Vintage Crochet for your Home - A book review

The cover of the book.

Vintage Crochet for your Home: Best Loved Patterns for Afghans, Rugs and More.

From the  Coats & Clark Company  2010

Coats & Clark are celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Red Heart Yarn line this year by releasing this new book. The book has an interesting concept. It takes vintage patterns designed and published by the company from 1920-1959 and redesigns them for the modern crocheters. The patterns are written using modern terms and crocheted using readily available yarns from the Red Heart line in modern fresh colors. The book fully takes advantage of the resurgence of interest in the mid-century modern aesthetic and the rising trend of vintage modern styling. Crafters are very interested in vintage patterns but are often put off on using the patterns because of the way they are written the lack of charts and the difficulty in finding or even understanding the yarn weights in older patterns. This book takes a nice selection of vintage patterns for the home and transforms them into fresh and modern patterns with a vintage flair.

Love these mitered clothes and the hooks

The book consists of four main chapters with over 30 patterns, a brief history of the company and a how to crochet basics information section. The patterns are broken into three sections Beginner (1 pattern), Easy (24 patterns) and Intermediate (5 patterns) so the patterns are attainable for nearly everyone. The patterns are well written and have a good layout and all the patterns include colored charts which make it easy to follow along when working the projects. The book is filled with great colored photos of all the projects and in some cases has the original photos from the pattern along side the new redesigned project.

Chapter 1 Kitchen Aids consists of dishcloths, potholders, and shopping bags. I love the mitered dishcloths and think they would be adorable in any kitchen or as a house warming gift. Retro dishcloths are so hot right now and these cloths have a 50ish vibe that would be great in any style kitchen. I know that the mitered dishcloth is a mini trend on Ravelry and this will let crocheters in on the trend. The color combinations are endless and this pattern makes good use of variegated cottons which can become overwhelming in a full project. The potholders and the shopping bags are also very nice all are small projects that would make great gifts.

Covered bottle caps the variations are endless.

Chapter 2 Entertaining Tables has a selection of placemats, doilies, and a hot pad. The placemats are lovely but I am fascinated by the Pineapple Hot Plate mat. This pattern takes metal bottle caps crochets them into a cover and then the covered caps are sewn into the shape of a pineapple which is then used as a hot pad. How clever is that? The pattern is interesting but what I love how the technique can be applied to other projects. I am imagining plastic water bottle caps sewn into circles for table runners, rugs, and coasters. It really is a clever idea and I can see it being used as an eco friendly project repurposing all kinds of lids and caps and different kinds of yarns.

Chapter 3 Bed & Bath Décor has rugs, edgings and an appliqué. What is it with crochet books that they always add some type of crochet edging? I think they are a bit fussy on bath towels but could be nice on other things. I guess I just am not the decorative towel kinda gal! I love the water lily appliqués but see them on other things than towels. I think they would look cool on a bag or a rug. The rugs are nice. I like the circular rug which uses a puff stitch. I can see how the choice of yarn and colors could suit this rug to any décor from modern to traditional.

Love the pillows and the styling

Chapter 4 Cozy Rooms is the longest chapter with them most patterns. It has the afghan patterns (with matching pillows) this section has the best styling of afghans I have seen in a while. I love the mid century feel of the styling. I guess Coats has had over 75 years of experience making afghans look appealing. I also like the modern and vintage photos which show you how modern color choices and yarns can reinvent a classic design. My favorite is the Checkmate Afghan & Pillow. It is a nice take on the buffalo plaid trend that is very popular right now. It has a 50’s bachelor vibe which is also popular right now. My college age son would love this afghan for his dorm. I like the use of a solid and a variegated yarn. It makes it look more complex than it really is. I also like the Tweedy Square pattern. It uses 2 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver which makes it economical as a housewarming gift. With the color choices and the variety of buttons you can find the pillow has endless variations.

Overall I like the book. The styling is lovely, the color photos well done and the variety of patterns is nice for a home book. I like the fact that the patterns are things people would want to use in their house no magnets or cozies (ok just one cup cozy but it matches the placemat and it’s actually more of a coaster with a lip) I like it when vintage doesn’t pander to kitsch, not that I don’t love kitsch. The only thing I didn’t like about the book is that some of the styling on the placemats obscured the project. Not a major problem since the instructions and charts are clear and some projects have multiple photos. Oh wouldn’t it be nice if Coats did a vintage home knitting book as a companion? Check out this book and of course decide for yourself I personally found it to be a nice well done book with great patterns and an interesting premise.

Vintage Crochet For Your Home: Best-Loved Patterns for Afghans, Rugs and More for sale on Amazon.com.

Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful Book Review.

 Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful

By Narumi Ogawa
Illustrated by Dylan Haley
Published by: North Light Books, 2007
Website http://misterfunky.com/index.html

Mr. Funky’s Super Crochet Wonderful is a pretty cute crochet pattern book. It has patterns for both amigurmi animals and small fashion accessories. The book has full patterns with charts for nine animals with variations and sixteen patterns for accessories. Some have multiple parts such as a hat and scarf set. The patterns are fun and easy to follow and allows for an endless variations. Switching up ears, tails, clothes, and eyes can lead to a numerous different types of animals. For example the book has a pattern for a cat that could be a dog, a bear or even a person with some mods. I especially like the bear bottle cover. The pattern is written for a plastic water bottle but can easily be made to fit a baby bottle, or a thin tall reusable plastic or metal bottle.


I like the simple shape of the animals and the uncomplicated construction. I think the design of the animals is accessible to younger crafter who want to make amigurmi but may be nervous about some of the other more articulated styles found on the internet or in other books. It is a good staring point for making animals.

The accessories are basic accessories made more fashion forward with the use of creative yarns. The book has hats, scarves, a bag, some pins and a pair of mittens. All are good basic shaped patterns that can be customized with unique yarn choices or add ons. I think the mitten pattern is especially nice and can be customized in endless ways. I don’t often see crocheted mittens. This book could be a good resource for basic go to patterns in a variety of yarn sizes.

I liked this book it is so cute. It has adorable illustrations, the color and layout of the book is young and fresh and geared towards modern crocheters without being cloying. The pattern style is fresh, easy to follow and well laid out. I think it would be great for younger crocheters who have mastered the basics of the craft. The illustrator has taken the photographs of the finished projects and drew backgrounds and accessories around the photos. Also the accessories are modeled by animals instead of people so cute. My niece thought it was the” cutest ever.’

None of the patterns are overly complex so I would rate it an intermediate level book. However be warned the book doesn’t have a how to crochet section so you should know how to crochet before you start. I also like the fact that it has both charts and written instructions. The charts are big and easy to read and come with a symbol guide. It does have a tip section at the back with some basic assembly information. I learned a tip from the book, use a one size smaller hook to do your decreases. This makes a smaller gap and keeps the stuffing from popping out! Nifty.

I was disappointed to see that it did not have a basic stitch guide in it but it is not a deal breaker. I also found that some of the patterns such as the mittens had illustrations drawn on top of the project photos. The mittens had snow drawn on the tips of the mittens and thumb, very distracting since that is something you want to see when you are working on the project. Even though the animal models are super cute I wonder about the fit of the hats on real people I guess that is what Ravelry is for.

Overall this is a very fun book with good patterns. I am planning on making the Bunny in a Dress pattern and the On the go Water bottle cozy for Christmas gifts so look for those in the future. I would recommend this book for teens and fashion forward crocheters looking for something fun and fast to work on.

Yarn on the run

Today I started a pretty crazy knitting in public event on my regular morning bus. I was knitting along on a hat on the bus when this woman that I see everyday starts yelling and laughing hysterically. I turn off my mp3 player and try to figure out why she is gesturing frantically to me. Apparently my small golf ball sized ball of yarn that I thought was in my bag had popped out and rolled to the front of the bus. It had gotten tangled all over the place and was twisted around a sleeping mans leg! She was trying to catch the yarn ball but the yarn was so slippery and the bus was moving. A couple of people helped me chase down the ball and wind it back up we all laughed. I told the woman I would give her the hat when I finished it! I guess a lot of people will be hearing a story about a crazy lady on the bus lost her ball of yarn!

January was NaKniMitMo10 or National Knit Mittens Month 2010 since I love to knit mittens I decided I would participate again. Last year I busted out four pairs of mittens for the event. This year I did two. I did the Latvian Inspired Mittens and the flip tops for Jazzy that I wrote about earlier. I decided that I wanted to make my sister a pair of color work mittens for her birthday which is in late January. She tries to make me give her my Lapland mittens and I always say no. So I found this great pattern on free Ravelry and dug out some RHSS from the stash in some girl colors. I wanted to make sure the mittens were machine washable and didn’t itch! The pattern is pretty straight forward and it looks beautiful. I chose purples and gray for the mittens. So I went like gang busters on the first and then was easily distracted on the second. I let it languish until the very end of the month. I knit like crazy wove in all the ends and left the thumbs until the last Saturday of the month. I had to measure my sister’s thumbs. In the past my mittens had thumbs that were too small and it really hinders movement. Well long story short she loves the mittens. She wears them when she drives which is weird but she hates cold hands. They washed up nice and soft and haven’t fallen apart I guess that is a win - win in my book!

In other news I am still working through my Modern Library 100 Best Book list. Since last check in I finished I, Claudius by Robert Graves, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and the Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett. I am working on Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. I have to say the To the Lighthouse was wonderful and Mrs. Ramsay is a knitter. In the story she spends a summer at the seashore working on a brown sock. Much of the story develops around the act of her knitting. It was fascinating to see how knitting was used to convey the mood of Mrs. Ramsay and how her husband sees her. I would love to find an audio book of this title to listen to while I knit.

At last count I have six projects that I have yet to blog about. I will get to those in the coming weeks. Right now I am working on a hat from the new Stitch Nation Booklet and thinking about an afghan for Nate to take away to college. Oh wait if he ever finds out which college he is going to. You rush and rush to get everything ready and then you wait! I bought two new color work books. The New Stranded Colorwork by Mary Scot Huff and Color by Kristen by Kristen Nicholsas both of which are drool worthy. I want to make the Southwest-Style Sleeved Wrap from Kristen Knits and the Being Koi vest from Huff’s book. Maybe when I am the empty nester my sister keeps telling me I will be soon!

My mother finished an amazing crocheted fisherman inspired afghan for a fundraiser. It is amazing. I am awed by how fast she can crochet. She mixes and matches the stitches in panels so each blanket is unique and she always does them in the creamy aran color. I have to jump on the band wagon and say I did the fringing. She hates fringe but people love it. She sold raffles for the blanket and made over 150.00 for her charity. Mom, please make me an afghan and don’t tell me to bid on the next one or make my own!

Links:

Latvian Insprired Mittens by Jennifer Little (rav link) Free pattern

Color by Kristen by Kristen Nicholas

The New Stranded Colorwork by Mary Scott Huff

Done and undone

Meet the Hep Cat. My most complex crochet project to date! Boy is he cute. I made him for Ashley. She share custody of Kitty with her ex and sometimes gets lonely for him. The cat not the boyfriend. I was showing her the book and she said make me a Hep Cat. So I started in April worked like crazy, gave him a time out and he fell asleep. I woke him up for the WIP Wrestlemania event on Ravelry. He competed in the Slingshot event which was any toy. I made him out of RHSS because I am just that classy. Enjoy his awesome bells and cool beret. Do not I repeat do not point out the fact that his eyes are not level. Instead note the awesome cute toes.

On to other things. I have decided after listening to the Gives Good Knit podcast to look up the Modern Library's 100 greatest novels of the last 100 years and start to read the ones that I didn't read yet. Number one was Ulysses by James Joyce. Ahhh my bookiest arch nemesis! I have been trying to read this book for ok I will say it 20 years. Nate's dad bought me a copy of the book when we were dating and I never got past chapter 4. So I decided to download an audio copy from Libravox. I find it easy to listen to and follow along with a print copy. It also helps to read some of the analysis of the book to better understand the stream of consciousnes thing he has going on. I am not going to say I will work my way through the list but I am starting out with good intentions. James Joyce is my undone but I will crush that book's skull if I have to go back and get a master's in english to do it!

Modern Library's 100 Best Novels (1-5)
1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
I've read 2,4,5 I am working on 1, and 2.

Hep Cat from Amigurumi Super Happy Crochet Cute by Beth Doherty (rav link)

Modern Library 100 Best Novels List

Gives Good Knit podcast

Libravox audio books

Also check out Wendy's blog she posted a top 100 book list in March of this year and is currently working on a project in which she is trying to read a book about each state.

http://itsjustme-wendy.blogspot.com/

Hyper what?

How could I forget about the hyperbolic crochet event two weeks ago? I actually got to craft on company time? We have a science museum where I work. For the first friday of every month we have a event where the museum is open late. This year they are doing a hands on science theme and two weeks ago it was hyperbolic crochet. I knit a few samples for the event and we spent a few hours teaching people to crochet and talking up crafting. I met some great people both knitters and crocheter and had a great time crafting on company time.

I made two samples both varigated. The first was a purple ruffled hyperbolic and the second which I didn't photograph was a blue tie dyed sample that I gave to Andy. He said he wanted a toupee! I wish I had a photo of him wearing it.
The action shots are from Clare who works at CHF. Thanks Clare! The other photos are mine I took them at work so you can see my workspace. How fun? The first one is in my window. That is my pine cone that I got in California a few years back. I was on a library trip to see a donor and his wife gave me this pinecone from a giant pine tree in her garden. They lived in Redwood City how fitting?

See Andy in the left hand corner? He stayed for the event but didn't crochet.

Here is Audra teaching Ashley who works with me in the library to crochet. I am just running my mouth. I met a woman who spun her dog's hair into yarn. I was fascinated.

Here I am teaching and of course running my mouth again. The couple I am talking to are mathmaticans. She knits he doesn't. He was a good sport.

Here is Sarah. She works at Chf and is a fantastic crocheter. I hope she doesn't mind me showing her photo but I wanted to show and action shot of my purple hyperbolic. All the yarn was either RHSS or Vanna's Choice.

No christmas knitting

Well I have been slacking off this week. I am off from work and school a very rare event. I am working steadily on my Ram's Horn Cardi from Knitting Nature. Did I tell you that Norah herself answered my question about it on Ravelry? How cool is that? For me very cool. I am finished the back and left side. The right side is about 6 inches long and moving fast. It is definetely a bus project with all that SS it gets a bit much.

I did no christmast knitting. I did however create this wonder. It is a bacon chesseburger for our pirate pollyanna. It came with a gift card to wendy's. It was big hit. I crocheted it using my fave wt yarn Red heart Super Saver and to class it up I sewed on little beads for sesame seeds.

School starts on January 7th. This is my last quarter so I am happy and sad. I realize how much time it takes up and I don't know what I will do when I am done. I am taking Academic Libraries and Research collection development. I am hoping these classes will help me find a new job. Did I tell you I am looking for a new job?

Happy new year. I have made two resolutions this year. One be more ecologically friendly. We have been working on this but I want to kick it up a notch and spread the word around. And two to learn some new knitting techniques. I want to master short rows, enterlac, and try a top down raglan. I want to make some color work mittens, and work on a plan to create a christmas stockpile of little presents we shall see. Oh and I am thinking about writing a book. So things should be fun this year.

Last FOs for 2006

Here are some last minute FO's from 2006 the first is the finished purses for the girls. I made these are mini versions of the cable purse for Jazzy (3) and Amelia (9) They are lined in pink flannel and have a crochet flower pin with both. Beanie loves her purse and has made it her day to day purse. If you know Beanie and her love of purses you will know this is a huge compliment. My sis loves her purse.

The second is the Christmas Donuts! I made these for my pirate pollyanna. I put two donuts in a box with a giftcard to Dunkin. (Beloved snack place of the Hathaways) I also made a powder donut and a purple sprinkle donut for Jazzy. Oh you don't even need to ask it is RH Super Saver.

Since I got so much flak for making poor J.R. model my knitting I made the boys do it this time. Alex and Nate both love the donuts. P.S. I am loving the labels. They really appeal to my cataloging nature.