No. 7 Griswold Skillet

I am not a lucky person. My name is never pulled out of the hat. I never find cash lying on the sidewalk. They never call the numbers I need at Bingo. However, today I found a Griswold skillet in the Hopkinsville Goodwill, so the old saying is proven -- "Every dog has his day."

Griswold skillet, 9-3/4" top diameter
and 8" bottom diameter

I saw this skillet sitting on the shelf among random pot lids and pans, so I picked it up and turned it over. I was amazed to see that it was a Griswold and that it was priced for $3.99.

The person who priced it must not have recognized the name. Griswold is top-of-the-line antique or vintage cast iron cookware. In my opinion, this pan should have been placed in the locked case up front where they keep the treasures.

N0. 7 -- GRISWOLD -- ERIE PA.  --701
(Might be 701 A, but not sure.)

According to what I've read online this evening, this skillet was probably made between 1939 and 1957. In other words, it's approximately the same age as me. Some clues to the skillet's age are the logo size (this logo is small,) the way that the place name is written ("Erie, PA," not  "Erie" and not "Erie, PA, USA",) and the presence or absence of a heat ring (this skillet doesn't have one.)

I washed up the skillet, and with some elbow grease, removed the crusts of old blackening around the upper part of the inner sides. Then I dried it over a hot burner, and wiped it all over with vegetable oil and a paper towel. The inside of the skillet is as smooth as glass. It will blacken evenly over time. It's ready to use.

Here's a good article about some features of Griswold cast ironware that help in estimating the age of a piece.

Gray Rag Rug in Progress

Here's the rag rug I'm working on currently.  I am fairly happy with the shape of it. Sometimes I struggle to keep the two ends of an oval rug similar in shape, but this one is acceptable.

I am crocheting this rug with a size N hook and 2-1/2" strips of fabric (recycled cotton and cotton-blend sheets that I've collected from thrift shops, yard sales, etc.)

I hesitate to put very light colors into a rug, because they will show dirt. At least, they certainly would at my house.  However, I have some light gray-patterned fabrics that I want to use up. So I tried putting in just a few strips of them mixed with some other grays. I hoped it would look sort of random but highlight the oval shape.

The inner band of light grays is OK, but I don't like the outer band. Specifically, I don't like one of the shades of gray I combined with the light gray, and I don't like how some of the colors lined up.

When I began typing this post, I was already planning to rip out a row of the dark gray and redo a spot that I didn't like. Now I've decided that I will also take out and redo the outer band with the light gray. I'm thinking that I will just fix everything I don't like while I'm at it.  I'll be ripping out about 3-1/2 rows.

This is not an untypical process for me. I rarely give birth to a rug without some labor pains. I'll update this post with an "after" photo when I finish the rug -- hopefully later this week.

Here are a few other rugs I've made:

• Blue rug for my sister-in-law
• One of a set of kitchen rugs for my daughter-in-law
• Beige and black rug for a friend

Update 10/14/17:  Here's the finished rug!

Bottle Bush

Bottle bush

This is my quick and easy substitute for a bottle tree. I usually call it a bottle bush. Sometimes I call it a bottle garden. Some might call it a clump of tomato stakes with bottles on them. (A bottle bunch?)

I've wanted a bottle tree for a long time, not for superstitious reasons, but because I love to see sunshine through colored glass. I enjoy stained glass windows for the same reasons.

This spring I collected colored bottles at the thrift shops, and soon I had enough to "plant" them. When I first put them out, I had two red bottles and one each of violet, pink, and orange. I loved having lots of colors!  But after a couple of months, they lost big patches of their color coating, so I removed them. And all the replacements I've found have been blue or green.

I have a hard time identifying bottles that have their color painted on. A Goodwill clerk told me to hold the bottle up to the light and look inside for scratches in the coating. That works well -- except for painted bottles that are in perfect condition.

The real test is a few months in the sun, wind, and rain.