vested interest

Last weekend I went to some yard sales. It's always fun to come upon vintage fiber arts books .... mainly because the photos are usually just so dated that they are absolutely awesome! I came upon this book of "big needle"knit and crochet patterns. I'm not sure when it was published, but I'm figuring by the styles it's probably from the 70s.

here's the cover ... hey, who gave that baby those huge knitting needles to play with!!

Here's my favorite picture of them all ... a man's vest:

The picture is black and white, but I think you get the idea.... I would love to see my husband in this one! The checkered shirt was a nice touch to the whole ensemble too.

buttons

One of the most fun parts of summer around where I live is going to yard sales... yay! Today, a neighboring town had their "town-wide" yard sale. It would have been possible to spend much of the day there poking around and hunting down some great buys. Of course, I didn't have all day, but I did have time to wander down a few streets and look things over. I generally scan the tables and boxes and head for anything that looks craft related since I never know what I might find. Today it was all about buttons!

As a child I was always fascinated by going through my mother's big green sewing box and looking at all the odds and ends of things in there and wondering what on earth one did with some of that stuff! She had a small plastic box she kept in her sewing box that contained buttons, cause, well ... you never know when you might lose one and need a replacement!

I use buttons myself from time to time, and had been running low lately, so I decided I might see what I could find at today's yard sale and.... here they are:

These containers all had buttons (and few other sundry items).

I find it interesting the various containers people use for their buttons. This was a great collection: a margarine tub, little plastic box, whipped topping container, old pill bottle and a couple generic plastic containers. I thought they warranted a picture before I sorted through them and added them to my own button box.

Buying things like this always make me think about the people who owned them, what they were like, if the contents of these little containers met much to them. Of course, I wonder if someday someone will be going through my button box.

This one was my grandmothers. I'm not sure what the original purpose of the box was, maybe some type of butter box.

 

 

And ... here's mine ... overflowing after today's purchase:

fancy yarn holder

My better half found this at a yard sale this past weekend. I think of it as my fancy yard holder!

There's another level that needs to be repaired, but three work well for now!

Things I buy at yard sales

It's Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. and at least here in the northeast it's the unofficial start of the Summer season and that means.... yard sales! Here's just a look at some of the things I found as I wandered about my town today. So here's what I do with a couple hours to waste and $5 in my pocket!

I like these Amish dolls. I think they're handmade, there were no "made in China" tags and there was hand stitching in places.

Flower Looms! These vintage books were in great shape, from 1968 -1971. I do think I have a vague memory of these as a kid. They are just too kitschy fun!

Another vintage book (1974) of crocheted and knitted gift items.

And... I know I'll figure out something to do with these! A big baggie full of little wooden plant pots of various sizes.

I did find some other things, like two nice shelves for my shop that I can use for displaying items. Of course, my husband's best buy was a Scalextric racetrack... great fun!