Searching!

Well, other than that I did get supper cooked tonight (bbq spareribs, done in the crockpot, potatoes au gratin and applesauce -yes, I love cooking with the crockpot and Mandy fixed the potatoes -a box mix -really fancy fixins huh?) and got the dishes done but other than that, and the little bit of work I managed to get in on the tablecloth early today, the day was pretty much a wash-out otherwise.

After supper, I had hoped to be able to work on the tablecloth some more, but that didn't happen. Why? Because someone parked their skinny butt in MY chair -the recliner -which is beside the only end table and is where I have my paraphenalia for the tablecloth all laid out, don't 'cha know -and that person stayed parked there till about 11 p.m. at which time that person went to bed and another person took over the chair! Rats!

He didn't even think to switch channels at 9 p.m. so I could watch "The Office" either. I tell you, that is nerve isn't it?

I was playing on the computer earlier when he came back into the room after bathing the kids so I guess he figured since I wasn't camped in the chair, it was up for grabs. Au contraire! I don't generally have those issues with Mandy because she usually camps out at the computer and the other party USUALLY camps out in the basement, where he watches some channel that seems to broadcast nothing but car races or repairs all the time. I hate it when people around here decide to change their mode of operation, ya know!

But anyway, I ended up spending the bulk of the evening searching -futilely I might add too -on the computer for some stuff I'd really like to find. It's something I don't REALLY NEED but I would REALLY like to have -some old knitting pattern books!

I used to have a really large assortment of magazines and knitting/crochet books but a few years back, they got boxed up and I was told they had been taken to the storage place the kids were sharing with the SIL's Dad. For all I know, since they consist of lots of paper, which burns fairly easily and the SIL dearly loves to discard things by burning them in the burn barrel, he might have taken all those pattern books that they told me they took to storage and he just may have torched those puppies too.

I would certainly hope that is not the case because considering I'd been accumulating those babies for about 30 years then, I had a pretty decent -actually a pretty large -collection there!

When they packed up that stuff to put it in storage, I had about 10-15 pattern books in another area that they missed so they didn't abscond with all of 'em but it seemed that the ones I really liked were the ones that went amongst the missing.

Last year, I think it was, I came across a website for a little place out in Oregon somewhere -some kind of vintage shop for crafters -and I found 3 of the pattern books that were among my favorites and that were also no longer to be found in the house so I had purchased those books at that time. Not that I have done any knitting or crochet of anything from those books since I got them but at least, I have those few favorites available though just in case I do get the urge to knit or crochet something.

However -and you know, there is always that damned "however" isn't there -there are a couple books and a leaflet that I would really like to find that I used to have.

One is a Columbia-Minerva book -the Beautiful Baby Book -which has a number of patterns in it of yes, baby items, to knit or crochet. No, I don't need it to make anything for anyone in particular but I like to have a decent selection from which to choose a pattern when I do get in the mood to knit and/or i need to make something like a baby sweater for a gift or something.

Then there is another book also by Columbia-Minerva which is Hand Knits for Men. It has a picture on the cover of two men, one wearing a red crewneck type sweater and the other man is wearing a beige sweater, also of the crewneck variety. I liked the patterns in this book -even made a sweater shown in this book oh, about 36 years ago this winter for my ex-husband too. Ok, I haven't made anything from that book since then and I've only made one other man's sweater anyway since then too. That was a jacket-type sweater I made for the guy I used to be engaged to back in the mid-80s -till I finally got some common sense about him and realized it would be a huge mistake if I ever married him. Such is life but better that I figured that out BEFORE we got hitched than later. Right?

And then there is another pattern book I had that I can't find and I'd like to replace. That one is just vests for children. I made a couple different vest from that book back in the early 80s for my son and one or two for Mandy too. The patterns were attractive and relatively easy to read and make so naturally, when I know something I'd like to make is available in a fairly easy-to-make pattern, I want to have that around just in case I want to make a couple little vests for Maya and eventually some for Kurtis too. This all comes under the header of "long-range planning" though.

But the item I'd really like to find at this vintage shop or on e-bay is a leaflet published, I believe, by Leisure Arts and it has patterns for some ponchos and capes -for women -to knit or crochet.

And why do I want that leaflet so much?

Well, back in the summer of 1973 I came across some really pretty yarn -a dark sort of olive green shade that was on sale. It was yarn by Bernat -a thick, chunky type yarn and the price on this stuff was ridiculously cheap too. Now, I have difficulty passing yarn that I really like that ISN'T on sale but finding some that I really, really like and that is also on sale at a great price, well you know, I had to have that stuff. Darned straight!

I had this leaflet then too with this knitted cape on the cover that I really liked. It had cables running down each side of the front and I think it may have had a couple more lines of cables spaced out in the design too and that pattern was just begging me to take that green yarn and use it to make that cape.

I made it with the intention that I would give the cape then to my Mom for her birthday that year. Her birthday fell in November so when I started that project in early July, I figured surely I could get it done by November.

Well, I did get it done but I can't remember now if I finished it in time to give it to Mom for Christmas in 1973 or if it might have taken me till November or December of 1974 to finish it.

My Mom died in the fall of 1979 and the kids and I moved in here -to this house, which had been Mom's and her parents home before that and I don't remember now what happened to that cape. But it either disappeared then when I moved her stuff to the attic and didn't get around to going through her clothes for a long, long time after that but I can't imagine that I would have thrown it out because I liked that cape too and could have -and would have too -worn it myself.

The thing about that cape too is that considering the fact I was pretty much just a beginner in the knitting arena then, I really had no bloody business at all tackling that pattern to begin with simply because of the cable stitch and the couple of lines of cable that ran from the shoulder to the knee in that cape. It was definitely a tough project to make, probably a bit wicked for even an intermediate knitter to deal with. But I had persevered and finished it and it looked pretty darned good too.

What's more, my Mom even liked it and the real shock was that she even wore it!!! Normally, my Mom being the perfectionist she was about sewing or knitting or crochet or embroidery too, anytime I ventured into the hand-made stuff, she usually either ripped it apart -physically -pulling stitches out one at a time and then, redoing the bulk of the things I had struggled to make or else, she just constantly criticized my workmanship.

But that cape, for some reason or other, apparently she liked it well enough and what errors existed in it (and I'm quite sure there were some cause I usually make at least one error, often more, in virtually everything I make) that she was willing to wear it -and out in public too, no less. That fact still amazes me -totally!

And so, because I'd love to find that little leaflet somewhere -at the Vintage shop or perhaps on e-bay -I camped at the computer searching for it. Yep, I went through 78 pages of stuff up for sale on e-bay looking for that leaflet. Each page had 50 items pictured there too, so you do the math and figure out 50 times 78 and that's how many pattern book offers I glanced over in my search and that was only on e-baby!

Nope, I never did find the leaflet. I did find the "Beautiful Baby Book" available and also the Men's Sweater book too but no book of vests to knit or crochet for kids and no damned leaflet either with this really pretty cable-stich panels down the front of it!

I suppose it is just as well tha I didn't locate either of those books or leaflets cause I do have more than enough stuff in my embroidery stash to keep me stiching there maybe till the end of my time here on earth! LOTS of embroidery things sitting there, waiting for me to complete the tablecloth I've been working on for the past four weeks now.

But still, just in case my desire to do embroidered stuff begins to wane and I need another craft project to do, I'd kind of like to do one of those capes again. Just for me this time, ya know.

So if you happen to come across some really old knit/crochet pattern books or especially this leaflet I want, please let me know. Find out how much the person who has those thngs would like for them too. Would you do that for me? Please, please, pretty please?

If you can find any of those items for me at a reasonable price, I will definitely be remembering you in my will! Heck, if you find the stuff I am searching for early enough, I might even consider making something specia, just for you too!

And now, since the little boy here finally crashed, oh about 30 minutes back -give or tke a little there -and I think it is safe now for me to go to bed, that's exactly what I'm gonna do too!

Maybe I'll dream of Knit 1, Pur 2 or some such variation of those stitches now in my sleep and who knows, maybe in that dream it will dawn on me another hiding place where they might have stashed my knitting/crochet pattern books too!

It could happen!