elegantly hooked
Now, I don't have a bed jacket. But this week I could have really used one - so useful for keeping warm under the eiderdown while not throttling your lower half in superfluous fabric! If I were going to wear one, I might well choose this charming little number, though it might help to have the hairdresser come along... look how elegantly happy this lady is! You just know she's recuperating like a dream.
The picture comes from a site called Vintage Crochet, which has made me very nostalgic for my grandparents. My paternal grandfather, who worked in an airplane-parts factory and may well have been the least elegant or baroque person I have ever known, nevertheless used to make crocheted afghans and tablecloths of intense delicacy, out of gorgeous heavy mercerised cotton. They are real period pieces, as the patterns on this site and linking sites attest. We have nothing so lovely now. I'd be surprised if you could even get cotton of the same quality.
Next time you're in Ikea or wherever, buying some silly PVC-covered tablecloth* - or next time you're eating your Christmas dinner off a bare (or paper-covered!) table - take a few minutes to ask yourself, "What has happened to us? What has happened to my pride???"
Meanwhile, I may just whip out Grandma's old crochet hooks and whip up one of these little babies. Perfect for an English spring.
*I am tempted to excempt my Cath Kidston ones here, but not sure. You can't even wash them - you have to wipe them with a sponge. Surely that's just plain wrong?
1 comment:
My maternal Grandmother was an ace crocheter! I still have some of the little lacy mats she made and I use them on the bedside cabinets in my spare room. I also have some baby stuff that she made for me to wrap my future children in, but as I haven't had any I intend to donate these gorgeous things to my brother if he ever makes me an auntie.
Grandma crocheted right up to the end of her life, despite stiff fingers and failing eye-sight. She had a magnifying glass that she wore on a chain around her neck. She used to prop it on her chest and look through it at the work she was doing.
She tried to teach me how to crochet once. It didn't go well!
You've got me feeling all nostalgic as well now.
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