Monday, 23 July 2012

A $4 box of goodness

Summer seems to have occurred with a decreasing amount of estate sales being advertised and noticing our lack of visiting and poking them we took it upon ourselves to take time out on Saturday to go and be nosey. Estate sales can be a treasure chest or an excuse for a junk that people would normally throw away and the sales we visited weren't over run with amazing thing like normal - it's the luck of the draw. Additionally we went much later which may play a part in most of the interesting things already being brought. However - going later the sellers are often left with things they need to get rid of and great deals can be yours - hence coming away with this huge box of random goodies all for four dollars. 


Hidden within this cardboard box of treasure are vintage crochet patterns mostly from the 1940s up to the 1980s, leaning to knit booklets, stamp guides and several 1970s state maps.


The crochet patterns are predominately a mixed bag of doiley or Christmas designs with some fashion and household items thrown in for good measure. I'm not overly interested in crocheting dishcloths or Christmasy things so I'm trying my luck reselling them on ebay - so go have a nosey on there! 


Hidden at the bottom was a mixed selection of 1970s state maps from everywhere from Utah to Michigan to Iowa and many a place in between. For novelty and souvenirs sake I saved the Illinois map for the Chicago reference and city map - the rest I'm not currently sure of their future. Even more odd was a 1972 calender possibly given out by one of the reps of American oil to his customers. With it's cheesey kitsch images it's rather neat and has never been used. Shame it's a little out of date.


And while I might not be the biggest or the best knitter - this pattern book is far too adorable to resell and with really clear images and texts it looks easy enough that even I could teach myself hot to finally get over my knitting complex. We rounded the day off looking at a garage sale and came away with a 1933 "kitchen guide" of which many a page has already been bookmarked - from the picnic spaghetti, stuffed vegetables and a very interesting sounding marshmellow cake.

Have you picked up any vintage goodies lately?

On eBay we have come vintage compacts, Christmas crochet magazines alongside booklets for kitchen ideas [both knitting and crocheting], and a baby Afghan booklet, alongside our normal transformer toys, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Make sure to have a look here! We do ship internationally and combine shipping costs too.