Wednesday, April 28, 2010

You'd think I had enough

of vests this past winter to keep from making yet another. But I look at it this way: the more vests DH has to rotate, the less often I'll need to do surgery on them. Or so I hope. Here's a nifty pattern I found in a book I just bought:
Norah Gaughan's Silures vest
The pattern is called Silures and the book is Norah Gaughan's Collection for Men. Silures were a tribe living in ancient Wales at the time Rome invaded. What's Welsh about the vest, I have no idea. The book has a nice set of sweaters, hats, scarves, and this vest. More than one design could be worn by women too. I envision this vest made of Ruby Magpie Aran:
Ruby Magpie
DH will look stunning in it, simply stunning.

Buying this book reminded me how much I like Norah Gaughan's designs. I've made quite a few, going back over 20 years.

NG VK spring 1991
From Vogue Knitting Spring Special 1991. I wish now I hadn't given the actual sweater away for this one; I made it out of the Rowan wool called for, in a lovely rose color. It was so warm.

Willough top
This little top from 1989 was designed for Classic Elite (pattern #222). I made it out of CE Willough, a silk/cotton blend. Great spring top over a cami.

Provence VK 2000 top
From Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2000. I made it out of CE Provence and will wear it this weekend, when the temperature will soar into the upper 70's. Classy with pearl grey.

coral Tapestry vest
Vest in my favorite color of all. The pattern is Classic Elite #369 from 1989, the yarn is CE Tapestry. The drape of the neckline is fantastic. I love this vest.

Classic Elite beige vest
Made this for DD#1 when she went to college. Pattern is Classic Elite #442, yarn feels like CE Tapestry. Believe it or not, she doesn't want it any longer, now that she's a married lady. You must see the lace detail on the hem:
border of Classic Elite beige vest

PTT LS
From Knitter's 46, Spring 1997. I made it as you see it in the magazine, using the suggested yarn, Reynolds Rio. Unfortunately, Rio pilled like crazy. Within months of making it (wearing it once a week), it looked like a pile of fuzz balls. Away it went. That was before I knew to check online reviews of yarn. I know better now. However, I miss this sweater.

So the other day I casted on to make it again. Now I'm using an ivory yarn by Jaeger (yes, replacing the two ivory sweaters that wore out over the winter), in a viscose-elastic blend.
Pattern Time Two LS

Leafing through my old Vogue Knitting issues, I found literally dozens of great Norah Gaughan designs I would knit. Such as this one:
traveling trellis #8 fall/winter 1997
And this one for my hoodie-obsessed daughters:
lace hoodie #11 VK spring/summer 2005
And this one for me (do you get the feeling I like cables with ribs?):
cable rib VK spring/summer #10 2005

Meanwhile, I've enough on the needles and in my Ravelry queue to keep me out of trouble. For a bit anyway.

3 comments:

Laura said...

You are so right, these sweaters are what I think of as modern classics. The vest looks fabulous. I had forgotten about that long pullover from Knitter's -- very attractive. I recently dropped all of my subscriptions to knitting magazines, figuring I have enough of those great issues from the 90's to keep me inspired and happy. Nora Gaughan's patterns haven't aged one bit, have they?

Experimental Knitter said...

No, I don't think they have either.
And I dropped my subscriptions also a few years ago.

fleegle said...

We have similar taste in sweaters--those are all elegant and timeless. I still have patterns from the 60s and 70s that haven't gone out of style. Sometimes older is better :)