Get Right Down to the Knitty Gritty

The other day, Allison was kind enough to give me a few McCall's Needlework & Craft magazines dating from 1969-1972. I finally paged through them (my, the owl motif was certainly popular back them!) and found, to my delight, a gaggle of models-turned actresses. Some were in ads, although most were in editorial. Here we have Cybill Shepherd:


Then I found Susan Blakeley in an advertisement. I didn't know she was a model first.


Then I came across the unmistakable mug of Veronica Hamel. No one could replicate that hairline and those cheekbones.


Then there's this lady, who appears in all the Knitking ads. I'm thinking she had to be an owner of the company or something. My photos of the photos do not show just how bright and heavy her eye makeup is (although if you click on them you can see a bigger image and the makeup pops more). I'd think she was a drag queen, but she's not pretty enough.


There are lots of ads for different knitting machines in these magazines. So many that I was wondering why it was I had never come across one at a thrift store or an estate or rummage sale. I'm sure I had seen several of the completed projects at sales before; in fact, I found the directions for a cute knitted owl potholder that looked familiar. Then I realized that I had found a completed one at an estate sale and had given it to Dana. I must say that whomever made it did a fine job as it looked exactly like the photo (complete with googly eyes!). So, we're at a half-price garage sale today and what do we stumble upon? Yes, you guessed it, a knitting machine. For $6.25. Is there any question that it became mine?


I must be living right as my thrifting karma is treating me so well.

UPDATE: I think I hate the knitting machine. I managed to get a piece of fabric about 20 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick knitted before the carriage jammed. I'm not sure I have the patience it might require.

More Score!

OK, so it doesn't really count as "found" if you pay for it, but what if you pay just a teeny, little bit for it? Today I had what I would call a really good estate sale/garage sale day. At the first stop, a sort of clearance sale for a lass moving to Cali, I quickly spotted this sweet ass enamel owl
charm on a chain.

Now, this thing is so cute, anything else I find today is gravy as far as I'm concerned. Picking further through the jewelry box, I came up with several other chain necklaces that I can either re-use as is or recycle the chain into totally new jewelry pieces. So exciting! Oooh, find the cute enamel strawberry in the photo, too.



After poking around in the backyard, we ventured into the basement where I found the lovely vintage silk necktie and the very, very exciting metal desk lamp! It's not working yet, but that could be just burnt out flourescent bulbs. Total cost at this sale: $3.00! (Probably could have been less but I offered another buck for three extra chains I dug out on our way out.)



At the next stop, an estate sale in a much less damp house (though the new paint smell tied with the mildew at the last house as equally icky), I got the full length red and blue robe made of a really cool double-faced thick cotton. It will become Cat's Amazing Technicolor Weirdocoat next fall (or the next cool day this spring). In addition, I got the vintage wood-handled bottle opener, the fluted pastry cutter with cool 70s plastic handle, a small strainer and an old corkscrew thingy, plus a beaker style measuring cup with measuring lines for cocoa and rice and oats, among other things. The nice lady running the sale threw in the two plastic birds. Total cost: $2.25!

Tomorrow, an artist's moving sale!