For my return the blogosphere I’ve decided to write a post about one of my vintage makes. After all I did call the blog vintage in stitches. I must admit the 1970s isn’t usually my favoured fashion era . I had some flares in my teens. ( Late 90s ) I loved them, I wore them untill they fell to pieces . They were some I brought from a New Look sale with money from my Saturday job. I digress.

I’ve had some Drops Lima in my stash for quite a while now. I did knit it up into the ever popular Miette by Andi Satterland. I learnt two things from that project. ALWAYS Swatch. The needle size is only ever a guide. My finished cardigan was embarrassingly small. Secondly, you can alter the pattern. In hindsight with a bit of maths I could have quite easily forgone some of the shaping. I’m not saying this would have made a lot of difference in this case, using DK instead of Aran / Worsted and not swatching really was asking for trouble, but in future it’s something to consider. So I ripped it all out, and waited untill I found the right project for the wool.

Enter a vintage Hayfield tank top pattern. It screams 1970s. I’m convinced one of The Brady Bunch much have had one.

I decided to lengthen the body by 1 inch, as I don’t really like tops that float about my midriff. Other than that I stayed true to the pattern.

I found it a surprisingly quick knit, the most arduous part was picking up and knitting the neckband. It’s still a little flappy for my liking but not enough for me to rip it all out and start again. I really like the twisted cable on the ribbing and travelling up each side of the front.

Since making it, I’ve found the wool has softened quite a lot , which seems to be slightly stretching now. Again, not enough that I want to do anything about it.