Doily quartet.

I sometimes wonder if I’m going to become a semi-split crafter. Most of the time the only thing that appeals to me in crochet increasingly is thin thread and therefore mostly doilies and lace, while with knitting  I can still manage the bulky cables.  I think of a pattern in crochet and run through the yarns in my stash mentally, and then I shudder at the bulk and density of the probable result. Many projects get shelved even before I take hook to yarn. But doilies – no problem. The lacier the better and any thread will do.

My mind is prejudiced for knitting as being thinner in general than crochet, so it feels as though yarn = knitting. Perhaps it is the general climate of where I live. I can’t really say. Can’t feel it matters, even.

So what’s my point? Nothing. Just thought I’d record what I’ve been thinking for a while now.

Now I’m going to drown you in crochet lace. Doilies, four of them. Run now if you can’t stand the things. Two are filet, and two non. I really enjoy filet, especially in the round.

This first one is from a Japanese publication, Living with Beautiful Crochet, published by Nihon Vogue. European and Asian crochet lace is always entertaining. Here is my Rav project page for it. And the Rav pattern page. Apart from the fact that this one begins in the centre and is worked outward, I loved that the final row is smooth, picot-less and with no jagged edges. The steps usually formed in filet patterns are my downfall, because I can never quite get them crisp, while picots anyway are a bugbear. This worked up at 24″ with a 1.5mm hook and the thread is a nameless lachha (hank) that has amazing yardage (@Rs 15). I raided Jaishree’s stash for this, since I was visiting her when the itch struck and I believe I hadn’t taken any of my WIPs with me. To ensure I had enough thread, I may have grabbed rather more than I should have, so naturally I had to find another project for the rest of the thread.

This one appealed to me immediately for its unusual shape. I just love how filet uses filled-in and vacant blocks and lacet stitches to create the illusion of shading in just one colour. This is the nearest I’ll ever get to painting or any other creative endeavour. Here are my Rav project page and pattern page. Filet also apparently goes quicker for me than other charted patterns, since you get into a groove counting off the blocks and rows. I enjoyed the bilateral symmetry of this design, which I believe is a vintage pattern and has several sources, including a free download at Freepatterns.com (you need to register at the site, also free). With the same 1.5mm hook, this one’s 18.75″ x 21.75″.

Both these have gone under the plastic on my dining table. I have a vision of making enough different doilies in white and then crocheting them together to make a tablecloth. No idea if it will ever come to fruition.

The next couple were sort of commissioned. A friend wanted a doily in beige or cream, so I made this one.

It’s actually called Clockwork White, and is from Magic Crochet magazine #60, June 1989, designed by Chantal Chevalier. As you can see, it has the dreaded picots.  I used a 1.5mm hook with Jyoti thread for a finished size of 20″, but possibly could have used a 1.25mm one for better density. My project page is here, and the pattern page here. Unfortunately one of the stitches caught some colour from something else that ran, so I put this aside to make another one.

I chose this one for the unusual design, this time from Decorative Crochet #5 and it’s called Starflower, by Mayumi Sato (see, Japanese again). My project here and the pattern page on Rav here. The petals at the centre were made by a technique new to me, and the doily overall took longer than I anticipated to make. I used the advice of a fellow Raveller, and used a measuring tape pinned to the centre to make the circle mostly uniform in diameter (25.5″ with a 1.25mm hook, density of stitches much better).

We were chatting about blocking and decided we need to have bedsheets pre-printed with concentric circles and squares so blocking becomes easier 🙂 I use my spare bedroom bed for all my blocking. Failing pre-printed bedsheets, we could always mobilise an old plain sheet and use tailors’ chalk to make the shapes. This doily’s gone to its recipient now.

So there you have them, my last four doilies. The filet ones remain my favourites. How about you?