Not Crafty Hands, not Arty-Farty Hands, Not Handmade Hands... its Golden Hands. My gran had the full collection and I can remember browsing through them for hours as a child. I tried to learn to knit, crochet, cross-stitch and embroider but I never had the patience to sit still for so long or be so neat and careful. My grandma, on the other hand, could sew just about anything and was a prolific crochet-er and embroider-er. Lucky me, because now I have a whole range of beautiful, old-fashioned and gently worn embroidered goodies that decorate the home.
I picked up this brilliant collection on a weekend jaunt to Stawell. The op shop on the Stawell main street is a veritable treasure trove of goodness. It's as though the homes of all the best grannies in the world were raided to fit it out. And even better, the prices are super cheap. Each of these books were only $2! Op shopping in the country is the way to go.
There are a few books missing from this collection, so if anyone's seen these books anywhere else, let me know!
12 comments:
Oooooooooh! What a haul! I just last week picked up #1 & #2 for $1... but I have a lot more to get obviously!
I've got number 4 if you want to email me your address I would be happy to send it to you
Oooh, yes, Golden Hands are wonderful. I was lucky enough to pick up the entire set in an Op Shop and was thrilled to bits. Enjoy!
Don't want to rub it in or anything but recently my mum gave me the whole set in the red vinyl covers and all. Did I mention it is the whole set????
me and my colleague found a whole set few months ago at Mont Albert Vinnies and she bought the whole set for $20 and I get to borrow them :)
How fab! If anyone is in the area, there were quite a few Golden Hands volumes at the NCJW Opshop on Hawthorn Rd last time I was there, about a week ago.
This excites me. I am a turbo knitter (yes, even before it became fashionalble again!) And I love to sew.
Thanks for the tips everyone! Cass, I will shoot you an email, thank you! Miss Muggins, I am so envious that I've practically gone green! :P
I got the weekly magazines when they first came out, but I went overseas near the end of the series and missed out on the last dozen or so. By the time I got home, I'd lost interest anyway, and I don't recall using them at all! They are SO dated now, compared to what is available these days, but it is fun to look back on what was around at the time.
I grew up admiring these when they were new as well. I've got a fair few at various op shops over the years including some doubles, so let me know if there are particular ones you're after. I'm in Melbourne too. Yes, their dated, but the techniques are great and a lot of the patterns are classics, they just need to be re-interpreted or adapted to be up to the minute.
Oops . . . they're dated:)
The datedness is kinda what I love about them! The 70s look like such a good time... I can understand that those who were around it the first time would be over it, that's how I am with 80s stuff- can't stand it! But teenagers and 20-somethings are crazy for it.
What's great about them also is that there is seems to be SO much more content than you get in books these days. And the techniques never go out of style.
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