The Craftsy Shawl Project...Sigh...

My, this blog is either feast or famine of late--no posts for days on end, or several all bunched together. Oh, well!

This one is quick, I promise. I just wanted to report I've managed to undo my ghastly tangle and have gotten the shawl up and knitting again. It has taken me a good ten days to work up to it, and the repair took well over an hour with my glasses off, hunched over the work, rethreading kabillions of miniscule stitches onto these impossibly slender needles. I'm positively cross-eyed at this point!

BUT... I didn't bail out and quit, which I was sorely tempted to do. That's the beauty of having a blog like this. It keeps me from taking the easy route and shames me into doing what I should!

Some of the other workshop members have posted photos of their lovely completed shawls. Here's one here, so you can see what it is I'm supposed to be making:

http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/laera-shawl-pattern/93402#comments  

I am definitely bringing up the rear in this workshop, but at least I'm still staggering along.
  

Confessions of a Chagrined Collector

There is a certain irony in collecting, I've noticed. Things I scorned when they were new somehow begin to allure me now that they (and I!) have reached respectable middle-age. I'll call it The Nostalgia Factor.

Case in point: Melmac. If you  had told me twenty years ago that I would be panting with desire over cheap plastic dishes from the sixties, I would have laughed in derision. Guffawed, even. Then one day, at a favorite antique shop, I turned a corner and saw.... 
...the same kind of pink plastic serving set that we had when I was growing up. My mom had saved up greenstamps to get ours. (I know you younger folks don't know about greenstamps. Bear with me for now and I'll tell you about those in another post!) Anyway, one look and I was smitten. Goodbye, Pfaltzgraff; hello, Melmac! 

I've experienced this phenomenon many times since. Perhaps you can relate. Lately, the Nostalgia Factor has kicked in with a certain type of fabric print from the seventies.

I have a long-standing penchant for vintage novelty print fabric, as many of you already know. I adore mid-century plisse floral prints, kitschy nursery animal motif fabrics, and feedsack prints from the thirties. But who would have guessed I would suddenly develop a soft spot for the despised gooey-sentimental little seventies prairie girls and other pastoral waifs? Sheesh! I'm not quite sure how it happened.

However, since my latest junking outing yielded a nice new addition to my collection, I thought I might as well "fess up" and show you what I've been amassing.

First, the newest addition:

This is an exceptionally sheer, lightweight fabric. I haven't attempted a burn test yet to determine its content. Love the pastels!

   

Here is a bona fide Holly Hobbie print in a pretty, unexpected apricot hue.










A close-up of one of the figures...





Next, yet another official Holly Hobbie print. This is a sheet I bought at a flea market. The seller had used it to drape over a shelf she wasn't ready to display. When she saw me snooping around it, she asked if I wanted something off the shelf. I told her no, it was the sheet I admired. She offered to sell it to me for a few bucks. I kept a straight face and forked out the cash. No doubt the dealer went home, did some research, and then kicked herself soundly for letting go of such a collectible fabric for so little. But then, all is fair in love, war, and garage sales. Not only the buyer, but the seller beware!

These figures are quite large, compared to all the other prints of this type I've acquired.

Next, I have a small bit of cheesy, polyester-cotton fabric I gleaned from an old apron I found at a thrift shop:

I especially love the dogs in this print.

Here's one with both little girls and cute animals in pretty shades of pink and aqua. The animals are the real stars of this print.

 

Getting tired yet? Only two more fabrics, honest!

This one's a bit unusual in that it features little boys. 

The last one I want to share is not a cotton or cotton-poly broadcloth type fabric, but a sort of lightweight brushed nylon that makes me think of flame-retardant children's pajamas. Perhaps that's what it was actually intended for.

 I think that's the lot. Now the challenge comes to figure out what do make with this largesse. I admit I struggle when it comes to vintage novelty prints. I rather hate to cut into them! I think this tendency is akin to plain old hoarding...  Time again to renew the pledge:

I am a hoarder

But I can change

If I have to

I guess.

A Quick Craftsy Mystery Knit-Along Progress Report

The knitting is clicking along famously at this point. As the rows get shorter and shorter, I'm always happily surprised at how quickly I move from one end to the other. The downside is, it also means the easy, familiar stuff is about to end, and I'll be moving on the next section which, I understand, involves learning to do short rows and who knows what else. (I haven't been brave enough to peer ahead at the instructions!) I only wish I had more time to work on it, but I'm doing well to get an hour an evening. Some of the knitters involved in the class have already completed their shawls, I believe. But, as the instructor graciously pointed out, this isn't a race. And a jolly good thing, too!

I carried the knitting outside for natural light to show you the subtle gradations of color in this unique yarn. Before too long I shall be venturing into the lively blue--hurrah!