This is such a cheap, cheesy way to do a shopping post, but it's been known to work in real life, so here comes...The Mostly Bad Photos of Hand Knitting Still For Sale Through This Site. (This will be cross-posted to Ko-fi.) I believe Blogspot is automatically linking each sweater to its own post. If not, you may use the mail or e-mail address at the bottom of the screen for inquiries about price, availability, etc.
Yes, it's Kaffe Fassett's "Turkish Carnation" design. I actually have two versions--a big blousy jacket, as shown, and the snug-waisted Zoe Hunt cardigan shape shown in Glorious Knitting. Both feature red and pink flowers on a blue background. I'm not sure what caused the flowers near the top to show white in the picture--it wasn't even my cell phone camera, which did an even worse job. The colors you see on the sleeves and waist of this sweater are fairly true.
Years ago somebody (it was my goofball elder Oogesti, if you must know) bought me a lot of yellow-and-white yarn just to see what I'd make of it. I made various whimsical things. This cardigan is the one that's left. Believe it or not, another cardigan and a blanket actually sold.
A classic Eighties Sweater design by Sue Bradley. One size fits most men or women in approved Eighties oversized fashion. (This was actually ordered for a man, who then bought something else.)
Large size cardigan.
Small (adult's) cardigan.
In real life the sleeves are the same (reasonable) length and size.
In real life this vest was knitted all in one piece, and the fronts and back are the same length. (This batch of photos was snapped by a friend's college-age kid who became impatient with the job.) It's a long vest, meant not to ride up and admit a draft when you bend over.
In real life the collar turns down like a shirt collar.
This is not a pullover but a tabard--an open-sided shaped covering to pull over for warmth and lift off easily when you feel like lifting it off. Basically a shaped blanket. Though big, it's lightweight with lots of mohair yarn.
Medium woman's size jacket.
Detail of a cotton pullover with full-length raglan sleeves.
Wool blend sweater, sized to fit teenagers or small adults.
Medium to small woman's cardigan. In real life the color is bright Christmas green, not teal, and no, I don't have any more of those buttons.
In real life this baggy brushed acrylic vest has a reasonably long back waist and those figure-flattering (to some) points down the front. The armholes are roomy but the back and fronts are basically the same length.
This lightweight, long-line, medium-size pullover was a variation on a Cynthia Helene pattern printed in Vogue Knitting. She called the main stitch pattern "Ponga" (a kind of fern) and described all the other fresh stitch patterns as original tributes to New Zealand. What you see is not a precise copy, but close enough to call for attribution. It's a wool blend--should be machine washable, but be careful.
This extra-large mohair patchwork sweater was designed in and of the present century. It's a variation on a design Nancie Wiseman published in a book that was marketed as something new for people who'd learned to knit in the Eighties. One size has been a roomy fit for almost all women who've tried it on. Real wool and mohair will shrink to the size you prefer if you pin it to that size and let it air-dry flat.
Well, the Eighties sweater is still for sale anyway. That individual cap is not, but I always have a selection of simple little caps similar to it.
Tor-iiii...In real life the back and fronts are the same length, and that little tag of contrasting color is a skein band with care instructions for the main yarn. And the sleeves are designed for turning back. And if you ever get it wet you'll be turning the cuffs back more than once...but don't you love those autumn leaf colors of a vintage Eighties yarn that was given the classic Eighties name "Diana."
In real life one of the two Cherry Tree Hill yarns in this jacket show more acid green than the blue-green I'm seeing on the computer screen. The jacket really does consist of two coordinating hand-painted yarns with little flecks of blue, purple, and green, one wool and the other mohair. Natural wool and mohair move very slowly in local markets. Online shoppers who love natural wools, here's your chance.
I knitted this one, using some acrylic yarn that was on sale, to the precise size specifications from a pattern a magazine called extra-small. Then I stepped back and said, "Why, I could wear that!" Yes. Eighties sweaters were oversized. The magazine editors were responding to a request to offer patterns for "a true petite" who'd described herself as 4'10" and a size 2. I'm 5'4" and a size 8. In real life the color is a little more blue and green than lavender, but the colored yarn is spun together with light grey, so from a distance it reads as a grey sweater with subtle stripes of color.
Detail of a blue and white cotton patchwork pullover. The design is meant to suggest a quilt and has a bunchy "quilted" look that some people may love but local shoppers apparently hate. It fits a 36" bust.
This round-necked, beige-and-pastels, all acrylic cardigan uses stitch patterns from a boat-necked natural-fibres-colored Eighties sweater designed by Helene Rush.
In the late Eighties or early Nineties Knitter's magazine printed a design for a lace-collared, lace-fronted pullover to knit with silk yarn. I used the lace patterns to make this sweater with 100% cotton. Very wearable. Machine washable. Fits an average woman.
In real life this lightweight wool pullover looks black and white, though it probably will fade to grey after a few seasons' wearing. Very much a part of the Eighties' ethnic tradition school of sweater design.
Apart from being knitted in the 1990s of acrylic yarn available in the United States, this could have been one of Patricia Roberts' Eighties designs.
Meg Swansen published the yoke design on this cotton pullover in the present century, but she and her mother were knitting variations on traditional stitch patterns like this in the Eighties. In real life it's dark green with light green "aspen leaves" around the shoulders.
And in real life these long-wristed mittens are lavender. If they'd been pale grey they would probably have sold faster.
In real life this short adult's or well-grown teen's jacket is more green than gray, but it's a mix of grayish greens. All acrylic, machine washable.
Detail of an oversized jacket made from an early Eighties design. The motivation was to use up some chunky textured yarns; in real life they're lavender, blue, and grey. Sleeves are designed to be rolled.
Black and neon colors were a late Eighties look, though the neon-colored yarn used here was sold in the early Nineties. The stitch pattern was published in the early Eighties. In real life this is a largish unisex sweater, black wool (not 100% shrinkproof) with neon-colored acrylic around the shoulders. That's why I've had it in stock so long. You can wash it, even machine dry it if you want the waist and sleeves to fit a typical woman, but at some point you'll need to start pinning it to shape and drying it flat.
Spectacularly badly photographed detail of a lacy little sweater. In real life the color is pale aqua, the yarn is acrylic boucle, and the cardigan fits medium to small women.
Misleadingly photographed detail of a late Eighties design that was republished around the turn of the millennium as a "classic." (Michele Rose designed it as a pullover. Of her designs, Michele Rose was the one who publicly stated that she'd had trouble getting her Indonesian hand knitters to follow the shaping instructions, as they couldn't believe anybody really wanted their sleeves that long. Well...I used enough real wool and mohair that those who don't want a "one size fits up to 6'6" tall" look should be able to shrink the sleeves to the length they prefer.) In real life, though there are some blue and lavender tones, the colors in this heavy winter jacket are brown and gray--a mix of dyed and undyed sheep's coats. If you're willing to pin it to shape and dry it flat, this jacket will turn snow.
In real life this dainty little lightweight pullover is pale pink.
In real life this big, bold, unisex (if guys dare) jacket is called "Does Beige Really Go With Everything?" and it's a mix of beige yarn with scraps of everything left over at the bottom of the bin. It is machine washable and won't shrink.
In real life this small woman's sweater (average length, but narrow armholes give away that it was designed for slim bodies) is royal blue with Eighties-style pictorial patterns, pine trees on the wearer's left and a sailboat on her right.
Detail of an Eighties batwing shape from Fashion Knitting.
Detail of a woman's chunky slipover vest that's not quite Eighties, because it was knitted during the Gulf War. The original pattern also featured long fringe, which this vest does not have.
This striped sweater (light browns, light greens, and light grays) was actually knitted from a "fashion" pattern printed in 2010. There's nothing of the Eighties about it but, because it does flaunt being hand-knitted, it could be mistaken for an Eighties sweater.
The hat to match the sweater above.
This snapshot of the sweater in the bin is bunchy (in real life the fronts match) but shows the colors much closer to the way they really look. Little knots were a feature of the way some of those yarns were spun.
Very thick and fluffy, this soft mohair-and-brushed-acrylic sweater in Spring colors has an Eighties look, especially if you can find a vertically striped straight-cut skirt to wear with it. In real life it really does feature acid green, periwinkle blue, lavender, pale yellow and white. It's one of those things that stay on the display for a while before someone comes along and says "It's me."
This woman's sweater is seriously for small sizes (it'll stretch to cover a 34" bust, but it looks better on a 30 or 32). Wool blend, but enough acrylic to be machine washable.
Another wonderful Sue Bradley design from the Eighties, though knitted later, with its date of manufacture knitted around one sleeve.
In real life this light, drapey shawl is more aqua than grey.
This plaid jacket comes from a pattern that was printed in Elle in the Eighties, reprinted in a book I bought in the Nineties. The acrylic yarn really is pale jade green with blue and yellow contrasts.
In real life this large child's or small adult's cardigan is light grey, not green.
The pattern of these big, thick mittens was "unvented" by Elizabeth Zimmermann in the Eighties.
Detail of a natural gray-and-cream wool-and-mohair jacket I particularly like, designed by Meg Swansen in the Eighties. The fairisle stitch pattern is of Turkish origins and forms figure-flattering V lines across the front and back. Medium to tall adult.
At the top of the bin you see a gansey-style sweater knitted from a pattern by Madeline Weston. In real life the color is a soft watermelon red; it shows up as bright orange-red on some browsers. It's spread out on top of some of the other sweaters mentioned above, as they were folded in the bin.
The Sestina Afghan, an original design, is still on the display--probably because it's big. It's displayed here on a twin bed, but it'll cover a king-sized one.
Here's a sample of the "topless hats" I started playing with before knitting real COVID cowls. This particular design is too lacy to be an effective face mask; it's for hair control and ear coziness only. The COVID cowls often feature a lace pattern folded over a plain or multicolor pattern. They're all similar in size and shape. In real life they're nice even bands of fabric, though the cell phone tends to make the end that was on my left look bigger.
Detail of the brown twin-bed-or-couch-size blanket on the display. In real life it's dark reddish brown, beige, Christmas red, and blue-to-white, with sections of plain brown, textured, and colored patterns. The patterns I used are online at Naomi Parkhurst's blog, gannetdesigns.com, if you search back far enough.
Now a few new additions...
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Dolls dressed to match books.
Some dolls that were dressed to match books, but became separated from their books in storage.
Large slipper socks. Some people are alarmed by the traditional Turkish slipper style, with heels pointed to match toes. Actually, when you pull these soft slippers on, they take the shape of your foot, so the heels don't look as unusual in wear as they do on a display. However, these socks fit a woman's shoe size 10 to 12, not the usual 6 to 8.
On the display, this wool-blend hat (actually navy blue) looks like a small hat with a big, floppy turned-back brim. On your head, the hat stretches to match the brim and they fit snugly around a medium to large head.
Here is the conventional hat to match the "topless hat" above. In real life both are a dark reddish brown, a warmer color than they appear to be on the screen.
Another hat. In real life this one is made of "baby rainbow" cotton, white with flecks of pastel pink, yellow, green, and blue.
This lightweight, extra soft and snuggly woman's cardigan originally accompanied a set of baby's things. I still have the matching bootees. In real life the colors are white, blue, and green, with none of the pink and grey I'm seeing on the screen.
Hat to match the child's jacket below.
Here's a real Eighties "witty knit"--a Purple Cow sweater. The cow motif comes from Mary Ann Erickson's Knitting by Design. I changed the design slightly and added the sleeve stripes and matching hat. The set should fit an average child at ages two to three. Washable, of course, and made of rugged Red Heart yarn for handing down after the child outgrows it.
This scrappy denim-mix vest is held together by one strand of durable lightweight acrylic sock yarn, filled out with odds and ends from my leftovers ball. It's a classic V-necked pointed-front vest, a little more fitted than the gray vest shown above, as worn in the Eighties.
Detail of one of the Rainbow Round Your Shoulders Shawls set. The story about these shawls is that once, long ago, I arranged all my odd balls of yarn in a rainbow sequence and knitted a blanket that shaded through pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, back to red again. That blanket was damaged in storage so I took some plain white acrylic yarn and knitted a blanket with the rainbow shades plied together with white, forming an interesting design. Though more durable than the first blanket, the second one was once again damaged in storage, so I took the usable yarn and re-knitted it into a set of blanket-weight shawls. The red and blue tones, mixed with white, each form an L-shaped shawl, similar to my own big blanket shawl and, like it, suitable for wearing at temperatures between the zero points on the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales. The green and yellow tones form a smaller triangular shawl.
Detail of a Magical Mandalas square jacket. The square design, though not the mandalas, come from a pattern Ann Bourgeois printed in Knitter's in the 1990s. (Her mandalas were repeated in each square; mine are different in each square.) Once again the idea was to use up scraps of yarn, in this case blue scraps against a creamy white background. The finished jacket will turn snow and fits a medium to large/tall adult. (If you're not tall, fold the cuffs back.)
A client supplied the variegated cotton in this cap, too.
This blue and white yarn also appears in the brown blanket above. Here it's knitted all by itself as a blue anti-bullying hat.
If you look closely you'll see that these are two separate objects, a pair of slippers shaped from a pattern that recently appeared in Knitty.com. In real life they're a warmer shade of pale brown with a black fleck, rather than pale gray as shown. They fit a woman's size 6 to 8 quite comfortably, and have a side opening with string ties.
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