CORNER FOR BUSY BEES

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 117, 20 May 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

CORNER FOR BUSY BEES

CONCLUDING THE -SERIES,

MORE CROCHETING PATTERNS. (Conducted by TINKERBELL.) Dear Girls, — It has been very pleasing to learn from your letters that so many of you have picked up the elementary principles of crocheting from these notes. To-day lam publishing directions for crocheting three fancy patterns—tricot (or, as it is sometimes called, Afghan pattern) and crossed and fancy treble patterns, and these the crocheting lessons which have been conducted in this column for the past few weeks will conclude. Next week I hope to publish the first of a series of crocheting patterns for serviceable and pretty winter woollies, with the idea that you will thus employ in a practical way the stitches you have been learning during the past month. However, to return to our fancy patterns:— TRICOT OR AFGHAN PATTERN. This is an easy stitch (Diagram A) so long as it is worked loosely and with not too many loops on the hook at one time (from this point of view it is often worked in narrow strips which are afterwards joined). More open than double crochet, it may be used as an alternative to the latter for most garments of the smaller type. It gives a smooth and attractive surface with a fav amount of elasticity. To crochet this pattern, make first of all the required length of chain.

First row: Miss one chain, draw a loop through each of the remaining chain stitches, leaving all 'He loops on the hook as if for knitting. To work back, wool over the hook and draw through the first loop (wool over the hook and draw through two loops). Repeat the bracketed instructions until all the stitches are worked off again. Sec'ond row: The loop on'the needle stands for the first stitch, so draw a loop through the next stitch (i.e. the perpendicular stitch over the chain stitches), draw a loop through each of the perpendicular stitches along the row, then work back as for the first row. Repeat this row for the length required. Finish with one double crochet into each upright stitch. CROSSED TREBLE PATTERN. This is used chiefly for*-shawls, it being an awkward stitch' with which to do any shaping (Diagram B). Make the required length of chain. First row: Work (4 treble, 1 chain, 4 treble) into the fifth chain stitch from the needle. (Note the treble stitches should be ■ worked loosely.) *Miss 4 chain, 1 double crochet into the next chain, miss 4 chain (4 treble, 1 chain, 4 treble) into the next stitch, repeat from * to the end of the row, ending with half a block (i.e. 4 treble into 1 stitch), turn. Second row: Missing the half block just made (work 4 treble between the second and third stitches of the next half block, 1 chain, work 4 treble between the second and third stitches

of the half block that was missed of the previous row; working- over the 4 treble just made, 1 double crochet under the chain in the middle of the next block, miss half a block). Repeat bracketed instructions to the end of the row, ending with half a block (in the last half block of the previous row), turn. Repeat the second row for the length required. FANCY TREBLE (Diagram C.) Make the required length of chain. Five chain standing for the first treble of every row. First rowt 1 treble into sixth chain from hook, miss two chain * (1 treble, 1 chain, 1 treble) in next chain, miss 2 chain, repeat from * to the last chain. (1 treble, 1 chain, 1 treble) in chain, 5 chain, turn. Second row: 1 treble in space, * miss 2 treble (1 treble, 1 chain, 1 treble) in next space. Repeat from * to the end of the row, 5 chain, turn. Continue repeating the second row. THE EGG. (Sent in by Cyril Treby, 4, Queen Street, New Lynn.) The egg is ari object very largely in the public eye. From the kitchen to the theatre, from the palace to the henhouse, it make? iteelf apparent, and is, in each sphere, equally at home. The clucking hen eyes her triumph with no less a sense of inward serenity than that with which the housewife eyes her omelette. ' Hard-shelled, soft-shelled, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, or neither shelled nor boiled at all, the egg becomes the subject of much speculation, and is, in iteelf, no less a mystery than the sphinx—and more enduring. Like roses, eggs "live within the tense they quicken." The egg lends itself exceptionally well to advertisement; for example, what delight in contemplating a well-executed poster of "Samson's Succulent Sausages, garnished with 'hard-boiled eggs'"; what thrills in "To-night at 8, Two-gun Bill, the 'hard-boiled egg' from over the Border." The sight of an egg spreading, blanket-like, across the features of an ill-liked politician can hardly fail to appeal, but who can resist a smoking platter of eggs and bacon. Poached, boiled, scrambled, fried or thrown at the' erring husband, the egg preserves a flavour and compactness entirely its own. —(Copied.)