I had two crafty coincidences this week.
On Saturday, several students in my crochet class started on the Pineapple Doily Shawl by Laura Garsten. I first heard about this pattern on the Crochet Chat Podcast and several of my students decided to give it a try. Usually, I don’t make a project with the class (or I’d have even more WIPs than I do now), but I was inspired to try one along with them. So I jumped into my stash to find worsted weight yarn and there was only one type that I had in enough supply.
When my grandmother was in the hospital in 2007, right up until the last few days of her life, she was knitting a sweater in this yarn. One of my aunts kept the partial sweater, and I took the (many) remaining balls of the Hirten-Tweed yarn. I thought this would be a good fit for the project. But here’s the weird part. When I was looking on the label, I saw that it was imported by Joseph Galler, Inc. — the same small yarn importer I’ve been working with since last year. When I told my mom about this on Mother’s Day, she said, “I like that story.” I think my grandmother would have, too.
Since this was the only “fancy yarn” in my grandmother’s collection, I was wondering how it came into her hands. Well, according to a tag on one of the balls, it was on sale at Woolworth’s for 2 for $1 (with a retail price of $1.29). I can only imagine how old this yarn is, but it is pretty awesome.
This was as far as I was able to get in class on Saturday and with another hour or so on Sunday. I didn’t bring it on the trip with me since I plan to bring it to class again on Saturday.
The other coincidence involves a different project. I recently had two crochet designs accepted into a pattern booklet series that will be distributed by Joann Fabric and published by F+W Media. Unlike most publications I’ve been involved with, there are no restrictions from the publisher about sharing information about the project before publication, so I can tell you this story now :).
One of the designs is my Wide Ripple Scarf pattern. I’m working on a new sample in a different yarn, Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe. There were limited color options when I went yarn shopping, but I was happy to find several skeins in Periwinkle. I decided to work on this project during my trip, and when I got to Pendle Hill, guess what color my bedspread is?
Those are my crafty coincidences for the week.
If you’re looking for moral support for advanced holiday crafting, you might want to check out my Holiday Stashdown Challenge.
For more WIP Wednesday posts, visit Tami’s Amis.