My kingdom for a well-written instruction

Grr. The instructions for this thing are so, so very bad. I was doing fine up to this point, where another row is added to one of the motifs.

And then that same pattern is continued about 100 times until you're ready to attach to the second, smaller motif. Ok, no problem. The directions basically say to continue around the motif and don't elaborate.

What the directions don't tell you, and what you can see in the diagram if you get out your magnifying glass, is that it's not a one-to-one correspondence between the loops on the motif and where you attach. The first time around I ended up with a horribly bunched-up mess, which prompted me to take a closer look at the diagram. That look wasn't close enough though because I ended up frogging the damn thing four times in all. I have to do this three more times (I think ... the written instructions say to make two but I'm pretty sure that's wrong too) so it should be smoother sailing now that I know where the pitfalls are.

New doily

Well, it'll be more than just a doily when it's done, I think. More like a ... small table cover? I don't know.

The directions in this pattern book I have are seriously terrible. They often make no sense, but luckily whoever was in charge of drawing the diagrams knew what they were doing.

First step is to make four each of two motifs, checking back and forth between the written and drawn instructions a thousand times to make sure it's right:

These will be added to and then joined in some future way that I'm not yet totally clear on. Here's the diagram for the pattern:

This is more like it. Nice and complicated.

Giant doily done

I actually finished this doily in about three days but I'm so out of the blogging habit that I keep forgetting to post pix.

Here it is prior to blocking. It grew on me the more I worked on it, even though the thread is pretty big.

And here it is with about a thousand pins stretching it to within an inch of its life. Blocking is our friend.

And a little closeup action.

Not too shabby. It fits perfectly on a little round table in my living room. Unfortunately, I'm now in the midst of another thread fever, so I'll be churning out complicated, old-fashioned little pieces like this until my eyes give out. If you see something you like let me know. Maybe it'll arrive in the mail at some point in the future...

It's been a while

Turns out I haven't posted anything since before Christmas! This is, without a doubt, the longest dry spell I've ever had. Part of the problem is that I bought materials for some socks that I then realized were just WAY beyond my abilities (if you don't believe me, click here and scroll down to the heel instructions). And then I couldn't find my favorite sock book. It has disappeared somewhere within my palatial 635 square feet of living space. Also? I found a great woven towel pattern and ordered the supplies for it, only to find out that everything I ordered is on months-long back order, so I canceled the order. And then I wanted to make a thread doily, or something from thread, but I also can't find my favorite doily book.  Grr.

So the other day I broke down and bought a big-ass cone of size 10 crochet thread and went to town through my gazillions of ancient thread patterns. I found one that I like:

This is from a book of patterns from the mid-50s. I made a go of starting it, but my thread is too big for this one.

Then I found this one:

This is from a book of patterns from the mid-70s. In addition to all my missing pattern books, I also appear to be missing some steel hooks, so instead of a size 10 or whatever hook it called for, I am using my smallest regular hook, a size B.

I actually got within three rounds of finishing it over the weekend but then my hands gave out. Here's a photo from the first several rounds. I'll post more when it's done.

It's going to take just a wee bit of blocking.

I think I have the thread bug again, but this pattern just didn't do it for me. I think it may have been too easy, and the thread is too big. I need smaller thread and a fresh supply of steel hooks. Herrschners to the rescue!