Project: Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan

 We asked our friend Michele, the speediest crocheter we know, if she wanted to make a "model" from one of the patterns in our stores. She picked a pattern from the 1930's - the Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan. It turns out that women in the 1930's crocheted a lot more than they do now and patterns relied on that innate knowledge gleaned when crocheting so much when they put the instructions together. These days, patterns contain a lot more detail. In fact, watching Michele right now, describing how much longer the pattern would be had it been written recently, is pretty entertaining.

So this is a picture from the pattern.

Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan

And, here is a picture of a single block from the afghan. It has taken the speedy crocheter (and mathematical genius) several attempts to convert the instructions to modern crocheting. We will be posting changes made to the pattern, and modern interpretations of the pattern over the next couple of weeks as she finishes the afghan. All of the changes will be added to the pattern.

The first change made was the yarn type. The pattern calls for Minerva Shetland Floss - a discontinued yarn. The Shetland Floss was a tiny yarn that was worked with a size 12 steel crochet hook. Michele decided that making 124 - 132 diamonds for the pattern would be too time consuming and not much fun.

The yarn Michele chose is Caron Simply Soft. Simply Soft is a light worsted weight yarn that works up easily and is really soft. The hook size she went with is a size 7. It was one size smaller than the yarn calls for because we thought it would make the diamonds a little more stable.

Using Simply Soft yarn made the finished diminished approximately 7 1/2" x 7 1/2".

More project updates will be posted - keep an eye out for them.


Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan listing on Etsy

New "Links" Page Added

We are putting together a list of links that have been helpful when trying to determine yarn types and needle sizes.

Take a peek and let us know if you have sites that have been helpful for you.

"Knit to Fit" Sizing Chart - Free download

As you may or may not know, vintage pattern sizing was quite a bit different from the current sizing system. Vintage sizes ran smaller (often much smaller) than modern standards. This guide will help you modify a vintage pattern.

The "Knit to Fit" Chart - A Simple and Practical Guide to Changing Sizes to Fit for Your Own Measurements is available on our Craftsy store as a free download.

The chart contains 6 pages of information to help you modify your vintage patterns. Measurements for sizes 14-16-18-20-40-42. This chart and guide will help you create custom-fitted sweaters and skirts direct from the small sizes of vintage patterns

The chart goes over the basics of extending from size 16 direct to 18, 20, 40 and 42 in knitting or crochet.

The file can be downloaded from Google docs, just click here:  Take to the "Knit to Fit Guide"
 

Fascinated

We have just posted some new patterns at our Etsy store store. We have added a group of four fascinators from the 1940's that are knit or crocheted. When Alison showed me the patterns, I almost fell over with excitement - and an intense desire to make them. I thought they were headscarves, but the pattern calls them fascinators.

Bonham Fascinator

Softening Scratchy Yarn

I purchased a hand knit sweater at a thrift store because I loved the colors of the yarn. I didn't really take into consideration that the yarn was incredibly itchy and scratchy and almost completely unwearable. Until I discovered the blog post below, I thought my only option was to make a felted bed for my cats.

I completely unraveled the sweater and then used a yarn winder to create long skeins of yarn.  I took one of the skeins just to see if this method for softening the yarn would work. I was pleasantly discovered that it did soften it quite a bit. The yarn was soft enough to make a hat that wouldn't drive me insane with an itchy forehead.

How to soften scratchy yarn

Cloche with Rolled Brim - Update

I was able to start working on the cloche at my younger son's soccer practice. Unfortunately, I am easily distracted by everything going on around me, so I kept losing my place. This isn't a difficult pattern but the counting kept tripping me up. Once we got home, and I had a little quiet time, I cruised along.

I do most of my knitting on circular needles. I find them so much more comfortable and easier to use than straight needles, mostly because I can sit in any chair and not bang my needles on the arm rests. And, because the needles are attached to each other, I don't ever have to worry about losing one needle.

The above pic shows the hat shortly after I started it. There are 8 stitches between yarn-overs. More pictures will be posted as I finish the hat.

So I thought I had a hat....

A while back, on our Facebook page, I was going to post a picture of a hat I had made from one our patterns. But I couldn't find that hat and I couldn't find the pics we had taken of it. If Alison hadn't been the one to take the pictures of the hat (and seen the hat), I would have thought I had completely lost my mind. 

I had yarn left after making the  original hat, so I thought I would start another hat.  I am using the "Classic Cloche with Rolled Brim" hat. You can find the pattern here: Classic Cloche with Rolled Brim

The original pattern called for Bernat Colorstyle Yarn which is no longer available, and I couldn't find any information online about it. Instead, I found a yarn that gave me the same gauge: Vanna's Glamour Yarn was easily available and makes up into a really cool hat.

I will be posting updates as I go along. Hopefully this will be a quick knit. I wish I was faster at knitting.