A Vintage Collaboration // Casual Friday 4-39

[@ShowandTellknitting]

It was an honor to be included; I'm pleased that so many of you enjoyed that segment.

[@karaellis1599]

Archivist here. 🙋🏼‍♀️We have to keep the collection areas cold for preservation purposes. So I can in fact confirm that a good cardigan is an essential part of our wardrobes, even on the hottest days of summer!

[@Randall5005]

My stash and UFOs somehow grew upwards around me in my home office like ancient Neolithic burial mounds. I found a lost pair of needles still in their unopened pack, a tape measure, one pair of scissors, and one half eaten Baby Ruth candy bar that, yes, still tasted pretty good. My retirement started with Covid Lockdown and now I'm up to my elbows in yarn. And the mounds are growing. I can sit, grab yarn without much effort and knit while I listen to Roxanne Richardson. With apologies to Fred Astaire: Heaven... I'm in stitches, And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak. And I seem to find the happiness I seek, When I'm knitting stitch by stich.

[@kjrussell8831]

I so enjoyed your collaboration section.

[@x1435]

Gotta love casual Friday! Roxanne catches me up on all the fun crafty news :) I'm looking forward to the collaboration too.

[@saltyseahag_]

I’m looking forward to your collaboration with Billie! I got into vintage knitting recently, and the 1940s seems to be my favourite era!

[@jo-annefalconer6280]

Thanks, this is inspiring, I will be popping over to watch Billie now. Thanks for the intro and all the ribbon info, when i was a teenager mum used to get us to put Petersham ribbon in a skirt facing to stabilize the waist if we weren't using a waistband, a few years back I thought that was what I was using and couldn't work out why it didn't feel right now I know I must have been using Grosgrain, (it was not labeled).

[@lindseywhite3371]

Ooo I'm excited for your collaboration. I'm sure you'll both make lovely jumpers. Speaking of lovely jumpers, I do like your striped one in this episode. I hope all is well with you and your's. Take care xx

[@NinaKeilin]

I loved the info about petersham and grosgrain. I look forward to further developments. I have a vintage sweater here made by my mother in the 60s It has a petersham facing. I can tell by the edges. It's tacked down by thread. As a sewer, I know it would be easier to tack through the petersham edge than the grosgrain edge. Also, the polyester would be harder to sew through. In my mother's day, they wouldn't have had polyester ribbon.

[@SewRunKnit]

Thank you, Rox!

[@BBaxterSwank]

I look forward to this collaboration project. The spread sheet is interestingly revealing.

[@elaineenstone6834]

Really interesting podcast and will look forward to seeing the sweaters appear and grow. 🇬🇧

[@osmia]

Watching you and Billie interact is a delight. Betting you guys are going to have fun with this :D

[@ShowandTellknitting]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! We're having fun and we're just getting started.

[@easyknittingcrochet4394]

Beautiful work 👍 👏

[@NYKnitter]

This is going to be fascinating to see the collaboration on a 40's sweater. Right brain and Left brain combined.

[@ShowandTellknitting]

Neuroscience now on the menu. Love it.

[@kristinm3729]

It's so interesting what you've said about grosgrain ribbon because, every time you've mentioned this, I've wondered why you weren't going with petersham (what we'd generally use in sewing). FWIW, I think either would work fine on a sweater placket because it doesn't require the same ability to curve on a button band as it would, let's say, on a hem or neckline... That's why I didn't mention it! Just FYI, lots of stores on Etsy sell petersham as well as online fabric stores. Mokuba is a great source for it (the best quality but by far the most expensive).

[@theastewart6721]

I’m really looking forward to your collaboration with Billie! Sounds fascinating! I love the clothing of the 1940’s! Very exciting!

[@carolscott5903]

That collaboration conversation was so engaging. Thx!!

[@ShowandTellknitting]

Thanks, Carol. There's more to come....

[@teacheraprilrogers]

I learn so much from your videos. I have been researching the history of Knitting for years. Almost 20, and I have never heard of the Knitting History Forum. I ma so sad I didn't know of them sooner but grateful to know of them now.

[@jp80a68]

For those of us who are sewers we all know that Petersham is used to stiffen waistbands the cuff of sleeves and anywhere that might need stiffening. The one thing to watch out for is that it comes in both curved and straight. You would need to use the straight for the front of cardigans. The curved is specifically designed for waistbands. The curve is at the top edge, giving a slightly small circumference at the top of the waist and therefore a better fit.

[@thestitchcafe8295]

great show I really enjoy how you explain things. Also it would be awesome at the end of your knitting every sweater from a decade project to have a final show modeling or showing each one. Just my opinion. :)

[@goswamigeeta]

Something very beautiful is on the way now that two great creative artists have come together! Loved your conversation!

[@alisonsmith376]

Always fascinating - this new project sounds fun!

[@angko-pe]

I was just gonna say that I read in the Suzanne Bryan Facebook group about the other type of ribbon not too long ago. I bet that's where the others read about it as well.

[@enacrt]

The decade sweater project is truly fascinating, i always wonder whats next. The 80s, those giant baggy sweaters, lol? I know you intend to stop in the 90s, but imagine ending in the 2010s, with a colorwork seamless sweater using beautiful tonal yarns. Sorry for my stream of consciousness rant 😅 it's just that I'm really enjoying that you're sharing your knittinv journey with us, thank you 😊

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I learned to knit in 1986, so I have a *lot* of sweaters in my closet to represent the past couple of decades! :-)

[@Jennie8684]

I watched this because of the image of the Harlequin sweater even though I would never wear colours like that. I love the style of it and am now going to plan a design in more muted colours including grey and midnight blue. As it is Spring here (Australia) and heading towards Summer, this will be a 2022 project. I will be watching your combinations with much interest as I also like the style of the one in the black & white pic.

[@connieschmittauer5581]

There is a video by Fruity Knitting; their latest trip was traveling across Yorkshire and they stopped at a museum that I think had clothes from Emily Bronte and it showed a dress with what looked like knitted stockings well above the knee at about the 10 minute mark. I thought you might like to take a look at it.

[@jo-annefalconer6280]

what is the 10 minute mark? I have never heard of that.

[@orangew3988]

@@jo-annefalconer6280 they mean 10 minutes into the video that they're referring to. If you want to see the stockings.

[@Nasturtiumsandducks]

Going down a grosgrain/petersham rabbit hole myself here... noticed that in casual Friday ep 2-15 when you were using "grosgrain" ribbon on the Edwardian sweater, the actual ribbon you used was petersham! (you can see the bumpy edges rather than a straight edge). So you were on the money before you even knew it ;) I too would love more info on using ribbon on button bands. Especially would love to see how you (hand?)sew the ribbon to the knitted piece (mine always looks frightful, especially because the colour of the ribbon and the knit are generally not perfectly matched, and throw in the colour of the thread...). I definitely need to have the garment hanging next time for gravity as you identified. And most importantly, when you have made a button hole in the ribbon on a sewing machine, would you then line them up to buttonholes in the knitted item, and stitch the two holes together? This feels to me like it would be such a useful thing (especially as i make a lot of little kids' clothes and messy/unclear knit buttonholes are a pain for busy parents.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I had to immediately go check the ribbon, but I couldn't even see it without taking a photo and enlarging it. You are absolutely right! I bought that ribbon (by the yard) at the fabric store where I usually buy buttons, rather than the big box store close to my house, where I usually buy ribbon (by the spool). I think the buttonhole experiment will be interesting, because that was the first time I ever made buttonholes on my sewing machine. I'm sure the needle I used was not fine enough, and I hadn't yet learned to use tear-away interfacing.

[@sxs311]

You can't be an archivist without a cardigan because they're so cold 😂

[@dianathorpe2280]

That's discouraging about the sleeves on your blue sweater. How do you think you will resolve the problem? Do you think blocking the sleeves to make them a tad smaller would help or do you think you will have to reknit them? It is such a gorgeous pattern and yarn; I hope you get to finish it some day and the skirt too.

[@zipcat6727]

I’m very interested in the ribbon discussion and would love to know where you purchased the Petersham. Is it available online? I’m working on the button band for my second cardigan and would like to use Petersham instead of polyester. I used jacquard woven polyester ribbon for the first cardigan to stabilize the bands and neck as it is knit from alpaca/wool and wanted to control the stretch. For the third cardigan, I wanted to find a natural fiber ribbon and after unsuccessfully searching for cotton and linen ribbon, purchased wool ribbon from Norway. Planning to use it on a stranded steeked yoke sweater. Thank you! So pleased and eager to follow your exploration of ribbon for button bands!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I bought it online The Sewing Place. The Petersham they sell is rayon, so it's a semi-synthetic. There might be sellers somewhere who sell a truly natural fiber Petersham, but I don't know who that might be.

[@nicolelafontaine1720]

Oh ! Swollen hands, does that mean you will have to rip out your sleeves and reknit them now ? I wish you a lot of patience. That reminds me of your August sock KAL in 2019, when I carefully measured my feet and calves for perfect fitting socks, but then when came fall and winter, my measurements had changed so much, because my feet and calves were so swollen during the hot summer. I just twinked it by threading an elastic thread in the top ribbing. ;-) Now I use the winter measures even if I knit socks in summer, because I wear the socks in the cold seasons. Looking forward to your 1940 sweater collaboration.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I remember there were a few people who also had swollen feet that summer. I had swollen hands, and didn't realize that was why I had to go down a needle size to get the gauge I wanted. Ah well, now I know what to watch out for next summer!

[@foleyjp1]

Since the Petersham ribbon is able to be shaped into a curve, would it be advantageous to stabilize the entire front bands of the sweater? I mean to go from bottom edge of one side up, continue around the entire neck (of a slope of a V-neck, around the back and back down the other side).

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Well, you *want* the neck to stretch as you move, but you *don't* want the front bands to stretch, so I wouldn't think that would be advantageous. One of the purposes of the buttonband stabilization is to secure the buttons to something that won't stretch.

[@foleyjp1]

@@RoxanneRichardson Thanks

[@ritad673]

I was SO relieved to know you have 45 UFO'S! You and I are in good company!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I don't *currently* have 45 UFOs. I *had* 45 UFOs a few years ago. I spent 2016 dealing with them, and then in 2018, I started doing Finish it February, so that any project started the previous year that wasn't finished would be dealt with in some way (by actually doing the knitting to finish it, or "finishing" it by saying I am finished with this, because I have no interest in it and it can now be considered available yarn)

[@emilywong4601]

Have heard about the sheep that live on seaweed?

[@jassconrad]

With respect as I'm no expert, I disagree on the pucker of the sleeve. So what I see, there is puckering & it is very subtle at the left arm shoulder directly down from the shoulder cap & again further down the arm. The seam is smooth but not without this extra adjusting. A larger arm would fill that area out & the "pucker" would not be seen.