Friday 12 October 2007

Golden Oldie crochet patterns




Hands up any of you who have these patterns in your collection. Not many I bet and even fewer who actually made them and wore them. I can wave my hands in the air on both counts but I must confess it was the 60's when I made and wore them and I was considerably slimmer in those days! Fortunately there is no documented references to them in any of my archived photos so you cannot see my principal boy legs as my mother used to call them. I think it was a polite way of saying I had a quite substantial pair of pins. A legacy from my ballet dancing youth. For the doubting amongst you I can produce a photo or two of me in a tutu so be very afraid it may appear one day on my blog!


For those who don't recognise the lovelies in the patterns the lady in the shorts is Shakira Khan who married Michael Caine ( to pinch the words of Michael - not a lot of people know that) and the lovely Twiggy in her white suit who is now gracing our TV screens advertising Marks and Spencer. I bet she could still fit in that suit which is more than I could had I kept mine. For the technically minded I did line the suit and the shorts for modesty's sake. It might have been the swinging 60's but you I did have my mother to deal with. I often left the house wearing something different with the offending short outfit smuggled out in a bag to be changed into at the dance. Skirts that short did teach me how to walk, bend and sit in a ladylike way. One false move and my tonsils were on display for the world to see. I lived a large portion of my life surrounded by a halo of hairspray holding my beehive in place. We had never heard of the ozone layer in those days. Every mirror in the house was sticky with hair spray it used to drive my mother mad.


I went for my X ray today. I got a phone call at 8.45am from the hospital - can you be here by 9am. You have to be kidding - right? Rush hour traffic and the hospital half an hour away in light traffic. The car park is 10 mins walk from the hospital these days, plus the hospital is a rabbit warren of corridors. We compromised on 1pm and so I arrived crochet in my bag ready for a long wait only to be whisked in and X rayed in a blink of an eye with barely time for a starting chain. Now I have to wait for the results to find out if I am having an operation on my back - or not.


I finished the scratchy shawl and it is ready for a wash in an attempt to soften the yarn up so it can at least turn into something wearable. Not the best thing I have ever crocheted but at least it is some yarn out of the stash and into a garment even if it never gets worn. I need to crochet 2 more premature baby blankets before the 21st as Lisa from Knitting Noras has volunteered to take the outfits and blankets that I have already made to Ann who will take them to the hospital prem baby unit. I will try to fit in a couple of jackets and hats if time permits and then take a break from them until after Christmas.


Not enough hours in the day for crochet. I wonder how long it would take me to train my toes to knit and crochet? Would it be like patting your head and rubbing your tummy trying to use both feet and hands to craft with?


Time for a rum and coke. It is Friday and the sun has gone over the yard arm so it is allowed. More wiggly crochet if I have more than one glass?


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