Vintage Yarn? May 11, 2009

My Aunt bought a house at an auction which was full of treasures in the attic, cupboards, and garage. While there trying to clean and move my cousin into the house, my grandma found a box of yarn. Mostly green and brown, but a few pinks, yellows, and oranges. One of the labels is an old lions brand design, and one says “Moon Glo Yarn”.

I was SO excited at this discovery. Who has ever heard of finding vintage yarn before? Its all in skeins and good shape, though its dusty and I’m not trying to find a way to clean it. When we found more yarn, my cousin looked at me and said “Take it, its yours. I have no idea what to do with it!” as if it were some bizarre technology that you need a degree to use.

I’ll post pictures of the labels later, but it was a very cool discovery.

Purse! May 5, 2009

Anyone who knows me knows that I have three loves in my life: my car, crocheting, and purses. I decided the other day I wanted to make a purse and got a pattern from Joann fabric’s website. I did the first row and was so confused I ripped my stitches out. So I decided to just play and what I ended up making I absolutley love:

           

I worked it with an I hook in one piece for half of it. The bottom is single crochets which then work into half double crochets. About half way through I switched to a N hook and continued with the HDC. I then dramatically reduced my stitches every row (2,4,8,16) and finished it off. The handle flaps were added on and then the brown striping. I used it that day and it stretched too much. So I lined it, which can be seen in the next photo:

 As you can see I havent worked in my ends yet! Anyway, the lining was my first attempt and I sewed the fabric into a pouch by hand and then sewed it into the purse (I hate sewing machines. Coco Chanel didnt use sewing machines so neither will I!). The only think I would change for next time is when I start decreasing the HDC, I would switch back to the smaller hook to tighten it up a bit.

I like it because it has a square-ish shape to it to go with the square handles. But it would be quite easy to make a round one too! This was my first major project that I havent used a pattern for so Im very content with myself!