Well, not really, but it does look a lot like an eye! (Now I shall get lots of LOTR fan visitors.) This is the finished doily whose chart I had a problem with last week. Sorry for the horrible photograph! Specifications:
Thread: Red Heart thread, 50 gm ball, probably size 10 (the big balls don’t have a size written on them). I was stashbusting as usual and thought I had enough, but apparently I didn’t. My favourite local craft store didn’t have the exact shade of pink, so a lighter shade and an interesting twiny thread came home with me. I forayed to another craft store and picked up two 20gm balls of the right shade, but the wrong thickness. Now, these smaller balls have #20 on them, so I know the size, but held together they ended up thicker than my original thread, so I just shrugged and used a single strand. Apparently 20+20≠10 (wowie, I just used WordPress’ new advanced editing to put in that not-equal sign). This has happened to me before and I used a strand of sewing thread held with the size 20 to finish my Crochetville Doily Swap doily in September 2005. Somehow it didn’t occur to me and in any case I didn’t want to do that this time. Why didn’t I remember that simple equation (or un-equation, if you will)?
Hook: Started off with the plain Pony 1.75mm and when in the middle of the project I received the handle ones from Jaishree, I swapped for one of those. These Pony hooks with handles look identical to the Profi hooks, except they aren’t gold-tipped and obviously aren’t made in Germany. They are light and I think I might exclusively work with these for all my thread projects, unless of course I need a size they aren’t available in. I shall do a separate post showing off all the hooks she sent. Why don’t the company behind the Profis have a website? Maybe they do in German, but not, it appears, in English. You’d think at least Western companies would be well-established online.
Pattern: From Burda Handicraft Series Vol 1 No 3, Crochet Lace, E 227. Lovely patterns, lovely photography, and all patterns are charted, of course. Despite the hype about Magic Crochet, I find some of their photos are really sloppy. Although well-lit, the doilies look unblocked and even unfinished sometimes. There should be a difference between how I, an amateur, present my work and how a magazine showcases its designs.
Time: About a week, not including delays for thread emergencies and chart puzzling.
Size: About 33.5″ long and 19″ wide. Bigger than the specified size, since I used a larger hook.
Extra: #1 This is for my mom, whose birthday is coming up later this month.
#2 This is a pattern I’d love to redo, which makes it a very rare thing indeed (other than winging-it stuff like funfur bags for visiting small girls). And use the right size hook this time. And avoid the booboos I made in this one.
#3 That part of the chart I didn’t understand taught me a new technique, that of turning in the middle of the row to end up with loops that look as though they’re hanging in the air. Nice challenge, even if I didn’t solve it myself.
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On the book front, I finished Martha Grimes’ Lamorna Wink. Good read. I’ve now gone back to Pico Iyer (Falling off the Map). I find he doesn’t particularly make me want to visit any of the places he’s written about, but perhaps that holds true for most of the travelogues I read. Perhaps that is why I read them, to savour the experience without the effort.
13 comments
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May 20, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Deneen
It’s absolutely beautiful (despite the PITA it ended up being)
May 20, 2007 at 8:01 pm
mom2am
Its beautiful!!!!
May 20, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Amy
What booboos? It looks fantastic!
May 20, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Debbie
Oh my, that’s fantastic! Strangely, I couldn’t find a German manufacturer’s page for your needles, either. However, I noticed the German online sellers’ prices were much lower than that Canadian site you linked to. Let me know if you want links to any sites.
May 21, 2007 at 9:53 pm
knittenkitten
I’m tagging you! Stop by for details,
Jacque
May 22, 2007 at 8:13 am
Eve
The photo is great!
May 22, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Mary
That is so pretty, great color, and the shape is so interesting. I’m off to check out the Burda Handicrafts mag now. . .
May 23, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Josie
Hey.. are you based in Hyderabad,India?!?
I am a beginner in knitting.. and I would like to know places to buy good quality yarn and knitting supplies in Hyderabad…
Any pointers wud be greatly appreciated..
I am currently working on a baby-blanket and I am running outta yarn.. 😦
.. and you’ve got a real nice blog out here… Keep up the good work…
May 23, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Andrea (noricum)
It *does* look like an eye!
In bloglines everything after the “not equals” has a line through it… although it looks fine here at your actual page. Weird.
May 23, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Darla
I’ve stopped by to admire your work before and think this one is amazing.
I also wanted to say I have Lamorna Wink in my book bag, we’re leaving for our house in the woods in the morning and I’m taking it with me to enjoy there. Glad you thought it was good. I’m a Grimes fan anyhow.
Darla
May 24, 2007 at 1:25 am
Lucy
That’s one of the prettiest doilies I’ve seen in a long time!!!
May 25, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Kelly
Wow it does look like an eye. It really is quite amazing, and different. Very beautiful work. It’s like looking at eye candy of an eye. 🙂
May 15, 2012 at 11:52 pm
martina
Hi, that is a beautiful doily. I’ve been searching for an oval doily and this is probably the best I’ve seen. The only problem is that there is no chance for me to get the pattern anywhere (I’ve searched over the internet but have found nothing). Do you by any chance still have it and would you be so kind and scan/photo it for me?