Thursday, November 01, 2007

Today’s big news is that the ur-VKB is coming up on eBay tomorrow.

To recapitulate: The first Vogue Knitting, this one, was published both in the US and in Britain in the fall of 1932. It must have bombed in Biloxi, because there were no more American issues until some time during the war. But the British went steadfastly on from '32, two a year, right through the war. Publication ended in the 60’s. And I am collecting them.

The current 25th anniversary issue of the current incarnation of Vogue Knitting conveniently includes a little picture of the first issue. Until I saw it, I didn’t even know whether it claimed in its title to be the first. It doesn’t. It’s just called “Vogue’s Book of Knitting and Crochet”.

The ur-American one came up on eBay.com in early September, and sold for $430, not to me. (The difference between the two is that in America it cost 35c, whereas here it went for 1/6; the price is on the cover. But presumably there are also different ads inside.)

So now I’ve got to decide what to bid. It is being sold by a charity called Feed the Children, new to me but very worthy-sounding. They’ll get the whole purchase price. There are no bids yet – they are in for a pleasant surprise tomorrow, I suspect. Presumably some old dear tottered in to a charity shop with it, and someone else had the wit to put it aside in the eBay pile.

If I get it – and I’ve GOT to – I will lack only seven, dated between spring ’35 and fall ’41.

Watch this space.

Back to real-life knitting…

No pictures from Lizzie in London yet. I’ll nag her today – if she doesn’t send them pretty soon, her half-term will be over and she’ll be too busy.

I don’t know what to do about the Earth Stripe Wrap. I’m not enjoying it, which is perhaps a reason to forge ahead and get it finished before tackling Theo’s gansey. It would be a useful Xmas present, too. I’ve done 60cm; 148 are required. More than 1/3rd, less than half.

Knitting is slow. The mohair yarn is sort of sticky; one has to be very careful with every stitch to ensure that the needle goes under both of the fine strands; and the constant pauses for colour change don’t help either.

7 comments:

  1. it looks great but mohair is a killer and lacy mohair even more so.
    wow i keep my fingers crossed about the magazine. it could have been great fun to find it at oxfam's or something though. and the lesson is to look. the constanst lesson of the antique roadshow.

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  2. Anonymous10:52 AM

    Feed the Children is indeed worthy--it sounds like the ideal setting for this particular piece (and helps justify paying Any Price). Surely some of the folks who lost the other one are going to bid?

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  3. Anonymous11:26 AM

    Jean - I wish you luck. However, if I were you, I would have kept that particular news under my hat until the close!

    Fingers crossed and as sister Helen says, the charity may allay any guilt about high bids.

    All the best,
    Dawn

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  4. Anonymous3:40 PM

    welcome back and good luck with the bidding, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

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  5. Kid Silk Haze is one of these yarns that I just don't "get", both literally and metaphorically. I loathe knitting with it. But given that you've already knitted so much, it would be a shame not to finish it.

    Good luck with the auction!

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  6. Anonymous4:10 PM

    I love knitting with laceweight (or any weight) mohair myself, but understand the distaste for working with a yarn that doesn't suit one's knitting style. The project looks beautiful, if that helps-- but if you're like me, you don't want to slog your way through a boring or annoying process no matter how attractive the product promises to be. So good luck!

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