Crafty Gadget Mystery and Work In Progress

by Kelly

I bought a box of crafting stuff at a 'hoarders sale' and have a mystery on my hands. What do you think these gadgets are?

They are obviously used to wind something up, but what? Are they for thread, floss, crochet cotton, yarn or ribbon? Do they wind into a ball, a bobbin, a spool? The lady who previously owned these sewed and crocheted, but apparently didn't knit or embroider.

They're also stamped "Beachwood Ltd, Made in China", if that helps. Any ideas?

Meanwhile, also in the box was an unfinished project that I helped out a little:

The pattern (which is to be found in the March/April issue of Needlecraft For Today) showed a little embroidery on the 'bodice'...

so I dug out my embroidery box and got to work, using some of the crochet cotton that was with the project:

By the way, I should mention that this issue of Needlework For Today is from 1986, so the name of the magazine is more ironic than factual. The pattern was created by Jean Carpenter and is called a 'Ring-around-the-Posies Dress'.

Unfortunately, the dress is still not finished - there is quite a bit more crochet work still to be done, and I really have many other projects that I'm much more interested in starting...or completing, since to tell the truth I now have my own small stack of WIP. Still, it's a little sad to think that it will be another 26 years before someone else works on it. I'm thinking of putting it in the shop under the title 'Adopt a project'.

Have any of you adopted a project that someone else never finished? If so, how did it go?