Summer Splendor...

I suppose my YOPing buddies may be thinking about now that I've flown the coop!  Truth is, I'm working on crocheting some gifts, but I don't want to show them here before they are received.  

But taking a break recently from the gift-making, I decided to make something for myself - just so I could jump back into the YOP group with something to show for my absence.

I can't seem to get enough of the doily called Summer Splendor (by Denise Augostine Owens), as this is my fifth one!  

I'm chomping at the bit for autumn, so making this in the deep orange-y color, Papaya, seemed appropriate.

And that's all I've got on the crafty front - that I can show for now.  I've been thinking of taking stock of all my unfinished projects and maybe start giving some progress reports on them, but that seems like creating a job for myself.  And the last thing I want is to turn my hobby into a job...

I hope you're enjoying these last weeks of summer.  It's pretty nice and green here in central Indiana, as we were spared the worst of the rains that this part of the U.S. got almost two weeks ago, and had no flooding to speak of in this area. Prayers go out for those who are still cleaning up from those record floods.

Another small finish this week...

I've actually made this little doily before.  Twice in fact, and they've been given away.  Always wanting one for myself in this pretty green color, I made a third one.

I've been asked from time to time about blocking doilies, so I'm going to discuss the process, with before and after pictures.

Admittedly, this isn't the most wrinkly doily I've made, but you can see how the corners curl up and some of the picots are a bit stunted. It just isn't as nice in this unblocked state as it will be blocked:

I soak the doily in running tap water, and then saturate it with spray starch, crumpling and squeezing the sopping wet doily to work starch into the fibers.  Then I roll it up in a towel, and squeeze most of the water (and probably starch) out of it.  The above is actually how it looked after going through that process.  

I'm trying to use up this very old can of spray starch that I brought home from my mother-in-law's home five years ago:

I can't quite decipher the code, but I'm curious if anyone wants to take a guess as to how old this can of starch is: 

After all that, the doily gets pinned on a foam mat to dry overnight:

Yes, that is a lot of pins.  And this is just a 5 1/2" doily. You  can imagine how many more pins a large doily takes.  

The way to block a doily is to begin in the center, working one's way out.  Generally, (and especially as I get further out from the center), I try to pin on opposite sides of the doily to achieve as even a shape as possible.  I'll try explaining like this:  I pin one point of a leaf, then turn the whole thing around and pulling the doily taut, I pin the pointed leaf on the opposite side.  Then I'll pin another point a quarter of the way around, and the next pin will go into the point opposite of that.  Each little picot around the outside edge has a pin dedicated to it.

Once it's dry, all those pins come out, and the result is a prettily formed doily.  In case you're wondering, this doily isn't stiff (even using "heavy" starch), but it does have body and will hold its shape until it's washed, or gets wet again for some reason.

If it were to get crumpled up or creased somehow, I would put it flat in a folded towel and using a steam iron press it flat again.  If you ever bring home a musty old doily from a flea market, or grandma's attic, I recommend washing it by hand, then using my steps above, block it.  Or you might try pressing it in a towel like I explained above.  Picots may not come out perky, but I'd think the doily would at least lay flat.

Doily # 8 from the book, 99 Little Doilies.  

I've dubbed this one "Elm Leaves".

Yes, I'm still making doilies...

I seem to be in a phase again where I can't summon the discipline to blog regularly, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening.

In fact, blog fodder is stacking up for when I'm more in the mood to write, but for today, since this is a Year of Projects post, you get crafty me.

I'm still crocheting doilies, albeit somewhat slowly at the moment.

I finished another "Easy Doily" in a pretty spring green:

And Doily # 18 from the book, 99 Little Doilies:

This 5-inch doily I'm calling Flower Star

(made in the color, Ciel)

Tomorrow I'm planning on attending a "Tea" that a friend is hosting.  Now, I don't take a hostess gift everywhere I'm invited, but I know the host of this gathering is going to a lot of effort.  She didn't accept my initial offer to bring something to contribute to the Tea, and I didn't get around to offering again, soooo I'm planning on taking her a hostess gift.

She has lots of blue in her decorating, and when I was at her home recently, it occurred to me the light blue doily (below) that I made a month ago, would look great with her color scheme. And late this week, finishing the smaller Flower Star, I thought it would make a nice accompaniment.  Even if she's not a doily person, I'm thinking she'll appreciate the idea that doilies fit perfectly with a Tea. 

The only problem in doing this is, I will have to remake the lighter blue one. I've liked the way it looks in my china cabinet tucked partially under a blue and white tea cup and saucer, hanging over the edge of the shelf. 

Hold on... 

...

...

... 

Oh yes...  

While this smaller, more open doily doesn't show up as well on the shelf as the denser one above, I think the darker blue (Ciel) looks better with the dishes:

Okay!  On second thought, I may be making the pineapple doily in this darker blue!

~~~~~

At the end of June, this Year of Project blogging thing wraps up another year, and we'll begin a new YOP year on the first Sunday of July.  I mention this just in case there might be a reader here who'd like to join in.  Some YOPpers do a January-December YOP year, but quite a few of us stay true to the original vision of a July-June year.  I have to say, I LOVE starting something new in July. 

Anyway, if you'd like to join in, you need to have a free Ravelry membership, and then join our group.  And it would be a good idea if you crochet, knit, spin, weave, tat... because fiber arts are the reason Ravelry exists.  But, to be sure, lots of other crafts pop up on YOPper's blogs, in addition to our fiber crafts.  Most of us are multicraftual and we enjoy the inspiration provided by the variety of creative pursuits.

Check us out; join in if you like!

Is it really easy? Why, yes it is!

For this week's Year of Projects update, I have another smallish doily (about 9 1/2 inches across) completed.  It's humbly called, Easy Doily.

It's a pretty thing, made with size 10 crochet cotton in the color, Boysenberry.

While, one might think it doesn't stand out too well on the wooden table top above, the above picture shows its true color.  Photographing these colorful doilies can be an interesting experience.  The pictures above and below are both taken within minutes of each other in the same room, right next to windows that were letting in the same natural light, but look at how different the same color looks on different backgrounds!

Yes!  This is the same doily (and flower) on an off-white table:

There's nothing wrong with the color in the second picture if the thread was truly burgundy.  It doesn't look burgundy to the eye when on such a light surface, but it photographs that way.  Even the daylily is a different shade in the second picture.  The only editing I did (other than cropping) was to edit the tint a tiny bit to appear less "yellowed".  I think it's an issue with my computer, as my photos often look slightly yellow to me until I publish them.  And then they look fine.  

I may be back soon with this same doily made in another color.  It is such an easy and pleasant one to make. I made this one in 2018 (in the same color) and gave it away to a young lady named Yuko, whom I had really only just begun tutoring in ESL.  She was heading back home to Japan, and I thought three doilies would be easy enough for her to pack up amongst her belongings. It's kind of fun to imagine some doilies of mine decorating a tiny spot, or even just tucked inside a drawer, on the other side of the world.  The other two doilies I gave Yuko were Winter's Breath (the heavily-picoted version in my last post), and Summer Splendor - which I'm itching to do again as I seem to have given all I've made away.

Limited time offer (limited to me being in a doily-making mood):  If any of my friends or family are reading this and would like a gift of a doily, let me know!  I'd love more excuses for crocheting these.  I'm a little hesitant to give them away willy-nilly as I know they are not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I am thrilled to give away a handmade doily that I know will find a happy home.  

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. 

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

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!

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.

~~~~~

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.

Doilies and hats...

Crocheting and knitting a little over the last couple of weeks, I made two more of "99 Little Doilies".

Crocheted in Artiste #10 thread in the color "Peach Ivory"

Tiny little doily #31 doesn't really inspire me at all, but it will be a fine addition to a collection of small doilies in a few different colorways that I hope to finish and display together some day - even if just on a table top.

Doily # 22, crocheted in Curio #10 thread in the color "Hawk"

It wasn't until I saw this dark gray doily in a picture that I saw what I imagine to be a round stained glass window without the stained glass.  So I named this "Lead Rosette".  So glad I decided to skip all the picots in this one.  They would have driven me crazy, and I like the edges on this so much better.

~~~~~

Another project has presented itself, and sounds enjoyable - as long as my neck doesn't go back into "stiff mode".   Last month we attended a volunteer dinner (as quests) where youngest son, Ben, attends a church that hosts a community  food distribution.  That night they announced they also plan to host a toy/hat/blanket giveaway in early December - and they were "calling all yarnies" to knit or crochet hats.  I placed a loose mental sticky note in my mind that I could knit some hats to donate, but honestly, it wasn't until Ben mentioned it a week or so ago (just on the chance I might be interested) that I got a bit more serious about it.

Knit and crocheted hats can be great easy projects - taking just a few hours each - some less.  At least that's how I remembered it...

Well, this weekend I started with knitting a simple Benefaction Hat, and decided I'd add some colorwork after watching a few YouTube videos to see how it's done.  I thought I'd do a "fade" pattern with several colors.

The "fade" is where things started getting a little challenging.  The concept of stranded knitting (especially on this level) is simple enough, but I need a lot of practice to get my stitches and tension more consistent in that part of the knitting.

To a non-knitter's eye, I'm not sure this looks all that bad, and some of the unevenness can be blocked out, but I don't think I have it in me to finish this.  And I'm not sure I like the colors I chose, so there's that, too.  I may hang onto it, and use it as practice later, but since the more immediate goal is to actually produce some hats (not improve my knitting), I'm moving on.

I looked back at my Ravelry project page, and I see the last hat I crocheted was in September of 2020.  The last hat I knit was almost a year before that.

Armed with that knowledge, I suddenly feel kind of rusty and am wondering if volunteering to make some hats was a good idea.

Ah well...   the evidence will present itself here over the next 4 weeks.  I've pulled out lots of colors of yarns from my stash, and I've given myself a goal of wrapping up hat making by mid-October.  Come October 13th, I will either be relieved to be done, or feeling very satisfied with what I accomplished - maybe both.  Either way, it does feel good to have a purposeful project to throw myself into.

 

Managing to crochet a little...

It has not been my intention to be so scarce here, but we've had some beautiful weather - perfect for working outdoors.  But as good as working in the garden and yard feel to me, it's also been exhausting. 

And then there were a lot of veggies needing picking at the same time. Preserving some of the harvest has also been satisfying, but tiring.

And somehow we've also been living life, coming and going, spending time with friends and family, physical therapy, fitting in a new exercise regimen, "fall activities" starting up. This past week, we celebrated our 44th Wedding Anniversary. 

I feel like I've got at least a half a dozen blog posts in me to write.  Though they'll likely never be written.

In the evening, when work and play is done and I've been torn between sinking into the recliner or sitting at the computer to type a blog post, the recliner has won every time.

That said, I have crocheted a bit here and there, and managed to finish a larger doily I've dubbed Autumn Splendor: 

Crocheted with Curio #10 thread in the colorway Clementine

The pattern name is Summer Splendor, but for some reason I always seem to make this doily in autumn colors.  I've also apparently given away the others I've made, and I was wanting one for myself.

Also, a crocheted basket project has been calling out to me for a while, so I finally dug out some yarns and started making one.

This is the tutorial I'm (more or less) following:

I really like the handles shown above.  I'm hoping I have a leather belt or two hanging around - that I didn't donate in one my recent decluttering challenges.  

Here are the yarns I'm starting mine with:

It will be fun when I make color changes.  This is a great project for using up yarn scraps.  I have a feeling once I finish one of these baskets, I may want to make more.  That said, this is not the easiest thing to crochet - I'm using 4 strands of worsted weight yarn together, and crocheting with an 8mm (or size L) hook.  With a bit of arthritis in my hands, I find stopping and stretching often a good thing to do.

Someone commented on the last post that the doilies I've been making lately have an autumnal feel to them.  That would be because I recently pulled out some autumn colored threads to work from:

I do the same with my "kitchen cotton" yarn.  I pull together yarns that evoke the season I'm in (or will soon be in).  Whether I knit or crochet anything with those yarns is only evident when the next season rolls around, but gathering certain yarns and threads in seasonal colors is a regular thing here.  

Some people decorate with the change of seasons; I change out the yarn colors in handy baskets I can pluck from when inspired.

Do you do anything similar?

Time is going way too fast...

Can someone please tell me how we are approaching the middle of August already?!?  Summer is not my favorite season because of the heat and humidity, but this summer, except for a week or two here and there of temps in the 90's, it's been pretty pleasant so far.  We've not had droughty conditions, as we often have through July and August.  I'm thinking I might almost be sad when summer is over, it's been so nice here.

With produce from the garden needing picking almost daily, and having enough green beans to can a batch every few days, added to the normal stuff of life, I haven't been crocheting much.  Last week I finished a couple more little doilies, but it was just last night that I got around to blocking them.

First up is Doily # 44:

Made in Curio #10 thread in the colorway, Turmeric

The spoke shape in the middle was a bear to work.  I  struggled to make total sense of the instructions to make FPdtr's (that's Front Post Double Triple stitches) criss-crossing each other, so finally I just studied the photograph of the finished doily and made this section the best I could.  I'm not normally a fan of crocheting via diagrams, but this pattern would have benefitted from having a diagram to consult.  

The first thing that came to mind as I looked at the picture of this one was a carousel, so that is its name.

Nearly beat by Carousel, I thought I'd look for a simpler doily, so I worked up Doily #17:

Crocheted in Curio #10 thread in the colorway, Clementine

This one wasn't hard until the last two rows.  For some reason I kept drifting off, and I ended up having to repeat one or more of the last two rounds two or three times.  

In the end, I'm not sure I completed this one correctly, but on the final row of many fiddly picots, I started to not care.    Finished was better than perfect, I decided.  I named this one Windmill; you may be able to see the four "blades" better in this picture: 

Or maybe not?  

That's all for now on the crochet front.  It appears there's another gorgeous week ahead, and I may be pulling up the green bean plants since they're taking up a lot of space and not producing much at this point.  For the first time ever, I'm considering planting some things for a fall garden. 

The last jar of green beans before going into the pressure canner.  Tomatoes are up next!