Making Crocheted Doilies And Potholders

I have been doing some crocheting the past couple of months. I haven’t posted a needlework post in a long time. Before I retired I bought a stash of crochet cotton from different outlet stores when I was on the road driving truck. So I have a pretty large stock of number 10 cotton thread. I have been chipping away at it. I also have a box full of magazines that I had bought in the 1980’s until they stopped publishing them in 2004. These were the French publications Magic Crochet and Decorate Crochet that was printed for the US market.

Snow flake doily made from metallic wrapped crochet cotton. It is white with gold and gold metallic thread. It sparkles under a candle or small lamp. The camera doesn’t pick up the sparkle.

I also have a box of 10 cent books from the first half of the 20th century that I collected over my life time. I learned to crochet as a kid. Most of those pattern books were bought at rummage sales in church basements when I was young. I would spend my allowance on them. I haven’t seen any of those for many years except in antique stores or on line. Most of the 10 cent books were never copywrited because the thread companies that produced them wanted the patterned to be reproduced in needlework magazines. That is how they increased sales. So you can find those old patterns being offered in pdf files on line for a small price. The booklets are becoming very fragile. I usually make a copy of the pattern before I start so I don’t damage the original. So I have plenty of patterns and inspiration to keep me entertained.

Classic pot holder from 1950’s pattern. I remember seeing these type of potholders hanging on kitchen walls when I was a kid. Now they are considered collectables. You can find patterns for them on line. They are normally made with 2 strands of number 10 crochet cotton.

I like working from the international symbols that is used today in modern needlework magazines. You can find many patterns for thread crochet on the internet in these symbols. The person that taught me to crochet would use samples to crochet from. She would simply borrow the doily from a friend and recreated it. She would also work from pictures too. She didn’t read very well and her husband would read the newspaper to her every night while she was cooking supper. He was able to teach her to read well enough to pass her written driver license test. I also learned to read at the same time. I was just 4 years old. They lived next door and was my best friends. So as a kid I would read the patterns to her as she worked if she got stuck. My other job was to read road signs and help her with the backs of sewing patterns. She would pick a pattern in the fabric store and I would have to read the back side for notions and yardage. I got to go shopping often and learned some very important life skills.

This is a set of pot holders made from number 5 and 10 crochet cotton. I have made several sets of these for gifts over the years.

I am not going to post the patterns just pictures of some of the thread crochet that I do. I also have some items on Etsy, if you would like to take a look. I love looking at the doilies that others post on Etsy. Some of them are pure eye candy. I also enjoy looking at quilts and other crafts.

I also made a table topper from this medallion pattern from a 1930’s 10 cent book. I have a small table and enough was left over to make a table runner also. The thread is number 10 in coral color. I only paid $.59 a ball for the thread. I still have several balls of thread left in this color.

Here is the link to my Etsy store so you can see more of my work. The pictures here are not posted on Etsy.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Janellescupboard?ref=seller-platform-mcnav