Doily fun...

Having given away a number of the doilies I've made in recent years, I'm remaking some of them. Maybe to give away again.  Or maybe to keep.

Most of the doilies I've given away have been enjoyable patterns I didn't think I'd mind crocheting again.

So this past week, I decided to make one I'd made three times before (and have given away three times).  In my Ravelry notes on the doily called Winter's Breath, I've commented consistently that it's an easy pattern. 

Perfect!

It does look easy, doesn't it?

Let me put it this way...  if you are a doily maker, I think you'd recognize this as a fairly simple doily pattern.

Except, if you're a crocheter, you might notice it has a lot of picots.  Picots are pretty, but they can be a pain.  So I was surprised that in the brief notes I recorded each time I made this pattern, I only commented that it was "easy", "nice pattern", "easy to follow", never once mentioning the picots.

And other Ravelers had made similar comments - even those who mentioned the picots.

Feeling slightly skeptical, I shrugged and thought maybe, for some reason, the picots aren't a pain in this pattern.  I plunged in.

On my fourth making of this doily, I hereby declare the picots are most definitely a pain.  And this time I noted in my personal Ravelry notes the difficulties I had.

Not only was making each of those picots a pain, on the round following the picot rounds, one has to crochet into about half of the picots made. 

Maybe I crochet more tightly these days (especially, with thread).  I don't know.   I only know it was something of a pain to create all those picots, and it was a royal pain for me this time to crochet into those little picots.  

That said, the pattern itself is fairly easy.  And quick.  So I decided to make it one more time, and where there were picots, I instead crocheted a chain-1 (to crochet into on the following round - instead of having to crochet into picots). It was definitely much quicker to make.  And it appeared to work just fine.

Whatcha think:

It's a tad less frou-frou, but it's basically the same. 

I think.

It does ruffle a bit on some of the outer scallops, but a harder blocking ought to resolve that. 

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With my fifth Winter's Breath doily done, and wanting to make another doily from the book, 99 Little Doilies, I crocheted #90:

I think, inspired by the color, I'm calling this one, Gingham.

The above doilies were all made with Artiste #10 crochet thread in the colors, Dawn Rose, Tropical Pink, and Ice Blue.

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And I got fun mail this week!  I am the lucky recipient of some crochet booklets Marsha @ Leftycrafter was getting rid of. 

I'm especially excited by these doily patterns:

 

I gotta say, though...  I'm a bit scared at how large these may end up being.  The designer (Elizabeth Hiddleson) liked to use size 20 and size 30 thread, which just blows my mind.  I've read that I should expect a pattern to grow 20 - 30% if I substitute size 10 thread.   

Also, there are stitches I've never made before.  Like Treble Triple, and Knot Stitch Loop. Also, the abbreviations she used may have been common in the 1960's, but I'm going to be figuring some of them out as I go.

And Elizabeth sure liked triple crochet stitches.  I'm a little concerned about those.  I'm wondering...  do you think I could substitute double crochet for the triple crochet stitches, as long as I'm consistent throughout?  

I may have to just experiment.  If I manage to complete one of these beauties (or even abbreviated versions), you'll see it here!  Thank you again, Marsha!

Granny Goes Large #2 ...

I nearly forgot today was a YOP posting day.  And I even have a finish!  

I'm happy to say I successfully stayed focused (when I had time to crochet) and finished the Granny Goes Large blanket I started last November.  While this blanket grows more slowly the bigger it gets, there is no good reason why this took so long.  To be honest, it was completely ignored for months on end. 

I'm also happy to say, Maureen @ Knitting Is So Fun, that the choice of a gold/yellow border was perfect.  Thank you for weighing in!

I love how this simple pattern makes yarn that's just otherwise hanging out in one's stash look pretty.  Is it crazy to admit I'm tempted to start making another one?  

But doilies are also still calling me.  Having recently given some as gifts, I'm itching to make some of those patterns again too!

Until, next week... May yarn tickle your fingers, and may all your (unwanted) knots come undone.

Early May gardening...

It's been a bit of a roller coaster spring weather-wise.  I could be misremembering, but it seems like it was in the 80's in late March and parts of April.  And then April ended and May came in like the beginning of autumn.  We've had lots of rain and cool weather - for which I am truly thankful.  

The garden saw a planting in early April of radishes, kohlrabi and cabbage, and so far only the cabbage seems a lost cause.  The kohlrabi isn't looking great, but it has finally sprouted through the soil, so maybe there will be a few to harvest? And then, a few weeks ago, sugar snap peas were planted, and they are looking beautiful, but haven't grown much since it cooled down again.  I do see little vines, though, so hopefully they'll soon be climbing their trellises.  If I ever planted peas before, it's been too long ago for me to remember.  They feel like an experiment.  

Last year I enlarged the garden with cardboard, and after weeding the clover that overtook that new area during the warm early spring, I decided to try growing sweet corn in that space.

I only started to doubt the wisdom of that idea after I told Greg what I'd planted (thinking he'd be excited) and he proclaimed, "The raccoons are going to enjoy it!"

So, I've decided to consider sweet corn an experiment too.  

I'm just hoping the racoons don't humiliate me by taking the stalks down to the ground and creating a mess when they discover the tasty ears of corn.

While waiting for the garden to dry out again after several rains this week, I took stock of what else is growing that has needed little attention from me up to this point...

Cherries are coming on - I imagine we'll be enjoying a cherry cobbler in a few weeks.

And the garlic I planted in the full sun amongst the strawberry plants are looking glorious:

Another view (because I can't help myself):

And today I was shocked to discover ripening strawberries - just days away from picking:

It's only the first full week of May, right?  

Unfortunately, at least one bird has discovered the strawberries too.  I guess garlic leaves waving overhead in the breeze isn't enough of a deterrent.

And this little guy (and his three siblings) interrupted my thistle pulling in the walking onion patch:

After recovering my composure (after screaming when the first bunny jumped out right at my feet), I went back to pulling weeds, and accidentally disturbed the nest:

I haven't seen the little things for a week now. They hadn't (and still haven't) disturbed my peas, so I'm wondering if they were even weaned yet.  I'm tempted to worry about them, but then I remember the rascals will be trying to eat the new green been plants that will soon be sprouting.

My neighbor, who grows flowers, hopes the bunnies survived.  As a vegetable grower, I'm ambivalent.

And that is spring here on our little near-acre plot.  I'm eager to plant more things, but the upcoming temperatures don't look like there's any reason to be in a hurry about it.

How is May coming on in your corner of the world?

Finding unexpected treasures...

Another good week in the books! We welcomed rain and cooler weather last week and for the upcoming week at least.  I've gotten some more seeds planted, but more on outside things in another post.  

A day-trip to visit out of town friends yesterday was so satisfying. They're nearly finished with several years worth of updating their beautiful old house, and I thought something akin to a house-warming gift might be appropriate.  I toted along some doilies I've made and asked my friend if she'd like any or all of them.  I was thrilled when she said she'd love them all!  And then she led me to another room where she immediately placed one on a table under a clock.  It fit the spot perfectly!  In color and in size. 

Then this afternoon, we went to the second day of our local library book sale.  The deal of the day was to take anything/everything you wanted, and simply give a donation.

I told Greg as we headed out that I would love to find some old pamphlets or magazines with thread crochet patterns.  Doilies, filet crochet...  Anything like that.  Though, to be honest, I had no great expectations of finding anything much at all on the second day of the sale.

Were we ever surprised to drive up and see every table still full of books, dvds, and more books and more dvds!  And sooo many audio books.  It made me wonder if we even own a CD player anymore...

The first thing I did, though, was walk through the whole space (which spanned half the parking lot) looking for the craft section.  About ready to give up, I decided to check the section called "Home and Garden".  THERE were the crochet books!  I flipped through, looking for thread crochet and found one that looked kind of promising (if you don't look too hard at the cover):

How that frightful looking angel made the cover, I can't imagine.

With everything for the taking for one price, I didn't even bother to look inside the book.  I trusted Annie to have something in this Favorite Thread Projects book I might like to make.  

Finally, after scouring the crochet books, and not finding much that was interesting, I decided to make my way around the huge expanse of double-wide tables lined up end to end to check out the other side of the Home and Garden section - where honestly...  I imagined even less desirable things were relegated to.

On the other side, I didn't see any crochet-related books, and was about to move on to other things when I noticed a plastic bin full of...  what, I wasn't sure.  Upon closer inspection, I saw it had some craft publications in it.  It was packed so tightly, I had to pull things out to sort through them.  I saw some pictures of doilies, that looked promising.  As I was starting to make piles on the table for different types of crafts, Greg walked up and asked what I'd found.  I was holding one thing in my hand, when I said, "I found the mother lode"!  At first he thought I meant the item in my hand, but when I explained that I meant the tote full of all kind of craft magazines and pamphlets, he suggested I just take the whole thing.

"The whole thing?  Do you think I can?  It's a lot of things!"

We went to ask at the check-out table if that would be okay.  They laughed and said, it was not only okay, but wanted to know if we wanted the tote too.  "Really?  Does that not belong to anyone?"  They then told us that two sisters had donated all those craft publications and a bunch of books because they were moving from their home into an assisted living situation.  The booksale volunteers were happy I had found what felt like a treasure to me.  I hope somehow the sisters hear how thrilled I was with their donation. 

The box was so full, I couldn't manage it, so I put some things in a bag and Greg carried what was left in the tote to the car.  And I then scoured the rest of the sale.  We found some promising books and dvds, and after nearly two hours we headed home.

Wanna see the tote?  Liz (Highlandheffalump), you might just want to turn away for a moment.  😆

This 23-inch tote holds who knows how many craft publications.  In pulling some out, I've seen quite a few crochet magazines and pamphlets, a bunch of general craft magazines, and at least one cross stitch magazine.  I'm starting a pile of publications for plastic canvas, and thought I'd ask here if these are worth donating?  I'm guessing people still do plastic canvas stitching because I see the supplies in craft stores, but I've never done it (and don't plan to start) so I just don't know.  Please weigh in on that, if you have an opinion.

I'm pretty tickled to have a stash of craft publications to look through at my leisure.  While most everything is "old", many crochet patterns can be made new again simply by using modern colors schemes.  And sometimes one finds a gem in an old book or magazine that is so old it is new again.  Honestly, I would have loved to have found even older items, but this will be fun. I plan to take my time going through it all, but I'll try to remember to make note if I make anything from this treasure trove.

In terms of actual handcrafting I've done this past week, I finished a doily I've made before (in fact, one of the doilies I gave my friend yesterday was a version I had previously made in a solid color):

I wasn't too sure about this as I crocheted it, but blocked, I kind of like this two-toned version of "Dawnglow" done in Salmon and Ivory Peach.  Funny thing, though...  When I blocked it, I wanted to alternate making the scallops pointed and rounded. I had it all pinned out and I got to the last scallop and realized it wasn't going to alternate correctly. I studied the doily, counting the scallops, and compared it to the original and only then did I realize I finished this with one too few scallops.  Somewhere near the center I had goofed, but as hard as I tried, I could not figure out where the mistake happened. 

Truth be told, I'm glad I didn't realize the mistake before it was too late to correct it.  I had previously ripped out and redone the pineapple section of this doily because I didn't like the way I changed colors the first time.  If I had discovered that I didn't make the correct number of sections/scallops before sewing in all the thread ends, I would have been so disheartened.  And tempted to rip it all out and start all over again.  And what a needless thing that would have been.  As is, I have a nicely finished doily, and maybe...  maybe I'll make it again in another color being sure it ends with twelve sections so I can do a pretty alternate points and scallops blocking.  

~~~~~

And with this wonderful cooler weather I decided to try to finish the Granny Goes Large I started last autumn.  If I focus, I might be able to finish it this week.  

As I near the end, I'm trying to decide if I should do a border in yellow/gold or in a medium tan/brown/cinnamon color called tobacco. Opinions?

Doilies could use a new name...

Actually, I think doilies need a complete rebranding.  I like to think I'm contributing to that end, but it seems many remain confused that doilies are still a thing.  I think it's safe to say they're not the same thing as doilies of the past.  Doilies today can be made in the most beautiful colors.  And tucked into places that (I think) should delight the eyes of those lucky enough to discover them.  

Yes...  like their forerunners, today's doilies may end up in thrift stores and flea markets eventually, but I am confident that some creative souls will swoop them up and find new ways to use them, or upcycle them.

So I continue to contribute toward that possibility!

From the book, 99 Little Doilies, I completed Doily #47:

Or Cobblestone Patio

And here is Peony Doily that I showed a peek of last week:

I took inspiration from a crocheter on Ravelry for my colors, but here's a link for fellow Ravelry members to the original doily.  Made in one color, it's nearly unrecognizable from mine.

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Just a few of the beautiful colored cotton threads I own - make me itch to stitch up at least a few more before the fascination wanes (temporarily) again.