A Finished Blanket and Some Neat Embellishments

The 1970s style striped blanket my mom was making and that I featured in an earlier post is now finished and for sale at our Etsy shop here.

I love the chair I used in the photos; it's what I normally sit in when I'm knitting or crocheting and it's really comfy.

I haven't yet learned how to crochet with beads but I can knit with beads and here is my beautiful bead collection. I've got a mix of small seed beads, some pony beads, and then some in between those two sizes. Beads can really add a lovely look and a little bit of sparkle to a project. I am planning on using these mostly in scarves and hats. The Christmas colored beads would be fun to work into a wreath ornament and those are fun and don't take very long to make.

A few weeks ago I went to the Austin Antique Mall and found some great vintage buttons. I love going there because it's huge (30,000 sq. ft.) and it's less than 30 miles from my house. I can easily spend the whole day there and still not see everything.

I found this card of buttons from the Rochester Button Company. This is what the salesmen would have used to show off their products when selling to stores or clothing manufacturers. 

I haven't been able to date these but the company itself was in business from 1887 to 1990. I almost hate to use any of them as the card is complete with no missing buttons. It's neat though to be able to add an actual vintage item to one of the things we make. These would be nice decorative elements on button wrap scarves and the small ones would be good for baby booties.