Over on the HGTV Quilting/Needlework board, someone started a thread titled "Where Did We Go Wrong". It's about the fact that the older generations have failed to teach the younger generations how to sew. A lot of people added their thoughts on the subject, including me. I am concerned that the hand-made crafts may become a thing of the past unless we take steps now to prevent their loss.
One of the things that was mentioned a lot in that thread was the fact that many/most schools have eliminated what used to be called "Home Ec" from their curriculums. Girls are no longer required to learn the basic homemaking skills that we were back in the 50s and 60s. As a result, we now have a generation or two who lack basic sewing skills like sewing on a button or repairing a ripped seam. Most of these young people are so used to going to the store to buy new items, that they fail to understand that those items are being made somewhere by someone. Most of the time, by children and adults working in foreign sweatshops and only making a few pennies for each piece they produce. How many of our young people have given an expensive piece of clothing away simply because it was missing a button, or it didn't fit just exactly right. How much money are they wasting by not knowing how to sew.
I think that it's time that all of us who have the knowledge should be passing it on. I have been thinking about doing some beginning crochet classes for youngsters and adults. When I'm at my craft shows, I am almost always asked how I made something. While I try to explain in the simplest terms possible, a craft show is not really the proper venue for teaching someone to crochet. Trying to show someone how to do a crochet stitch in a busy, crowded and loud place is totally impossible!
I've also decided to check with our local schools about what kinds of sewing, knitting and crochet classes they are currently offering and seeing what I can do to help them out. If I can do a beginning class on crochet at the school, it just might get me started with teaching on a more regular basis.
I really do believe that we are on the verge of a new era for the old fiber crafts. Just as there was the resurgence of young people taking basic cooking classes about a decade ago, now those young people are starting to look at ways to save money, and being able to repair a seam on an expensive piece of clothing and continue to use it instead of throwing that piece out and buying a new one is one way they can do that. So, come on, all of you older fiber artists. It's time for you to teach the next generation the really good utilitarian aspects of your crafts! Each one, teach one!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
New Crochet Hat Pattern
I have been crocheting hats for the past month. Hats for kids and hats for adults. I'm not crazy (at least, I don't think crocheting hats makes me that). I've just been creating inventory for my upcoming craft shows. After making a couple dozen of the simple skull caps, I decided to change things up and created a new pattern for what I'm calling a "Simple Slouch Hat". It's sort of a loose beret that can be worn a couple of different ways. Anyway, when I got home from my craft show on Saturday, I finished up the hat that I was working on and realized that I needed to actually write down my pattern for the new design, which I did today. I've decided to publish the pattern here. So here it is:
Crochet Hook: Size G (4.25 mm for our friends using the metric system)
And, so there it is. My first published design pattern. And, hopefully, here is a photo of the finished product.
Can you tell that I like to use colorful yarns? I love using multi-colored yarns and creating things with them.
And so, that's all for tonight. It's nearly 2:30am and time for me to go to bed.
SIMPLE SLOUCH CAP (BERET)
Designed by Linda Mathy
Materials: Loops & Threads “Impeccable” worsted weight yarn – 1 ball (actually only uses about half of the ball – approx. 96 yds/87.5m)
Crochet Hook: Size G (4.25 mm for our friends using the metric system)
Stitch explanation: dc2tog (dc decrease) – yo, pull up a loop, yo, through 2 loops, yo pull up a loop in next dc, yo, through all 3 loops on hook
To begin: ch 4, slst to form a ring
Round 1: ch 3 (counts as 1st dc throughout), dc in ring (11 times), slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (12 dc)
Round 2: ch 3, dc in same space as ch 3, two dc in each dc of previous row, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (24 dc)
Round 3: ch 3, dc in same space as ch 3, dc in next dc, *two dc in next dc, dc in next dc, repeat from * around, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (36 dc)
Round 4: ch 3, dc in same space as ch 3, dc in next 2 dc, *two dc in next dc, dc in next 2 dc, repeat from * around, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (48 dc)
Round 5: ch 3, dc in same space as ch 3, dc in next 3 dc, *two dc in next dc, dc in next 3 dc, repeat from * around, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (60 dc)
Rounds 6-8: ch 3, dc in each dc around, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (60 dc)
Round 9: ch 3, dc in next 4 dc, *dc2tog, dc in next 8 dc, repeat 4 times, dc2tog, dc in remaining 3 dcs, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (54 dc)
Round 10: ch 3, dc in each dc around, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (54 dc)
Round 11: ch 3, dc in next 3 dc, *dc2tog, dc in next 7 dc, repeat 4 more times, dc2tog, dc in remaining 3 dcs, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (48 dc)
Round 12: ch 3, dc in each dc around, slst in top chain of ch 3 to join (48 dc)
Edging: ch 1, sc and hdc in same dc as ch 1, sk next dc, sc and hdc in next dc, repeat around to end, slst to beginning ch1, fasten off.
And, so there it is. My first published design pattern. And, hopefully, here is a photo of the finished product.
Can you tell that I like to use colorful yarns? I love using multi-colored yarns and creating things with them.
Here's another example. It's a flower hotpad crocheted with cotton yarn. And I have mixed and matched colors as I pleased.
And so, that's all for tonight. It's nearly 2:30am and time for me to go to bed.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Big Family Weekend
Well, Halloween has come and gone. It marked the end of a very busy weekend for me. On Saturday, my Uncle Ed, the youngest of the five brothers, turned 80 years old. He is the only brother to make it to that grand old age. Uncle Donald was killed in Germany at the age of 22 during World War II. My dad, Duane, died from congestive heart failure two months after his 58th birthday. Three years later, Uncle Lavern died at the age of 59, three weeks after his wife of over 35 years passed away. Several years passed before the oldest son, Uncle Russ, passed at the age of 74. But this weekend, the youngest son made it to the age of 80. As a milestone birthday, it called for a family celebration, so we had a big party on Saturday, the 29th.
Family came in from all over for Uncle Ed's birthday, including my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill who flew in from California. Uncle Ed's son, Donnie and his family came up from Tennessee and brought his half sisters with him. When Uncle Ed got married back in the 70's, his new wife Bonnie came with four children: one boy and three girls. An instant family. And those kids, especially the girls, just loved Uncle Ed. Ed and Bonnie had a baby boy about two years later, and were divorced after about eight years. She moved down to Tennessee to be near some of her family members and took all her kids with her (except for Jess, who was in the Navy and married). Donnie is now all grown up (he'll be 41 on January 1, 2012) and has an absolutely beautiful soon-to-be 16 year old daughter. He still lives in Tennessee, so Uncle Ed doesn't get to see him and his family as often as he would like. But Donnie and family spent several days here in Illinois last week and came to his dad's big birthday party.
Uncle Ed's party was like a mini-family reunion. It was an open house from 2-4pm on Saturday, but I left at 4:15 and folks were still sitting around and visiting. I had cousins up from Bloomington and Quincy. My cousin Lana and her family were down from Michigan and Lynnette and her husband Duane had come up from Florida. There was cake and punch and coffee and everyone was having a blast catching up with everyone else. The two hours just seemed to fly by. While it was a little sad to be saying goodbye to everyone, we knew it wouldn't be long until we saw each other all again. The next day, my cousin Pat and her husband, Gary were celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary!
That's right. Pat and Gary had been married in 1961 and this year is their 50th anniversary. So everyone who came to Uncle Ed's 80th birthday party on Saturday came back to the same place on Sunday to celebrate the 50th anniversary party. The open house portion of the day was scheduled from 2-4 pm, but it was followed by a catered dinner for the family afterward. I'm not sure, but I would estimate that there were about 60 people or so for dinner. Pat's kids had put together a cd from Pat and Gary's photo collection, starting with them right out of high school and coming forward by decade (60s, 70s, 80s, etc.). They had set up a big television and played the cd throughout the afternoon. After the reception was over, Pat's sister Rita switched the cd for one that she had created from all of the folks' photos. We all sat around watching the pictures flash by on the screen. It brought back many good memories for all of us.
The only sad part of the weekend came about 6:00 on Sunday, when Aunt Mary, Uncle Bill, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Harold (Uncle Ed's youngest two sisters and their husbands) got up to say goodbye. They were driving back to Quincy that evening and they wanted to get on the road before it got totally dark. After the rounds of goodbyes, a couple of us noticed Uncle Ed sitting off by himself in tears. So Rita sat on one side of him and I took the other. All he kept saying was "I'm never going to see my sister again." You see, Aunt Mary, who is the youngest of the original eleven, lives in California and hasn't really been too well for the past few years. When she was giving hugs, she said that this was probably going to be her last trip back to Illinois, and it suddenly dawned on Uncle Ed that he had just said his final goodbye to Aunt Mary, and it upset him a whole lot.
After spending all of last week in getting ready for his party, Uncle Ed had gotten overwhelmed with everything that was happening. As a matter of fact, on Monday, Aunt Dorothy (who is the oldest of the living children at 82+) and her daughter Lori had to take him to the Emergency Room. He was hospitalized for an acute case of nerves and depression. Once the let down of the weekend hit, his blood pressure dropped and he was not doing too well. Aunt Dorothy thought he had had a stroke, but after a bunch of tests, they kept him overnight to try and get his numbers back to normal.
Uncle Ed wasn't the only one thinking about this being the last time we might all be together. A lot of us cousins, now that we're getting up there in age, were thinking and talking about it, too. We didn't dwell on it too long, though. We had so many wonderful things to think about and share instead. My sister Karen said it correctly on Saturday afternoon. It was really nice to be getting together for something so happy for a change. The past couple of years, it seemed that we usually only got together at funerals. Having a happy occasion, actually two, as a reason for getting together was a real blessing for all of us. Our next full family reunion isn't scheduled until 2014, which would have been my grandparents' 100th wedding anniversary. In the meantime, let's hope we don't have too many of those sad gatherings before then.
Family came in from all over for Uncle Ed's birthday, including my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill who flew in from California. Uncle Ed's son, Donnie and his family came up from Tennessee and brought his half sisters with him. When Uncle Ed got married back in the 70's, his new wife Bonnie came with four children: one boy and three girls. An instant family. And those kids, especially the girls, just loved Uncle Ed. Ed and Bonnie had a baby boy about two years later, and were divorced after about eight years. She moved down to Tennessee to be near some of her family members and took all her kids with her (except for Jess, who was in the Navy and married). Donnie is now all grown up (he'll be 41 on January 1, 2012) and has an absolutely beautiful soon-to-be 16 year old daughter. He still lives in Tennessee, so Uncle Ed doesn't get to see him and his family as often as he would like. But Donnie and family spent several days here in Illinois last week and came to his dad's big birthday party.
Uncle Ed's party was like a mini-family reunion. It was an open house from 2-4pm on Saturday, but I left at 4:15 and folks were still sitting around and visiting. I had cousins up from Bloomington and Quincy. My cousin Lana and her family were down from Michigan and Lynnette and her husband Duane had come up from Florida. There was cake and punch and coffee and everyone was having a blast catching up with everyone else. The two hours just seemed to fly by. While it was a little sad to be saying goodbye to everyone, we knew it wouldn't be long until we saw each other all again. The next day, my cousin Pat and her husband, Gary were celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary!
That's right. Pat and Gary had been married in 1961 and this year is their 50th anniversary. So everyone who came to Uncle Ed's 80th birthday party on Saturday came back to the same place on Sunday to celebrate the 50th anniversary party. The open house portion of the day was scheduled from 2-4 pm, but it was followed by a catered dinner for the family afterward. I'm not sure, but I would estimate that there were about 60 people or so for dinner. Pat's kids had put together a cd from Pat and Gary's photo collection, starting with them right out of high school and coming forward by decade (60s, 70s, 80s, etc.). They had set up a big television and played the cd throughout the afternoon. After the reception was over, Pat's sister Rita switched the cd for one that she had created from all of the folks' photos. We all sat around watching the pictures flash by on the screen. It brought back many good memories for all of us.
The only sad part of the weekend came about 6:00 on Sunday, when Aunt Mary, Uncle Bill, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Harold (Uncle Ed's youngest two sisters and their husbands) got up to say goodbye. They were driving back to Quincy that evening and they wanted to get on the road before it got totally dark. After the rounds of goodbyes, a couple of us noticed Uncle Ed sitting off by himself in tears. So Rita sat on one side of him and I took the other. All he kept saying was "I'm never going to see my sister again." You see, Aunt Mary, who is the youngest of the original eleven, lives in California and hasn't really been too well for the past few years. When she was giving hugs, she said that this was probably going to be her last trip back to Illinois, and it suddenly dawned on Uncle Ed that he had just said his final goodbye to Aunt Mary, and it upset him a whole lot.
After spending all of last week in getting ready for his party, Uncle Ed had gotten overwhelmed with everything that was happening. As a matter of fact, on Monday, Aunt Dorothy (who is the oldest of the living children at 82+) and her daughter Lori had to take him to the Emergency Room. He was hospitalized for an acute case of nerves and depression. Once the let down of the weekend hit, his blood pressure dropped and he was not doing too well. Aunt Dorothy thought he had had a stroke, but after a bunch of tests, they kept him overnight to try and get his numbers back to normal.
Uncle Ed wasn't the only one thinking about this being the last time we might all be together. A lot of us cousins, now that we're getting up there in age, were thinking and talking about it, too. We didn't dwell on it too long, though. We had so many wonderful things to think about and share instead. My sister Karen said it correctly on Saturday afternoon. It was really nice to be getting together for something so happy for a change. The past couple of years, it seemed that we usually only got together at funerals. Having a happy occasion, actually two, as a reason for getting together was a real blessing for all of us. Our next full family reunion isn't scheduled until 2014, which would have been my grandparents' 100th wedding anniversary. In the meantime, let's hope we don't have too many of those sad gatherings before then.
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