Thursday, February 24, 2011

Sometimes it helps to be devious - er, creative...

Dating mail order patterns can be tricky.  If you've got the mailing envelope, sometimes you get lucky with a date on the postmark, or a postage meter that can be narrowed down to a particular timeframe.  Sometimes all you've got to go on is hairstyle in the pattern illustration.  And sometimes, you can find a way to get sneaky...

The one i'm listing today has no date, a postage rate that doesn't seem to narrow things down much, and a hopelessly blurred postage meter number (yep, you can try to look up the meter number - there are folks who collect and track metered postage as a hobby, and they're online too).  My knee-jerk reaction to the illustration was that it was late 1970s - but could i pin it down at all?
The dress style is the sort that might crop up in a wide range of years, so no help there.

But it turns out, this pattern, from Grit, also advertised a bunch of craft booklets on the back of the envelope.  There, i hoped, was my ticket.

A few quick searches later, i found copyright dates of 1977 and 1978 for such titles as "Thrifty Crafty Flowers" and "Envelope Patchwork Quilts" - bingo!  Enough to suggest that my initial guess was probably pretty close...

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Morning on the mountain

The chickens aren't even up yet.  I'm not (mostly) a morning person, but it has certain compensations - like this view down from our place.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Just so you know

...the only reason this pattern is going to the shop rather than my own personal stash is that i know i just don't like to wear straight skirts, so if i made it up, i wouldn't wear it enough to justify it.  It's even close to my size; i wouldn't have to grade it much.  Your good luck...
Tempted?  See the listing here.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Books within reach

We're a bookish lot, here.  Just for grins, here's a short list of the ones that are in the top layer or so, scattered around the living room:

Wolf Hall (by Hilary Mantel, 2009, historical novel; a Christmas present from my equally bookish sister)
Songs for Service (shaped note edition, undated, but the individual hymns have copyright dates, the latest of which seems to be 1915; a flea market find, pounced on by a pair of musicians)
Chemistry of Powder and Explosives (1943, on loan to the spouse from a friend)
Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat (by Ernest Bramah, 1927/1928, a well-worn paperback copy, on loan to me from a friend)
Good Omens (by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, an only-slightly-mangy paperback; we have not yet managed to drop it in the bath)
Putting Food By (5th edition; another Christmas present that hasn't quite found a home on the shelf yet)

What volumes are littering your tables?

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Not going anywhere

...not until this melts a bit more, anyway.  The 11" of snow is now 5" of packed slush, at least on the road, and the road's at a 30% grade.  So we'll sit tight while it works on melting today.
 It's awfully pretty, though, while it lasts!