 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.
0 Comments
 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.  After trying and attempting two other patterns from this series I decided to try the Crochet Shawl in Half Crazy Stitch. The Crazy Stitch has been in a lot of patterns during the series and I wanted to see how it worked. It looks a little like a corner to corner stitch but done in rows.  The pattern says, "This shawl is extremely pretty worked with Shetland wool and a No 10 bone crochet needle after the manner of the shawl from which our engraving is taken; or Pompadour wool can be employed if a handsome wrap is desired regardless of expense; while Andalusian wool is very suitable and will afford greater warmth." Andalusian and Pompadour were probably sports weight yarns and a No 10 hook would have been about 3.5mm or a size E. I chose to use worsted weight acrylic yarn and a 5.0mm hook. I knew I didn't have enough for a shawl so I thought I'd try for a scarf. The directions say to start with whatever length is required. The stitch is done in multiples of four though so if you just start with a random number you may end up pulling a few out at the end. This is the basic stitch pattern: Row 1: 1 single crochet in the second chain from the hook, chain 3, 2 double crochet in the same stitch of the foundation as the single crochet is worked into, *miss three chains, 1 single crochet in the next chain, chain 3, 2 double crochet in the same place and repeat from the * Row 2: 1 chain to turn, 1 single crochet on the first single crochet of the previous row, chain 3, 2 double crochet in the same place, * 1 single crochet on the next single crochet of preceding row, chain 3, 2 dc in the same place and repeat from *, ending with 1 single crochet on the last single crochet of the last row. Repeat Row 2 until you get the size you want (or until you run out of yarn). I thought I had two skeins of the color I grabbed but it turned out one was "Wine Heather" and one was "Red Heather." I got through about four rows before I ran out of yarn but I do like this stitch pattern. The stitch is more like partial shell stitches than corner to corner. It creates little pockets that would keep warmth in very well so I can see why it's used in a lot of patterns. I decided that the border wouldn't look that great in the heavy yarn anyway but I think this would be better with some kind of border. Here's what the half crazy stitch looked like before I rewound it.  Now for scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? I didn't go on to the border but the directions for the half crazy stitch were pretty easy to follow. 1.0 Does it look like the photo? I think it does, aside from the missing border 1.0 Would someone wear this? Not what I finished but if I'd followed the directions, yes 1.0 Did I enjoy making this? Yes. This stitch has a lot of potential uses. It would make a super cozy blanket. 1.0 This gets a 4.0!  This series has 22 illustrations for 16 patterns. Twelve of those are garments, two are quilt squares, one is a couvrepied (literally a foot blanket) and one is a doily. Let's start with the useful garments for babies and children. Tricot stitch (Tunisian) is becoming a pretty common stitch for many of the patterns including the bonnet, the boots and the slippers below. The Infant's cape pattern says that would be easily enlarged to a suit a lady. The series includes an enlarged engraving of a section of the cape. 
Lady's useful garments from this series are a regular petticoat, a "warm, fleecy, petticoat", a Shetland Hood, a shooting cap, a shawl, a cuff and some edgings for shawls and a chemise. There is also shooting cap (maybe it would go well with the bag for knitting needles in an earlier series?).
Here are the blanket patterns. While these are all made in thread or fingering weight yarn, I think they could be made in a heavier weight and take much less time.
 I was going to try the shooting cap but by the second round I was lost. Second choice was the Ablemarle square pattern. That was also confusing so I moved on to crochet shawl above in the half crazy stitch. Seemed fitting after trying two patterns that drove me half crazy.
I set out to make this raised square pattern for a quilt but it did not go well. I knew it would be a little more complicated than the other square I made but I had no idea the pattern would make it even harder.  The pattern tells you what stitches go into the square but doesn't necessarily give you a start to finish round. For example round three says, "1 double crochet on each of the three double crochets along the side, 3 double crochet on the centre stitch of the three double crochet for the corners." This is fine because it's a fairly simple row but they kept it up as it got more complicated. Round 4 had you turn the work and make the tufts on the wrong side but there wasn't any instructions on when to turn back. I restarted this project three times and then gave up. The was the end of my last attempt.  I wanted to have a project for this week so I turned back to the Second Series and tried out a tricot (aka Tunisian) stitch called the Josephine Stitch. There was no photo for the stitch but it is described as, "a pretty variety of tricot stitch, and being light and lacey comes in very handy for shawls, scarfs, antimacassars &c." I'm not sure antimacassars would be very protective of the furniture if they're lacy but it sounded interesting and I haven't tried a tricot stitch from Weldon's yet. The directions says you can use any wool you want to and assumes you'll pick the appropriate hook. I used a skein of Knit Picks Swish DK in Pale Lemon and 5.5mm Tunisian hook. The directions were pretty easy to follow and did make a lacy strip of...something.  Here is the finished stitch pattern that I intended to make as a scarf but it's only about 4.5 feet long which seems a little short on me. Still it's a fun pattern and would look cute in a swim cover up or a lacy shawl.  I'm not going to rate the unfinished project but I'll give the Josephine stitch a 3.5 out of 4.
It was easy to understand. Someone would wear it and I enjoyed making it. The only thing that dropped it down that half point was that there was no drawing to compare to.  The Eleventh Series has 18 patterns and 21 illustrations. One edging pattern doesn't have an illustration but some of the others have 2 and even 3 illustrations. There are some interesting projects this time. I liked the Sylvester Cape shown below and marked that as a possible Fair project. The Toboggan Cap is cute with the little poms.  This Bulgarian Head-Dress stood out. This pattern had three illustrations and the pattern says that it "is a novel and exceedingly pretty style for the opera or theatre."  I thought this Tea Cozy looked fun. They suggest doing it in eight shades of Crimson and along with black to give it a gradient look.  This is at least the fifth "Tam O'Shanter" I've seen. This one is for a child of 5-10 years.  There are more cute kid's clothes in this series; a Pelisse, a dress and a petticoat.
 Since I didn't do the square for a quilt from the 10th Series I thought I'd do the one from this series. This one looks much more complicated than the St. Andrew's Cross from last time. It's called Raised Square Pattern for a Quilt. Find out how that turns out next week!  When I first looked at these I thought they might be half mittens with the top open. Something about the flat top and the thumb placement I think. They are not half mittens.  The pattern says to procure 1.5 oz of brown Berlin fingering and a No 12 crochet needle. I found a few mini skeins of brown fingering weight yarn in two shades that equaled 1.75 oz and a 2.75 mm hook (The equivalent size according to the Bell gauge). The mittens are entirely made up of single crochet and slip stitches in the back loop. It makes a nice stretchy fabric that probably does an excellent job of holding heat in. This was pretty simple and everything was going ok until I got the part that said, "repeat these two rows till 51 rows are done, or till the mitten is the right size to fit round the hand". I don't have large wrists but it took 72 rows to get it to fit around my wrist. Are they sure these are for a "Gentleman" and not a small child? I pulled out another mini skein in brown mini skein; I could see this was going to take more than the 1.75 oz I had ready. Then I got to the thumb. The thumb was a little weird. It's done in a short row technique but it also seemed a little small. I started sewing up the first one and noticed that the thumb placement was a little off. In the illustration it was almost all the way down to the wrist band but my version was oddly placed. I took out the thumb and redid the count so it was lower and since I'd pulled it out, I added a few extra rows. In the photo below you can see how far up the thumb is. In their illustration the thumb goes all the way up to the top of the mitten. Is your thumb long enough to be even with your fingers? This is also the point where I realized how short the hand part was. The hand portion of these is about 5 1/2 inches and my fingers stick out a little.  I ended up adding three extra rows in the thumb and putting a little cap on the top after I sewed it together. I should have done the same thing for the top of the mitten but I just seamed it with a row of single crochets per the instructions. My alterations made them fit but just barely. Instead of seaming the top to make it look like their illustration, I seamed it so the mittens are the same and it doesn't matter which hand is which.
If I were to make these again (I won't) I think I'd go up a yarn and hook size. Using sport weight yarn would help with the sizing issue. The thumb will still need to be placed a little lower on the seam but it would at least solve one problem.
On to the scoring: Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes... it's wrong but easy to understand. 0.75 Does it look like the illustration? Sort of. 0.50 Would someone wear this? For it to be comfortable they'll need hands slightly smaller than mine but I suppose it's wearable. 0.75 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. I chose a yarn and hook that worked pretty well for working in the back loop of slip stitches. It can get kind of tight sometimes and this worked well. I did get a little annoyed at the weird thumb placement but I figured it out. There were a lot of moments that I just laughed because it was so strange. 1.0 Total Score 3.0  The Tenth Series brings us 17 patterns and 20 illustrations. Three of the patterns have multiple views including close ups of pattern stitches or parts of the pattern. There are many different types of patterns as the title suggests. Let's take a look at some of them.  The doll's walking costume above is one of the more detailed and comprehensive ones I've seen. The pattern includes instructions for crocheting a pelisse, cape, hat, muff, shoes, and bag. Plus directions for making a pair of knitted drawers and a knitted petticoat are given. It takes up three pages of the series. Items for kids include a "vest", A Baby's Petticoat (adding this to a possible County Fair list), a petticoat done in Tunisian and a pilch.
There are a couple of shoulder warmers:
For blanket and quilt options we have a Cot Quilt done in Tunisian Squares with cross-stitching on top, another square for a quilt called the St. Andrew's Cross and a Diamond Lattice pattern that looks very cozy. 
There is also trimming for a chemise, a "Handsome Wide Border" and two "D'Oyley's" that are edgings done around a piece of fabric.
I thought about making the St. Andrew's Cross above but ultimately decided on a pair of Gentleman's Mittens. These mittens look like they're open at the top but it might just be an odd illustration. Find out next week how that went. Also, Happy Birthday to the person who gave me this fun book! This week we have the Pretty Pattern with no illustration. I'm putting a photo of the instructions below and if you read through them you'll quickly realize what kind of pattern this is. Hint: "The work is crocheted in squares which are afterwards joined together."  If you read through the color scheme you'll notice that while they are giving you an option to use "odds and ends" they also want you to use some of the same colors in the middle and on the outside to give it a cohesive look. Their color scheme from inside out goes like this: white, yellow, "other color that may be at command", black. The edging is done in amber, green and crimson. I decided to do just one square with the edging in some scraps that were in gradient shades that I had left over from a shawl. I used an F hook which is close to the same size as a No. 9 bone needle they suggest.  The square under the yarn is an illustration of a "Square Medallion for an Antimacassar" By now you may have figured out that this is just a granny square. The square itself was easy enough to make but the edging was a little harder to read. I think I got it but I didn't like how it looked on the square. If I'd done a dozen squares and added the edging it probably would have looked better. The first photo below has the edging all the way through the last of the 3 rounds with the lighter color being the "ball edging" round. In the second photo, I've pulled out the third round of the edging and blocked it without it. The edging doesn't quite line up with the other stitches and again, if I'd done more squares and sewn them together it might have looked fine.
Scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. I thought they did a good job on the granny square part though there are places where they could have used "repeat x times" and it would have been easy to read than listing out every stitch. .90 Does it look like the illustration? .50 (Standard answer for patterns without one) Would someone wear or use this? Yes. It is a pretty little square. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. The colors I used made it more fun but it would be pretty in their color scheme too. 1.0 Total Score: 3.4 Next week I have the tenth series patterns and illustrations to share. |
Proudly powered by Weebly