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I've had this 1971 Brunswick Strictly Crochet booklet for years and hadn't made anything from it yet. I saw this adorable baby sweater and thought it would be perfect for the Dakota County Fair.
The pattern asks for 4 ounces of Brunswick Windrush and a size 6 or G hook. They give a gauge of 1 pattern repeat = 1 1/4 inches and each row would be 3/4 inch tall. I had some Lion Brand Jeans Color yarn that I know works up super soft so I used that. I only had 3.5 ounces of it so I decided to do the smallest size. I realized pretty quickly that my gauge was smaller than the pattern said it should be but I didn't worry too much about it because I'm not sizing this to a specific baby. The pattern was easy to read and arranged in lines for each section instead of the paragraph version you often see in vintage patterns. While I don't love making tassels the sweater looks cuter with them. I did have yarn left over so I could have gone up a hook size or made one of the larger sizes but this is fine. One more fair project done! 
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I'm taking a break from neck projects to work on some of my Dakota County Fair projects and other projects that I want to make. Many of the fair projects are vintage patterns so I'll share those as I finish them. Here are some of the ones I have planned.
After the fair is over I'll do a few more neck projects. I found some cute bibs and collars along with some scarves that will be fun to make. In the meantime, here are some very colorful projects from The Woman's Day Book of Designer Crochet by Jacqueline Henderson published in 1980. These hats are awesome if I'd had this book last year I definitely would have made at least one.  Can't leave out the swimwear!  I'm not saying I'll make one of these neckpieces for sure but if I can decide what to substitute for rattail one might make it to the list.  I bought "The Family Crochet Book", published in 1971, from ThriftBooks and found a few options for things that go around your neck. There was a short jabot, a long jabot or the collars.
 I attempted the scalloped collar on the left above but something was missing in the directions so I gave up. I could have figured it out from the photo but it just didn't seem worth it. I didn't love the flower collar so I decided on the long jabot. But what is a jabot and how do you wear it? Various sources on the internet tell me it's generally a decorative lace panel that's pinned at the neck or attached to a collar. It's still worn in courts of law in various places and it's a part of formal Scottish evening wear. The pattern asks for a size 4 hook and 2 ounces of Fontein Crepe which as far as I could tell was a 100% wool, fingering weight yarn. I had some smaller balls of fingering weight wool that was gifted to me so I pulled out one of those. They have a chart for hook sizes and that said a size 4 was the same as an H hook. The pattern does give a "tension" or what we would call a gauge and it tells you what the finished size should be. I was fine on the gauge with the hook size so I started. This was a lot like making a doily but with only four rounds it went pretty fast. I ended up aggressively blocking it and ended up with something that was 8 by 17 inches instead of 5 by 12 inches they said the finished project should be.  The next trick was trying to figure out how to wear it. There were no photos in the book of anyone wearing one and there was no collar that would go around your neck. I thought about trying a pin but most of mine were pretty thick and I didn't want to put big holes in my shirt. I ended up going with one of the polymer clay shawl magnets I made but even that was a challenge to get in the right spot. It's kind of cute but I'm not sure I'd wear it on a regular basis.  Rating:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes 1.0 If there is a gauge, could I match it? Yes 1.0 Does it look like the photo? Sort of. I over blocked it but even before that it didn't have the ripple. .5 Would someone wear this? Maybe? .5 Did I enjoy making it? I did! It was fast and something I hadn't tried before. 1.0 That gives it a 4.0 out of 5.0. Remember this booklet from last year? I made this hat from it.
This week I made the scarf that goes with the Flame Hat (the one on the right).  The materials required for the hat are "Dawn" Knitting Worsted yarn in Flame, Fisherman, Antique Gold and Black. I used Premier Everyday Worsted Yarn in Really Red, Cream, Black and some other gold yarn I had in the scrap basket. They give a gauge of 3 solid meshed and 2 open meshes as 2 inches with a J hook and I got pretty close to that. The approximate finished size of the scarf is 6 inches by 94 inches. That's a long scarf! This is a super simple pattern. The only difficulty is keeping track of what color they want you to use when. It's all in paragraph form with several repeats which made it a little hard to track. I ended up writing down the colors row by row. Once I did that this was super fast to make. I was a little worried about not having enough yarn so I skipped the middle repeat. There were a lot of ends to sew in when it was done but overall it was fast and easy.
The score for this is 4.75. I'm knocking it down a little for the slightly hard to read color order. This is a great pattern for beginners. Even if they mess up the middle part of the color order it wouldn't matter that much. It's the same stitch but it goes fast enough to not be boring.
There were a few things I could have made from the Good Housekeeping magazine I shared last week, but the lighter holder was something I'd never seen a pattern for before and I had some unknown gold metallic yarn that seemed like it would work for this. How could I resist?  According to the pattern, the materials needed for this are Bucilla Brocade yarn and a Boye crochet hook size 3 (and a lighter). The pattern gives a gauge of 6 single crochet stitches to 1 inch and that's what the unknown gold yarn gave me with the size 3 hook.  Honestly, this is just a tube with a fancy strap and tassel. This yarn wasn't easy to work with but once I got a few rounds started it went ok. The yarn is stiff in some places and didn't bend around the hook very easily. This went quickly though and I had a lighter holder in a little over an hour. I don't really have a need for a lighter holder but it was still fun to make. I'm sure you could use this for other things like a vape pen which I also don't need. Joel and I were trying to decide why you would just carry a lighter around your neck without anything else. A party where you plan on just lighting everyone's cigarettes but don't need your own?  Criteria:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. 1.0 If there is a gauge, could I match it? Yes. 1.0 Does it look like the photo? Yes. 1.0 Would someone wear this? Maybe? You could use this for other things but what do you really need to have hanging around your neck that wouldn't go into a purse or a pocket? I'm marking it down a little for that. 0.25 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. 1.0 That gives it 4.25! |
