This should have been in the October issue so people could get itfor their Halloween parties..

It’s almost Halloween.  If you really want to get back to 1978 and stick with the holiday theme here are some of the horror movies that came out in 1978:

• Jaws 2 and Damien: Omen II were both released in June of 1978
• The Swarm was released in July.  It’s about a swarm of deadly African bees. 
• Halloween came out in October of 1978
• Attack of the  Killer Tomatoes!
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers was released in December of 1978
• Dawn of the Dead was released in Italy in 1978 but didn’t make it to the USA until April 1979

 
 
November Top 40 that year included some classics like;

• “Double Vision” – Foreigner
• “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” – Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond
• “Hot Child in the City” – Nick Glider
• “One Nation Under a Groove” – Funkadelic
• “YMCA” – The Village People
• “Blue Collar Man”– Styx
• “I’m Every Woman” – Chaka Khan
• “Straight On” – Heart

 
 
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk was in the number one slot for best sellers in November.  I've read two of the books on the top 15 for fiction; Illusions by Richard Bach and The World According to Garp by John Irving.
 
 If Life is a Bowl of Cherries – What Am I Doing in the Pits? by Erma Bombeck was in its 27th week on the non-fiction best seller list.  Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford moved into the #1 spot for the week of November 26.  

​The November 1978 Workbasket Magazine had five crochet patterns; a sweater and shoulder purse, a square doily, decorative muffler and your two choices for the month; a long-legged clown or the crochet hat/scarf set. 

​​The Long Legged Clown is described as a “darling, soft toy clown.”  It calls for several colors of worsted weight yarn, a size J hook, felt, glue and “ample stuffing”.    

 
The Crochet Hat/Scarf Set also uses worsted weight yarn and Mohair.  The Mohair is used as the main part of the scarf and the motifs are done in regular weight yarn.  If this is chosen I might choose to make the one of the two and would not use Mohair. 

Let me know which one you think I should make this month!
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About the pattern:
The pattern is not difficult to understand and it’s fairly simple to make if you can work with thread and understand how to crochet in the back loops.   
The pattern is done in four parts; the middle ribbing, the top border, the bottom border and the bottom.
The middle ribbing is done in the back loops and makes a nice stretchy fabric.  This method of making a ribbing stitch could be adapted to other patterns once you know how to do it.  The top and bottom border are mostly shell stitches using back loops.  The bottom is a circle that you make separately and then sew on.
The holly leaf motif is done in pieces and sewn on.
It uses two strands of size 20 cotton thread for the main parts and one strand for the holly motif.
 
How it went:
I chose light blue and gray cotton crochet thread size 10 and used just one strand.  I thought they’d be good winter colors and it also made it a little easier to see the crochet thread than a dark green would have been.   The pattern has you make the ribbing a little smaller than the glass you’re going to put it on and then sew the ends together to make a tube. 
The border is done right on to the ribbing.  I made them one row shorter on both the top and the bottom.
The bottom is done as a separate piece and then sewn to the tube.  I decided to do it right from the border instead.  Trying to work from the outside in was a little more difficult than it usually is since they’re circle pattern wasn’t a typical circle pattern.  It didn’t quite work and it seems a little looser than it should be.  
I did not make the holly part.  Someone at the October Crochet Guild meeting suggested a snowflake and I think that would look nice but I wanted to be done with this so I just left the extra motif off.
 
How it turned out:
I like how the color combination worked out but I don’t love this pattern.  I put it over a small jam jar and it looks ok.  I’m not sure the bottom piece is necessary if it’s just decorative.  This might be cute as a votive holder or to dress up a jar of jam or other preserves.

Next week:
I'll have the November patterns to vote on ready!  My November selection of Workbasket Magazine has only six years; 1954, 1967, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978. 

I'm about a third of the way done with the Holly Glass Muffs in blue and gray.  Hopefully I'll have one completed by next Sunday.   

In the mid-month posts I've shared the best of the different sections like Making Cents, other patterns in knit or other needlework, the interesting ads or some of the recipes.   This month I made one of the recipes from the Harvest Time section.

This month's section feature's pies, gingerbread and molasses and included Spicy Molasses Doughnuts, Struesel Gingerbread, Fig-Pineapple Twist, Molasses Popcorn Balls, Molasses Cookies, Molasses Taffy, Orange Zabaglione and Molasses Peanut Brittle.   This section includes a description of how molasses is made and some of the different kinds of molasses.

I haven't baked much in the last few years and most of the baking has been with alternative flours like coconut and almond flour so I was hesitant to take on any of the recipes that had yeast.  I also don't like molasses much so those recipes were out too.   I wanted something fairly simple from the list that I had most of the ingredients for.  I chose Mellow Pumpkin Cake.

The only ingredient I had to buy was buttermilk.  We had a can of pumpkin and and some flour and sugar left over from previous recipes.   I didn't think I had shortening but technically coconut oil is a solid at room temperature so I decided I'd try that.

Ingredients out on the counter I discovered that I only had 1 cup of white sugar.  I had Sucanat though so I used that for the last half cup.  Since Sucanat still has it's molasses content I thought it sort of fit in with the theme.

Step one is creaming the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.    After mixing a bit, I started to worry.   The coconut oil didn't feel light and fluffy and the Sucanat wasn't really mixing in.    I continued on though and ended up with what felt like a lot of batter for a 9x9 pan.    It all went in to a lined and greased pan and into the oven.  

I took it out and let it rest for a bit while I continued to watch The Great British Baking show. 

I can hear Mary saying "Oh dear.  It's a bit under baked."   You can tell because the middle sunk while it was cooling.   It's still edible though and has a crisp outside that's pretty tasty (I've had a few pieces..)

So the 1963 recipe was a good one.  I think it was the baker's skill in this case that made not perfect but still edible.  

Next week I should have a Winter Glass Muff done with a pattern review for it.

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The Holly Glass Muffs were the winner for October

About the materials:
The pattern says, "You will need one skein each of red and green Lily Mills Daisy Mercerized Crochet Cotton, size 20 and steel crochet hooks numbers  5 and 12.  Work tightly for best results."   It looks like Daisy came in skeins that looked more like hanks rather than the typical crochet thread wound on a cardboard tube.  

I don't have any size 20 crochet thread but most of this is done holding two strands together so I'll use size 10 crochet thread.   The Holly Leaf Spray and the Holly Berries use just one strand so I haven't decided how I'll do those yet.  

My sister suggested that I used something other than traditional colors so I'll use gray/silver for the borders and blue for the background.   I may try to use white for the leaves if I can either adjust the patter or decide bigger leaves will work for this pattern.
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​Next week:  There are a lot of interesting baking recipes in this issue; breads, cupcakes and tarts plus some old fashioned puddings like English Plum Pudding and Persimmon Pudding.  I'll share some photos of them and if anyone is interested in trying to make one I'll send you the recipe and you can share how it went!