May 1949 The Finished Carnation Plus Part of the Pin Cushion

The carnation was done a little differently than I expected and I kind of liked it. 

I used blue and green pearl cotton thread in a size 5 and a B hook like I planned.  Starting off with round 1 is where the interesting bit happened.   This is a variation on a foundation row that I've never done:  “Rnd 1: Ch 3, dc in third ch from hook, * 2 more dc into same st, 1 dc into base of last dc, repeat from * until there are 45 stitches; join with a sl st.”
This version of a foundation stitch makes it into a stepped circle.   Here are what the first six double crochets look like.  I circled the part where you're double crocheting into the base of the previous double crochet

Round 2 puts two triple crochets in each double crochet to get the hyperbolic look and round 3 is picot stitches to make a “lacy edge”
 
The base is a green crocheted tube with loops of chains at the top that get pulled through the center and sewn in.   

The most difficult part was getting the floral wire in it.   The directions say, “fastening wire in center of flower”.   If I’d used smaller wire it would have been easier to hide it but the floral wire made it a little sturdier.  I used some jewelry pliers to get it in and kind of sewed around it to hide it.  The stem wire is covered by wrapping the thread around it and I secured it with some hot glue.  (See the big bump at the bottom of the stem? That's clumsy gluing.)
​

​The flower was pretty easy and fast to make so I thought I’d try making the pin cushion.  In retrospect, I’m kind of glad the carnation won.   I would have had to the pin cushion in a much bigger thread weight than the pattern suggested and it would have been more like a pin throw pillow than a pin cushion.   

The pattern asks for “a medium weight crochet thread about like size 30”.   I have a small amount of thread that is definitely smaller than size 10 but I’m not sure what size it really is.  It was wrapped around a size 10 spool that I think I got from my mother-in-law (hi Alma!) but could be from somewhere else.  I didn’t have enough to finish the final round and that’s ok because I didn’t really understand the edging row.  
​
This isn’t blocked and it’s missing a row but it’s already 5 inches long.  I used the hook size that was suggested which is about 1.30 mm.

​Next week we start voting on June.   It’s 1973 and there are some adorable options for kids.