Knitted Perennials

I thrifted last weekend and found three pattern booklets, including this one from 1945:


Imagine -- a colour cover in 1945! This is the first U.S. booklet I've come across, published in Passaic, New Jersey, by Botany Mills. Inside the front cover, under the title "Designs for Tomorrow," is the following paragraph (ellipses in original):

"Hand Knit Fashions that have longevity ... up-to-the-minute today, these undated fashions will be just as new and stylish tomorrow and through the years to come ... whatever style changes the future may hold, there is no improving on the fundamental simplicity of classic designs ... the principle is one of quiet and lasting beauty and it is expertly applied to fashions for men, women and children in this volume."

I love this assurance of (quiet) timelessness. Certainly if I'm going to knit an entire dress at 8 sts./inch, I'm going to want it to be stylish for more than a year or two. Here are some of these perennial knits -- all can be made big with a click:


These enterprising young ladies appear to be signing up for the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. Their sweaters, knit in Botany Saxatones, are "3 Variations of a Basic Theme" -- from left to right: "Tri-Color Bow Blouse," "Shirtwaist Blouse," and "Ruffle Blouse."


I really like the noir styling of this shot -- the model reminds me of Jane Greer in Out of the Past. She is wearing "Bow-coup Jolie," knit at a gauge of 7 sts./inch.


The snowflake sweater on the left is my favourite of the lot. Without the bow and pompoms at the neck, I'd wear this all the time. I imagine the main colour as red, don't you? The design is called "Cardigan -- Knit-in Snow Flakes," knit in sportweight yarn. (At right is "Jerkin -- Navajo Motif.")


Look at those pleated trousers! What a smart couple these two are, in "Cable News" for him and her. I imagine they are best friends, dishing and watching handsome young men amble by. "Oh, dear -- that one looks like the cad who cornered me by the punchbowl at Winky's shindig last Friday night, boring me to tears with his tiresome account of the insurance business." "Oh yes, he was a dreadful bore. But look over there, Babs! Isn't he delicious?"

My camera batteries died before I could photograph the other two pattern booklets, so I'll show highlights from those soon. I know there are a bunch of sites that show vintage patterns in order to make fun of them, but that's not at all why I love these images. I don't want to disparage them at all. Forget the ironic, postfeminist, this-ain't-yr-grandma's-knitting thing. The knitting I do? It is my grandmother's knitting, and my aunts' and my other female ancestors' knitting. I have nothing but respect and admiration.