Crochet thread, aluminum hooks

 Crochet thread comes in different sizes. I mostly use 10 or bedspread weight. 5 is bigger, 20 is smaller.

 

 The top hook is made of ivory, it was my grandma's. The hook below it is size 00. That's the size I use most with thread, because I pull my yarn so tightly that my projects are too small if I use a smaller hook. I'm holding a hook that was my grandma's. The price is formed into it - 35 cents! I remember when the hooks were displayed in a coffee mug on the counter of the 5 and dime store. Now, the hooks cost over $2 and are sealed in blister packs.

 Many of the projects I make are the pineapple pattern. I like it because I remember doilies (and tablecloths and bedspreads) on every available surface of my grandma's house, mostly in a pineapple pattern.

 This pattern was called a placemat. I like it better on the back of my recliner. Eventually, I want to have this pattern in 12 different colors - one for each month.

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A closer look at the 'fan' in the corner. Lots of chain stitches to make those spaces.

 For this doily, I made the roses first, then the green leaves on the sides of the roses. Then started in the middle of the doily and worked around, fastening the roses on as I worked around that row.

 Fewer chain stitches make fewer spaces and a tighter pattern.

 This 'table topper' is my wedding present to special couples. I made it in gold metallic thread for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It's also pretty in silver metallic thread for 25th anniversaries.

A closer view so you can see that the hearts are modified pineapples.

Patterns tell you to block your finished projects. Their instructions are to lay the project out on a towel and pin in place with rust proof pins. In my experience, rust proof pins still rust. It's heart breaking to spend all that time on a project and find rust stains when you take it off the towel. So now I use styrofoam blocks and round wooden toothpicks. Even using the biggest styrofoam blocks I can find in the craft section, it will take several to get a big enough surface for the piece to be flat.

To wash the piece (and get it wet for blocking), I start my washing machine (top-loading), add soap, and swish the project in the soapy water, then rinse it in the water coming into the machine. Squeeze (don't wring or twist) some of the water out and set it on a towel while loading laundry into the washer (waste not, want not).

Poke a couple of toothpicks into one side of a block and press another block against it, repeat until you have a large enough surface for the project to be stretched out flat. Cover with wax paper.

As an example, for the wedding table topper, I put it near the center of the blocks and put a toothpick through the small hole in the middle. Then I put toothpicks in the spaces at the bottoms of the pineapple hearts in the middle ring. Then I measure and move those toothpicks until they are the same space apart from each other and each the same distance from the middle toothpick.

Then I do the same with the pineapple hearts in the outer ring.

Finally, each loop around the outside needs a toothpick to keep it from 'ruffling'. When it's all laid out perfectly round and evenly spaced, I use spray starch. I spray until it's saturated. It might take 3 days to dry.

This sleigh Christmas decoration had to be stiffer. So, after washing, I worked white glue through it until it was saturated with glue. Then blocked it with styrofoam blocks and toothpicks.