 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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The spider in it's simplest form wasn't quite as simple as I thought. The directions are pretty vague and assume you know how they define an open and solid mesh. I looked very closely at the photo to figure it out. It didn't help that they put the photo sideways. I did end up with something that looks pretty similar but I had to work backwards in some spots to figure it out. I tried to write it down but after re-reading what I wrote, I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. Here are the basics. Chain 32 and dc in 9th stitch from hook. An open mesh is a dc, skip 2, dc in next. A closed mesh puts dcs in the skipped stitches. At the beginnings of the rows I chained 5 and did a dc in the next dc. Let me know if you try this!   Scoring: Is the pattern easy to understand? This assumes some basic knowledge. Even with that knowledge this could be a little clearer. 0.5 Does it look like the photo? Yes. 1.0 Would someone use this? Yes. If done with more length this could be an insertion or other lacy type thing. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Mostly. I really had to blow up the photo to see it. 0.75 Score =3.25 For the next two weeks, I have very special Holiday posts featuring a 1980s crochet magazine dedicated to Christmas. I'll share the patterns that look ok and those that are, shall we say "interesting". After that I'll do the best and the worst patterns of the year before we move on to the mid 1900s. This week we'll take a quick look at "My Book No. G, The Antique Design or Spider. In many variations-Showing Yokes: Corners, Edges and Insertions". It's by Emma Farnes, published by E.C. Spuehler in 1910. This booklet is viewable on the Antique Pattern Library website. This is Book G in a series of 10 booklets. The Antique Pattern Library has several of the booklets available but not the entire series. This website links to a Catalog of Copywrite that says that Emma Farnes was a pseudonym for E.C. (Edwin Christopher) Spuehler.  The booklet is formatted with a sample of the finished pattern shown and the instructions in text near the sample.  These range from the simple versions above all the way to a few yoke patterns   For next week, I'll try the one at the top called, "In it's simplest form".
 I made this 1910 pattern for buttons in size 10 cotton thread and my trusty size 7 steel hook. I planned to make more than one because they're small and they looked easy. I only made one. The pattern needs to be adjusted for US standard so all dc stitches are single crochets and I used a half double crochet stitch for the short treble. The roll stitch aka the bullion stitch is described well even if it was the stitch that made me give up after the first button. I tried it with fewer yarn/thread overs and I just couldn't pull it off (or through) consistently with thread. I think their suggested thread is smaller and silkier than the thread I used. I'm not sure if that would make it easier or harder. I also had trouble following the repeats and it doesn't look quite right in my first attempt. To be fair, the ones they have in the photo don't look like they have a consistent picot pattern either.  My finished button is about 1.75 inches across. It's pretty soft so I don't think it could be substituted for an actual button. It seems more decorative.
Here's the rating: Is the pattern easy to understand? Mostly. The repeats could be better written.0.75 Does it look like the photo? Yes 1.0 Would someone use this? Maybe? 0.5 Did I enjoy making it? Eh... Not super fond of the bullion stitch with thread. I could have tried this with a heavier yarn and made a coaster. 0.5 Total 2.75 Next week it's spiders! There are eight patterns in the Crochet Designs booklet from the year 1904 through 1910. One of these might look familiar. I'll share them in order of publication. First, we have a yoke pattern from Weldon's Practical Needlework, Vol 19, no 224, 75th Series, (August 1904) is worked in No 36 size crochet cotton and uses a paper pattern that they want you to make and fit the strips to make the size you need.  There are two patterns from 1907. A pretty hair-pin lace shawl from Lady's World Fancy Work Book, no. 3 (Jan 1907). The pattern is pretty detailed on how to make a hair pin and attach the pieces together. The second is a "Crocheted Blouse for a Lady". It's from Weldon's Practical Needlework, Vol 22, no 257, 93rd Crochet series (May 1907). The model appears to be holding some kind of sports equipment and the pattern says that it is for "wearing at sports such as hockey, golf, etc". This pattern also requires knitting needles.
We have two patterns from 1909. The Wool Jacket is from Weldon's Practical Needlework, Vol 24, no 280, 109th Crochet Series (April 1909). The Ladies' Ribbed Crochet Tie is from Needlecraft Practical Journal, Vol 6, no 79 (1909) and should look familiar. I made it in March of 2023.
There are three patterns from 1910. The Star Stitch Camisole is from Weldon's Practical Needlework, Vol 25, no. 294, 119th Crochet Series (June 1910). It's hard to see the detail in the photo below but they do include a close up of the stitch in the pattern.  This belt is also from Weldon's Practical Needlework. This time it's Vol 25, No 300, 123rd Series (December 1910). It looks like a very simple pattern with only two rows.  I'll be attempting the Crochet Buttons for next week. This pattern is from Lady's World Fancy Work Book, no 16, (April 1910). The pattern uses DMC Coton Perle or Sylko No 16. Sylko was a thread made in the UK for sewing in this time frame. They must have made a heavier cotton for other purposes too. Coats uses the name Sylko now for embroidery thread used in manufacturing and it's all polyester. I may end up just using size 10 thread.  The pattern is in the photo. Let me know if you try it!
Time to finish up the Victorian era. have one more booklet that has a few early 1900 patterns and then I'll move on to later decades. The Crochet Designs Fashion & Accessories Reprinted from Victorian & Edwardian Sources was compiled by Gertrude Kuehl for the Knitting and Crochet Guild in London. This booklet was printed in 1990. It has 29 patterns from 1855-1917.  It has a hook comparison chart along with a Bell Gauge and a list of yarn categories to tell you what "modern" yarn could be used in place of the older description. The introduction goes through a little history and explanation of terminology. It says one of the things I've discovered over the last year, "Generally speaking 19th century crochet patterns provide either a fest or famine in written details." They go on to say that one of the reasons that Victorian and Edwardian patterns often didn't give you the hook size or gauge is so the would be more open-ended. Most people that did needlework then could draft clothing patterns and would use patterns and stitches to make a fabric that they would then create to fit their hand drafted pattern. They would put in their own increases and decreases to fit that pattern. The patterns were much more adaptable even if they seemed vague to us. I'll share the three from the Victorian era this week and then next week I'll move on to 1904-1910. This collar is from 1848. The index says its from The Crochet Book by Mdlle Riego de La Branchardiere, 4th ed,. London. This pattern uses the word "plain" in place of single crochet (I think).  This purse is from Treasures in Needlework, by Mrs. Warren and Mrs. Pullan, London, 1855  The last pattern from the Victorian era in this booklet is this wrap. It's from Mrs. Leach's Fancy Work Basket Vol. 12, no. 137 February 1897. It's described as useful for an invalid or an evening wrap. While this is a long and detailed pattern it does say that you can change the size by, "varying the number of stitches and rows".  Next week I'll share the eight patterns from 1904-1910 and tell which one I'll attempt to make. For this week's blog post I made the Little Harold Boot. Aside from the different stitch patterns this looked like it would be pretty easy to do. The top is done in what they call Point Muscovite and the foot is done in what we would call the star stitch and they refer to as a shell stitch. I'll include the instructions at the end if anyone wants to try after they see my version. They suggest 1 oz of sport weight yarn and a hook equivalent to a 2.25 mm hook. I used Fair Isle Harbor which is a very loosely plied yarn. That caused me some difficulty working the star stitches.  The top part went well. The Point Muscovite stitch alternates a chain-3 and a single crochet. The single crochet makes the chain-3 fold over a little and gives you that bump. It's easy to do and gives a fun texture to the project. I imagine the loops would help hold in the heat and keep little feet warm. For the next part, you do a round of the star stitch. Their version has a lot of extra yarn overs that wasn't working well with the loosely plied yarn so I did a version with fewer yarn overs. The directions are also kind of difficult to read with multiple yarn over - insert hook, etc. After that row, they have you cut the yarn and do the instep where they say you should do it over the center five stitches. The problem here is that I ended up with 19 star stitches and this means there are seven center stitches if I need six on each side for the rest of the pattern. I had to write out the stitch pattern and read through the boot part to be sure. Maybe it would work fine and I could just skip stitches later but I did five stars stitches over the seven center star stitches. This section has you cut the yarn after each row of the four row instep. Yay more ends to sew in!  Boot after instep is completed. The boot section treats the instep sort of like short rows. You end up crocheting around it and decreasing to make the toe and foot. They don't really tell you how to do a decrease star stitch but it isn't too hard to figure out. They manage to do all of their decreases in only five rows. I still had a big hole for the bottom of the foot at the end of row five (23 star stitches) so I did two more decrease rounds to get to something more reasonable to sew up without making an extremely skinny foot. The last piece is the tie that goes through the loops. The directions for that made simple ties that has a little more structure than just a chain stitch.  Tie for boot Here is the finished boot next to their illustration. Mine seems like it's made for a baby with a very tiny foot and chubby ankles. I could try blocking it since the yarn is cotton/viscose but I think I'm done with it. There won't be a second bootie for this pattern.
Here's the rating
Is the pattern easy to understand? Not really. I figured it out but I had to map it out. 0.5 Does it look like the illustration: Sort of. You can tell they're meant to be the same thing. 0.5 Would someone wear this? If you had a very particular foot shape you could wear it. 0.5 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. I really like the Point Muscovite stitch and their version of the tie was nice. 1.0 Total Score 2.50 Minimally tested and edited pattern for the Little Harold Boot in point muscovite and shell stitch: 1 oz sport weight yarn. 2.25 mm hook Ch 34 for the top of the leg and join round 1: Do 1 sc in the first chain stitch, insert the hook in the next stitch and draw the work through, work 3 chain, yarn over and draw through 2 stitches on the hook and continue thus, doing 1 sc and 1 point alternately; and proceed round and round for 12 rounds always working 1 sc over a point stitch and a point stitch over a sc. 13: this is an open round in which to run a tie round the ankle; it should begin under the tag end of yarn at the back of the leg; make 3 ch to stand for dc, dc on the next stitch, * 1 ch, miss one, 2 dc on the next two, and repeat from *; end with 1 chain, miss one, 1 dc close to the chain with which the round commenced and join evenly; there should be 11 groups of 2 dc. Work 2 rounds of sc with 34 stitches in each round. First round of Shell stitch for the boot Beginning at the back of the leg – do 3 chain; yarn over, insert the hook in the chain stitch by the hook and draw the yarn through, yarn over, insert the hook in the next chain stitch and draw the yarn through, yarn over, insert the hook in the stitch of last round where the chain springs from and draw the yarn through, yarn over, insert the hook in the next stitch of the previous row and draw the yarn through, then yarn over and draw through all the 9 stitches on the hook and do 1 chain to tighten the group; (my note: Each stitch takes up two single crochets, except where it says to increase) *yarn over, insert the hook in the little hole formed by the one chain stitch and draw the yarn through, yarn over, insert the hook in a back thread of the lower part of the stitch just made and draw the yarn through, yarn over, insert the hook in the next stitch of the previous row and draw the yarn through, yarn over, insert the hook in the next following stitch of the previous row and draw the yarn through, then yarn over and draw through all the 9 stitches on the hook, and do 1 chain to tighten the group; work 4 more shell stitches as from *; then increase by getting 2 shell stitches over the next two stitches of the last row; then 3 shell stitches to cove over the six middle stitches of last row; another increase of 2 shell stitches over two sc stitches and 6 more shell stitches to complete the round, and join evenly to the first stitch of the round and break off the yarn. (my note: 19 shell/stars) For the Instep Draw the yarn through the little hole to the left of the seventh shell stitch, do 3 ch and work 5 shell stitches over the center five stitches of last row and break off yarn. (are you sure? I think it's seven center stitches) Draw the yarn through the uppermost of the three chain stitches with which the last row began and work in the same manner 5 shell stitches over 5 shell stitches. Work 2 more instep rows of 5 stitches in each row; and work another row of 3 shell stitches over the 3 center stitches which completes the instep. For the Boot 2nd round: begin at the back of the leg on the first round of the shell stitches. Work 6 shells over six stitches, 7 more shells to come up to the corner of the instep, 1 shell at the corner, 3 at the toe, 1 at the other corner, 13 along opposite side to correspond with the first side of the boot; join at the end of the round. In this round there are 31 shell stitches 3rd round. Do 6 shells over 6, then 1 over the 2 next, 1 over each of the 15 next, 1 over the two next and 1 over each of six making 29 shell stitches and join round. 4th round. Do 1 shell over each of 12 stitches, 1 over the two next, 1 over the next stitch which is the center stitch of the toe, 1 over the two next and 1 over each of the 12 stitches, 27 shells in the round and join. 5th round. Do 1 shell over two stitches of last round, 1 over each of nine, 1 over two, 1 over each of nine and 1 over the last two stitches, making in all 23 stitches, and join. Break off with a long end of yarn and sew along the sole of the boot; and in case any holes appear down the back of the heel where the rounds are joined, darn such neatly up. 23 stitches still left a big hole. I did two more rounds of decreases. A double chain is worked to run around the ankle, thus Work 2 chains stitches as usual, then insert the hook in the first chain stitch and draw the yarn through, yarn over the hook and draw through 2 stitches on the hook, * insert the hook in the stitch (loop) to the left and draw the yarn through, yarn over the hook and draw through 2 stitches on the hook, repeat from * for the length required then run the chain through the holes that have been prepared to receive it, join in front and make a small rosette of single crochet stitches as shown in the engraving.  This is the last series in the Weldon book I have. There are twenty patterns in this series; nineteen have illustrations. Some are pretty similar to things we've already seen but there are some new fancy articles in this series. For babies and children we have the usual petticoats, dresses and a jacket. They had a second pelisse for a child that didn't have an illustration.
Plus a doll and some little booties.
For adult wearables we have a cape, a mantle, a hat, chemise trim and a shawl. There was also a Lady's petticoat in tricot that was on the fold.
 For the house we have some different items. These first three fancy articles are made around a cardboard box and lined (they suggest silk).
We also have a two pincushions and a tea cozy.
 For next week, I'm going to attempt the Harold booties. There were a lot of booties in these series and I haven't tried any of them. The Point Muscovite stitch is used in the booties and in the tea cozy above. I like the textured look it has so we'll see how that looks when I make it.
 This series is all borders. Let's jump right in. There are a lot of borders for sideboards and trays. The wheel border in the bottom right panel looks similar to the one I made with the plastic rings. This one has you wind the thread around your finger nine times and then start crocheting around that to make a ring instead of using a form
Some borders imitate other types of lace.
Here are some more typical borders. The rose border looks like a border version of a doily that shows up a lot in vintage books.
I had planned to do the Pine-apple border. It's worked side to side and looked like one of the easier ones but even after trying to write it out, I just couldn't follow it. This is one that would have been better as a chart. So, no project from this series.  Next week we'll be looking at the last Weldon's Series in this book. We'll be moving out of the Victorian period by the end of October.
 The sixteenth and eighteenth series are all about using molds to crochet around to make some very pretty edgings. I could only find a substitute for the circles so that narrowed down my options. I decided to try this triple wheel border. I found 1 inch plastic rings at Joann's that seemed like they would work.  The directions say these are, "quite easy to work". They used a thread that was described as having green, tan and fawn colors. They also say you need some gold thread to fill the middle of the wheels. I'll be skipping that part. I used #10 thread in purple and my trusty size 7 steel crochet hook. This was pretty easy to do. They get joined together in what we would think of as a "join as you go" method. The difficult part was figuring out where that was supposed to go. The directions sort of told you but that didn't seem like it worked out quite right. I used the photo to get those joins in the right spot. The heading was equally confusing on where to join and in this case the illustration wasn't very helpful. I just made some choices and got it done regardless of the directions and even the illustration. The heading in the illustration seemed to have an extra stitch that I couldn't figure out. I skipped the little pendants too. Ultimately, I got something that looks a lot like the photo.  I think something like this would make an interesting valance for a window or a lot of these together could make a fun curtain.
Now for the rating: Is the pattern easy to understand? Partly 0.5 Does it look like the illustration? Yes (or it would if I added the extra center and pendants) 1.0 Would someone use this? Yes. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. It went pretty quickly even though I had to make some adjustments along the way. 1.0 The total is 3.5 out of 4 Next week it's a series that is all borders! There are two series in the book that use "moulds". This post pulls from both series to show a sampling of the different kinds of trims they make with the shapes. The shapes are sold by, "Messrs. Carl Mez and Sohne, whose goods are stocked by every fancy depot and art needlework establishment." This company still exists today as Mez. Their history page says the company was founded in 1785 and is responsible for major innovations in thread making. They were first taken over by JP Coats in 1932 and in 2020 they became a part of LEVITO AG, a Swiss investment company. While they don't appear to sell the forms anymore they are the parent company for other well known yarn and thread brands like Opti, Red Heart, Schachenmayr, Regia and Milward. There is quite a bit of the history of the different brand on their website. There are sections for the history of sewing, embroidery, knitting and crochet. The history sections are found at the bottom of the linked page. Crocheting around these forms makes some very pretty edgings. I think these would be pretty heavy on clothing depending on what the molds are made from. They say that, "though stiff, are not at all heavy nor cumbrous." They are very specific about the threads they think you should use and use multiple paragraphs to describe the wonderful qualities of thread you can get from Messrs. Carl Mez and Sohne of Aldermabury, London. They warn against using cheap sorts of gold thread since they can tarnish and, "make the work look shabby before it is half worn out." These two series are basically an ad plus patterns for the thread. Below are some of the examples of the patterns using the molds.
 I found some plastic rings that seemed like they'd be a good size for something that used a round form and I'm going to try to make part of the Triple Wheel Border pictured at the top.
Late edit to this. My sister found some articles about the moulds that were made of pasteboard. They can be found here, with the two specific articles being, "The Latest Novelty in Crochet Work" from the 1892 Ladies' Home Journal and "Modern Crochet Work" from Cassell's Family Magazine, 1894 In July, I took a quick trip to Asheville and while there I saw a lot of crochet. I found it in antique stores, in art sale booths, in the Wolfe Memorial house and even on a passenger on my flight home (no picture of that though). Because this is "Craft Across Time" we'll start with the more vintage crochet and end with some modern art. Here are a few of the things I saw in antique stores. Several bedspreads that were in ok condition. They had broken threads and stains. Clearly used and loved.
A few tablecloths and runners in surprisingly good shape. They were probably only brought out for special occasions.
A few acrylic blankets that will never fall apart. I was a little surprised by the $39 price on the first one but, it would probably cost that to make it new even without including the labor involved. We have a similar chevron blanket in the same colors in the second photo. It's a classic.
The Thomas Wolfe Memorial house had crochet in almost every room. I was having trouble with my phone that day so I only ended up with two photos from the dining room.   There were several places that had a lot of different booths with art to buy and there was crochet in both of the ones I went to. In some cases the prices seemed right on. In others, I was skeptical that they sold anything. I've included the prices below so you can make your own judgement.
The biggest and my favorite crochet surprise was the one I found at the Asheville Art Museum.   Caitlin has very interesting and cool fiber art sculptures and other artwork. Here is a quote from her website; "Caitlin McCormack (b. 1988) is a Philadelphia-based artist who utilizes textiles to explore queerness, isolation, loss, and existential dread through an uncanny, occasionally humorous lens. Their sculptures contemplate societal reluctance to view gendered craft as art and regard crochet as a behavioral response to apocalyptic conditions." The art on the specimens page of the website were my favorites. To see those and more here is the website: caitlinmccormack.com
Asheville has a lot of art and the fiber arts were definitely not left out of the mix. It was a fun trip! For this week's blog, I've attempted to make this square.  They want you to make this with Strutt's red and white knitting cotton No. 8 and a steel hook No. 17. Strutt's Knitting Cotton No. 8 is a Perle/Pearl Cotton is about the same size as crochet thread size 20 and is actually smaller and more slippery than regular size 10 crochet cotton. Their size 17 hook is 1.5mm or a what I have as a size 8 hook. I typically use a 1.65mm for size 10 crochet cotton so this confirmed the estimate I made on the thread size. I had a stash of varied colors of pearl cotton in that size that I haven't used much of so I pulled it out tried it with the 1.65mm hook. And before I even made it past the first two rows I realized I hated working with it. It was slippery and hard to see. The stitches looked uneven and it just wasn't working for me. Rather than not do the square I decided to use a different weight of thread. I had some size 3 crochet thread which is much bigger in both red and white so I grabbed a 3.25mm hook and tried that. That worked a lot better. This square is worked in rows for the center pattern and then a nine round border is added to finish it. The end of the directions says that with the exception of the 8th round (which is slip stitches) this should be worked tightly to give it a firm appearance. The center is worked in triple crochet back and forth with the color you aren't using dropped to the back or the front depending on the row you're working on. All of the dropped thread should be on the same side. It doesn't say to crochet over those threads but leaving them loose seemed like a bad idea for something that was originally intended to be for a blanket so I tried hiding them two different ways. The first way was going over them on the same row that they're dropped in but because these are triple crochets that meant there was a floating thread going up to the bottom of the row every time I changed colors and it was very noticeable. I tried going over the dropped thread in the next row of triples. Because the dropped thread sat at the top of the stitches, going over it on the next row made fewer floating threads. This wasn't perfect, especially when the thread moved up to the next row. I could have cut it and restarted it but I wanted to try to follow the pattern. Here is the back and the front where you can see some of the floating threads.
The border was pretty simple. It's done in back loops and uses triple crochet, double crochet, single crochet and slip stitches. The pattern warns, "It will be found rather a troublesome matter to pick up the stitches along the edges of the treble rows and the worker must be particular in counting them or the sides will be irregular." It wasn't that troublesome because I used math to figure it out how many stitches to put in the ends of each row before I started the side. I ran out of white thread and had to switch to gray and black but I like how this turned out. While soaking it for blocking, I forgot to use vinegar and the red made the white thread turn pink it some areas. I think this could be a pillow cover; I'm still not sold on the blanket plan for this. What else do you think it could it be used for?  Now for the scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. 1.0 Does it look like the illustration? Mostly yes. 1.0 Would someone use this? I think so. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. 1.0  The Fifteenth Series has 19 patterns and 23 photos. There are baby and children's clothes, toys and other household items. Let's take a look. Baby items include some little boots, high bootikins, a rattle, a little muff and a combined hood and shawl and a rattle.
  Children and adult clothing items include this dress, some boots that were on the fold and some trim for a chemise that I didn't take photos of.  What is an issue without an antimacassar? We have two option in this series and a headrest. The lattice pattern on the headrest looks fun. There's also a square that could be turned into a coverlet and one you can use for a blanket or an antimacassar that has an interesting twisted ring in the center.
 And last we have a couple of toys.
Most people would assume that I'd try the toys out but I read the directions and they involved more than just crocheting. While I'm willing to do some fabric work on these this went a little further than I expected. For the elephant, they have you start by making the shape of the limbs in brown paper and stuffing it with something. Then they want you to sew those pieces together, cover it all with a gray fabric and then make the crochet pieces that will cover that. So, I'm going to make the red and white square for a coverlet instead. Check in next week to find out how that went.
The patterns for these entries are from 2012 to 2023. Seven are from the 2010s and have the two third place winners; the scarf category and an afghan category. The scarf category had six entries and had some really beautiful scarves.
This rug is from Crochet World 2017 but didn't quite make it into the right category. There was one entry I didn't finish; a thread tablecloth. The person doing the tagging put the tablecloth tag on this instead of the rug one and I didn't catch it. The judges looked at it and rightfully decided that it was in the wrong category so they made their best judgment on what category it should be in. Since the rugs are judged by someone else they chose to put it in Afghan, Assembled. This shows how lenient some of the counties are for entries. This would be a very small and thick afghan and it got third place...out of three entries.  The 2020's have the remaining nine and the two that got Awards of Excellence. This table runner below was named by my husband. He thought it looked like chocolate mint. The judge loved the name too.  My two favorites and the two that got Awards of Excellence are the Cat Pillow pattern by Pony McTate (The back has cat butts) and the Spring Fairy House (pattern by Denise Lawrence).
 Spring Fairy House pattern by Denise Lawrence 2021 This little purse is adorable and lined with fabric that has mice on it. The Pirate also got first place.
And that's all 29 items! Next year I plan to do half that many.
Many of these are available. I've given away a few of the small baby items and some are things I'm keeping. If you're interested in one of the items let me know! These are the ones that are available from this post: Chessboard Vest Raffia Sunhat Owl Purse Pirate Purple Poncho Ruffles Scarf This year I made it a goal to enter as many crochet projects in our local county fair as I could. There are 33 lots in the crochet category plus one in the rug category. I entered 29 items. Since this "Craft Across Time", I'm going to share them in order of the year the pattern was published starting with 1890s. There was just one from the Weldon book. Remember the doily/medallion from May that had the illustration and directions that didn't quite match? This one got second place out of two entries.  Red Medallion from Weldon's - Doily under 14" - Second Place We're jumping straight to the 70s for the next five. The Cuddle up blanket was in a blog post from a year ago and also got second. The others have the dates and pattern under them.
There were just two from the 1980s but they both got blue ribbons  Reflection from Magic Crochet December 1989 - Filet  Baby Booties Roller Skates from Baby Bootie Boutique II 1980 I hit the 90s up for another four patterns. Several of these were in a blog post last year. I added a hat and a purse to get the Rose Trimmed Ensemble into the "Doll Clothes, With Accessories - Mounted" category. A first place winner but it was also the only entry in that category. The judge noted that she couldn't check the insides because I mounted them too well but the category was "Doll Clothes with Accessories, mounted" and I was guessing on what that meant.  Jacket and dress from Crochet World 1991 I made the tie for the February 2023 blog post. I blocked with pins that rusted and it left marks so I dyed it to cover them up but I guess it didn't cover them up enough because the judge found them.
The project below is from Annie's Bed Doll Society 1995 Calendar. There were a lot of errors in the pattern. Fortunately, whoever had the pattern before me taped over the incorrect parts with the corrections for most of the errors. The judge's notes on this one said that she though it had been soiled. I used Ecru and White thread held together to do the underdress pillow part and I think she thought that was stained somehow. Still, I got a first place but there were no other competitors for this category.  One last one from 2008. The remaining ones from 2012-2023 will be up tomorrow. The 2008 pattern is from Interweave Summer 2008. Super cute and easy dress. There were extra notes from the judge on how much they liked the white edging (if you know the State Fair judge, you'll know what that means!)  Summer Sun Dress from Interweave Summer 2008 Many of these are available. I've given away a few of the small baby items and some are things I'm keeping. If you're interested in one of the items let me know!
These are the ones that are available from this post: Theatre Dress Pillow Doll Valentine Tie Reflection runner Shamrock Doily Halter Dress Popcorn Potholders Red Crochet Medallion For this week's post I've attempted the Harlequin Ball. I thought this would be an easy and quick item to make.  The pattern says you can make it with odds and ends of wool. They suggest Andalusian wool which is close to a sport weight yarn in a variety of colors for the tuft (aka popcorn) stitches and cardinal for the main color. I didn't have odds and ends of that weight so I decided to use worsted weight acrylic scraps. I managed to find a nice assortment of colors and some Red Heart Super Saver in red. As I read through the pattern I realized the construction was very different than a typical ball but after taking a second look at the illustration it makes sense. The pattern has you make a circle for the top with increases keeping the circle flat until you get 24 stitches in a round. Then cut the yarn and make a second circle the same way. Once the second circle gets to 24 stitches you chain 29 and join to the other circle and start working in rows.  To get the ball shape you slip stitch in the first and last six stitches of each row with the middle stitches being either single crochet or a section of popcorn stitches. For some rows you crochet into the same stitch you previously worked in and in some you use the next stitch. This went pretty well for the first half where I was careful to read the directions for every repeat. Counting the slip stitches was a little harder than I thought. Sometimes I had an extra stitch after a popcorn row and I just skipped a stitch to make up for it. Somewhere in the second half I ended up with more stitches on one of the circles than the other. I was not going to restart this because the slip stitches were hard to work into and I did not want to redo those. I improvised and ended up with a bit of a swirl in the stitches. This is what the finished "ball" looks like. It's about six inches tall in this form.
I could force it into a ball shape by running a thread from one end to the other and squishing it down but I kind of like the football shape. I squished it down in this photo.  Squished version Now for the score:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. Even the tuft/popcorn stitches were explained pretty well. 1.0 Does it look like the illustration? If I force it to. It could be my error in counting the slip stitches too. I'm giving it a 0.5 Would someone use this? Yes. It's not as delicate as the one they would have made but it's a fun toy. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Eh. Not so much. Acrylic yarn in slip stitches is hard on my hands. I didn't hate it but I wouldn't make it again. 0.25 Total is 2.75  This series has 22 patterns and 24 illustrations; three of the patterns don't have illustrations and one of those is a *gasp* knitting pattern. Let's start with the wearables. There are two boas, one has a muff attached.
There is also a mantellette or short cloak and some very long boots for babies.
For headwear we have a nightcap and a fascinator.   The last clothing items are a shoulder shawl that she is wearing on her head, a baby jacket with the sleeves illustrated a little strangely and some trimming for a chemise. The shawl and the chemise had extra photos of the details and stitch patterns. I included the one for the shawl.
There are two antimacassars worked in twine. That should make them very durable.   If you're looking for a few things to make your home more comfortable they have a tea cozy, a pretty pincushion, a nightdress sachet, a slumber roll and a patchwork blanket.
   There was also a doll dressed in crochet but it was on the fold so I didn't take a picture. For next week, I decided on making the Harlequin Ball (not pictured here) that is "made from odds and ends of wool". Find out next week if it turned out to be a ball or something else.  For the Thirteenth Series pattern I chose the square with the rib and shell pattern. They say this has "far better effect when worked in a coarse cotton" so I chose to use a DK weight cotton from Jaeger called Pure Cotton and a size E hook. This pattern starts out with the center rib section that's done in rows and then switches to rounds. The pattern uses a similar instruction style that I've started seeing in the squares and is one of the primary reasons I give up on them. They give you the basic stitch order as in how many stitches in each corner and along the sides and you have to figure it out based on where the round ended. When I got to the 5th row where the "shells" start I gave up on figuring it out and just cut the yarn and restarted where the pattern assumed I was starting. The shells are really more like a bobble stitch than a shell and once you get one row down it's easy to figure out how to increase in the corners. Once I got to the shells/bobbles this went pretty quickly. It would have gone even faster but the yarn was stiff and kept splitting so there were multiple times I'd have to start a shell/bobble over. Overall this went pretty well; the biggest issue was the yarn choice and that's on me. I blocked it to a 9 inch by 9 inch square. This would make a pretty lightweight summer blanket.  Now for the scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes, except for that issue with the instructions for the rounds. 0.75 Does it look like the illustration? Mostly. Their shells are little more bobbly than mine 0.75 Would someone use this? Yes, you could make a light blanket with more of these. 1.00 Did I enjoy making it? Sort of. The yarn gave me some problems but I don't think it was the patterns fault. 1.00 Total is 3.50 Next week we're on to the 14th Series. Only 6 more left in this book!  This series is all about motifs/squares, borders and edgings. There are 20 patterns and 20 photos in this series. Eleven of them are squares, hexagons or octagons and the rest are edgings or tassels. Let's start with the quilt squares. This first one could be the center of blanket if done in worsted weight and extra borders added around.  Some of these are more open than I would think a blanket should be but they are very pretty.
There are also hexagons if you want something a little different.
How about some edgings to go with the blankets? These are very intricate edgings. I think the Vandyke border is the simplest.
I considered this Stripe in Picot pattern below for my project but ultimately settled on the Square in Rib and Shell pattern. The Stripe in Picot pattern will be my back up plan if the square doesn't go well.  |
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