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Harry S Truman was president. Israel is admitted to the U.N. Death of a Salesman won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Point of No Return by John P. Marquand was bestselling fiction book in the US. The number one song on the Billboards singles chart was “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)” by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra. Workbasket Magazine was titled “The Workbasket Home and Needlecraft for Pleasure and Profit” and the annual subscription rate was $1.50.  It had no table of contents then but is primarily crochet patterns; Crochet Lace for your Petticoat, Birthday Tablecloth (on the cover), Petal Star Doily, Embroidered Band on a Crocheted Apron, a Crochet Edging, a Carnation, Rick Rack Dish Mat and a Pineapple Pincushion. Other projects included a Knitted Bonnet with a Wired Brim, a Flag Quilt, and a Tatted Table Runner. This month you’ll choose between the Carnation and the Pineapple Pincushion. I wanted to make the Rick Rack Dish Mat an option but I don’t have enough rick rack to do one.    Voting for the Carnation vs Pin Cushion will be up until midnight Friday.
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I’ll be honest; this pattern took a few tries to get right. I pulled together some scraps of worsted weight yarn to start.  The pattern is only 9 rows and four of those rows are all the same so it’s a pretty simple pattern. You start out with the base done as a circle, move on the body and then the hanging straps. Feel free to play along below: “Ch 4 Row 1: 8 sc in ring, join with sl st to first sc, ch 1 Row 2: *2 sc in same st as sl st, sc in next st, repeat from the * around, join with sl st, ch 1 Row 3: Repeat row 2, join with sl st, ch 3” Then you move on the granny square like section. “Row 4: Dc in same st (as sl st, ch 3), ch 1, sk 2, 2 dc in next st, ch 1. Repeat around ending ch 1, join with sl st to top of ch 3. Row 5: Ch 3, turn, 1 dc in ch 1 sp, *ch 1 sk 2 dc, 2 dc in ch 1 sp. Repeat from * around end with ch 1, join in top of ch 3. Rows 6, 7 and 8: Repeat row 5, join, ch 1. Row 9: Sc in same sp as sl st, sc in each st around, join with sl st to first sc.” At this point you should have a small basket like thing. It’s kind of skinny but maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. Let’s move on to the straps. “Row 10: Ch 30 (place marker in the 30th st), continue to ch 29 more sts, sk 4, sc to row 9 and connect ch to the 5th sc with sl st. *Sl st in next 4 sts, ch 30 (place marker in the 30th st), continue to ch 29 sts, sk 4 sc on row 9, connect ch to 5th sc with sl st. Repeat from * once more, fasten off. “ Wait! Repeat? I’m out of space to do another repeat! I’ll try again – maybe I missed something.  Same result. There must be a problem with the pattern.
This is a small plant hanger but it doesn't look like the photo. Here’s where including the stitch count at the end of each row in the instructions would have been really helpful. After a little math to figure out how many stitches I needed to be able to do the third strap, I was left with two options. Either the base is missing a row or there should have been an increase somewhere in the row 4-9. The base was the easiest to resolve so I added an additional round to the base. Row 1 = 8sc Row 2 = 12sc Row 3 = 18 sc Row 3B = 27 sc Row 4 – 10 as above and it worked! To finish, “Cut a strand 3 inches long and pull through all 3 marked sts, tie a regular knot, lay the pieces of yarn together and make a loose slip knot, leaving an opening to hang on hook (hanger made).” Add a tassel to the bottom and you have a mini-hanging planter. This is about 14 inches from the point where the tops are tied together to the bottom of the tassel. The cup I put inside is 3.5 inches across.  Next week I'll have May voting ready! Do we really know what day or month it is anymore? I took a brief trip to July 1966 to bring you the toilet paper cover I promised last week.
I used Red Heart Classic yarn that looked vintage in pink, blue and white. The green is Red Heart Super Saver. I used the suggested size hook; a J. The pattern starts out with the motif that’s used in all three pieces of the ensemble. It was a fun motif to make and the green had an interesting cluster pattern.  Once the motif was done, the white was started and worked under the green into the last pink row. I wasn’t sure it was going to fit our big rolls of toilet paper but it actually fit pretty well. Next week I’ll have the mini-planter (and it really is mini) finished. There was a problem with the way the pattern was written so I have a failed planter to go along with what I think the pattern was meant to be. Just for fun, here's one of my favorite photos in the April 1980 issue. I wonder what's in that notebook?  Even though the bunny had a last minute surge the Mini-Hanging Planter was the winning pattern.  I have no idea how big this is going to be but there are not very many rows so it probably will be pretty tiny. The picture in the magazine has nothing that gives an idea of scale. It uses worsted weight scraps so I'll be using these scraps:  This may go fast since it's so small so I'm adding an additional project this month. I'm pulling the July 1966 issue that we did back in 2018. That month the vote was a placemat vs the BBQ Mitt. There was a third pattern in that issue though. I couldn't find the JonJon pattern online but I knew I had a toilet paper cover in one of the Workbasket Issues and here it is.  I wonder if that will fit the supersized rolls we have now?
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