Sugar and Spice

Knitted skirt, jumper and cardigan for 2-4 years old

I should think this pattern from Sirdar's Sunshine series is late '50s.  Knitted in 4ply, the button bands on the cardigan and the cross band on the skirt are embroidered with flowers.  I can remember little girls who would have looked just right in this.  Their hair neatly brushed and their little white socks gleaming in their patent shoes.  I wasn't one of those.  Frequently mistaken for a boy, always untidy with unruly hair and chewed sleeves, one sock up, one sock always down, I was a source of desperation to my mother.  By the time I was ten I had the National Health specs - the brown ones with the wire earpieces (I refused to wear the pink ones).  I knew what my style was early on and everyone learned to live with it. 

When I was about five I paired up with one very neat little girl called Valerie for a fancy dress parade.  We were Jack and Jill.  She looked wonderful in her little flounced dress, pale yellow with white frills.  I was Jack and wore dark blue striped dungarees and a brown hat.  I held her hand and we walked out into the sunshine with the rest of the parade.  Someone in the crowd said,  'Oh look at that sweet little boy'.  We won first prize. 

Nowadays (about fifty years later) I love fashion and feminine clothes, but still look best in a pair of jeans and a check shirt.  I knew it all along.