Whether you call it vintage, retro, historic or just plain "old", making knit or crochet patterns made twenty, thirty, forty, even fifty years ago can be a greatly rewarding experience. Even if you if the actual pattern does not interest you, it can be fun and informative to look through what was considered in style that many years ago.
While knitting and crochet are superb for keeping the idle hands busy, or getting that level of self-satisfaction out of creating something with your own hands, it can also be about getting in touch with history. Whether that history is a personal one, like remembering those times as a child when you your grandmother taught you how to crochet, or whether that history is more generalized – like getting in touch with your ancestral history, and the history of a population of people before you.
While the generalized history might not stir up all those emotions and memories that a personal history coming from your own memories and thoughts might have, it is regardless an interesting one. Think for a moment of the millions of people who have come before – the history of these people before who partook in these crafts. By practicing the same craft as them, albeit out of leisure now rather than the necessity it used to be, we become a part of a long lineage, even if that lineage might be somewhat nameless and faceless. Never the less – it is there.
Think about creating a stunning piece and starting your own history. An item – perhaps a warm afghan blanket, or maybe a cradle liner, that can be passed down for generations among the family. Not only will you be creating a beginning for your personal, family history, but you will also be contributing to the history of all the knitters and crocheters.
Included below is a list of vintage knit and crochet patterns within this article, meant to hopefully inspire. Try a pattern or two, and do some more research looking for your own patterns that interest you; you will find you're knitting history before your own eyes.
Vintage Knits
A Cardigan, headband, and a spiffy looking hat
Vintage lace patterns (unfortunately no photos, but that's part of the fun maybe?)
Yesterknits (brags the largest collection of vintage patterns, however this one isn't free!)
Vintage Crochet
Twenty free vintage crochet patterns E-Book
Celt's Vintage Crochet (an excellent source with years for vintage crochet patterns)
Mrs. Beeton's Book Of Needlework (a late Victorian book primarily on needlework, but includes crochet and a few knits, available via Project Gutenberg)
© Kelly Gilliam, text and images. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
