Crafts from the past!

Today I went into work from 9:00 until about 4:45. Suzanne needed a full staff today because the shop was holding a customer appreciation auction at 2:00 in the afternoon, and many guests were expected to be in attendance. I acted as Camera Girl throughout the event. As soon as I retrieve my pictures and short video from Suzanne's store camera, I'll let you in on the eventful occasion.

The reason behind this blog entry is exciting! It was so unexpected that Suzanne called all of us girls into the back office around noon, before many patrons started flooding in. She had two gigantic boxes filled to the brim with magazines, books, patterns, and other printed materials that she had inherited from a long-ago customer's stash overflow. Hardback and paperback books on crocheting, knitting, embroidery, cross stitch, quilting, and more crafts were overflowing from the boxes. Suzanne invited us to rummage through the boxes, claiming that she hadn't been able to get rid of their contents in many, many years. Her plan was to have us rummage through and take what we pleased, and auction the rest of the goodies at the event later in the afternoon.

Well, oh well, did I come away with some great reference materials! I got lots of vintage inspiration from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I found a few good books on knitting, and I also took some cross stitch and other great sources just because they interested me, or because I liked how the book looked. Thanks, Suzanne, for all of the great books!

This super-vintage book (printed in the 40's!) on making lace really makes me want to learn the craft, and soon!

I liked the cover of this embroidery book so much I couldn't let any fellow employee grab it. I'm imagining a hooty sort of toss pillow....


One of the best discoveries was this box filled with patterns for knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, cross stitch, and other crafts... all in one!


This last one was just a loose page floating amongst the chaos. Knitting a sweater with only two skeins of yarn? Sure! If nothing else, she sure is fabulous enough to frame.