AHHHHHHHHHH....memories! And what a journey it has been! I remember all the things mentioned here. Each time I thought I had another one...someone came up with it. I'm more "hippy" than hippie...LOL! Scarlett, I know the feeling! Those hipster jeans just don't fit right anymore! One thing I did learn to do back in the 60's and didn't see mentioned here were "Christmas Spiders". From the small glass Christmas balls and pipe cleaners, with sequin eyes. They looked like this...of course you've got to remember this one has been around for a good number of years now! LOL..ugly thing, isn't it? With new products and vintage jewerly, they now look more like this example. I made dozens of these every year..and sell most of them these days. We still use the Christmas ornaments like this. I'll never forget the year we decided to make this the family Christmas project! Neither will our 2 daughters! We all had such sore fingers. But, they treasure these ornaments now, and like myself use them every year. Let's not forget Santa and Mrs. Claus made from dish detergent bottles. With the dime store (then Ben Franklin) faces and hands, etc. They are still part of my Santa collection but I don't seem to have a picture of them anywhere in my on line albums. I still make a few of the old things...most often with a bit of a modern twist...using some of the easier to use products. The pasta angel is a good example of evolving pasta art. I do have problems finding the metal thumb tacks used for the candle in these. Someone mentioned the crochet covered clothes hangers. I'm just old fashioned I guess...I still do them. Along with little sachet bags to go with them. I love collecting the old crochet patterns and making stuff from them. These are the vintage pattern projects that I have recently finished. The shaded pansy thread colors are almost impossible to find these days. You can see some of my spiders in this basket...they are not Christmas Spiders. I call them my illusive, almost extinct pansy spiders! I wanted some really pretty silk pansy to put in this basket and couldn't find any...so I used the next best thing. LOL I think I should stop now! I don't think the "old" crafts will be completely lost...they will just evolve. Be Safe, Rach Here is a link that might be useful:

Well, speaking as a man who crochet's, first let me say how great it is to hear he wants to learn too :D When I was 13, my best friend and I sat all summer listening to my step-grandmother tell stories (she was born in 1891 and we just thought that was awesome!) and one day as she was crocheting, I mentioned how much I'd like to learn.... but I'm a boy. Well, she broke both me and my friend of that stereotype PDQ! and spent the rest of the summer teaching us simple patterns. Now, I'm past 40 and just finished a baby blanket for my niece's coming attraction and am working on a pink and white lace afgan for my 3 year old great-niece. (My only problem is I still can't follow all that greek they call "patterns" LOL!) As for your youngster, sounds like you hit the nail on the head with the scaled down men's patterns, but as a rule of thumb, you can make him almost anything you would make for a girl as long as it's not pink :D Here's an idea for an afgan though, is he into any kind of sports? Such as: For Nascar - How about a Black & White checkered "flag" with black and white tassled fringe. For Football - How about a big green afgan with a white grid-iron embrordry. For Basketball - A light "wood-tone brown" afgan with a free-throw line etc. embrordried. For Baseball - Again, a big green afgan with a brown baseball diamond and white bases. Best Wishes Amino-X

At the "Fiber Farm" on Block Island where they had the too-cute alpacas, they have machines that make various fibers into yarn, they also have a few items made from their fiber, including a jellyfish. and octopus and an alpaca

Wonderful work. I can create beautiful hand embroidered or cross stitched pieces but I surely cannot sew with a machine. I would love to learn how to quilt or sew to make beautiful items like Flamey's or Sandy's. I still use the book jacket cover and the bag holder you made for me. Everyone's pieces are beautiful.