Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Favorite Crochet Book

Sometimes the material thing that means the most to
us is something that is worn out, and lovingly used.
Someone else might think it worthless.
And so I write this post because I have
one of those things. 
I start by asking you that if you were told
you could only keep one of 
your needlework books which one would you choose?
That is an easy question for me to answer.


It would be this worn, tattered, 
torn and scribbled up book.
It doesn't look like much does it?


It once belonged to my mil, and then it was 
given to her oldest daughter, Norma Jean.
Norma Jean died of ovarian cancer years ago. 
It once again landed back in my mil's hands.


I always loved that book.
One day my husband came home and
said, "Mom wanted you to have this."


I was not only surprised, but thrilled beyond belief,
because there is another daughter but she does not crochet,
I kinda expected her to end up with this book anyways.
But, my mil knew I would take care of it.
This book is a treasure trove of dozens of 
old fashioned and vintage patterns.


All of us gals had doilies that she had made for us, 
and the patterns she used came from that book.


I had borrowed it several times and made 
things from it's tattered and torn pages. 
She had written in the margins, and so did her children, 
my husband included.


The book no longer had a cover, some pages 
were missing but it had history.
Her young children had done a number with pencil and 
pen on it's pages. Their art work was present on 
margins and spots where there was 
and wasn't room to draw. 
Look closely and you can see where they 
drew food on plates in some of the pictues
of table settings.


They had scribbled and
they had teased each other with school crushes
about who loved who and they
wrote all this info on the pages.
They did not realize that their father objected 
strongly when that book was purchased for about $5.


You see, it was during or soon after the Depression years
and he thought it was foolish for his wife to
buy something like this when he worked 
in a coal mine for meager wages
struggling to put food on the table, 
clothes on their backs, 
and a roof over their heads.
That money could have bought a lot of other
things that were needed worse than a 
silly crochet book.


Now don't get me wrong,
my mil was a hard worker too, it was work all spring, 
summer and fall, planting and tending a huge garden, 
then putting it all up in canning jars. She had a cow that she 
milked and churned her own butter. She raised chickens 
and sold some butter and eggs.
They butchered their own pigs and beef.
She cooked 3 meals a day.
Everything was made from scratch. 
Clothes were scrubbed on a washboard
with water brought from the well and boiled 
on a coal stove fire.
She always had a quilt in a frame, mainly from 
necessity, her family needed to stay warm.
She loved to make things with her hands.
The book could not be returned.
A salesman had come to the house and sold 
it to her. It was here to stay and 
she made good use of it and
so did her children.


 She made doilies, 
and sold some for as cheap as 50 cents.
She also made full-sized quilts, going rate 
sometimes as cheap as $15.
Just to show you how thrifty my mil was, 
the book came to me in this wrapper of sorts.
It was the plastic bag from inside a cereal box.
She had turned the bag inside out, washed and dried it,
then turned it right side out and 
 used it like one would a large Zip-Loc bag.


I probably should have left it that way, but I 
ended up replacing that bag with a real plastic zip bag. 
It stays stored in that bag.
I have no idea who the publisher was.
Unfortunately at the start of the 
patterns it does not mention any yarn company 
when it lists materials to use.


If anyone has ever seen a book similar to this 
one please let me know who published it.
I would be extremely grateful.
My mil passed away last October and so this book
means the world to me.


I remember years ago taking it to the public library 
to make a copy for myself of one of the patterns.
I didn't want to handle the book more 
than necessary, fearful that
doing so would only break it down even more.


The librarian took one fit over it.
She said she had never seen this book before
and she wanted copies of the patterns.
Well, I guess I could have said no,
and since the age of the book was questionable
and the publisher was no where to be found
on any of the pages, I told her okay.
We copied a few of the doily patterns for her.




Now, back to my original question,
if you could only keep one of your needlework books,
which one would you choose? 
Enjoy the rest of the pics from the book.
There are tons more that I didn't show you.








































Hope you enjoyed looking at my treasure book.
There were many more photos, but it took me 
over 2 hours just to download those I did post.
 ~♥~











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~WRITE IT ON YOUR HEART................
THAT THE ONES YOU LOVE ARE LIFE'S MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS~