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I chose to make the Tiny Soft Shoes from Crochet Your Gifts. The materials listed are: 3 balls of J&P Coats or Clark's O.N.T Pearl Cotton size 5, a steel crochet hook no. 5, and 1 1/2 yards of narrow ribbon. I used DMC size 5 thread that I picked up a Joann's in January. I had no idea if 3 balls was enough but I assumed I could get more if I ran out since Michaels also carries it. I used the same hook size they suggested.  This pattern has a gauge for both the sole and the upper. The sole is crocheted with two strands held together while the upper is just one strand. This was pretty fast and easy to make. Using the hook with two strands gave me a little trouble but aside from that it was a quick project. When I finished them they really needed some shaping so I made an attempt at blocking them. I stuffed them with some small socks to keep the shape.  Here's the finished version. They are tiny. They're also adorable and they'll be going to the county fair in the footwear category.  How do they rate:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. 1.0 Does it look like the photo? Yes. 1.0 Would someone wear this? Yes. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Mostly. I never like making the second one of any pair for some reason but these were pretty fast. 0.75
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 Crochet Your Gifts is another book by The Spool Thread Company. The cover definitely dates this to the mid 1940s. Again, most of the patterns are made from thread of varying sizes. There are about 30 patterns in this booklet. I did a bib pattern from this booklet in August 2023 and shared some of the photos from the booklet then too. This time I'll share the very frilly pincushions and lampshades done in size 30 and 50 thread.
The doily is pretty and isn't made from super fine thread so it was a possibility for next week. Glass jackets come up a lot in this decade and the next few decades. I've made one and I use it to cover a jelly jar that holds hooks. It keeps sliding off though so I'm not sure how useful these are.
The Hot Plate Set is made from cotton Rug Yarn and the Luncheon set is made with Pearl Cotton size 5.
Both the filet pillow and the chair set are made from size 30 thread.
The first apron is crocheted in size 20 thread. The second in size 10. I'm assuming these are meant to be "good" aprons you'd wear for hosting or serving and not for cooking.
I won't leave out Smiling Pete this time. He's 18 inches tall and done in Pearl Cotton size 5 except for the hair that's made from rug yarn. They use double crochets so it not super tightly crocheted. There's no pattern for the clothing; it just says "dress as desired".  For next week, I'll be making the tiny shoes. If they turn out ok they'll go to the county fair as footwear.  I've wanted to make something out of this booklet for a while but hesitated because I had very little idea what the projects would look like when they were done. The chicken seemed like a good choice.  The pattern says to use J & P Coats Knit-Cro-Sheen; three balls of cream, two of dark yellow and one each of salmon and beige to make the chicken, basket and three chicks. The thread is "held double" throughout the pattern. To go with that thread held double, they suggest a size 4 steel hook (2 mm). You will also need cotton batting and black beads for eyes. I decided to use sport weight yarn and a 2.25 mm hook instead. They do give a gauge and I was pretty close to it with my yarn and hook choice. I used Red Heart Luster Sheen for the chicken, Knit Picks Brava Sport for the basket and scraps of pinkish and yellow-orange yarn for the wattle and the bill. I had the perfect shank buttons for the eyes so I didn't use beads. The directions for the chicken are not easy to read. It's done in three pieces, one for each side and then a gusset in the middle. The pieces give the directions for the head side of the piece you're working on and then say, "at the same time" make these increases and decreases on the tail side. I had to write it out by row. Here's my chicken-scratch:  It also uses a lot of measurements - things like "work until piece measures 5 inches from starting chain". That's great unless your gauge is different. You can see I have some estimates of how many rows I need based on my gauge. When you get all of the pieces done you have two chicken sides, a gusset, two pieces for the comb, two pieces for the wattle and a beak.  The assembly instructions say, "Place Gusset on under side between Body pieces, sew in place. Sew up Body, leaving an opening. Stuff, sew up opening." I decided to place the center of the gusset on the center of the starting chain at the bottom of the chicken. I think that worked pretty well. It also wants you to satin stitch with the beige thread on the chicken like the illustration to give it the little feather lines. I skipped that. The basket came together pretty easily but it says to stuff the basket and it's an open basket. I didn't think I'd like the look of white stuffing so I made some different choices for the hay/stuffing part of the basket. I considered using cut up paper like you would use for an easter basket but didn't want to pay for it when I had other things I could use at home (in the spirit of WW2). I used some fuzzy yarn to give it a hay like color and then used scrap yarn and fiber fill inside. Here's the finished chicken.  Now for the scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Enough so I didn't give up but it wasn't written in a way that made sense from end to end. 0.50 Does it look like the photo or illustration? 0.75 It sort of does considering that the illustration doesn't show a crocheted end product. Would someone wear or use this? Yes. It's a cute chicken. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Mostly. 0.75 Total score = 3 Even though this only got a 3 it turned out to be one of my favorite projects. Emotional support chicken patterns in crochet and knitting have been super popular and while this one looks nothing like those it still found a home as a support chicken with someone who loves her for her unique style.  Victory Barnyard was printed by The Spool Cotton Company in 1943 in the USA. WWII was still going on and rations were in effect. Victory gardens were a way to supplement rations so The Spool Cotton Company put out a little crochet booklet for a Victory Barnyard. There's a rooster, a cow, a hired man, Susan (the boss), a duck, a chicken and chicks, a goat, two sheep (black and white), a horse and a pig. Each project has a little poem to go with it. All projects are done with crochet thread, usually two strands held together.
It seems the rooster's job is to wake everyone up. It takes a special cow to add a chocolate ice-cream cone on top of butter. Must save a lot of churning for the hired man.
I don't know why "awful" is in quotes in the poem. Are they saying he isn't bright? It's war time so women had to be the boss.
The duck is the first one that doesn't have a specific job or purpose. She's just busy. The sheep gives wool for for mittens and clothing.
The chicken is hatching babies. Seems like the eggs might be more useful. The goat had to give up his cans for the salvage board. Everyone has to give up something.
The pig poem is my favorite because it is so dark. "When Hyacinth was born in May No one could tell or even say That all her little curves and joints Would one day be redeemed with points They only knew she'd give to man Those luscious sandwiches of ham." The chicken and goat could also be "redeemed with points" but they single out the pig.
I'm going to attempt the chicken in the basket but not the little chicks that go with it. You can see that these cute illustrations are probably not going to be super helpful. There are no photos or illustrations of the finished crochet versions. The Petite Pinafore's actual title says, "Daddy's Pin-Up Girl in this Petite Pinafore" which is a little weird but it was the 40s. It has directions for "Toddler Sizes 2 and 3" and uses Royal Society Baby Pearl. Because this used a size 7 aka 1.65mm steel hook I assumed that size 10 thread would work too. I used some Knit Picks Curio thread that was on clearance in the color tangerine to make this. It took me about a month, working off and on while I started to learn to knit.  They give a gauge of 2 shells and 4 rows equals 3/4 inch; 11 1/2 single crochets equal 1 inch. To start they tell you to make a chain about 24 inches saying that 11 chains stitches should make an inch. Then single crochet in the second chain from the hook and work across until there are 248 stitches, cut off the remaining chain. This absolutely did not work for me. The thread I used gave me a gauge of 8 stitches per inch. If I have a chain of 24 inches then I need somewhere around 192 single crochets before I get to the end of the row. The shell gauge was right on though so I'm not sure if this is an error in the pattern or if I just make big single crochets. Once I got going this was pretty simple but because it was thread it wasn't very fast to make. The photo makes it look more gathered than it really was. There were no increases beyond the first row of shells that you worked into the single crochet stitches. I looked a little closer to the photo and I think they just arranged it with some folds. I separated the straps in the front a little more than they did and I used the button cover pattern that I shared in January to cover the back button to make it match. Overall this went fine even if I couldn't match the gauge (which isn't included in the scoring anymore). I think this will go to the county fair in a child-other garment category.
Scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? The first part about making a chain a measured length and then giving a number of single crochets was odd. Shouldn't it be one or the other? I'm fine with working to a measurement. The length of this is done until you get to 9 inches for the smaller size. Since the gauge was a critical piece of the pattern it's getting marked down for the confusion. 0.75 Does it look like the photo? Yes, or it would if I'd put the straps closer together. 1.0 Would someone wear this? Yes. 1.0 Did I enjoy making this? Yes. Some thread stitches start to wear on my hands (like triple crochets for some reason). This was done in single and double crochets and the stitch pattern was easy to remember and didn't hurt my hands. 1.0 Total score = 3.75
I've had this booklet for a while and it has a lot of beautiful projects for babies. Twenty-eight are crochet projects and many of them are sets. Most of these use thread smaller than size 10 though so I haven't made anything out of it yet. Nine patterns use size 10 thread and there's one rug that uses rug yarn. There are also a few knitting patterns tossed in even though the title is "Hand Crochet". Let's look at some of these delicate baby items. This Irish Crochet dress is one of the two patterns done in size 50 thread. The other is a bassinet ruffle.  This Dream Dress and the little jacket are both made in size 30 thread. There is a third pattern with the same size thread; a carriage blanket.
These are made in Perle Cotton which runs in a slightly different sizing structure. The Perle Cotton 8 is smaller than size 10 thread and Perle Cotton 5 is close to the same as size 10 thread. I thought the little romper below was adorable.
Here are some of the projects in size 10 thread that I didn't pick to make next week.
 The adorable rug pattern with a fairy driving a snail has a terrifying Humpty-Dumpty doll in the photo. The doll is made with thread. The rug is made with worsted weight yarn.  For next week, I've made the Petite Pinafore in size 10 thread. Full disclosure; this isn't something I can make in a week so I started it in December and finished in mid-January.  I attempted to make all four of the potholders from Scatter Rugs. This booklet specifies Clark's ONT Cotton Rug Yarn for use in their patterns which is a cotton yarn and with a little more research I think it's likely to be a worsted weight yarn. They suggest a size G hook to go with it. I had some vintage rug yarn; Aunt Lydia's cotton/nylon blend. Not only was it too heavy for a G hook, it started shedding a lot. It was pretty old so I had to throw that out and try with some worsted weight cotton. I used Big Twist "Cotton" which is 85% cotton and 15% polyester and 24/7 Cotton and that worked a lot better. Some were bigger "Hits" than others.  Let's start with the "Hits" 9142-A is a waffle stitch. I used a G hook for this with the Big Twist Cotton in Pastel Blue. This went really quickly. It's a pretty simple stitch and they explained it well. The border is one row of single crochet with three stitches in the corners.  9142-A 9142-B is the third one from the top. The pattern says to chain 20 to measure 5.5 inches, maybe to give you a gauge? Then it gives you the instructions for the first shell row, telling you that should have three shells. I did this one with a 4.5mm hook instead of the G Hook (4mm) because the shells were bunching up a lot with the smaller hook. It has three rounds of single crochet to finish it off.  9142-B 9142-E is the fourth one from the top. This is just a square done in single crochet with a two color border. It's very simple but the starting chain directions were a little different. They say, "Starting at one end, with main color make a chain to measure 10 inches. 1st row: sc in 2nd chain from hook and each ch across until row measures 7 inches. Cut off remaining chain." The rest is making single crochet rows until it gets to 7 inches and then doing a single crochet edging in two other colors. That seems a bit exact for a pot holder. You can just make a row of single crochets and then work rows until it's roughly square. Let's not overthink a single crochet pot holder!  9142-E 9142-D is the second one from the top and the only one that was a complete miss for me. This one starts out with the same type of starting row where you do a bunch of stitches then single crochet back until you get the actual length you want and cut off the rest. This pot holder is made in a type of star stitch but the star stitch is done so that it doesn't take up as many stitches going across and the star stitches are kind of bulky. This was giving me a curve that I didn't like so I stopped. I could have gone back and done a really loose chain row or foundation stitch and that would have helped.  9142-D Scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Mostly. I was confused by the varying instructions for cutting off the chain. 0.75 Does it look like the photo or illustration? Yes for the three out of four I finished. 0.75 Would someone use this? These are pretty flimsy for a pot holder. Maybe the rug yarn would have been a little thicker but it was bunching up with the hook size they recommended. They make good washcloths or something to set a pan on to protect a table. I don't think I would use them to pull a pan out of the oven. 0.75 Did I enjoy making them? Yes once I got rid of the vintage Aunt Lydia's yarn that felt super icky. 1.0 Total score = 3.25 We're up to the 1940s. Most patterns I have from that year are either thread or rug yarn. Scatter Rugs is one of the rug yarn booklets. This booklet has three different methods of making a rug; crochet, shaggy and pompon. The shaggy and pompon are made by tying bundles of yarn to a rug base.
This booklet specifies Clark's ONT Cotton Rug Yarn which is probably somewhere between a worsted and super bulky yarn. They suggest a size G hook to go with it which seems a bit small for super bulky. Here are some of the crochet rugs. The first ones are intended to match maple floors. The second is tells you how to make a footstool cover to match.
I'm not sure why the oval one is called a kitten's paw. There's another version of that same pattern with a stripe around the outside. I thought the elephant was kind of cute. The gold one is called Glamour Girl and is made with a lot of puff stitches. Making those stitches with a heavy yarn and a G hook sounds like a recipe for sore hands.
Here are versions of the Shaggy and Pompon rugs. They're cute but sound kind of tedious. First you make the bundles or pompons. Then you tie them to the rug base you can buy. It could be a way to use up scraps though.
There was one set of patterns in the booklet that was not a rug. They suggested that you can use the leftover rug yarn for pot holders. They're titled Hit-and-Miss Potholders. Find out next week if they'll be a hit or a miss.
 By 1936 the issues are down to just seven pages. This issue has 7 patterns; a crocheted tie, an ascot scarf crocheted in knot stitch, a three piece knit suit (cover image) and turnip and carrot crocheted pan holders. I decided to try the pan holders. I think that almost every booklet I have from this era has a crocheted pot or pan holder in it. I could easily do one every week from the 1930s and 1940s and never run out of patterns. Here is the illustration for the potholders. I'm not sure what's going on in the tiny illustration between the two pan holders though. Is the food on fire?  The pattern says to use a mercerized cotton thread such as Lily's Frost-Tone. You need 20 yds of lavender, 90 yds of white and 5 yards of green and a number 3 (2.1mm) steel hook. The pattern starts out at the bottom of the turnip and works in rounds with double crochet stitches. It switches to white and single crochet in rounds for a while and then asks you to start turning the row and leave an opening on the side. The green top is just loops of chains.  This pattern was pretty easy to make but I was a little confused about it's use. The photo below is the finished pan holder. It's 5.5 inches tall (not including the green) and about 4.5 inches across at the widest spot.  I slid it on to the handle through the open side to use it. I'm not sure how effective this is. Using it like this means the fabric is only one layer and using a 2.1 mm hook meant that the stitches aren't super tight. I don't think this would protect from the heat and it doesn't give any extra grip on the pan either. I'd reach for this as a pan holder as a last resort and expect my hand to get a little toasted.
Here's the scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. 1.0 Does it look like the photo or illustration? Sort of. My version seems a bit fatter and if it was done in all purple it could easily pass for an eggplant. 0.5 Would someone use this? I think it's pretty unlikely to be used as a pan holder. Should I sew it up and stuff it to make a weird stuffed vegetable? 0.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. It went pretty fast and it had enough different stitches that it wasn't completely boring. 1.0 Total Score = 2.5  The first Aunt Martha's Workbasket was published in October 1935. The first issue was 16 pages and has two crochet projects and two other projects. It was intended to be for "pleasure and profit" so people could make things to sell. There is a lot of text in this first issue explaining what they plan to do with the magazine and why. You can see the whole thing at the Antique Pattern Library. Here's a quick overview of the contents. On page three she says for future issues, "Right now, crochet is the thing, so I'm going to give you directions for a purse, also a beret and scarf". She said someone was selling the purse for $1.50 each. Page 4-5 is text telling where to buy the other collections. Page 6 gives us our first pattern and it's a crocheted pajama bag or pillow and there is no illustration or photo. The following pages are "How and Why to Sell", "Gift and Shower Suggestions", what to crochet for a booth at a Bazaar (coat hangers, collars, cuffs, scarves, berets) and more ads for their own patterns. Page 11 gives us our next actual pattern. This time it's the cover illustration.  The next project is a transfer under the title of "Parade of Nations" intended to be used as embroidery or an applique quilt and illustrates a Hawaiian person picking flowers.
The last project is coasters cut from cardboard. They say you can cover them in paper with paste or rubber cement and then shellacked. She says, "If you wish to make your coasters really "snitzy" you can cut a base just a bit smaller from an old felt hat and glue it to the bottom". I did not make any of the projects from this issue but I did find one to make in the October 1936 issue and I'll share that next week. I made the Baby Sachet out of the Crochet Designs of Anne Orr booklet. I used some scrap fingering weight wool and a size 8 steel hook (1.50 mm) which is a little smaller than I usually use for thread.
This is done in a fairly simple version of a star stitch where you cut the yarn at the end of the row and start over on the same side. That means there were a lot ends. Instead of sewing them in I just tied them together and tucked them inside with the stuffing (which was also yarn). You make two star stitch triangles and sew them together before adding the edging. The edging was supposed to be a triple crochet but I used a double instead and I used a flower I had instead for the ribbon they used. I didn't use any sachet powder. You could add some essentials oils to the stuffing if you really wanted to use it as a sachet.  This was pretty easy to do but I don't know what makes this specifically for a baby.
Here's the scoring: Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. They did a pretty good job of describing a star stitch. 1.0 Does it look like the photo or illustration? Yes 1.0 Would someone use this? Yes. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. It was a fast and easy scrap project. 1.0 Total = 4.0 Another perfect score! Anne Orr was a prolific designer in the early 1900s. She designed not only crochet but also knitting, tatting, quilting and embroidery. She had almost 100 designs published between 1910-1945. Many were done in partnership with thread companies but she often published them herself. She was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 1980 and they have an excellent summary of her work. The booklet of her designs that I have was published in 1978 by Dover Publications. Most of the patterns included in it are patterns published with J & P Coats Inc from 1917-1923.  Her designs are almost all thread and often size 20-50 thread. The Shamrock Yoke below is made with size 50 thread and the Yoke with Sleeves is size 20.   Most of the patterns in this booklet are also a filet style crochet.
 There were lots of collars, yokes and inserts but I thought this sweater was stunning.  There were some instructions included and the cross-stitch patterns that were stitches onto many of the articles made were very pretty.
I did find one easy project that was not made from thread. I'll be making a baby sachet.
I'm now on BlueSky and I post under aronningen.bsky.social. I've been working my way backwards through all of my projects on Ravelry so if you want to see all the things I make, not just the vintage ones, that's a great place to see it. If you do, I recommend clicking on the pictures and reading the alt text for the more recent posts. This little book was published by Bernhard Ulman Co., Inc in 1916. Bernhard Ulman Co also owned Bucilla Manufacturing Co and this booklet was designed to show people how to use their mercerized thread. I will not be making anything out of this because most things are either inserts or are intended to be attached to part of a kit that Bucilla had available by mail order. I still wanted to share because the illustrations in this booklet are beautiful.  Many of the patterns had photos or detailed illustrations but some also had illustrations of how the embellished item would be used. The first photo is a table cloth with an insertion. The rest are illustrations of inserts in dresses.
The booklet starts you out with instructions on the stitches. Here's just one page of several.  This doily starts out with a purchased medallion that you crochet around. It would definitely make it much faster to finish one.  They also have this view of a bathroom from that era filled with filet adorned towels. In case you're wondering which towels are which; 5169 is a guest towel, 5168 is a show towel, 5171 is a laundry bag, 5170 is a wash cloth. That tub is pretty amazing but those curves might be hard to clean.  Next week I'll share the Annie Orr Booklet I have!
This button pattern is from the Lady's world Fancy Work Book, no. 26, October 1912. This is a very simple pattern. I almost feel a little guilty for picking something that turned out so simple. I used a size 7 steel hook and some scrap fingering weight wool to make this. The button they suggest is only 1/2 inch in diameter so it was a little fiddly to get on. I've included the directions below (remember this is UK terms so their double crochet is our single crochet) if you want to make one.
Scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. 1.0 Does it look like the illustration? It's hard to see and I didn't get as many rounds as they did but it does look like the photo. 1.0 Would someone wear this? Yes. It would work for a button and could be a fun way to dress up a sweater. Did I enjoy making this? Yes. 1.0 Total 4.0 We're starting the year with a perfect score! There were sixteen patterns in the booklet from 1911-1917. For 1911, they pulled three from Weldon's Practical Needlework; a Rose Sachet, a Lady's Sport Cap in Crazy Stitch and the Rose Peter Pan Collar
The fourth was sourced from Lady's World Fancy Work Book and is done in a knot stitch and fine weight yarn or thread. They even added a photo of the what the stitch is supposed to look like.
For the 1912 patterns they went with ornamental projects. The buckles, butterfly and handbag are all from Weldon's and the button is from Lady's World Fancy Work Book.
 Weldon's, Vol 27, No 323, 138th Crochet Series
They had this beautiful shoe from 1914 from Irish Crochet, a Handbook of Practical Instruction. There are two pages of instructions and they attach the motifs to a pair of silk or satin evening shoes.  1917 patterns are flowers, gloves and a hat. The flowers are all from Lady's World Fancy Work Book. The Folkstone Hat is from Fancy Needlework Illustrated and the Gloves are from Weldon's Practical Needlework. (Is the hat "fancy" and are the gloves "practical"?)
I thought about trying one of the flowers but decided on the button since the last one was kind of failure as a button. Next week I'll have the finished button. I'm sure this will be a pretty fast project but I'll have bigger ones coming up the year.
For 2025 I'll use patterns from 1911-1949. I'm going to focus on giving the patterns I have in physical form some love so there will be some big gaps in the 1920s and the early half of the 30s. For 1911-1916, I have the Crochet Designs booklet that also had Victorian era patterns, a Bucilla Blue Book from 1913 and a compilation of Annie Orr patterns. Annie Orr's patterns were published between 1910-1945 and will be the only source for the 1920s-1930s. Workbasket Magazine started publishing in 1935 so I'm going to make an exception to the physical pattern for the first two issues. Since the gift of the Workbasket Magazines from my mother-in-law, Alma, started this whole blog I think that's a fair exception. I have plenty of patterns from the 1940s so most of the year will be spent in that decade. Next week I'll start with the Crochet Designs booklet below. It has nine patterns from 1911-1912 and I have plans to make a pretty simple one.
 It's time for the worst projects from 2024. Here are the eight projects that were given a score of 3.0 or below (out of 5.0). Two projects had a score of 3.0; The Gentleperson's cap and Gentleman's mittens. The cap was the first project I made for this year and it would have come in higher if there had been a photo. I ended up rewriting the pattern and making a second version in gray and white. It's not really a bad project just more confusing than most.
These mittens were a little weird but somehow got a decent score. It's mostly because I kind of enjoyed the odd directions and thumb placement.  Two patterns received a score of 2.75. The Harlequin Ball that I made out of worsted weight instead of fingering weight had a really interesting construction for a ball. The crochet button was more like a small motif than a button.   The Harold Bootie came in at 2.5. I liked the Point Muscovite Stitch but the rest of the bootie was a struggle partially because of the yarn I used with the star stitch.  The Crochet Medallion got a pretty low score but I ended up adjusting it enough that it got a ribbon at the county fair.  The last two patterns are the Wool Dahlia (1.5) and the unscored stitch pattern group from March. The Wool Dahlia had confusing directions which led to it's low score.  The Rice Stitch and the Beehive pattern turned out ok but I couldn't get the Lewis Point Stitch to look like their illustration.
 Beehive Pattern That's the end of the year of Victorian patterns. Did you have a favorite? I'll start 2025 with the year 1911 and hopefully get into the mid 1940s by the end of the year. I made twenty Victorian era projects over the last year. The average score was 3.03 out of 4. Not too bad for patterns written in a different style. Twelve patterns came in above that average. Here they are from best (4.0) to pretty good (3.25). There were three patterns that got a score of 4.0. The Jar for Pence, the Red and White Square and the Crazy Stitch. The Jar for Pence sits on my desk with random coins in it. I haven't done anything with the Crazy Stitch yet but I loved the texture it created. I think the Red and White Square ended up being given away.
 Six patterns had a score of 3.5. The Square in Rib and Shell Pattern, the Polo Edging, the Baby's Crochet Hat, the Josephine Stitch (the only Tunsian project), a Quilt Square and the Three Ring Edging. I like how both of the squares turned out but I really enjoyed doing the Josephine Stitch. The squares are being used like a doily and a coaster and the hat was given away to family.
This Pretty Pattern for Odds and Ends got a score of 3.40 but it's one of my favorite finished projects. I love the color choices I made on this one but took off the edging.
Two patterns came in at 3.25. The Cloud and the Simple Spider Filet. The Cloud was really big but it ultimately found a home.   Next week I'll share the eight below average patterns.
I'm back with part two, the weirder part. Let's start with these Candle Coverups. They are not intended to cover up candles; instead they are covering up and decorating hair spray and toilet paper.  Sticking with the cover up theme; you should really hide that powder box and it has to be with this princess doll. Does the trim look like a bandolier to you? Maybe its not make-up powder she's hiding.  Santa is covering up toilet paper with a tissue box. I guess you could get a Santa mask and hands at your local craft store or Benjamin Franklin's in the 80s. The hands look like AI made them.  As long as we're talking about Santa, how about this cute little change purse. I think Santa's other form is an angry owl.  This stocking is a little confusing to me. Are the different stitch patterns supposed to give it a 3-D look or did they mean for the foot to look that way?  Here are a few clothing items. The helmet isn't terrible - they note that it's also for girls in parentheses. The Pregnancy top purports to be a great gift for your pregnant friends. The pattern is made with two pieces that are exactly the same, so in theory it's reversible. I'm not sure how well that would actually fit.
The Teddy Car Freshener looks a bit scary - I think it's the eyes. The Doll Dress Potholders must be decorative because that bow is a fire risk.
And for the last one I leave you with Gnome Slippers. No copyright issues here! Gnome, Gnomette and Papa Gnome are made with blue worsted weight yarn.  Would you make any of these?
 This two-part holiday special is brought to you by Women's Household Crochet's Christmas Special from 1983. I was paging through this and decided that it had to be shared. If you're looking for things to make the people who annoy you this will have a few options. Before I dive into the 1983 weirdness, I want to show a few things in this magazine that I thought were cute and would make good gifts. There were the usual snowflakes and wreath ornaments and this three bell ornament that was lovely.  These two sweaters also involved knitting but they're cute and are still wearable today.
This blouse is a little frilly in my opinion.  The gumball machine is interesting. I don't think it actually works but still cute. The purse is nice and is probably pretty quick to work up.
Now we're getting a little weirder. These call out Minnesota in the description and might have been good for ice skates or boots that were a little too big. I think these might slip around and be more annoying that helpful.  The title for this stocking says "Pretty Flowers in the Snow". I have to assume that there is a faint flower on that big dark patch.  These pot holders must be purely decorative. They don't say how big they are but the first one is only 5 rounds of worsted weight yarn. For the third, we only have their word that it's Rudolph. Because they used black and white for the photos, we can't see if his nose is red.  Here is Red Riding Hood. It's not terrible, but something seems a little off.  Next week I'll share the really unusual patterns!
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