I love vintage-style knitting and often come across vintage patterns when I go thrifting and flea-marketing. Imagine my excitement when I read about a new book that’s all about vintage baby knits!

Vintage Baby Knits is a charming treasury of more than 40 contemporary updates of timeless baby patterns. Author and longtime knitter Kristen Rengren amassed hundreds of knitting pattern booklets from 1920 through 1960 while working as a vintage clothing dealer, combing through estate sales and eBay listings. What a wonderful idea it was to update these classic patterns for the modern knitter!

One look at the beautiful photos and I was in love. As someone who loves knitting for babies, I can’t wait to get my hands on the book and start some new baby knit projects for my friends and their little ones!

I am SO excited to be finally getting the Rowan New Shapes pattern book – I love the Anise jacket (shown here on the cover) and tried to make a Blythe-sized version (abandoned halfway through, boo!) over a year ago. I didn’t think I’d be knitting anything adult-sized so I never bought the book – until I saw Jenny/Wikstenmade’s beautiful cardigan on Flickr and Ravelry. That pushed me over the edge and I had to go searching for New Shapes – found it on Kaleidoscope last week and now it’s on its way to my hot little hands.

I got my copy through Kaleidoscope Yarns!

I’m a bit nervous about trying the patterns, though. First of all, Rowan yarn is not exactly cheap. About eight balls of yarn are required to make a garment, and I hesitate spending $120 on yarn that I may destroy with my novice knitting. And, I am absolutely terrible at seaming. I can’t hand-sew to save my life. Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?!

After some thought, I’m most likely going to purchase a few balls of practice yarn (Perhaps LionBrand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick?) and do a few practice runs. At $5 a skein, it won’t break my heart too much if I mess up… right?

As scared as I am, I’m still pretty excited about trying my first Rowan patterns. I can’t wait!

A generous friend (Hi Barbara!) shared some of her thrifted goodies with me – vintage knitting pattern books. I have been pouring over them and marveling at the wonderful photos such as the one above. The whales on the wall are the best!

I haven’t had a chance to study the actual patterns just yet, but I have a feeling I’m still too much of a novice to give them a try. I’ll just enjoy the photos for now.

(click on the thumbnails to see bigger pics)