Rainy day fun from the 1950s

This Patons and Beehive pattern for raglan sweaters from the 1950s neatly sums up the entire range of rainy day activities available for boys at the time.

One: Stand over your sister in an intimidating manner while she thinks about touching your train set.

Two: Build a house of cards after being sent to your room for belting your sister after she derailed your Hornby 00 locomotive and got toffee on your coal wagon. It's not fair.

How to make a trampoline out of inner tubes

Co-evolution magazine socks it to the man in their Autumn 1977 issue with this spectacular Poor Man's Trampoline made from cunningly cut strips of old tractor or truck inner tubes. The strips are knotted together using square knots - it's like giant macrame.

All you need are inner tubes, heavy shears, clothes line, parachute cord, a big hook, and a healthy disregard for health and safety as you watch up to four children propel themselves up towards the ceiling at great speed on the end of a springy rubber cord.

"Preventing cracked heads becomes an exercise in high-speed, well-coordinated cooperation," warns the author. Quite.

Scooter mitts 1960s knitting pattern

One to add to the autumn knit list - a fabulous pair of 1960s mod-style scooter mitts. This groovy hybrid of glove and mitten allows you more finger flexibility than the tradtional mitten, meaning that you can, say, pick up your front door key, or use your scooter brake, without losing the warmth of traditional mittens.

This is also a great project for knitters who have made mittens but are still a little nervous of knitting fiddly gloves. The original pattern is made in black and red stripes.

From Stitchcraft magazine, 1964.

Mr August

Two lovely waistcoated gentlemen, sadly co-joined at the red gentleman's pipe and the yellow gentleman's head. They were later successfully separated in a ground-breaking 16 hour operation and both went on to open tea shops in Dorset.

The waistcoats are worked in 3 ply yarn, and are lined with a contrast yarn, so they are completely reversible.