For the Love of Aprons
I just ran across this site when a blog in my reader mentioned it:
I love aprons, and I love giveaways. This blog is hosting one and the prize is a really cute “Flirty Apron”. Check it out: Flirty Apron Giveaway .
Now to go add this blog to my reader so I can keep up with it.
Filed under aprons | Comment (0)New Favorite Book & Memory Lane
I discovered this book at the library today and was immediately enamored by it. I hadn’t ever heard of MaryJane Butters before, but evidently she’s been around for a little while. There’s another book of hers out there that I haven’t stumbled upon just yet. This one kinda leaped off the shelf at me as I was looking through the newly acquired books section.
What I really like most about this book is its country charm. I wasn’t particularly raised on a farm, but I did grow up in the country outside a town that was, at that time, small. We always had animals around, and some of them were the farm kind. I showed a sow once for a livestock show when I was in 4-H, and after she thought it would be fun to get in a fight in the ring, I decided it was time to switch to something I thought would be a little more docile, so I opted for a lamb. Her name was Liberty because she was born on the fourth of July. (And she wasn’t docile at all, but she was cute.) When she sold at auction, I cried, so the buyer gave me the lamb back and I gave the money back. (Little did I know back then what was done to animals that sold for auction after a livestock show. It never occurred to me that I was raising an animal for food.) We always had a garden, and I remember summer nights shelling peas & husking corn and warm summer days picking itchy okra. Oh, and I remember homemade ice cream! And watermelon on the patio! Ah, those were the days, but that’s a whole other post.
Now back to the current time: This book has little bits here and there of things I love, one of those things being crochet. There’s several patterns ranging from a crocheted pinkeeper to a multipurpose crocheted shawl to a crocheted rag rug. There’s a little bit of embroidery, a recipe for cracklejack popcorn, and creative ideas for fabric yo-yos. Something else I like are the other ideas for pinkeepers, which are really just artful pincushions, and the Fancy Work Apron. There’s a section on tatting and a couple of quilt-scraps patterns. There’s also a very cool story about Boys who Crochet who stay at Northwest Children’s Home in Idaho and are at risk for various reasons. Crochet is part of their therapy, giving them something to do with their hands, as well as their minds. Too, according to this book, if you have any leftover yarn you don’t know what to do with or don’t have a place for, “the boys would appreciate receiving it”. You can find the address under the Support The Kids link on the front page.
If you’d like to find out more about this book and the woman behind writing it, you can go to her web site, MaryJane’s Farm Stitching Room. There’s a couple of free crochet patterns there, as well as an apron pattern. Explore her site even more by going in through the front door at MaryJane’s Farm: Simple Solutions for Everyday Organic. You might find there’s a bit of a farm girl (or guy) in you that you never knew existed. Enjoy.
Filed under book reviews, aprons, free patterns, crafts, creativity, crochet, books | Comment (0)Aprons
The photo above is of an apron I received from my significant other’s daughter & husband as a Christmas present this past year. It’s the first one I’ve owned that fits around the waist and that has a vintage flair to it. I love it, even if I haven’t worn it yet. My other, that I wear all the time when I’m baking, I made when I first got my sewing machine a few years ago. It’s a basic apron with a bib and a pocket, but I’m proud of it because it was one of the first “big” projects I did as I was learning how to sew.
Another gift I received to go along with my apron is “The Apron Book: Making, Wearing, and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort
In honor of all things apron-ish, there’s a group on Ravelry that I started called “Apron Strings“. If you have an account in Rav, come join us. If you don’t have an account, sign up for one, then when you get your invite you can join us. We’ll be doing some apron-alongs as well, but you don’t have to be part of Rav to join. Just sign up at the blog dedicated to the alongs. You can find it here: Apron-along. The beginning theme is just to make an apron, any of your choosing. Later, we hope to have more specific themes if we can get enough interest.
I may not have had many aprons in my past, but I’m hoping to have some to pass on to my daughter. With a little luck, she’ll have some stories to tell about the aprons she inherits from me. Thanks to my friend, Jenn, my love for the things has grown.
Filed under alongs, aprons | Comment (0)
