This July we’re going back to 1954. Eisenhower is president. Elvis recorded his first commercial record. On The Waterfront was released and Father Knows Best was on TV. The best seller fiction book was Not as a Stranger by Morton Thompson and the non-fiction best seller was The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. I haven’t read either of those but there were other book released that year that are still popular today. The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien were both released that year. His friend C.S. Lewis also released a book that year; The Horse and His Boy. The top song that year for both June and July is “Little Things Mean a Lot” by Kitty Kallen. Other top songs include "Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)" by The Crew-Cuts. “Hey There” by Rosemary Clooney, and “Sway” by Dean Martin Workbasket Magazine had more of a focus on crochet in this issue. There are four crochet patterns, one knitting pattern and two tatting patterns. There’s the Pillow Top (pictured on the cover). It uses an afghan hook and I have yet to master Tunisian. There’s a Sunflower Hot Plate Mat that uses bottle caps. I’m assuming these would have been metal caps in 1954. I considered trying it with buttons but decided against that. And the two vintage crochet patterns you’ll choose between this month are: Leaf Mats in Crochet. This is described as, “This set consist of four leaves approximately 11 ½ inches, 9 ½ inches and 7 ½ inches from point to end. Three skeins of Bucilla Wonder-Knit and a steel crochet hook size 0 was used to make the set.” Bucilla Wonder-Knit is a discontinued worsted weight yarn made of 100% acrylic. or Swanky Dish Cloth. “Here is a wonderful gift or bazaar item. This piece takes about 200 yards of knitting and crochet yarn; use a size 8 steel hook. It measures 12 ½ by 13 ¾ inches.” The yarn they describe is pretty vague so I’ll have to do some gauge tests to figure out what will work on this one. Time to vote! Should I make the leaf mats or the “swanky” dish cloth?
2 Comments
Kathleen Roderick
6/23/2019 11:53:29 am
I vote for the leaves - there is so much potential application with the finished product ! The leaves can be Thanksgiving placements, or in a different gauge and different colors could be strung as a Fall bunting, or could be turned into a broach or pin.
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Alana M Ronningen
6/23/2019 11:57:47 am
I agree. I'm travelling in July and I usually take little flowers or hearts to give away to flight attendants, hotel staff, etc and I was thinking that mat might be cute with a rose on the front if I did it in thread.
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AuthorI'm from Minnesota and have been crocheting since 2003. I inherited a box full of Workbasket Magazines from my mother-in-law and became obsessed with the vintage patterns. Archives
December 2024
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