To quote Martha Stewart, when she discovered yet another interest, she said, "All I need is just one more damned hobby!" Personally, I don't know how she has time to peruse ANY hobbies, much less all the interests she has lined up.
Everyday, I understand that quote more an more, because it has become an accurate description of my own life.
I play music in my music room on one of my keyboard instruments for 2 - 3 hours a day, every day. I also knit year-round, I bicycle when my body and the climate will allow me to do so, and I keep up with the care and attention required of our 4 dogs and one very mouthy African Gray parrot. I go to estate sales almost every weekend, and during spring / summer / fall months, I go to many locally large nationally recognized art shows and cultural events. I also try to maintain somewhat of an organized home (!!)
That brings me back to the estate sales...
(Spoiler: This blog is *not* about musical instruments. Hang in there, and I will circle back around!)
Today, I went to a sale that had yet another keyboard instrument for sale. This one is a digital piano, a Casio Previa. I already have one of these pianos, and it is the keyboard that I play during my daily practice sessions. Why would I want another instrument that is identical to the one I already have? Such is my life, in general, the answer is not that simple. It's not that cut-and-dried.
When I bought my Casio Previa digital piano, it did not come with a bench, or a stand that was specifically made for it. Currently, I am using two speakers as a keyboard stand, and a Hammond organ bench. Actually, I like this arrangement, but it does spoil me a bit too much. How so? Organ benches sit higher than piano benches, and the speakers that I am using as a make-shift keyboard stand elevate this particular digital piano much too high. The problem is this: If / when I play an acoustic piano, whether it be an upright or a grand piano, etc, they keyboard is much lower than what I am accustomed to. Having to adjust to a different instrument is one situation, altogether, but having to adjust to a different instrument where the keys and the bench at are the wrong heights makes mental adjustments that I have to make on-the-fly more difficult.
The Casio Previa:
http://www.privia.eu/euro/
So....
I was wanting to buy this second Casio Previa so I would have a digital piano that was at the correct height for me to practice on. At any rate, I did arrive at this West County St. Louis estate sale, only to find the price of my sought-after keyboard was more elevated than I expected to find. While it is known in this area that the prices of estate sale items in the West County St. Louis are elevated, I did not expect to find this digital keyboard priced at $350. I did pay $600 for my version of the Casio Previa, but that was only two years ago, and it was brand-new-out-of-the-box. The particular version of this keyboard that I found at the estate sale was priced at $350, and it was a year or two years older than that one I currently own. I could cough up $150, at the most, but not $350 for an instrument of that age. Most estate sales do drop the price of their items by 50% on the second day, but I don't think I am going to revisit this one. I will let it go.
This, however, is what I found:
The last room I walked into in this home, before continuing my little shopping spree in a retail setting. There was a box of yarn! After my eyes adjusted from seeing spots, I looked around the room to see if there were knitting needles, fabric, or other things that would indicate a life-long interest in the fiber arts. These colors are bright, but I love them!
If you will look in the back of this picture, I have piled up the skeins of yarn that originally got my attention. These would make wonderfully fun socks, a scarf / hat combo, or this yarn would give me a good head start on a Rastafari hat!
I approached the box, and noticed a couple crocheted granny squares at the bottom of the box. "No big deal", I thought to myself, "This dear lady bought all this yarn and made a few granny squares, with the intent to complete an afgan that she never had the opportunity to finish." I paid $10 for the box, continued my shopping spree at Borders, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Walmart and Sally Beauty Supply (Hey - I gotta get the bleach somewhere!), before I continued home.
When I got home, started to investigate my little treasure a bit closer. Those granny squares that I lined up in the photograph are but a small sample of what was actually in that box! The remaining granny squares are packed tightly in the box next to the stack of yarn is the photograph. OMG, indeed!
Take a look at the following page from the magazine that was included with this sale. This pattern is from Family Circle, Oct 1, 1987. This box of yarn and granny squares also contained 3 pages of instructions that were removed from the Family Circle magazine, AND the correct size crochet hook. The instructions called for a size "J" hook, and there is, indeed, a size "J" hook in the box!
I can tell that this was most likely the first crochet project that this woman ever attempted. It is an industry standard for knitters and crocheters to take all their yarn, and wind it into balls before beginning any project. This patient soul was crocheting directly from the skein. I found several skeins that were semi-depleted, from the outside in! She also had loose ends everywhere in these squares. Personally, I would have woven all the loose ends from the 3 separate colors that are in each square before continuing to the next square. All 138 granny squares that she had completed still had at least 6 tails sticking out of each square.
My dilemma grows larger!
When I go to estate sales, flea markets or antique malls, I am always 100% conscious of the things that I am looking to purchase were once somebody's birthday present, they were once safely tucked away under a Christmas Tree awaiting Christmas Day, or they might have been a Mother's Day gift, Father's Day gift, wedding gift, and the list continues. This stuff was once important to someone, somewhere. Even thought I might occasionally repurpose an item, I always do so with dignity and respect, keeping in the forefront of my mind the object's possible history. I don't know if it is the Buddhist in me, or what the deal is, but I always am aware of the life that an item might have had, and without fail, I will always recognize that life.
My original intent was to make the "few" granny squares that I originally thought I had into a simple pillow, or a small throw. I immediately realized that what this lady did is closely related to playing "99 bottles of beer on the wall", and getting down to 97 bottles and quitting before finishing! Had she made only a few squares, I would have no problem with completing a small project, and using the remaining yarn for my own purposes, but since she has 87% of this project completed, and probably hundreds of hours of work involved in it, I have only one choice: I have to complete this afghan. I have a California King size bed. I would have to almost double the size of this afghan to make it into a full bedspread, so a large afghan will work nicely.
This poor lady, God love her! The grid in the bottom right-hand corner of this scan is the diagram for the entire afghan. 180 squares are required to make this afghan. I counted the squares that she had completed. 138 squares completed. This dear instruction-abiding woman had only 23% of the squares to make, and then she would have had to piece it together, and she would have been finished. This magazine article first teaches simple crochet techniques before making the afghan. I know by observing her crocheting habits and techniques that she was definitely a beginner, but her gauge was impeccable! Up to the point where she stopped working on this project, she was following the instructions, letter-for-letter.
Another dilemma to add to the "dilemmade"!
I can knit like a mad man, but I can't crochet to save my life. To the uninitiated, the difference and similarities between knitting and crocheting are the same as with playing piano and organ. Many people play one, or the other, the piano or the organ, but not both. The only similarity is that they both have keys. The same is true of knitting and crocheting. Both knitting and crocheting are working with yarn, and you use an implement (two knitting needles or a crochet hook), but that is where the similarities end. They are vastly different techniques with very different results.
Depending on the complexity of the pattern I am following, if I have a knitting pattern in front of me, I can carry on a conversation and knit at the same time. The next stitch on the knitting needle is the one to be worked. It really is that simple. With crocheting, you have to know whether you are doing a slip stitch, single crochet, double, half double, or triplet crochet stitch!
With knitting, you have to have ONE stitch memorized: The knit stitch. A purl stitch is simply a reversed knit stitch. Anywho, knitting is much easier, IMHO, than crocheting. The next couple photographs are just a small sample of my knit items. Not that there is no crochet here. :)
Everyday, I understand that quote more an more, because it has become an accurate description of my own life.
I play music in my music room on one of my keyboard instruments for 2 - 3 hours a day, every day. I also knit year-round, I bicycle when my body and the climate will allow me to do so, and I keep up with the care and attention required of our 4 dogs and one very mouthy African Gray parrot. I go to estate sales almost every weekend, and during spring / summer / fall months, I go to many locally large nationally recognized art shows and cultural events. I also try to maintain somewhat of an organized home (!!)
That brings me back to the estate sales...
(Spoiler: This blog is *not* about musical instruments. Hang in there, and I will circle back around!)
Today, I went to a sale that had yet another keyboard instrument for sale. This one is a digital piano, a Casio Previa. I already have one of these pianos, and it is the keyboard that I play during my daily practice sessions. Why would I want another instrument that is identical to the one I already have? Such is my life, in general, the answer is not that simple. It's not that cut-and-dried.
When I bought my Casio Previa digital piano, it did not come with a bench, or a stand that was specifically made for it. Currently, I am using two speakers as a keyboard stand, and a Hammond organ bench. Actually, I like this arrangement, but it does spoil me a bit too much. How so? Organ benches sit higher than piano benches, and the speakers that I am using as a make-shift keyboard stand elevate this particular digital piano much too high. The problem is this: If / when I play an acoustic piano, whether it be an upright or a grand piano, etc, they keyboard is much lower than what I am accustomed to. Having to adjust to a different instrument is one situation, altogether, but having to adjust to a different instrument where the keys and the bench at are the wrong heights makes mental adjustments that I have to make on-the-fly more difficult.
The Casio Previa:
http://www.privia.eu/euro/
So....
I was wanting to buy this second Casio Previa so I would have a digital piano that was at the correct height for me to practice on. At any rate, I did arrive at this West County St. Louis estate sale, only to find the price of my sought-after keyboard was more elevated than I expected to find. While it is known in this area that the prices of estate sale items in the West County St. Louis are elevated, I did not expect to find this digital keyboard priced at $350. I did pay $600 for my version of the Casio Previa, but that was only two years ago, and it was brand-new-out-of-the-box. The particular version of this keyboard that I found at the estate sale was priced at $350, and it was a year or two years older than that one I currently own. I could cough up $150, at the most, but not $350 for an instrument of that age. Most estate sales do drop the price of their items by 50% on the second day, but I don't think I am going to revisit this one. I will let it go.
This, however, is what I found:
The last room I walked into in this home, before continuing my little shopping spree in a retail setting. There was a box of yarn! After my eyes adjusted from seeing spots, I looked around the room to see if there were knitting needles, fabric, or other things that would indicate a life-long interest in the fiber arts. These colors are bright, but I love them!
If you will look in the back of this picture, I have piled up the skeins of yarn that originally got my attention. These would make wonderfully fun socks, a scarf / hat combo, or this yarn would give me a good head start on a Rastafari hat!
I approached the box, and noticed a couple crocheted granny squares at the bottom of the box. "No big deal", I thought to myself, "This dear lady bought all this yarn and made a few granny squares, with the intent to complete an afgan that she never had the opportunity to finish." I paid $10 for the box, continued my shopping spree at Borders, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Walmart and Sally Beauty Supply (Hey - I gotta get the bleach somewhere!), before I continued home.
When I got home, started to investigate my little treasure a bit closer. Those granny squares that I lined up in the photograph are but a small sample of what was actually in that box! The remaining granny squares are packed tightly in the box next to the stack of yarn is the photograph. OMG, indeed!
Take a look at the following page from the magazine that was included with this sale. This pattern is from Family Circle, Oct 1, 1987. This box of yarn and granny squares also contained 3 pages of instructions that were removed from the Family Circle magazine, AND the correct size crochet hook. The instructions called for a size "J" hook, and there is, indeed, a size "J" hook in the box!
I can tell that this was most likely the first crochet project that this woman ever attempted. It is an industry standard for knitters and crocheters to take all their yarn, and wind it into balls before beginning any project. This patient soul was crocheting directly from the skein. I found several skeins that were semi-depleted, from the outside in! She also had loose ends everywhere in these squares. Personally, I would have woven all the loose ends from the 3 separate colors that are in each square before continuing to the next square. All 138 granny squares that she had completed still had at least 6 tails sticking out of each square.
My dilemma grows larger!
When I go to estate sales, flea markets or antique malls, I am always 100% conscious of the things that I am looking to purchase were once somebody's birthday present, they were once safely tucked away under a Christmas Tree awaiting Christmas Day, or they might have been a Mother's Day gift, Father's Day gift, wedding gift, and the list continues. This stuff was once important to someone, somewhere. Even thought I might occasionally repurpose an item, I always do so with dignity and respect, keeping in the forefront of my mind the object's possible history. I don't know if it is the Buddhist in me, or what the deal is, but I always am aware of the life that an item might have had, and without fail, I will always recognize that life.
My original intent was to make the "few" granny squares that I originally thought I had into a simple pillow, or a small throw. I immediately realized that what this lady did is closely related to playing "99 bottles of beer on the wall", and getting down to 97 bottles and quitting before finishing! Had she made only a few squares, I would have no problem with completing a small project, and using the remaining yarn for my own purposes, but since she has 87% of this project completed, and probably hundreds of hours of work involved in it, I have only one choice: I have to complete this afghan. I have a California King size bed. I would have to almost double the size of this afghan to make it into a full bedspread, so a large afghan will work nicely.
This poor lady, God love her! The grid in the bottom right-hand corner of this scan is the diagram for the entire afghan. 180 squares are required to make this afghan. I counted the squares that she had completed. 138 squares completed. This dear instruction-abiding woman had only 23% of the squares to make, and then she would have had to piece it together, and she would have been finished. This magazine article first teaches simple crochet techniques before making the afghan. I know by observing her crocheting habits and techniques that she was definitely a beginner, but her gauge was impeccable! Up to the point where she stopped working on this project, she was following the instructions, letter-for-letter.
Another dilemma to add to the "dilemmade"!
I can knit like a mad man, but I can't crochet to save my life. To the uninitiated, the difference and similarities between knitting and crocheting are the same as with playing piano and organ. Many people play one, or the other, the piano or the organ, but not both. The only similarity is that they both have keys. The same is true of knitting and crocheting. Both knitting and crocheting are working with yarn, and you use an implement (two knitting needles or a crochet hook), but that is where the similarities end. They are vastly different techniques with very different results.
Depending on the complexity of the pattern I am following, if I have a knitting pattern in front of me, I can carry on a conversation and knit at the same time. The next stitch on the knitting needle is the one to be worked. It really is that simple. With crocheting, you have to know whether you are doing a slip stitch, single crochet, double, half double, or triplet crochet stitch!
With knitting, you have to have ONE stitch memorized: The knit stitch. A purl stitch is simply a reversed knit stitch. Anywho, knitting is much easier, IMHO, than crocheting. The next couple photographs are just a small sample of my knit items. Not that there is no crochet here. :)
I can knit like a mad man, but if I have to learn how to crochet to complete this dear woman's project, there is a really good chance that I will make Linda Blair (in "The Exorcist") look like Mother Theresa blessing the shut-ins!
Does anybody have a knitting pattern that will produce a crochet-looking granny square? I've done my own internet searches, but haven't turned anything up that is promising! I'm gong to have to bit the bullet, and to quote my mentor, Martha, "I'm gong to have to get one more damned hobby!"
- Michael
