We went to the launch of Susan Crawford's new book, Vintage Gifts to Knit, at Jelly in Reading a couple of weeks ago. I won't spoil it by telling you all about it here as we've got some lovely photos for you in issue 70, but it was really inspirational. I love vintage patterns, and I know Simply Knitting readers do too because we do get letters asking where people can find particular patterns or what yarns they need to use to knit an old design. Susan's books take the hard work out by resizing the designs for larger modern figures and using current yarns. I'd been considering getting A Stitch In Time, a large collection of reworked vintage knits by Susan Crawford and Jane Waller, and after meeting someone wearing a lovely cardi at the book launch I went out and bought it.

Anyway, I decided to do something with my vintage pattern collection other than flick through it (a great way to spend a wet Saturday afternoon!) and had a go at knitting something in the evenings. It's only a small thing, but I'm really pleased with how the tam o'shanter at the bottom of this post turned out. I tweaked the colours, mainly because there wasn't any primary-coloured DK in the stash. I might actually wear this - something I didn't expect when I started it, as it was really a bit of an experiment.

Have you tried knitting from vintage patterns? How did you find it?

Also on the events front, I went down to London for Loop's shop opening as they've moved to a super new location. The shop is light and airy, with lots of really nice yarns on show, including some American brands that aren't easy to get here in the UK. (I bought a skein of Berocco laceweight to make a Victorian stole for a steampunk friend.) The whole area felt really artsy, with lots of antique shops and little stalls dotted around, and I'll definitely go back if I'm in London and have spare time.