Those of you who read this blog may
know that I've become obsessed in the past few months with
needlework, that is, knitting and crochet. It's become one of my
favorite hobbies, surpassing a few I've had in the past. Lately, I've
been working on at least one project at one time; sometimes two and
sometimes even three. It's something fun I like to do, relaxing, and
I've even found a community of fellow knitters and crocheters on the
internet. Finding people who have this similar interest is really
awesome because it's not that fun if you're just doing it by
yourself.
I knit more than I crochet. I've been
slowly learning crochet techniques, but it's a slow process. I know
the three basic crochet stitches, but I can do more with knitting. If
you were to ask me which one I liked more, I will still tell you
knitting, but it's becoming more of a tie now. You can do a lot with
both; I've been incorporating both crocheting in knitting in some of
my pieces recently and it's actually pretty cool how you can do that.
Last weekend, I caved and decided to
buy a bag of what looked to be a bag of yarn in white and brown
shades. I have a lot of yarn in many different colors, mostly
acrylic, but I didn't have too much of whites or browns so it was
justifiable in that regard.
When I opened the bag, there was a
piece of yellowed paper with a pattern. I had seen the paper in the
bag when I bought it but I thought nothing of it. I wasn't planning
on using the pattern anyway; I had other things in mind for the yarn
I was buying.
However, when I read the pattern, I
couldn't help but stare in shock. The pattern, which looked like it
had been typed on a typewriter instead of a computer, had a name,
place, and date on the top. It said:
“Indian Afghan from Glenda Hartnick,
Bushnell, Fla. 2/78”
Of course, the '78 is 1978. So I got
pretty excited at that point. The paper was almost 40 years old!
Intrigued, I looked at the yarn label, which looked pretty old. The
label said, “Phildar Pegase 206,” and on the other side stated
that the yarn was made in France. When I got home, I did a quick
search of the yarn on the internet. Phildar, which I'd never heard of
before, is indeed an exclusive French brand. How it got to the states
in the late 70s, I'm not sure. What confirmed my suspicions that the
“Pegase 206” was indeed out of date was the fact that I couldn't
find that specific brand anywhere. I also saw skeins of “Pegase
206” on sites like Etsy and Ebay going for about $25-30.
What convinced me the most about the
fact that the yarn and the pattern were connected is that the
original colors for the pattern were black, red, grey, and white.
However, the person who owned the yarn and the pattern wrote the
colors brown, rust, beige, and off-white next to the original colors
in cursive—the same exact colors that were in the bag. The person
who originally owned the yarn had also started dividing the yarn into
smaller skeins for the pattern, as the pattern is crocheted row by
row, each row worked separately across with a fringe at the end.
When I get the correct hook for the
pattern, I'll start working on the afghan.Whoever originally owned
the yarn and pattern over 30 years ago never got the opportunity to
finish what they wanted to start. I really wish I could get the whole
story behind this, but I know I never will. I do know that the amount
of satisfaction that I will feel when I finish this afghan that this
person never got to finish will be paramount.
I am giving away the said pattern to
anyone who wants to have it; after all, I wasn't the one who wrote it
so I feel that everyone should enjoy it. It's actually quite simple.
I am not much of a crocheter but I understand the pattern so it's
something a beginner could accomplish easily.
I'll probably write another post soon
about knitting or crocheting, or possibly farming, as I have a summer
farming job that is shaping up to be quite interesting.
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