VINTAGE BIRTHDAY KNITTING - THE FINALE

Today wraps up a birthday celebration that started in July when my mother began opening the daily gifts counting down 80 days to her 80th birthday.  She began displaying the gifts on a bookshelf in her living room and eventually they overflowed onto additional pieces of furniture.  She's now the proud owner of all manner of junk spanning eight full decades.



She now also possesses eight decades' worth of knitted items, some lovely, some practical, some...well, let's just say they were of their time.

Nothing says 1963 like a toilet paper roll cover.  To have a bare roll of tissue sitting naked would just be tacky, whereas this little baby is...ummm....  Anyway, the free knitting pattern is available here and my Ravelry notes can be found here.

I don't care what my sister says, these mittens are gorgeous.  Mrs. Brady would be proud to go skiing in them and that's good enough for me.  Plus, they just scream 1974.  The pattern actually came from an old Coats & Clark accessories booklet I found at an estate sale.  My Ravelry notes can be found here.

I didn't like much about the 1980s (curse you, teenage years!), but these place mats from a 1983 Workbasket magazine are kinda cute.  Ravelry notes here.

By 1997, I was really struggling to find patterns that didn't repeat an item already made.  (The poor woman can only use so many tacky lovely bathroom accessories, after all.)   The Tiny Cables Washcloths came to the rescue.  The free pattern can be found here and my Ravelry notes here.

These Eyelet-Edged Knitted Coasters filled the spot for 2001.  The free pattern can be found here and my Ravelry notes here.

The knitting finale was 2011's Drachenschwanz.  My mother herself sent me the link to this pattern after she stumbled across it last year.  Drachenschwanz is German for "dragon tail" and the pattern has this interesting effect that really does look like the spiky back of my fire-breathing friend.  The free pattern can be found here and my Ravelry notes here.

So, the big day has finally arrived.  Before she even has her official party on her actual birthday, my mother has received 80+ gifts (including ones from family and friends), had two birthday lunches, and endured a tree full of balloons (which have popped and shriveled constantly over the last two days).  If only the city had come through with that damn permit for the fireworks display...  Happy Birthday, Mom!

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GRANDMA’S BIRTHDAY -- HAND-KNITS, HOMEMADE CAKE, AND DOG RESCUE

Friday was the 79th birthday of The Inmates’ Grandma (who shockingly also happens to be my mother).  I often refer to her as the “Coolest Septuagenarian I Know.”  In addition to all the stereotypical grandmotherly type things like cooking and sewing and quilting, she’s also a kick-ass blogger, wonderfully snarky, and, best of all, occasionally thinks I’m funny (as long as I don’t get too crude or obscene).

On Friday, my sister (the Inmates’ Uncle Chester) and I took Grandma to Mimi’s for lunch, then wandered around JoAnn’s clutching our 40% off coupons looking for something crafty to buy.  In the evening, they came to my house for Grandma’s annual request -- my homemade, award-winning white velvet cake with caramel frosting.  I really hate to brag on myself…so I’ll give you the link to my mother’s blog so she can do it for me.  (You can also get the recipe for the cake if you check it out here.)

My sister had been showering my mother with daily birthday gifts all week and finished up with some antique-y finds.  (My mother has an obsession with the old French-Bauer dairy in particular.)  Foghorn presented Grandma with a handmade picture, the Professor with a Scottie cookie jar he paid for with his own money.  (Scotties are another of Grandma’s obsessions.)

My own gifts went from one extreme to the other.  The first was an iPod Nano, already set up with all her favorite music.  The others were hand-knit items.  The first set was like something my 10-year-old self might have made her decades ago.  I knitted two checkerboard placemats (free pattern available here), then added a crocheted leaf to each (free pattern available here -- I lifted the leaf pattern from the wreath).  I also added three dishcloths -- the acorn pattern and diamonds (not shown) are both from the booklet Ultimate Book of Dishcloths & Pot Holders by Annie's Attic.  The third, with the figure of a squirrel visible in the center, is available for free here. 

The last knit item was the promised scarf made from the variegated Roving Acres wool yarn purchased at the Wool Gathering.  My mother is not one to bundle up in the winter (she and I share the common experience of having been frequently nagged by her mother to put hats on our heads), so she liked this somewhat lacy pattern.  With the wool it will be warm enough if wrapped around the face, but not overwhelmingly hot when the temperature isn’t in the Arctic range.  It was knit from the free pattern "December is for Stephanie" and can be found on Ravelry here. (Complete notes on the projects can be found on my Ravelry page here.)

We finished up the evening with a viewing of Breaking Away, one of our favorite movies.  And another round of cake slices.

Normally birthdays in my family stretch over an entire week or at the very least over several days.  This year seemed to me to be cut short…thanks to me.  Recycled Doggies, the rescue group from which I adopted St. Jimmi, was in need of someone to do the last leg of a transport coming from Green River, Kentucky and ending in Mason, Ohio.  Not only did my mother not object to spending her birthday Saturday with a van full of smelly dogs, she came along and rode all the way with a pregnant Chihuahua on her lap.  Two of the dogs, Grandma’s Chihuahua and Chester’s friend, a Jack Russell/beagle mix named Brae, are actually going to other rescues and were just getting a ride.  Recycled Doggies was taking the mommy dog who rode in the back of the van, in Frank’s cage, with her five puppies.  Unfortunately she looks nervous in the picture and you can’t see the puppies at all, but they were all adorable, trust me.  (Incidentally, if you’re in the Cincinnati area they will also be available for adoption in the next month or two, so check out their website if you’re interested in getting a new family member.)

See what I mean?  Coolest Septuagenarian I know.

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