
In February Sue(blogless, why?)sent me some patterns that had been her Mum's. One of them was a crochet pattern for a bag I chose to do for the String-a-Long.
In a later e-mail Sue also mentioned there was a suitcase full of old patterns, and if I wanted to meet her at her Mum's house they could become mine.
We arranged a date to meet up, and that was last Friday. My destination was only 67 miles away but it took two and a quarter hours each way. Traffic. And thank goodness for the invention of sat nav. I used to scorn them a little, but then bought my Dad one a couple of years ago. He uses it all the time and I, er, borrow it quite a bit.
Sue's Mum is 96 and makes a mean cup of tea. The suitcase was there waiting, along with some other things that I'll make you wait to see.

If, like me, you love old books and patterns, you'll be able to imagine how very much I love this case full of history.
There are pages cut from magazines, toy patterns, clothes, accessories, doilies. You name it and it's there. Crochet as well. Lots from the war years and onwards. If you click on the mosaics they should enlarge.
Something I really appreciate is the fact that when most of these were published people didn't have a lot of anything, let alone clothes. They're all so fashionable and the creation and completion must have been a much anticipated event.
The 'Woollies for the RAF' is fascinating. Anyone who's been reading since the beginning (you haven't ??) will know my stash contains some special vintage yarns, some of which were to knit service garments in the Second World War. Well, now I have the patterns to go with them. Strange that it's all RAF related.

There are also some patterns that I'll definitely be completing. Watch this space. But it will be in a couple of weeks as I've become obsessed with a particular crochet project. As you do. I can't put it down. At this rate it'll be ready to reveal next week.
Sue and I also went for a stroll with her lovely dog and had a good chat en route. When we got back her Mum was looking through the case of old photographs. I think Sue was pictured as a child wearing some of the woollies made from these patterns...
It was a lovely sunny day, and as I drove back there was a balloon very low in the (plane-less) sky, I could see the people in the basket. No chance to get a picture, but somehow it rounded off a lovely day out. Thank you Sue and Grace.
Back to work yesterday, made slightly more bearable by the weather being cold and rainy. About ten staff members are stranded over the world...Spain, Sydney, Cuba...but not enough to present a crisis. Exam cover was stretched a bit.
Our department, four of us usually, was down to two of us. But things got done, somehow...