Brief Encounter meets Stitch n Bitch : An unmissable vintage knitting prize-draw.

I had to share it eventually because it's becoming an annual event here, so on the day that the words 'knitwear' and 'vintage' appear in a prize-draw book title it seemed like a good time to just get it over with.
There I am perched nervously (my feet give it away) on Santa's lap at Kennards in Croydon, wearing the prickly coat (velvet trimmed) with the gloves attached by elastic to the cuffs, the coat that I was none too fond of, and there's my brother too. As many of you know he sadly died of leukaemia when he was 24, and Christmas is one of those many times when I miss him for myriad reasons, but I don't think he'd have minded me sharing this with you all.
But look carefully because I am modelling the 1950s de rigueur home-knitted bonnet.
Just about any knitting was my mum's speciality, she was very fleet of finger and completely adept at it and one of the moments when I always think of and miss my mum is when I drop a stitch. We'd be watching Monty Python or something and I'd pass it on to her to sort, it was years before I figured how to do it for myself.
But the bonnets took the biscuit and I had a vast range of them as a child in a variety of colour combinations worn from about October to April. These were the the days when, despite the availability of antibiotics, there was still a huge legacy of pre-war fear about untreatable ear infections and mastoids and chills 'that could develop', so we were all wrapped up to the gills and not allowed out of the door unless we were. Despite all this I did once have pneumonia, Dr Watson was summoned and lauded my mother's early intervention, so that year I probably wore it all for the summer too.
But to the book, it's a treasure and I think the knitters out there will love it, a copy of Vintage Knitwear for Modern Knitters by Lise-Lotte Lystrup and published by Thames & Hudson to one lucky winner and it can go worldwide.
It's all beautifully Brief Encounter meets Stitch n Bitch which is all entirely appropriate in the week that marked Dame Celia Johnson's centenary. The patterns for jackets, jerseys, scarves, boleros and everything else get a little tweak here and there to make them 21st century compatible both knit and fashion-wise.
This is all good because in attempting to become a Modern Knitter is anyone else completely confused about needle sizes these days?
Gone from the patterns are the old imperial 8s and 10s for the basic double knit project and instead I have to fumble around trying to convert it all into 4mm and 3.25mm which are really US6 and US3. I've had to buy a gauge with helpful holes, but then should your needle go right through the hole or get stuck to know it's the right size?
But have no fear, everything as clear as day in Vintage Knitwear for Modern Knitters and patterns are helpfully graded for skill which should initially warn you that embarking on the Cardigan with First-Class Tailoring before you have mastered the Evening Wrap might end in tears and frogging. But be ye not afraid because eventually you will be tackling the Evening Jacket in Feather Pattern with Swansdown Trim.
Names in comments for a copy of this perfectly lovely gorgeous book as long as you are now feeling a little bit more Christmassy than you were a week ago.