Vintage Knitting Pattern Nirvana

For a biggish town there aren't all that many charity shops left in Southend - and one of those is Oxfam so the prices are eye-wateringly high.  I didn't have the highest hopes of finding anything too wonderful and indeed I didn't until I came across a charity shop I hadn't seen before, on the high street just before you get to the sea. 

It was for a charity I'd never heard of - Lady Somebody's Breast Cancer charity - and the shop was so neat and tidy and full of nice things that I wondered if I'd misread the notice on the door saying it was in fact a charity shop.  They were doing a fantastic trade - and deservedly so as many of their clothes appeared to be in excellent order and keenly priced.  I made my way to the back of the shop where I spotted skeins of embroidery floss marked at 10p each.  They only had pink, green and blue so I bought two of each.

 

It was only when I got home that I realised they are very upmarket - being linen thread and not cotton.  They are a bit faded in places but that won't stop me making use of them.  There was also a huge box of vintage knitting patterns, being eagerly looked through by someone else.  As she was flipping through them I realised that every single pattern in the box dated from the 1940s or 50s and were in excellent condition.  Turns out the other lady was looking for crochet patterns and couldn't find any so when she moved off I dived in.

 

There was pattern

 

after

 

pattern

to

choose

from

And they were all 10p each.  I came away with a dozen I think.  Some I might use but others are just such wonderful pictures that they were worth the 10p for that alone. 
In another charity shop I also found two lovely thick bath towels priced at £1.00 each.  Although the floral one was a bit raggedy at each end (I'm covering that up with some uber-large bias binding I happend to have) they were both in much much better condition than some of the towels I've been using for years.  In the spirit of not cluttering the place up too much I dug out two very tatty old towels from the airing cupboard and put them out for the textile recycling collection this morning.  One of them was my 31-year-old Coca Cola towel which I saved ring-pulls or bottle tops or something for all those years ago.  It hadn't been used for many years and was only fit for dumping - with the logo being so faded it was almost illegible, all the edges were raggedy, there were two holes in the middle and remnants of hair dye all over it.  Why was I keeping hold of that??

And, finally, one other purchase made in Southend - two large (1000m) reels of Gutermann sewing thread - £14.00 for the two.  Flippin' 'eck I nearly keeled over at the till - I'm hoping though that some really good quality thread will put an end to the annoying thread snapping that is going on every time I use the sewing machine.  At that price, they better had - or else!!

Comments

[Lindsey]

It is always worth using good thread - if you still have problems try changing the needle. We don't change needles often enough and they can be the cause of breaking thread. Hope this helps.

[Maureen]

You've found some treasures. I particularly love the Sirdar Children's Hats. Reminds me of my, then, young son: "Do I have to wear a balaclava?"

[Caroline]

Good Lord, from one price extreme to the other!! Love those knitting patterns, particularly the hats