For fun and profit

Friends of ours from church were cleaning out the home of a recently deceased parent and found an amazing collection of needlework magazines from the 1950s. Knowing my, ah, interest in knitting as well as the affection my husband and I both have for vintage items, they knew exactly who to give this treasure to.




Just a small sampling:


"The Workbasket," from May 1952, featuring patterns for a crochet doily and a "shoulderette."




















Another issue, dated August 1954, with patterns for booties and knit edging among other articles. I love how pleased the model seems with her lace collar.






















The third one I scanned is from September 1956. I really like the rug on the cover. Another project from this issue is a "TV scarf," which is a runner to place over your television. I'm not sure how that would fly today.

Looking through these has been so much fun. One thing that struck me was the emphasis on "fun and profit" in both the articles and the advertisements. Here's a small sampling:

• "Earn extra money making artificial flowers at home! In spare time!"
• "Turn cooking talent into cash at home!"
• "Make big money at home -- Be an invisible reweaver"
• "Ladies! If you have spare or full time you'd like to turn into money, here is a wonderful new idea. Show latest dress styles to friends and neighbors and take the fast orders they will give you ... "
• "I'll pay you to 'give away' nylons at 49 cents!"

There's more to share, but I'm getting tired again. :-)

If I get more time to scan more covers or some of the articles or ads, I will. With at least thirty magazines, there's a lot to share here.

Just don't feel like blogging

But I finished a little sweater last night, and I think I like it very much.


It's for Peanut, knit in a 6 month size (I hope). It's not blue because the baby is a boy -- we don't know that yet, and we don't want to -- it's blue because a) my favorite color is blue, b) I feel blue looks beautiful on a boy or a girl, and c) the other colors I noticed in this yarn were lime green and coral and other tropical colors, which I also like a lot, but not for Norwegian-style colorwork.

Wow, how was that for a run-on sentence?

The yarn is Schoeller + Stahl Baby Micro, a superwash wool and microfiber blend. It's fingering weight and very, very soft. I really loved knitting with it and I'm almost -- almost -- tempted to make myself something with it, except I just can't imagine knitting an adult sized sweater at 7 stitches to the inch.

I bought it at a new yarn store in Wyandotte. Yes, a yarn store here in my own town! I didn't have to drive 30 minutes to buy a #3 16" circular needle when I needed it, I just headed downtown and had it in my hand! The store is fairly small and the selection is still limited to mostly basic "workhorse" yarns (and sock yarn, yay!), but the owner is very friendly and open to requests from her customers. She's getting more yarns in this August (one is a camel/merino blend, yum!), so here's to hoping the shop will keep growing.

In the meantime, I'm getting bigger and tireder, and haven't felt much like blogging. Andy's home for summer vacation now; that is such a blessing. We have 3-4 weeks to get the baby's room done. I hope it happens sooner than later.

A little meme

This meme is courtesy of my friend Jo. I'm quite grateful since I needed some blog fodder. (My life is very good lately, but very boring!)

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:
I was 25, living in a little house with two kittens, working at Bon Secours Nursing Care Center as a Music Therapist and commuting 50 minutes each way -- boy am I glad I don't have to do that any more. And dating Andrew Kilburn and waiting (somewhat) patiently for him to ask me to marry him!

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
Pay bills
Take Rose to the park if it doesn't rain
Go to an OB appointment
Buy a #3 16" circular needle
Attend a surprise retirement dinner

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Peanut butter with apple, Tagalog (Girl Scout) cookies, Combos, candy corn, peanut butter M&Ms

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire:
Set up accounts for us and our families to live as comfortably as possible for the rest of our lives; support our parish; buy a building for the local community theatre; go to Disney World every winter; go to Nova Scotia; go everywhere we've always wanted to go.

5. Places I have lived:
Wyandotte
Kalamazoo
Delaware
Caro
Wyandotte

My Winnie-the-Pooh quiz results

Your Score: Kanga

You scored 13 Ego, 14 Anxiety, and 14 Agency!

"I am not Roo," said Piglet loudly. "I am Piglet!"

"Yes, dear, yes," said Kanga soothingly. "And imitating Piglet's voice too! So clever of him," she went on, as she took a large bar of yellow soap out of the cupboard. "What will he be doing next"

"Can't you see?" shouted Piglet "Haven't you got eyes? Look at me!"

"I am looking, Roo, dear," said Kanga rather severely. "And you know what I told you yesterday about making faces. If you go on making faces like Piglet's, you will grow up to look like Piglet -- and then think how sorry you will be. Now then, into the bath, and don't let me have to speak to you about it again."

You scored as Kanga!

ABOUT KANGA: Kanga is Roo's mother and Tigger's foster mother. While she is a kind and motherly sort of person, the other inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood suspect that underneath, she is a Fierce Animal. Her hobbies involve talking about Roo's health and development, watching Roo while he practices jumping, and making Roo and Tigger take their strengthening medicine.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are the kind of person who takes on other people's worries. You are efficient and a person of action - the type of person who Gets Things Done. Your friends tend to rely on you to get them moving and keep things running.

The problem is that you tend to forget about yourself in all of this. You need to remember that you are an important and worthwhile person, and sometimes it is okay to say "no" to people's constant requests and demands. Give yourself some time off.

Link: The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test written by wolfcaroling on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(wolfcaroling)

Peanut's blanket

We've taken to calling the little one on the way "Peanut." We haven't found out the sex of the baby and we don't want to know until the birth. We did it that way with Rose and it was a lot a fun to hear the doctor say, "It's a girl!" So even though we have a name chosen for a boy and for a girl, since we don't know who's coming, its name is Peanut. Rose loves this, and talks to my belly all the time.

The other day the conversation went something like this.
Rose: "Peanut, when you come out, we'll go to the park and swing on the swings."
Me: "Peanut will love that, but at first he [note: I choose a pronoun at random when talking about the baby to Rose. I hope it doesn't mess her up.] won't be big enough to ride the swing.
Rose: "Oh."
Me: "But I know Peanut would love to watch while you ride the swing."
Rose: "Okay. Peanut, you can sit on the bench and watch me swing."
Me (trying not to laugh): "Well, he might not be able to sit on the bench, either. Maybe Peanut can sit in your stroller and watch you."
Rose: "My stroller?"
Me (thinking "uh-oh"): "Yes, you're so big you almost never need to ride in the stroller anymore. So maybe Peanut can use it when we go to the park."
Rose (thinking for a moment): "Okay, Peanut, I guess I can share my stroller with you."
Whew!

So I've started this Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting and it's going pretty well.

I decided to use a heavy worsted weight yarn to help all that garter stitch go faster, and bought some cotton from Blue Sky Alpacas in these great warm shades. I did a little math to figure out what number of stitches would give me color blocks in the same dimensions as the original DK weight blanket. Well, my math was just a teensy bit off, because I'm only halfway through this blanket and it already measures 30" by 34" -- the pattern says the finished blanket should measure 28" by 38"! Whoops!

I don't care; I like big blankets, and this one will last Peanut for a while. But I did need to get more yarn.

Rose's Lullaby

Rose has lately become very fond of tucking me in at bedtime. I lie in my bed and she "reads" me a story then sings me a song or two. She loves to pull the chain on my bedside lamp to turn it off and tells me "Have a good sleep, Mommy." Then she goes to her room and Daddy reads her a story and sings a song while I sneak out of my bed and go do whatever I was going to do that evening.

Here is a sample of one of her lullabyes:
Rock-a-bye, Mommy,
Don't go away.
(unintelligible)
And Rocket flies away.

Alrighty then...

I'm going to give it a go, and we'll see what happens. I thought to myself, it's 12 1/2 weeks until my due date; I may not be able to do much for a few weeks after that, but I'll try to get back into the swing of blogging until then.

My knitting mojo is definitely back. For a few months there, I didn't even want to see my knitting bag, let alone get anything out of it. But now, let's see...

I've finished this,

in which the zipper is not great, but not absolutely horrible, either;

and this, too:

The Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits, fall 2007. I made it to my pre-pregnancy bust size, so it gapes a bit in front, but I hope it will look nicer after the baby is weaned. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with it.

Then, just for fun (and perhaps for a warmer second cup of tea):

A quick little knit -- a tea cozy in trinity stitch.

There, now. I guess that wasn't so bad. :)

I'm thinking that since I've got Ravelry, more of this blog will end up being daily life and random thoughts. Be warned!