ONE WAY TO CELEBRATE AN 80TH BIRTHDAY

My mother turns 80 years old this September.  We're known in my family for going a little over-the-top on birthdays...and Christmas...and Easter...and Groundhog's Day...  This birthday, however, called for something beyond the norm, even by our standards.  My sister and I had talked about taking our mother on a trip, but she doesn't enjoy travel much these days and she nicely put the brakes on that idea.  She doesn't like big gatherings, so we're not attempting to corral long lost friends and relatives for a surprise party.  What then?

July 13 marked exactly 80 days until my mother's 80th birthday, so my sister and I have assembled a collection of gifts, one for each day and each representing a year of her life.  She's currently up to 1943, so I'm safe in saying that the first gifts have included a recipe booklet from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, a compilation disc of 1930s music, postcards from the 1939 New York World's Fair, 1943 secretarial magazines, and handmade items from vintage patterns crafted by my sister and me.  My mother is chronicling her months-long birthday celebration in weekly blog updates over at Lillian's Cupboard (found here).

Personally I'm thrilled to no longer have to keep my knitting projects from the last four months under wraps.  I was constantly hiding my works-in-progress when my mother stopped by and I couldn't take part in the weekly Yarn Along over at  the Small Things blog since mommy is my most dedicated reader.  Now that the gift-giving has started, I can at least reveal the four hand-knitted items she's received so far.

1.  FINGERLESS GLOVES

This 1933 pattern is from the U.K. and can be found for free here.  Once I figured out the modern equivalent of the British needles used, the pattern itself was a piece of cake.  They're done is wool sock yarn and I chose a charcoal gray color which just seemed to fit with the Depression-era pattern.  Full information can be found in my Ravelry notes here. 





2.  THE HOOVER BLANKET

This reversable baby blanket was made from a pattern provided by none other than former First Lady, Mrs. Herbert Hoover.  It was my first attempt at double-knitting and I found the process so slow and aggravating I'll probably never do it again.  The results, however, I think were rather pretty, especially the way you get the thin stripes of pink and green on both sides.  It's the perfect size for my mother's 13 year old dog, Rusty, to lounge on.  I did it in pink and pale green that is the same color as my mother's beloved Jadeite.  The pattern can be found free here.  Full information can be found in my Ravelry notes here.

3.  WORLD WAR II U.S. NAVY WATCH CAP

The pattern itself is very plain and suited more for a military man in freezing climates than a suburban woman, but I couldn't resist knitting up this Navy Watch Cap from 1941.  It'll be a nice hat for her to keep in the car in case of emergency...or to put to use if she decides to take up cat burglary in her 80s.  The free pattern can be found on the Red Cross Museum's web site here and you can download a PDF of the original type-written pattern, which is neat to look at all by itself.  Once I figured out the type of yarn and size of needle (a common problem with older patterns), it was a breeze to knit...if ungodly boring.  Full information can be found in my Ravelry notes here.




4.  THE MISS MARPLE SCARF

It's a little big on Foghorn, but looks
very nice on Grandma.

Last year I got my mother into reading Agatha Christie mysteries, so naturally when I stumbled on a pattern for a scarf inspired by Miss Marple, Christie's elderly spinster detective, I couldn't resist.  Christie's The Body in the Library was published in 1942, so I included a copy of the book with the scarf, knit in a color called Chipmunk Tweed.  Definitely looks like something an older lady would wear in an English village.  The free pattern can be found here.  Full information can be found in my Ravelry notes here.









More vintage knitty goodness is still to come, but I'm afraid that's all I can reveal at the moment.  I hope you all can stand the suspense until I can reveal the next pattern...  Come on, admit it.  This is more suspenseful than game seven of the World Series.

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HOLIDAY MAIL FOR HEROES 2011

This evening The Inmates and I got out the art supplies and cranked up some Christmas music by The Brian Setzer Orchestra and The Jackson Five.  We're taking part in the Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes program.  The idea is to make holiday cards for service members, veterans, and families, which will be collected by the Red Cross and distributed during the month of December. 



I showed The Inmates the website and the slideshow of card examples.  Since The Professor in particular tends to be a perfectionist and hard on himself, I tried to make it clear that there was no wrong way to do the cards.  Foghorn perked up at this and I quickly added, "But you can't write anything obnoxious."  "You mean I can't write cuss words in there?"  NO!  She thought a second and then asked, "Can I put exclamation points and question marks and stuff so they know it's a cuss word, but I didn't really write it?"  UGH!  I then had to hover around her as she made her cards, seriously afraid a four letter word might end up in the Christmas greeting or she might draw a snowman with a penis.  Amazingly she did none of the above and both Inmates made their cards with care.  The Professor kept saying he hoped these cards would make the people who can't be home feel better.  I hope so too.

The Professor's cards were traditional.

And for once his handwriting was almost legible.

Foghorn scratched out a couple errors, but
decided to make the recipient aware by circling the word
"mistake" next to them.  If the person has kids, he'll probably find it amusing.

Foghorn added her own touches, like this circle on the back
with the note "You can make a face out of that shape."

Just in case the person didn't get the hint about the circle,
she left instructions inside.  Not sure about the part where
she says "you can cut out the circle and talk to it and stuff."
A soldier might get sent for a psych evaluation for doing that.

If you're interested in taking part, more information can be found on the Red Cross website here.  Cards must be postmarked by December 9th to allow adequate time for distribution.  They do not need to be in individual envelopes and I'll be putting all of ours into one big manilla envelope for mailing.



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