One of my favourite blogs is
The Knitting Needle and the Damage Done, by Orange Swan. She reviews knitting magazines, and often exactly nails just what's wrong with a design. And occasionally she has a post collecting together photos of unusual (aka seriously weird) knitted garments. Her most recent post is one of those:
Lederhosen and Tutus and Other Knitting Fables. It included this knitting pattern:
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| Sirdar leaflet 6065 |
Her caption is "Penelope had come up with the perfect way to get men to buy her drinks when out clubbing."
It's a super example of 1980s picture knits. I looked for the leaflet in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection, and found that it's one of a small group of "Disco" knits. Here are the others:
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| Sirdar leaflet 6062 |
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| Sirdar leaflet 6063 |
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| Sirdar leaflet 6064 |
You were evidently supposed to wear your Disco sweater with skintight metallic lycra in a bright colour, and BIG hair. But a long-sleeved sweater in a thick yarn (DK) seems very impractical for a disco - you'd boil. I can see that one or two of them might also do for everyday sweaters - the giant daisy, and the hearts. Maybe even the butterfly. (It was the 80s after all, when picture sweaters were normal wear). But the lips/straw/glass combo - as Orange Swan says, that's just begging someone to buy you a drink.
I can't picture discos and sweaters either - maybe for the end of the night, while walking home, but not for dancing.
ReplyDeleteAh the 80s! I had a brightly coloured mohair baggy batwing jumper - very itchy to wear!
ReplyDeleteI had a jumper knitted in thick cotton, in white with a design in navy, yellow and several other colours. Rather restrained, looking back, and not itchy either.
DeleteI knitted the heart one in black with white hearts in 1984 I loved it. Would love to do another if I can find the pattern
ReplyDeleteI knitted the daisy jumper in the early 80's in bright red, with a white daisy and a black centre. The red run in the wash so the petals became pink! I've just ordered the pattern again. You'll find them on the Sirdar website - listed under 80's patterns
DeleteYes, the Sirdar Heritage Collection includes most of the Sirdar patterns published from the 1930s on.
DeleteI knitted the heart one in 1984 in black with white hearts and I loved it. Wish I could find the pattern again
ReplyDeleteDid you wear it for discos, I wonder? You could try contacting Sirdar for a copy of the pattern, perhaps.
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