Retro Crochet

decorating with crochet

Decorating with Crochet
Halliday
1975

There are some lovely decorating tips in this book for all of you looking for a “retro” look for your home. Particularly fetching is the wall hanging of a grandfather clock and the homage to macrame wall hanging on the last picture below.

As a mediocre to poor knitter/crocheter, I can appreciate the skill set, but I just cringe at these projects. It is a waste of yarn. I am also old enough to remember 1970s decor, so I can also tell you that this would have been awful in the 1970s. (At least in my opinion.)

Mary

inside flap

crochet grandfather clock

patchwork crochet

bedspread

giraffe pillow

love pillow

crochet wall hanging

15 comments

  1. It took me just a second to realize that red thing on page 79 is supposed to be an owl and not a hideously deformed Elmo, who wasn’t an official member of the Sesame Street cast in the 70s, anyway. Although he did make an appearance in the sketch where Cookie Monster sings about how he lost his cookie at the disco.

  2. I too am old enough to remember the 70s, and I recall seeing many a thing like these and thinking they were horrifically tacky.

    The rug’s not bad, though it will show dirt like crazy. The patchwork quilt is tolerable in B&W but horrific in color.

    The fake grandfather clock is just stupid. And why produce a tribute to macramé through crochet instead of just doing macramé? One tacky thing imitating another!

    1. The cat’s got bug eyes too!

      Something horrible has happened in that room and all the crochet critters are shocked and terrified.

  3. I’m surprised the Sesame Street folks didn’t sue the authors over Tickle Me Pillow on page 79.

  4. I actually love the afghan and the heart shaped love pillow.

    All the others can go burn in a fire though.

    1. I’ll bet it’s all acrylic, and you don’t want to burn that in a fire. Toxic fumes and molten blobs everywhere.

  5. The rug is kind of cool, but the fringe would always be a mess, and I think it would feel horrible underfoot. Large knots=not good to step on. Granny square bedspreads are still pretty popular; you just have to pick good colors.

  6. A lot of these projects would be 100% fine if done in an updated colour scheme or with one or two tweaks. This book would fly off the shelf if a new edition was made with better photography. There are a lot of crocheters that you jump to pay for it on the discard shelf.

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