Man, I love making doilies. They're so completely pointless, and I don't know what I'll ever do with them all, but I'm sure having a lot of fun making them! ;o)
I had been taking a break from doily-making to crochet a cushion cover. It's small granny-ish squares on one side and a great big regular ol' granny on the other, but I've yet to crochet them together... (Need to get on that, along with the other [novelty yarn] cushion cover that I started many moons ago.) I started the project thinking it would be a seat cushion for my computer chair, as the built-in cushion feels a little... deflated. But the more I thought about it, the more I worried that crochet might not hold up well to the wear and tear this cushion will be subjected to (being sat upon multiple times a day, sometimes for hours at a time), so I think I'm going to just make this a throw pillow. (I have one I'd like to cover, anyway, and fortunately, I chose colors that will coordinate well with the sofas and rug.) I guess I'll try to sew a simple cushion cover instead, for the computer chair. (It should be a quick, easy project, but I'll probably drag it out for a month or two.)
...Um. Back to the subject... Doilies, wasn't it?
So, after that brief detour into cushion-crocheting, I was ready to return to doilies. Working with the yarn for that cushion hurt my hands! I'm not sure why, but it did. The yarn wasn't the softest stuff ever, but I think it was the tension more than the texture of the yarn that bothered me. Anyway, whatever the reason, #10 cotton thread was a breeze to crochet with, by comparison.
I chose to make "Summer Splendor" from some of the America's Best Country Cotton I ordered not long ago-- "Lt. Green", which is a boring name, but a color I am currently in mad love with. It feels fresh and vintage at the same time, if you know what I mean.
"Summer Splendor" is a very simple pattern. It is also a very repetitive pattern. In the early rounds, that was fine, but once the doily gets bigger, it’s almost a little boring.
I think this may be the first doily of this size I’ve made that didn’t have pineapples or something to add a little complexity to the pattern or break it up. This one is just the same thing over and over again (within each round)-- which is nice in a way, but also a bit dull.
While I stand by my ranking of this as a very easy doily pattern, I should add that there were two or three times when the wording seemed slightly confusing. It may be just me, because I’ve seen that others have commented on how clearly it’s written-- but once or twice, I think the designer left off a tiny bit of instruction (such as joining a round with a slip stitch). Then, in the last round, the way it’s written sounds (to me) like you should put two chain-three loops in one space, when clearly you ought to put a chain-three loop in each of the following two spaces. In any case, if you know much about crochet, it’s not difficult to just go with your gut or look at a photo for guidance.
Overall, "Summer Splendor" is ideal for an “almost auto-pilot” thread project. It just goes to show that you don’t necessarily need fancy, complicated stitchwork to make something beautiful from thread.
Once I block and photograph it, I'll post a photo or two here (and that still goes for the doilies from before, too).
I had been taking a break from doily-making to crochet a cushion cover. It's small granny-ish squares on one side and a great big regular ol' granny on the other, but I've yet to crochet them together... (Need to get on that, along with the other [novelty yarn] cushion cover that I started many moons ago.) I started the project thinking it would be a seat cushion for my computer chair, as the built-in cushion feels a little... deflated. But the more I thought about it, the more I worried that crochet might not hold up well to the wear and tear this cushion will be subjected to (being sat upon multiple times a day, sometimes for hours at a time), so I think I'm going to just make this a throw pillow. (I have one I'd like to cover, anyway, and fortunately, I chose colors that will coordinate well with the sofas and rug.) I guess I'll try to sew a simple cushion cover instead, for the computer chair. (It should be a quick, easy project, but I'll probably drag it out for a month or two.)
...Um. Back to the subject... Doilies, wasn't it?
So, after that brief detour into cushion-crocheting, I was ready to return to doilies. Working with the yarn for that cushion hurt my hands! I'm not sure why, but it did. The yarn wasn't the softest stuff ever, but I think it was the tension more than the texture of the yarn that bothered me. Anyway, whatever the reason, #10 cotton thread was a breeze to crochet with, by comparison.
I chose to make "Summer Splendor" from some of the America's Best Country Cotton I ordered not long ago-- "Lt. Green", which is a boring name, but a color I am currently in mad love with. It feels fresh and vintage at the same time, if you know what I mean.
"Summer Splendor" is a very simple pattern. It is also a very repetitive pattern. In the early rounds, that was fine, but once the doily gets bigger, it’s almost a little boring.
I think this may be the first doily of this size I’ve made that didn’t have pineapples or something to add a little complexity to the pattern or break it up. This one is just the same thing over and over again (within each round)-- which is nice in a way, but also a bit dull.
While I stand by my ranking of this as a very easy doily pattern, I should add that there were two or three times when the wording seemed slightly confusing. It may be just me, because I’ve seen that others have commented on how clearly it’s written-- but once or twice, I think the designer left off a tiny bit of instruction (such as joining a round with a slip stitch). Then, in the last round, the way it’s written sounds (to me) like you should put two chain-three loops in one space, when clearly you ought to put a chain-three loop in each of the following two spaces. In any case, if you know much about crochet, it’s not difficult to just go with your gut or look at a photo for guidance.
Overall, "Summer Splendor" is ideal for an “almost auto-pilot” thread project. It just goes to show that you don’t necessarily need fancy, complicated stitchwork to make something beautiful from thread.
Once I block and photograph it, I'll post a photo or two here (and that still goes for the doilies from before, too).