Quick Doily

Here's a little doily I whipped up yesterday.

Hubby called it a little Sunburst Doily! It only measures 5" across. I blocked it with water, but no starch yet. I'm trying to decide if I want it for this one or not. But I'm happy with the cheery colors!

Pattern is from Olga at Lacy Crochet. Check out her other great patterns, too!

Hearts Doily

This was a fun and quick doily project for my sister's birthday.

Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do it justice. It's a beautiful bright red. The pattern was found here.

Friendship Doily CAL - More rounds

Here it is through Round 21!

Another Doily CAL-Friendship Doily

We're still waiting on pictures from last year's Doily CAL, aren't we? Ugh...what a huge project, a happy accomplishment, and well-received gift, but still no finished pictures posted! They'll make an appearance eventually.

In the meantime, I've started another one. March and April tend to be very busy months for us, but I was still super excited when Stitchy suggested another Doily CAL starting on April 17. Due to the busyness, it was best to start early and not wait.

I love this pattern so far! (FYI, there are a couple mistakes in the Special Stitches guide at the beginning so watch for that.)

Here it is as of Round 12 completed.

(It's currently back to the soft sage green color through Round 15. Sorry about the bad color. Still having picture troubles...)

Doilies

Just before Christmas, I finally finished the Crochet Along doily from...April? Wow. A lot of projects crept in and took over. But it still turned out beautifully. I'll be posting it soon.

Since then, there was a nice little Snowflake Doily pattern that 'cleansed my doily palette' after the huge project.

After my short break from doilies, patterns now keep popping up that interest me.

Olga just posted a doily she completed, and I liked it's simple pattern and elegance. She linked to the pattern.

Source-CoatsCrafts.co.uk

Unfortunately, it's a chart pattern! Why do I always steer clear of these? Maybe the whole picture is too overwhelming. Maybe reading and working round by round is a little more manageable. Maybe the symbols are too tiny and apt to make me lose my place.

Whatever it is, I probably won't be making this doily right now. But someday, I'm going to have to try it.

What is your preference? Written patterns or charts?

CAL Doily Update

Here's my progress on the CAL Doily:

I'm LOVING this one, but other things keep having to take precedence due to time.

This is at the beginning of the last set of pineapples. Looking at the picture, it seems smallish, but remember the center portion is about the size of a dinner plate.

I can't wait to see the finished product!

4th of July Doily

Inspired by Olga, I raided my thread stash and made this yesterday...

(Here's a better shot of the true colors)

...then I promptly ruined it. Bummer. Waste of the day, but that's life! My starch sprayer had trouble and sprayed a stream too directly causing the red to run into the white tinging it slightly pink. It's hard to see the spots in the picture, but it's definitely there.

Doily Crochet Along

Ever since Stitchy invited us to join her on a Doily CAL, I've been super excited about the pattern.

Source

Isn't that incredible?!

Well, the pattern calls for Size 20 thread. I had Size 10 on hand, and I hoped it would be enough.

See that center portion that sort of gets missed since its job is simply to prepare for the gorgeous pineapple rounds? Here's a view of mine so far.

It's almost the size of a dinner plate.

Yep, my finished product will definitely be bigger than the 18" one made from Size 20 thread!

I'm already much farther along than this picture shows, so I'll update again soon. It's HUGE!

Poinsettia Doily

Another gift I made was this Poinsettia Doily in a gorgeous deep red.

A straight-on shot:

Hubby and I both liked the way the 'petals' seemed to swirl from the center, so I did not attempt to force them straight (as the pattern suggested). This was his favorite doily of the ones I made for gifts. ...maybe it's his all-time favorite, I never asked for clarification. It's just nice to have someone like what you've made!

First Snow Doily

My only white doily made for Christmas! (not that I didn't love the other colors I used, I just always thought of doilies as traditionally white...before I started making them)

The pattern is Winter's First Snow. Thus the choice of white. =)

A straight-on shot:

This is possibly Size 5 Thread, but I don't know for sure. It hasn't had a label in years. It is slightly thicker than Size 10 Thread. Do you think the thicker thread causes it to lose too much detail? I'm wondering so that I can mark my pattern for if I ever make it again.

Regardless of the thread, I enjoyed working on this pattern.

Lavendar Lagoon Doily

This was my first doily made with a variegated thread. Maybe it's a bit too small to appreciate the colors, but I didn't want to go too big for it. I used the Blue Lagoon pattern.

This thread is a thinner size than the last time I made this pattern, so I added an extra round before the Rnd 9 (increasing the ch sp by 1).

Snowflake

Once again, I've been doing lots of crocheting and not much blogging!

Here's a snowflake I made a couple weeks ago.

Pre-blocking:

Blocking process:

It's true. I don't have an actual 'blocking board' as of yet... This old folded up pair of jeans worked for such a small project.

The pattern can be found here.

It has crossed my mind to spray it with some type of sparkly-something, otherwise, all it really needs is a pretty ribbon, and you have a cute little ornament!

Green Doily with Edging

As many of you know, my attempts at making doilies are very new. It seems with each one, there's something new to learn about the art.

At first, you'd think that it should all make perfect sense once you know the crochet stitches, but I'm still learning things about how to keep them flat as I'm working on them, how to hold the thread for the tension to be to my liking, and especially some things about spray starch and ironing them since I still don't feel like I've 'officially' blocked any of them correctly yet.

With the next doily that I made on Sunday afternoon, I did two things I was sure I'd never do... at least not until I was much more experienced as a doily-er... doily-maker... doily-ist... doily-izer... (well now I have to make up a new word for 'one that makes doilies' so that my life will be complete).

The first unbelievable experience occurred as I was getting toward the end of the pattern. I had already had a lot of trouble with this pattern because the directions just didn't seem very clear and didn't always work. (My husband might tell you that I was arguing with the sheet of paper, but there is no evidence of that...) I had to adapt the pattern on the fly to make it work. But then it was coming toward the last round and was still much smaller than I would have liked.

So I added some rounds!  

GASP!!!!

I have admired some gorgeous handiwork on doilies, but I've always been sure I would never be creative enough to make up a pattern. It's definitely not that far yet, and I'm still not creative, but man, did it feel great to come up with something all on my own!

The next new thing is that I actually changed colors for a little accent on my last round! Again, I've admired the gorgeous work of several-colored doilies, but I was always intimidated by the inability to hide the thread. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected!

So without further ado, here is my life-changing (well, at least as far as being a doily-ist) and most recent doily:

Weekend Pineapple Doily

The itch to make more doilies came along again.

This pattern was the Pineapple Placemat and called for worsted weight cotton and Size G hook. I chose some thread I had on hand (it seems slightly thicker than my Size 10 thread) and a Size 5 hook to make it more doily-like than a placemat.

Here it is after spray starch and ironing:

I like the pointy corners on this one!

Pineapple Doily

Another quick doily came together over a few days. I was really anxious to do this one and finish it. It was so exciting to finally complete my first pineapple doily!

Why did I choose green for a pineapple doily? Because it was pretty, and I didn't make the connection until just now. =)

It's not blocked or even spray-starched yet. Do you think I should block it so that the points around the outside are pointier or just spray-starch and iron it so it holds its general shape?

Quick Little Doily

On Saturday evening, the doily bug bit me again.

This was a fun and simple pattern, so it was complete by Sunday afternoon.

Hopefully more projects to show this week...

Doilies

My most recent venture: Doilies!

I don't have a great collection yet, but here are the ones I've completed.

First one: Fail.

See all that ruffling? That wasn't supposed to happen.

Second attempt: Much happier with the end product.

I'm such a fan of the picot edging!

...so I did it again, this time in red, and this time, larger...

Red Doily

After my original 1918 Doily, I was anxious to do the "real" one in red.

It turned out a bit bigger than the trial run.

...by a LOT more than I expected!

But to give you a little perspective on just how big it really is, here's a pen on top of it.

And this is the hook I used.

I haven't starched it yet, but I'm hoping to maybe give it as a gift... someday... Do you think it's too big to be used? It's much larger than a dinner plate, and I know doilies don't have a reputation for practicality to begin with, but is it something people would use?

Either way, it's wonderful to have accomplished it.

Doily - Second Attempt

It's been far too quiet around here, sorry!

We're slowly getting caught up again with life. Hubby is lots better, my mouth is slowly healing, and I'm able to eat a bit more each day. Today, we just got back from the doctor's office for poor little sick guy. =( It turns out that it's nothing major, but it's good that they checked him with all those symptoms going on.

While he finished lunch and rested, I figured that I would process pictures of what I've done over the week.

First up: Another doily completed! This one turned out much better than the last one, but I was still pretty tentative about messing up another one, so I was quite timid and slow about finishing it.

This is actually supposed to be another "trial" doily so that I could do the "real" one in another color as a gift. ...I'm running out of time.

Glor's amazing and careful instructions of this 93 year old pattern are wonderful!! There are helpful pictures along the way, too.

So now, I just need to starch it. She says that it can be blocked by starching or ironing/spray starch. I've never done either way, so if any of you have pointers, let me know!

I'm off to read some books before naptime. I'll check back in shortly.

My first doily

Ever since I bought some thread for crocheting with beads, I've been curious to try to make a doily. With all due respect, doilies have a certain stigma about them, am I right? I understand they take a LOT of work and patience, but sometimes they are just a bit too cheesy and cheap-looking. I blame it on mass production, of course. I still wanted to try one.

So I was very happy to come across Glor's blog, Crochet Galore. She has some beautiful, delicate, elegant, and fancy doily patterns available on her blog.

On Saturday, I decided to make one as a gift. Since it would be my first one, I figured I should make a trial one first. I'm so glad I did!

I used Glor's November Doily pattern for a simple start, though I didn't have the size of hook that she recommended. I thought it would be OK as my first trial, and I would simply get the right hook with my thread for the gift. Everything began just fine, but toward the last rounds, everything was obviously warping and ruffling.

What have I done wrong? Will this be fixed with the right hook? (ooh, sounds like I'm about to punch someone...oh the things we crafters say and accept as normal!) I haven't attempted to starch it yet, although I don't think that will help, either. Did my stitches get too tight? Too loose?

Thanks for any help or advice! I always know I can count on you.