So, as some of you may know if you read other blog posts, I learned to crochet from my Gramma when I was 9 years old. She taught me how with thread, and I started out reading diagram patterns of doilies. Usually just coaster size doilies, and as a 9 yr old I usually could finish one in an afternoon after school.
The other day, my mom gave me one of my Gramma's old books. Flipping through the pages, I found several things I recognized as her works. I also found some neat things I want to try. I haven't crocheted with thread (aside from that awesome gnome) for about 10 years.
So here's the cover of the book, and the title page, and a couple pages from it. If you can't make it out in the picture, it's called "The Complete Book of Crochet." The ladies purse is one I wanna try, or maybe another one in there like it. And the ruffly doily is one that my Gramma had made.
Here's a few more pages out of the book. A bedspread, a hat, some gloves and a head-band. Can you imagine making an entire bedspread from THREAD? jeeze. Prolly size 30 or 40, but still...
This is one of the things I have that my Gramma made. It's a peice of fabric, embroidered. Variegated thread of oranges and yellows.
And then an edging she put around it, crocheted.
This one is a cute little doily.
She used some lightly colored
baby yarn tied to the design for
a mane and tail. Super Cute!
I love it.
I want to put it in a shadow box one day.
This is a doily I made on the left, and one she made on the right. Size 30 thread for each I believe.
So the story behind these 2 doilies: I made the left one from a "Magic Crochet" magazine my Gramma had. She had a subscription, and she kept every issue. So I would browse her magazines for patterns, pick one, work the project and return her magazine. We always looked through the magazines together. Laughing at how rediculous some of the patterns were.... There was one pattern writer "Glendola Hodges" that my Gramma and I always laughed at how absurd her patterns were.... They were sorry excuses for doilies, always just huge gaping holes... like big enough you could put a fist through them sometimes... and not ever pretty. We would see a picture of a pattern and say "that must be Glendola!" read the fine print, and sure enough it was. After she died, we went through her things and we found the white doily on the right. She had made the same doily I had. We never found any of the old magazines, so we couldn't find any info about how long ago she would have made the doily, I just know it was some time before I made mine. I think about my Gramma every day, I miss her so much. She was such a neat lady. I am so glad she taught me to crochet (and knit too, but crocheting is WAAAAY better) when I was little girl.
After our conversation last night especially, I really like this post! :) I think it's really neat to have a "history" with someone else that you're close to over a shared craft. I'd like to learn how to do some of the thread crocheting one of these days myself. It seems like it would make your eyes go buggy after looking at it for a while :P
ReplyDeletep.s. The gnome rocks!!
So thread is actually easier to see for me. The Thread is "clean" there's no fuzziness blurring the focus of the stitch. It's like the difference of using cotton yarn, sort of, but smaller and even less fuzzy.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part isn't seeing your work, it's getting used to holding a tiny hook, holding thin thread, and still keeping your tension right. It just takes a little practice, start small and work your way into it.. I'd recommend a flat project first, not amigurumi or anything.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Just think 6 months ago you were learning to read patterns, now you write your own!! :)