Exquisite!

 I did it; I finished crocheting the doily that's featured in the Leisure Arts booklet #3588, entitled "Extra-Special Doilies" by Mary Werst.

What's the difference between my doily and the one featured in the book? I'm glad you asked! Remember the other day when I admitted that I didn't work up a swatch gauge? Well, this is the project I decided to just "do it" and see what happened.

I had a spool of lovely variegated thread that had been screaming at me for months to work it up into a project.  I didn't know what it wanted to be so I waited for inspiration to hit me.  Then, after I finished the backpack using Berroco's Suade as a store demo piece, I needed a few items from a local craft store.  This is where  the answer appeared. (Of course it helped that the store had a sale of 40% off their booklets!) As I went through the book rack I found this doily booklet buried a bit.  I dug it out and the moment I flipped through the pages, I knew! 

The moment I arrived home I took the cone of thread out of it's plastic packaging and wrapped the thread a bit around my fingers to get a feel for it.  It was smooth, silky even.  I knew it would be a pleasurable experience working with it!  It felt a bit thicker than your normal size 10 thread, so using the recommended hook size for the pattern was out.  I decided to use one of my Graydog hooks known as a size "C."  I couldn't be happier with the end results!

Besides the end size difference caused by the larger fiber and the larger hook, I do want to note that this is a very textured doily ... only the variegated thread hides most of it, which is fine with me because like I already stated, I couldn't be happier with my end results!  All that's left is for me to do is wash & block it after I secure my ends in. Then it will sit pretty on my table in the living room, or here outside on my little garden table.

Oh, you want to know about the pictures on the doily, huh? Well, that's my mother and I back when we were youngsters. That's her as a baby -- swaddled in crochet!!  See!  It's in our heritage!!   Heh heh heh!   And that's me ... lil' twinkle toes in a ballet class.  (Note the blond hair!!)  Since I feel a bit like a ballerina today (I RAKed someone & I'm so giddy I can feel I can still do all those tricky ballerina steps!) I felt it was a good time to share it.

 

                       =============== * ===============

Some side notes:
Here's the info on the fiber I used for my doily pictured above:
Location purchased @:  WEBs yarn store
Name of fiber: Valley Cottons
Color: Violet Nights (http://www.yarn.com/yarns/valley2.html#valley3)
Yards: 2100 per pound

The label here states that it's made in Brazil for Valley Fibers Corp of Northampton, MA (that's where WEBs is located!) ... and apparently it's currently on sale for $11.99 per pound (reg $18.95); check out their website for info.

Also, please note that the title of my entry today is the actual name given in the doily booklet. J