Every now and then I enjoy taking a few hours to visit some of my favorite antique shops in the area. Most often, I'm window shopping, inspired by imagining the original owners of the variety of goodies I see. Now and again, I have a day when I find all sorts of wonders that I can't resist. Yesterday was a craft-themed day.
I found a trove of vintage knitting and crochet magazines. Pretty proud that I only brought four home. Aren't the covers fantastic?
I picked up the crochet hook in the same booth as the magazines. It was FILLED with vintage linens. I had to remind myself of the drawer full of my Gram's linens to keep from greedily snapping them up. The tag on the hook claims that is ivory, but I'm betting against that. Still, it is comfortable in my hand, especially for a size 1.
The box. Oh, the box. That was from another shop. It was labeled "tatting". I didn't look too carefully inside. I was drawn to it as though it had been placed on the shelf for me. Only once I got home did I investigate more fully.
I was gobsmacked to find a stack of hemstitched "blanks" partially made into a project. My mom recently wondered if such things were still available. I have linens edged by my Gram, and I wanted to copy some of her work. And look at this! The unfinished project of a crafter from days gone by, just waiting for me! It might take a while for me to decipher just how the original crafter created her joins, I'm psyched to give it a go.
Gram taught me to crochet doilies using similar crochet thread. It will be a return to my crafting roots to play with these supplies.
What supplies have you eager to get crafting?
*Last night Neal flipped through one of the vintage magazines in an effort to show interest in my finds. His question made me laugh until my stomach hurt. He was utterly sincere, utterly adorable!
Love love love!!!
Posted by: Sarah | February 27, 2011 at 03:14 PM
Where do you find this stuff?!?! Every time I go looking, I never find stuff as exciting. 'Course, I can't ever find anything in TJMaxx either when my best friend from high school would come out with $200 worth of stuff for $20!
Posted by: Katie | February 27, 2011 at 04:40 PM
You found some great things!
Posted by: Carole | February 27, 2011 at 04:43 PM
love. in my antiquing over the years the best i've ever found is one steel crochet hook. i think katie and i suffer from the same problem! i love the bernat cover and neal's comment has me giggling. he's a good one, you should keep him. ;)
Posted by: penny | February 27, 2011 at 07:27 PM
Oh what treasures. Nice find - I can't wait to see how you use them :)
Posted by: Christina Scovel | February 28, 2011 at 09:40 AM
i'm going with you next time! Please?? Tatting..I would love to learn that craft. You just reminded me that I must find my two pillow cases edged with lace tatting, must sew them onto new pillow cases. My great grandma was a tatter (did I just make that up?) and I was lucky enough to have several of her cherished pieces.
Posted by: sara | February 28, 2011 at 05:16 PM
neal's question is DELIGHTFUL! (and I'm curious how you answered :-) my aunt and grandmother made crocheted and tatted lace - it's a lovely art, but boy is it hard to see! my limit is fingering weight yarn on size 1 knitting needles!
Posted by: Mary | March 02, 2011 at 06:13 AM