motif sweater and a comfortable tweed jacket for larger sizes. I love that brooch on the jumper — it looks like Star Trek insignia.

The trend for textured patterns, big collars, zig-zag designs and bold colours continues with the men’s garments: he too will be “set for winter” in a textured pullover for larger sizes or a sport-weight “sweater-shirt” (they didn’t use the word “henley” at the time) that utilises many fashionable features. You get a glimpse of the women’s colour-motif sweater in the back cover photo, as well.

In the “Teens and Babies” department, there’s a wonderful winter “wind-cheater outfit” set (actually a set, this time) of sweater, leggings and hat, as well as a thick, warm jersey for a young girl (our model is quite possibly not a teenager yet, but the pattern is in three sizes up to 32 inch chest to fit older girls as well), and a continuation of the baby set (also an actual set) that was started a few issues ago with matinee coat, dress, etc.: this last instalment is a lacy one-size-fits-all hooded cape to go over all the other garments. I love the photo of the girl standing on the dock next to her boat, looking like a proud sailor! Last month’s issue, if we remember, touted “the Feminine Look”, meaning girls had to look pretty and not really do very much, so it’s nice to see our young sailor looking active and happy in her autumn sport set. The diagonally-striped hem and cuffs are knitted separately and sewn on later.

The non-Christmas-themed housewares continue the zig-zag / geometric trend with a crocheted rug, diamond-pattern cushion and wacky zig-zag chairback and cushion set (yay, another set).

There are tapestry and “needle etching” embroidered pictures that draw inspiration from Shakespeare’s family: “Anne Hathaway’s cottage” (Shakespeare’s wife, not the modern actress…) and “Mary Arden’s House” (Shakespeare’s mother, not Lady Arden of Heswall.)

But finally… it’s time for the pre-Christmas decorations! The wacky “novelties” and bizarre-bazaar items! I know you have been waiting for this and I promise you will not be disappointed. You may, however be scared out of your wits, if you happen to have a clown phobia, in which case I caution you to skip over the next few photos.

Starting with the melancholic stuffed animals, you can knit a “friendly” Jumbo the elephant, who seems to be rolling his eyes at the happy child who just pulled him out of their Christmas stocking, or a sad “bunny with a twinkle”. The table decorations are quite cute and easy to make: felt place-mats, napkin-holders and an Advent wall panel with wintery and Christmas-y appliqué motifs.

But that clown! The “Musical clown for a tot”! What in the world is going on with that clown? Even the bunny is giving it the side-eye. The construction is actually pretty interesting and a fun way to use up fabric scraps: you cut 4-inch diameter circles of fabric, gather them up with a gathering thread to make little poufs and then sew them on top of each other to make the arms, legs and body. Then all you need to do is sew and stuff a pointy head and cap and embroider a terrifying face onto it. Don’t worry, it has bells instead of hands and feet, so you can hear it coming.

EDIT November 12, 2022: I was browsing around on UK Ebay and someone is selling an FO of this clown! Unbelievable! I am not going to buy it but maybe one of you will…

To clear your mind of those images, here is a lovely lacy party top and fluffy “luxury stole” knitted with Lurex for holiday party glamour. The top can be lined with gold lamé for extra sparkle.

Rounding out this bumper issue are the “Readers Pages”, featuring Stitchcraft and Patons-inspred gift ideas (a yearly subscription, binding cases for past issues, knitting patterns…) and a fun way to use up wool scraps: a coat hanger cover to keep delicate items from creasing or stretching at the shoulders. The ads use babies to sell Lux soap flakes and Patons wool.

The only project that really called to me from this issue was (laugh if you want) the coat hanger cover, which could make a cute little gift for a friend or be useful in my own closet, as well as being quick and easy and a way to use up some of those mystery scraps in the stash drawer. The October 1964 dress is almost finished, so I’ll update that post soon as well.