Some summer memories (III)

 I mentioned having bought (used, and sometimes as ex-library copies) books I remembered loving as a child. These are the craft or craft-adjacent books:

The Making Things book (the faded one in the middle) and the Handmade Toys and Games one I've had for years. I think I got Making Things at the Ann Arbor Public Library's used book sale back in the late 80s - it's a very 70s book with various crafts (mostly from discards) and games in it:

 

Some of them are just the simple games and toys (like how to make a paper "helicopter") that are good things to know in case you need to entertain a group of kids on short notice. There's also some magnificent ideas for fancy shaped breads in it.

And I LOVED Handmade Toys and Games as a kid. It's not a pattern book or a guide book, it's rather an inspiration book with photos of things people - both artists, ordinary folks, and kids - have made:

This may have been my first inspiration to want to learn to crochet, and to crochet my own toys. (That's a cat that was made by an 8 or 9 year old girl). I remember getting this out of the library like every summer from the time I was maybe 6 or 7. And about 15 years ago I realized I could probably find my own used copy and I ordered one from Alibris or somewhere.

I also remember Woodstock Manual #2 from my childhood. I didn't really understand all the hippie references (they are VERY MUCH books of their time) but they were fun and inspiring and my first attempts at patchwork were inspired by Woodstock Manual #2 (Oddly enough, the library didn't have #1, but many years later I found a used copy).

The great things about these is there's very minimal prescriptiveness - unlike some craft books now where, for example, they direct you to get a PARTICULAR yarn for a pattern* but rather they tell you HOW to do the thing, and then suggest sources of material - and in the patchwork section, of course used fabric is suggested and a hint of how it could inspire memories for the future ("This is grandma's jeans that she wore at her lib meetings, sister's workshirt she wore in the Chicago riots, Great-grandfather's best meditation toga....")

Anyway, it was very inspirational and I'm glad I have my own copy.

(*though yes, some authors are better than that and they give a description where they will list the yarn used, but then also the properties you'd want in a yarn if you were substituting - like "a worsted weight with about 12 WPI, and a smooth surface so your stitch pattern will show")

Creative Soft Toys is more recent. I "found" the book again courtesy of Something Under the Bed. I remembered a book of elaborate embroidered toys I used to look at from the library when I was a kid, but I knew it wasn't the Winsome Douglass one (which Dover reprinted). But I found it again thanks to that website! And found an affordable used copy, too:

There are some interesting things in there - including bejeweled beetles. I've just never had the time or motivation yet to make anything out of it but next time I get a good supply of the real wool felt I might.

Also a more-recent purchase, I think from Abe Books, was this:

Doll's House Furniture Book, which was mostly aimed at building with thin wood (which I never did, because I had not the tools) and also had the pattern for a pin-jointed wood family. BUT ALSO had a huge list of accessories you could make - many of which did not require a jigsaw or similar specialized tools, and that's why I liked it. It was 1/12" scale, which was the standard scale for 1970s era dollhouses. (Barbie houses are something like 1/6", I think, and there's a new 1/24" scale that don't generally have dolls but are just small display pieces. My Moominhouse might be close to 1/24"....)

And then finally, the newest one:

I bought this through Amazon. I don't know if it's a reprint (it seems not to have been updated) or if it was merely old stock but this book is a wild mix of stuff, from a recipe for corn dogs to how to tell ghost stories to making fake scrimshaw (using plastic laundry-detergent bottles). It's very reminiscent of my childhood; I remember my mom making the corn dogs for my brother and me occasionally as a treat, and I think we made the popcorn balls once...

I say it's not been updated; there's some terminology (e.g., "Indian" instead of "Native American" or "First Nations") that some folks might not like....there's also a lot of fortune-telling stuff that I suppose some might find uncomfortable, I don't know. But it does remind me of childhood summers and trying out some of the things in the book. There is a little bit of an American History focus, but not very deep or detailed.

But yes, all these books remind me of the long summer days spent either making stuff, or, the rainy summer days spent lying on the sofa and looking at books and thinking about making stuff....