I’m aware of the fact that I have far too many hobbies. I know this does not make me special or set me apart from the crowd. I love to sew but wish I did it better. I love to bullet journal but have mostly abandoned it. I love cross stitching but haven’t delved past simply putting curse words on Aida Cloth. And I love knitting, but this also has had its limitations.

I first learned to knit for my very pivotal role as Therese, the town spinster in The Baker’s Wife. I decided that she would knit while she sat in the cafe but did not realize that maybe this choice would be problematic. I remember during one of the dress rehearsals paying too much attention to the knitting and not to where in the scene we were.
When I realized I had to get up I rushed downstage center to find that I had managed to take some yarn with me on my foot clear across the stage. I took up knitting more “seriously” around three years and after I got the hang of it threw myself into small projects. I made my entire office gifts for the holiday (simple finger less gloves and headbands) But these small sorts of projects were always where I preferred to stay. When it came to clothes, I didn’t have the patience to get the fit right. I once tried to make baby slippers and realized after sewing them together that they fit me… So suffice it to say, clothes always alluded me. That always seemed like something these more perfect people could do.

As I continue to submerse myself in vintage styling there have been many people I’ve become enamored with; it just so happens that quite a few who of those people sew and knit. I think my two major inspirations in the land of vintage knitting are Tasha and her amazing blog  and Sydney (aka squidneyknits). They both inspire me and seem like the most wonderful humans I can imagine (I’ll stop gushing now about two people I haven’t even met!)

But after lusting after what these ladies were posting on Instagram I decided that 2019 was the year that I take my knitting (and eventually sewing) to the next level. Luckily my good friend Melissa made this super easy by inviting me to her monthly stitch and bitch (drinking and knitting=heaven!) She’s super busy right now in grad school but she’s an awesome knitting teacher/knitting guru/human being. I asked Melissa if she knew of a vintage knitting pattern that would be hard for me to mess up and she provided this absolute gem!

I of course decided that in the spirit of who I am as a person and because it’s my favorite color I would do a fire engine red. Additionally, as this was part of a magazine published in 1955 I decided that I would make it even more mid century chic by adding a monogram made of black felt on one side (my loving homage to Riverdale and Laverne and Shirley.)

The pattern can be found here if you are interested.

Oh and PS I’d like to just share the original cover this pattern was found in because it’s just too scrumptious for words:

“Why hello! My wife there made me this ridiculous sweater to channel her rage about not being able to legally open a credit card. What a gal!”

So without further ado I present the final result:

I thought for its maiden voyage I’d pair it with a pair of petal pusher jeans and my trusty saddle shoes.

Now that I’ve finally completed a project I’m excited to see what I can do next!