On the hook...

This week ended with no completed projects, but several are on the hook.  I'll give just a peek at what I'm up to at the moment -- yarn-wise, that is.

For a couple of weeks now I've been working on a Leaping Stripes and Blocks Blanket.   I'm loving how the colors are working together.

I'm using Deborah Norville Everyday in White and Orchid, and Red Heart Soft in a variegated called Plummy.

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And I'm also working on a Twist 'N Shout Slouchy Hat.  I think this is the first time I've crocheted a ribbing.  This ribbing is created by slip stitching into the backs of all the stitches.  Can anyone say tedious?  Crocheting loosely is key -  and keeping count of the stitches is important too.  Those little slip stitches tend to disappear under the first and last stitches of each row and they are easy to miss.

Crocheting a slip-stitch ribbing is sloooooow going. When I finish this hat, I think I'm going to try knitting a ribbing just to see how quickly that goes by comparison.  The body of the hat nearly flies off the hook, by the way.  So attaching a crocheted top to a knitted ribbing maybe the way to go with this hat in the future.

So that's about all I've managed to accomplish with yarn this week, but I've got something fun to show you.  Yesterday I received a beautiful copy of a vintage McCall's Crochet Treasury.  

This copy was published in 1977 (the year I graduated from high school), but some of the patterns are from 1968.  I don't know if I'll make anything from this book, but I'm going to thoroughly enjoy looking through it.  Many times, no doubt.

I just opened it enough to take a few pictures to share with you...

Now, I don't propose  that this would be anything anyone would want to wear today (necessarily), but am I the only one who thinks this is pretty?   I imagine in the 60's this would have been very fashionable.   While I wouldn't make something like this (mostly because I wouldn't want to sew the lining it would need to hold its shape), but I LOVE the fit of the pieces and the look of the crocheted fabric.  And those scallops!   I just love it. I love the whole thing.

And this one, too:

Now, this one...?  I'd change the collar, and the buttons (and maybe that bottom band - or maybe not), but I'd totally wear something like this - well, okay...  if I was skinny I'd totally wear something like this.  ;^)


And there are these pretty curtains.  I can imagine these moderned up with some bright, fun colors.  Or maybe done in some grays...

And who of you over the age of say... 50... doesn't remember these?

During my teen years there was a sunburst pillow on our living room sofa.    And that round granny pillow in the back - that would be "hip" in someone's home decor today!

Ooooh...   I'm going to have fun pouring over this book and imagining making something new out of a vintage pattern.

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Of course, there's some downright silly stuff that I really can't imagine anyone took seriously the first time around:

But the entertainment value is worth something...

I wonder what crochet clothing models got paid in the 60's and 70's...  I doubt it was enough.

Well...  that's all I have for today.   If you enjoy perusing vintage patterns you'll appreciate my pleasure at looking through a book like this.  And if you think I'm a bit loony, that's okay...   That means less competition for finding such treasures.  ;^)

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