Remember When?

I found the pattern for this here. This particular pattern book is from 1943. The Teacup Potholder was meant to be crocheted in J&P Coats Crochet Cord, but I adapted it to work in Peaches and Cream Ombres with an H-hook. Looking at all the great vintage patterns made me think about simpler times and all the things we have now that we didn't have then and how we all got along just fine. Have you ever thought about it?
Here are a few examples. I'm sure there are more....

~Cell phones (you had to use a payphone or the store phone to make calls when you were out)
~ATM's (if the bank was closed, you were out of luck and banks were *not* open on Saturdays)
~PC's (also known as home computers)
~Cable Television(we got the big 3 channels + TBS-we watched a lot of Braves Baseball)
~Music Videos (We waited to hear our song on the radio and would listen for hours to hear it again)
~Video Games ( if we wanted to play Donkey Kong, we went to the local bowling ally arcade or Pizza Inn!
~Caller I.D. (You never knew if the person on the other line could be your teacher calling to have that 'talk' with your parents.)
~Automatic Drip Coffee Makers (yes, I am old...we had percolators and my Grandfather swore the coffee tasted better if you didn't wash it)
~Debit Cards (we paid cash or wrote checks)
~Weblogs (we had a thing called a diary or journal...we drew pictures in ours)
~Internet (We bought patterns or patterns were passed down. You could also find them in magazines)
~Email (If you wanted to get in touch with someone, your used the post office or Bell South)
~MP3 Players ( We had 8 tracks and cassette tapes or actual vinyl record albums and singles - our music was not portable, except for radios, until the advent of the Boom Box.)
~Digital Cameras (We had to wait at least a week for our film to be developed before we could see the pictures, unless we had a polaroid camera)
~Text messaging (we wrote notes with cute little doodles and hearts to exchange with friends)
~24 hour cartoon channels (we only watched cartoons on Saturday, and we got up early to watch the monster flicks - Godzilla vs. Mothra!
...and the list goes on. Can you think of any?

Le Sac

I am very happy with this! This stitched up very quickly and is functional, to boot. Here's what I used:

~Sugar and Cream 100 percent cotton yarn: Ecru and Barnyard Twist

~Boye size H-8 aluminum hook

As far as the wedge shaping goes, turns out I could pretty much get the shape I was going for in this bag by starting with an oval base. I also like the way the simple details at the bottom and top of this tote balance it out. As far as the pattern goes, I'll share that over the weekend. Too much work to do, both stitching and with my 'day job.' Cheers!

I Need A Lunch Bag...

...and, as usual, I looked for a cool pattern, but didn't really see anything that I liked. So, I whipped out a motif books to come up with the oval base that I wanted and proceeded to stitch. I have a rough idea that I want a wedge shape and am pretty sure of how to get there, but, beyond that, we'll have to see what it becomes!

What a great week it has been! I managed to accomplish some of my goals, no small feat for me. I also did a whole bunch of stitchin.' Do you think there is a correlation there? I think maybe!

Anyhoo, I made several kitchen items for my Etsy store, completed a lovely hat for Emma, and managed to do a little merchandising despite our icy weather, here. I can't show you the hat yet, though I promise to, as soon as I can. Christmas was good. I made several Tams as gifts and received a drop spindle I have been using to spin some wonderfully light wool roving. I have only been able to spin very thick singles in the past, but with the new Turkish spindle from Knit Picks, I am spinning from lace to light fingering. I really enjoy it! If all goes as planned, I should be able to remove the shaft and arms of the spindle to be left with a small yarn cake. Not sure how I will set the twist...I have heard of 2 different methods. But I'll take that up when I come to it. 'Til then, spin, spin, spin.....:)