Bron's Blog II

Nostalgia - A Post In Two (Or Three) Parts

It all started when a. I had the afternoon off yesterday and b. I was putting the Crocheted Triangle Purse together.

I came home at 11:30 (after having 1st period prep, then only subbing 45 minutes in a classroom until the teacher came back - long story, but I still got paid for 4 full hours - whoohoo!) and found these waiting for me in an Amazon box:

Now - I for one, love kitsch. I grew up with all those crafts & decorating faux pas that most people call kitsch today. Heck - my Mom & I MADE some of that stuff! So when I saw the first book at Michael's, I knew I had to find it on Amazon. The second book popped up at the same time & that crocheted baby fridgie sold me on getting it too. ::wink::

But more on those later in the entry. First, let me show you the finished purse. Well, all except for the button, which I'll find at JoAnn this weekend:

This is actually a lot roomier than I thought it would be, but I'll still need to "think small" when and if I use it. (This might be a present for Xmas - we'll see!)

It's a very heavy purse - there is a lot of bulky yarn in this - and while I was making it I kept thinking of the very first purse I ever made. I was 10 and it was made of rectangles & squares...lots & lots of them. It was my first ever "design" and I loved pockets. I kept crocheting little squares and sewing them on & in the purse until finally there were so many pockets, I couldn't fit anything else in the purse!

The minute I hefted the Triangle Purse, the weight and thickness brought it all back to me. Which isn't such a bad thing, I suppose. I got a chuckle out of the remembrance and and it got me thinking about my Mom...which led to another discovery....but that I'm saving for part three of my entry.

Here are the official stats on Triangle Purse:

Pattern: Triangle-Motif Purse from the spring 2007 Family Circle Crochet magazine
Yarn: 3 and a smidge skeins of Patons SWS
Hook: I
Mods: None

A really quick pattern, easy to crochet, kinda tricky to sew together but it goes faster once you get the hang of it. I like it! I still need to get a big, funky button for the front. I'll post another pic when that's accomplished.

Now - back to kitsch...

Although my house was full of kitsch when I was growing up, there were a few things we didn't have that I lusted for as a child. In the book, Kitschy Crafts, they have 'em. Honestly, in the 60's I wanted these grapes sooooo badly!:

I had no idea they were a craft (resin pouring) that you could do at home! I thought everyone bought them! Even more shocking, I had no idea you could STILL make them today! Will wonders never cease. As a kid I thought they were the coolest thing ever. In fact, just looking at them in this post reminds me of the clackers we had as kids. Remember those? Must've been in the early 70's. Those big heavy balls that you flung around on strings & they "clacked" together...when they weren't hitting you in the head and causing severe injuries!

I remember I had a pair of purple ones. ::Grin::: Ahem....moving right along....

Another thing that was in my Aunt's house and I coveted was the ubiquitous poodle TP roll cover:

I'm not quite sure how it was that we never ended up with one. Especially since Mom crocheted and my Aunt had one and Mom tended to make anything my Aunt did. After all, Mom put a felt Santa face seat cover on our toilet (complete with sequins in strategic spots!) every Christmas - surely after that nothing could've have been too kitschy for her????

I really love this book. The illustrations are straight out of the magazines of that time and really bring back memories:

Tomorrow I'll talk about the crafts I've done & ones I'd like to do from these books and then in part 3 you'll see the discovery I made after thinking of Mom, crafts & nostalgia, and I'll have a picture of a nostalgic milestone of my own.

Wow - it's kinda like a story arc in a TV show. ::Grin:::

The excitement never ends here at Casa De Bron!

Again, More Tidbits About My Life...

...than you probably want to know. But hey - it keeps the old blog interesting, eh?

Bag update:

They are now "lightly blocked" and by tomorrow they'll be dry enough to crochet together. Karen, no need to stay away from the pattern - 28 triangles equals 56 ends to weave in. It only took half an hour! ;) I will say that it's kind of finicky to sew together - making sure you have the top of the stitch showing around all sides.

Wanda mentioned SWS shedding and she's right! I definitely wouldn't wear my contacts while working with this stuff. Leisel talked about breaks in the yarn and I thought I'd chime in. I had one ball with 4 knots in it which is about one knot for every 27 yds. That's pretty bad. On the other hand, the other two balls I've used have had no breaks at all. So I'm thinking it's probably the luck of the draw as to whether you get a "bad ball." So to speak. ::wink::

I fulfilled a knitting resolution yesterday - I wore a vest to work! I actually did have Doug take a picture of me to prove it, but the picture was too wonky to post. (We used the night vision on the camera since it was pretty early in the morning and it didn't turn out well.) I wore Cul-De-Sac and actually liked it. I found a really neat paisley stretch shirt to wear underneath (and hanging out from the bottom of the vest!) and it looked fine. :) I also washed the vest & blocked it out a bit to make it hang better.

Which brings me to a small rant: Once again, I have to complain about how badly Lavold's Cotton Patine fades. After just one washing the vest looks 10 years old. The brown faded to gray in some places and truly looks BAD. Sigh. I had to throw out an entire cardi when something like this happened before. I'm just saying that for the amount of $$ charged, the yarn should hold up better...MUCH better! I'm not throwing this vest because as bad as the yarn looks, the knitting is good enough to save it.

Here are some brief life bullets:

• After last week's easy peasy substituting, this week is turning out to be HARD. No preps, no free rides. Yesterday a substitute (a little old lady, nonetheless) had extreme problems with a class. She had to call a neighboring teacher over to pull a kid out & write him a referral. So when I get home yesterday, I see that (lo and behold!) my half day job was canceled and I'm put in that class for today. I've decided that the attitude of "let's get Bron to do it, she can handle it" really gets old after awhile. My ego's had enough stroking - let me have the normal stuff again!
• I really get pissed at kids who would treat elderly people so badly. Some of the subs who work are well into their seventies and certainly don't deserve the disrespect and attitude that the kids think is so cool.
• I really get tired of parents saying, "Well, MY kids wouldn't to anything like that!" Frankly, you know your kid at home. You don't know your kid when he or she is at school and awash in the pack mentality. Some kids do a total 180 when confronted with peer pressure. Just sayin'. I've seen it happen, these parents haven't.
• Then again, I was braced for the classes from hell yesterday and they all turned out to be fine. We watched "Stand and Deliver" each period and the movie managed to hold their attention pretty well. Aside from making a few kids put iPods away & telling them to be quiet quite a bit, everything went well. Just no knitting time!
• Our renters still haven't paid this month's rent; they still haven't cleared out several truckloads of trash than needs to be hauled to the dump; we found out yesterday that the water is going to be shut off in 3 days because they canceled it and never told us; the renters think that offering us a Chihuahua from their next litter is enough to make everything alright.
• Doug got called up for jury duty starting Feb. 14th. At least it's Metro Court & not Federal! What a pain!
• We have a Comcast guy coming out between 4 & 6 today. Ever since they put in high speed Internet, it's gone funky once in awhile. We have to reset the modem, unplug, etc. and even then it won't connect at times. It will be fine for a couple of months, then the signal goes wonky again. I finally had enough & called 'em in. Hopefully they can find something other than ghosts in the Ethernet!

There - that's enough kvetching for one post, eh? I may or may not be skipping tomorrow - I have a feeling I won't have much progress on anything to show you since I have a pretty full day today. :)

Ah - life's little stresses.....

There Is No Joy In Muddville

The might Patriots have struck out.

No Patriots in the Super Bowl. That sucks!

Sigh.

Well, in that case: Go Bears!

I mean honestly - the Colts? In the Super Bowl? For the first time since 1970? You have to give credit to Manning for getting 'em this far but I'm going with "Da Bears" on this one.

I sewed these triangles together during the 4th quarter...I'll blame the excitement for any wonkiness you might see:

Both sides of the purse get blocked a bit before sewing up. Don't worry, the weird sides will definitely even out! Now I need to do the same to these babies:

And these? Just a bathmat waiting to happen:

Do you know what else I need to be making? Dishcloths. You see, my oldest is taking Cooking this semester and they've already learned all about germ transmission & how sponges in the kitchen are the enemy. The teacher recommends cotton dishcloths for their durability and nukability to kill germs.

Which, of course, I knew (and I sanitize my sponges, thank you very much) but with a 14 year old quite literally breathing down your neck (because he's taller than I am!) I think I'll knit up a few dishcloths to make him happy. Maybe I can get him to clean the kitchen with them! ha!

Hold good thoughts for me today. I was hoping for a snow day, but only the mountain schools are on a 2 hour delay. I have the classes from hell (yeah, again - only this time from a different teacher!) and I'm not looking forward to it. Ever since the first of the year, this teacher has been asking for me as a sub because she thinks I "can handle her classes."

Whenever a teacher says "handle" it's a code word for "survive in one piece."

I'd better get a prep period - I'll need it to recover! ha!

Oh - by the way: I'm really loving that Soy Stripes yarn. The colors are really gorgeous and the wool isn't bothering my hands too much. I know I could never wear anything I made from it next to my skin (I definitely feel the itch underneath!), but I find myself wanting to knit multi-directional scarves, just to see the colors play out! :::Grin:::

Happy Monday!