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The Barbecue Mitt won by two votes! The crocheted part looks pretty easy. The embellishment part might be more difficult and I promised I’d put eyes so it could do double duty as a hand puppet. About the materials The pattern calls for
I'll use Lily Sugar’n Cream Cotton for the crocheted part in Hot Pink and Cream that I have in my stash. I’m not sure what I’ll use for embellishment or the eyes yet but it should be something that won’t melt so probably felt, cotton yarn or thread.  As an extra bonus for this week, I'm sharing the photo of the third crochet pattern in this issue of Workbasket Magazine:  Next week I'll share more content from the June 1966 issue including some ads, a recipe or two and some items from the section called, "Women Who Make Cents".
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This month we’re going back to a time before I was born. Lyndon B Johnson was president. There was a heat wave across the Midwest and China launched a dog into outer space. July Top 40 that year included some classics like;
Batman: The Movie with Adam West and Burt Ward was released that month and Star Trek would begin its first season in September. The most popular book that month in 1966 was Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. It was one of best-selling books up to that point staying on the New York Times Best Seller List for 28 consecutive weeks in row. The July 1966 Workbasket Magazine had three crochet patterns. One of your choices for the month is on the cover.  Your two choices for July are: Bright Gay Stripes. These are place mats and bench covers. If you choose this one I’ll do the place mats. It calls for Aunt Lydia’s Heavy Rug Yarn which is discontinued. I could use any acrylic worsted weight yarn but I might try Bernat’s Maker Outdoor Yarn. It comes in some pretty and bright colors. Barbecue Mitt in crochet. Need a way to pretty up your barbecue but don’t know how to do it? This Barbecue Mitt has embroidered flowers on it to liven up your dreary barbecue duty. This used two colors of worsted weight yarn plus some embroidery thread for the flowers. For this I’d use some Lily Sugar and Cream yarn in my stash. So what will it be, Bright Gay Striped place mats or a fancy Barbecue Mitt?
I originally planned to make two of these in different sizes but I got distracted by this:  She still needs a tiny tote bag though. And here’s the finished bear:   About the pattern: The pattern has 8 parts (body-head, 4 legs, 2 ears and a face) plus the nose. The body and head are done as one piece then the face part is done as anther and sewn on. The legs are all the same and the ears are just circles. It uses a G hook for all but the nose. The nose uses an E hook. About the materials: Big Twist Premium Value yarn is on the heavy end of worsted. It worked ok for this project but it’s a little stiffer than I would use for a typical toy. I started a second one in the Sensations Cuddle yarn but that was on the light side of DK and it seemed pretty small so I frogged it. Here's a size comparison between the two versions.  The pattern has “small amount of glue” in the materials list but I didn’t see it used anywhere specific in the pattern. How it went: Making the parts was pretty easy. The assembly instructions are fairly vague but the picture is good enough to see where things go. Sewing them on went well until I got to the face. I tried to figure out from the photo where that went but when I sewed it on it looked more like the muzzle of the bear. In the photo the eyes are on the face piece but on mine I ended up putting them on the head. The eyes didn’t work out very well. Directions say, “cut ½ inch circles of light colored felt, sew in place. Embroider pupils in darker yarn.” I really like using safety eyes because they don’t require extra sewing or embroidery. With safety eyes you really need to know where they go before you start stuffing the toy and I wasn’t sure on this project. How it turned out: This turned out ok. The eyes make him look a little scared. I'm not sure I'd make this again but it was fun to try. What I learned: I don’t like cutting small pieces of felt and sewing them on. If I do this again I’ll try to use safety eyes. It was also a good reminder that even though a yarn weight might be the same for different yarns they can still work up at different sizes. Next month we’re going back in time to the 60’s. I’ll have the choices posted next week! The bear is almost finished. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some fun bonus material from this month's Workbasket magazine. Here is the a photo of one of the patterns I ruled out plus clowns:  There were a few interesting ads (click on the photos to see the full picture:) And here are two of the recipes I mentioned a few weeks ago:   |
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