Saturday, February 25, 2012

Reminiscing

Since I'm still working on the Holding Hands Baby Blanket and I don't have anything new to show you knitting-wise I thought I'd take a little trip down memory lane and show you a few of  my favorite old things that I cherish.

The first favorite thing that I want to show you is an old, rather vintage (as that's what they are calling all the old junk these days), wooden apple tea set from my childhood. I've always loved this cute little set. The stem is missing, so I borrowed a stem from my artificial apple in my decorative fruit bowl that sits on my kitchen table, for photographing purposes. When you open up the apple, you find a miniature tea set inside. I think it was made in Japan probably in the 1960's.The tea pot is missing it's handle, but other than that it's still in pretty good condition. Well loved and well played with. I've always kept it on my bedroom dresser since I was a child and I've been married 27 years. That's love....right?

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I found a couple of links of similar sets here and here.

After we were married, my dear mother crocheted for us two blankets. The first one is throw sized and the pattern is Narrow Step Afghan. I've always loved this blanket made up of a multitude of shades of brown, tans, off whites and rusts.
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 Here's a close up of the pattern. Reminds me of an Indian blanket.
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Because she knew how much we loved the throw, she made us a big blanket for our queen sized bed. It's really big and she made it big enough to use as a bed spread. Can you just imagine how long and how much yarn it too?  It keeps us nice and snugly warm all winter long. I love it, but it's a job and a half to wash it!
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I also have a blanket she crocheted for me when I was still living at home. This beautiful ripple. Luckily she made this one big, bigger than I really needed for my twin bed at the time. It probably is more full bed sized, but we still use it on our bed even if it is a tad small. Here it is.
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My mother didn't make the next one, but I still love it to pieces. When I was in college I crocheted this granny square blanket. It's throw sized and has been on the back of our couch since we were married. This one has also been well used and abused. It's made up of scrap yarn, wool and acrylic, and most of the wool has felted over the years from it's washings. Do I care? No...I love it just the same.
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Now on to my next favorite subject - food - :)
Look what I found in the grocery store this week:
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 Some absolutely gorgeous Meyer lemons! I've never seen them before, but I have heard of them. I couldn't resist, I just had to buy them.
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After purchasing my great find, I decided to make a Lemon Meringue Pie for my son's 20th birthday. Even though his birthday isn't until Tuesday I thought he would like to have it this weekend when he was home from college. Here it is
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I used my mother's recipe, which I cherish greatly. My husband has always wants an apple pie for his birthday ever since I've know him and that's usually what he gets. Sometimes I think that's why he married me when he got a taste of my mom's apple and other pies. He probably figured if the mother was a pie baker, then the daughter most likely would be one, too, or at least she's have someone to teach her ;)
My middle son takes after his father and likes apple pie instead of cake. When I found the lemons I emailed him and asked if he'd like a lemon meringue pie instead of the apple and he said sure. I don't make lemon meringue very often so it's a real treat. I'll make an apple pie perhaps the next time he comes home. We're due for one soon :)

Well I guess that's about it for now.

Got to get back to my knitting ....happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2012 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

12 comments:

  1. Love that apple Tea set, it's do cute! What a nice keepsake from your childhood!

    Wow, that's a lot of big crochet blankets. We have a few in our house, but not as many large ones. I have one my aunt made me for one of my birthdays and I think we have one other large one that my grandmother made. The rest are children sized ones. Or lap blankets.

    You talk about your oldest son and yor middle son, if I read correctly - how many sons do you have? I have 3! Does it get easier? Lol. Do you just have sons? Any daughters?

    I learned how to bake from my husbands step mother. He definitely didn't marry me for my baking - but I am learning!

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  2. What a wonderful post, filled with memories, treats, and treasures!

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  3. Delightful post and a wonderful recipe that I must try. Lemon is one of my favorite pies and that looks scrumptious, your son is lucky!

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  4. I adore the tea set!!!! Like you, i love, love most things vintage! I have a great affinity for vintage purses (bakelite) and vintage yarn holders...oh, and vintage costume jewelry, too...LOL, like I said, love vintage!!

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  5. What a fun tea set! I've never seen one quite like that. Loved seeing all your crocheted blankets, too. I treasure the ripple afghan my mom made for us; it reminds me of her whenever I look at it. Off to check out your pie recipe; lemon is a favorite!

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  6. I love the tea set. That is so cute! Love the ripple your mom made you and I especially love your granny square blanket! lemon meringue pie sounds scrumptious. I've been on a meyer lemon curd kick--been seeing all these recipes and have been tempted to make my own. I had it for the first time a couple years ago and fell in love!

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  7. The tea set is super cute. Now I am craving some pie!

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  8. What a lovely trip down memory lane. I think we all had one of those ripple afghans. Mine was blue/white/grey and I made it before I married my ex. I think he may still have the blanket. I know I don't. LOL

    Mmmmmmmmmmmmm...pie! I would much rather have pie than cake too.

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  9. Such nice memories!! Your mom made some very pretty and durable blankets for you.

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  10. I simply love the tea set! I don't think I've ever seen a wooden one before. Both my girls and granddaughters had their own, such a wonderful girly thing to share with them. Yours is in remarkably good shape for its age.
    It's great that you still have the afghan and bedspread your mom made for you. She must have been really good at her craft as they look to be in good conditions still.
    Those Meyer lemons are playing hide-n-seek with me. I've been trying to find some since last summer, but I haven't run across any yet. I want to try growing a tree in a container. I hear they do well that way.
    Have a great week!

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  11. Oh my gosh...your mother's work is AMAZING. What a treasure!

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  12. Thanks for sharing your treasures! The blankets are really nice. Makes me want to work on the granny squares I started:0)
    Angie

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Thank you all for your comments! I really appreciate them. I usually don't follow up with an email, but if you do have a question please make sure you include a way to reach you within your comment so I may answer your question. Thanks and happy knitting :)

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