Cherry Picking down Memory Lane

Caution:  The newest pattern in today's post is ten years old.

I sat down and looked at some old patterns last night.  I've knitted since the mid-eighties, and most of my magazines have followed me from pillar-to-post, from Dallas, to Germany, to Alaska, to San Antonio, to Germany again....you get the idea.  The military sent me, the magazines were packed up and went with me.

My knitting skills have improved a lot since the day that I first picked up a needle.  Leafing thru the magazines, I found patterns that warranted a second look, and maybe a third.  I looked at patterns that I was not qualified to knit when they first came out, but now appear quite doable.  Like this beauty from VK SS 91; I know I blew by it the first time because I just didn't have the skills:

I found that by and large, much of the 1980s designs were simply REALLY large washclothes, tacked together at the seams.  If there was one thing that ruled the decade, it was the dropped sleeve sweater.  There were designers who bucked the trend, however.  I saw some truly fabulicious designs.  If anyone wants to make this for me, I will love you forever:

In the '90s, many of the designs were cropped, with sleeves that look too long today.  The patterns are good, some great, but most of them would be 'right now' with just a little change in proportion.  Some need a little modification to bring them forward; tweak the body length, adjust the sleeve, shape the waist.  

Some just need the right yarn.  This idea fascinates me, can you picture it in Noro?

Did I find something I want to make?  Why yes, I did.  You'll be so surprised to see it!  In its 1999 configuration, it's quite the mom sweater.  Now that I am older, and know how to knit it, what yarn to knit it in, and how to modify it to take it from meh to mahvelous....I can't wait.  (And now it's ok if I actually wear a mom sweater too.)