More vintage pattern love

Yesterday a friend of our families came over with such a delightful surprise. She had emailed me to ask if I wanted some old patterns of her mother’s. Of course, I said! I ran into her at a shop a few days later and she told me, "don’t worry I won’t bring all the old needles and things." To which I practically gasped and said, "oh no, I’ll take anything." So I got two big boxes of vintage knitting pattern books and magazines:
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(my piles halfway through sorting them with glee). She also brought over an envelope of circular needles and this:
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Dozens of sets of needles in the funny little box. Now that I’m on Ravelry (here’s my page), I get to keep track of things, like what needles I have. So I can sort these and fill in all the gaps, yeah! Like I said I went through the magazines and I pulled out a box full that I don’t really need (as they tend to be sort of similar, like cardigans, socks, caps, etc.). They are in great condition, a little musty smelling, and mostly from the 40s to the early 70s. If anyone’s interested I’d be happy to send them to you, I can just figure out what postage would be and you can pay that. Let me know.

Well all of that is a lot more fun than my other current project. When I got back from Hawaii I knew I had over eaten terribly over there. Wearing a loose fitting cover up over a bikini doesn’t bode well for keeping portions in check. And since everyone else drank (I’m not a big alchole fan) I probably had a dozen syrupy drinks, like Shirley temples.  So anyway I got home and weighed myself for the first time in a while. Oh my god almost fell off the scale, I had gained 20 pounds since graduating college! Ack! Now I don’t put much stock just in weight, you can eat terrible things and weigh not much. In college I was on the crew team, a coxswain so I usually weighed between 112 and 115. But my diet was almost entirely candy and diet coke (no joke).  I gained weight right away after graduation, since I wasn’t biking to class, walking across the campus, or on the boat. But I have been a terrible eater lately and I can tell the metabolism of my 27 year old self is not as good as that of my younger self. So it’s back to something I’ve done before:
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Keeping track of what I eat and counting my calories. This helps me a ton because candy has a shit load of calories, compared to like, a bowl of cataloupe. Plus you know how some people are big boned? Well my bones are like dainty pieces of glass and I’m short, so in order to keep my weight in check (or loose some) the allowance I get for calories is not a lot. Oh Sciarrino don’t even say work out more, I know you want to, hush! I am going to try a little though. The last time I tried this was over two years ago. I was even lighter then. It’s just so easy to grab a chicken sandwich and frozen coke from Burger King, but NO MORE!

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9 Comments

  1. Love the magazines… And your weight… well with your discipline you will be to your desired weight in no time! You can do it!

  2. Have you ever thought about doing Weight Watchers. I have lost 46 pounds (15 to go) of my baby weight. It is a lot less tedious than the way you are doing it. Points are calculated based on fat fiber and calories…oh and veggies are free (no points). After about two weeks you really don’t have to calculate the points anymore you just kind of know what the point total is. Really very easy and you can still fit in the things you love during the day…just eat more veggies. They have an online version also that I think is not that expensive. Highly recommended. good luck and bite it write it……

  3. I agree with the above – my mum has been doing Weight Watchers and has now lost nearly 3 stone (38lb ish). She finds it easy and is NEVER hungry.
    Go running? It’s a great (cheap, efficient) way to burn the calories.
    Or speed knitting? Hehehe

  4. Neat vintage mags! And it is a pain in the ass (sometimes literally) to try to lose weight. Writing down what you eat helps, but you gotta get moving too. And I know how much you hate running, so I’m not even going to suggest it…when you’ve been working during the day, take a few breaks and walk around the block. This way, you’ll get some exercise, have a change of scenery, and get some fresh air! 🙂

  5. I’m so right there with you. I do the exact same thing with the list and the calories when I realize I’m hitting the almost fat line. Sciarrino, you’re just like my husband. Duh, I try but working out hurts. I’m a wimp and have no endurance. You runners and soccer players make it look easy, but I tell you, it’s not.

  6. I’m loving these comments—fresh air is like water we require it for survival! YOU ALLLLLLLWAYS feel better afterwards and sleep better and it’s a great way to interact with people. BJ if you’re reading this—I plead to you to take Amber for a jaunt around the neighborhood at least once a week… if you love her you’ll do it! 😉
    On a workout scale from 1-10, Amber is at a 1, lets say 10 is an Olympic athlete. SO how about a goal of 2 on said scale? Seemingly painless but oh so impactful.
    WW works—or so I hear….

  7. If you still have them, I would definitly be interested in the magazines that you don’t want. I’ll certainly pay the shipping, just let me know how much! Thank you!

  8. I can say from experience that WW works if you do count the points and go to the meetings. If you get on the monthly pass, skip the meetings, and don’t write down the points at all, well, I guess you can get the idea there. Phew.
    I was thinking the other day that I would really like to sew a cute bowling shirt like straight out of the 50s and then I was like, where can I find a vintage pattern for that? Oh, I know, ALP will either have one or manage to find one somewhere. If you happen to run across such a thing, I will happily buy or trade for it. 🙂

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