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We’ve moved ahead in time to May 1982. Ronald Reagan was president. Dallas was the top rated show with 60 Minutes and The Jeffersons in the second and third place. The May top 40 charts are full of songs I loved then; “Don’t talk to Strangers” by Rick Springfield, “Freeze-Frame” by J Giles, and “Heat of the Moment” by Asia. Shel Silverstein’s book, A Light in the Attic, was released and Garfield was hugely popular. The trade paperback bestseller list had 5 Garfield books in the top 15! I probably had all of five of them. Workbasket magazine’s cover offered a feminine knit sweater, a crocheted seaworthy pullover and tempting tuna dishes but no Garfield patterns or lasagna, not even tuna lasagna.  There were four crochet patterns to choose from this month; the seaworthy pullover mentioned on the cover, golf club covers, a geometric patterned hat and scarf set and a crocheted capelet. You get to choose between the capelet and the hat from the hat and scarf set. If the capelet is chosen I'll use either Lion Brand Jeans or Red Heart Unforgettable. The hat would be done in mixed colors of partial skeins I have in my current stash.
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Today I added the lining and the tassel. The lining is one piece of Star Wars fabric folded in half, sewn up the sides and with the top hemmed. Sewing it in was a challenge...my hand sewing skills are a little rusty and it's pretty uneven.  My first tassel did not turn out well. The directions said to wrap the thread around a 2 inch piece of cardboard 70 times. I tried to do it half black and half white but 70 rounds made a pretty thick tassel and didn't look quite right.  I tried it in just black and wrapped the thread around 40 times. This time it worked much better. Here's the finished purse! What I learned:
Next Month: On Monday I'll post the two choices for May on here and on Instagram. We'll be moving ahead in time a few years. In April of 1979, Jimmy Carter was president, Music Box Dancer was playing on my grandmothers radio and Heart of Glass on mine. Workbasket Magazine had a spring knit pullover over on the cover and four crochet patterns inside: an elegant bedspread, a popcorn stitch purse, an elegant bedspread, and a teen's delight - a fringed vest. I gave my followers a choice between the vest and the purse. The Popcorn Stitch purse was the winner! About the pattern: This is a simple 8 x 13 inch rectangle of popcorn stitches broken up by double crochet stitches. The rectangle is folded in half and sewn up the sides. A zipper is attached to the crochet fabric and a lining is sewn inside. About the materials: The pattern called for 4 balls of Speed-Knit-Cro-Sheen which is a size 3 crochet thread. I had two Aunt Lydia’s Fashion Thread size 3 – one in black and one in white plus a Speed-Knit Cro Sheen in watermelon. I wanted to do this with what I had so I cut one double crochet out of the popcorn making them 4 dc popcorn stitches to try to get by with three balls. How it went: The crochet part of this went very fast. It’s a simple stitch pattern that’s easy to memorize. I started with the watermelon color but it was so stiff that I frogged it after a row and switched to the newer Aunt Lydia’s in black. I got through about 6 inches of the 13 and realized one skein wasn’t enough to do the whole thing but it would get me halfway there. Two balls would be plenty with enough left over for the tassel. A nine inch zipper fit perfectly in the opening and once I had the sides sewn up it was pretty easy to sew the zipper into the opening.
Next: Lining and tassel |
