and a cherry on top

Oh.  To go back in time.  I would love to sit at the feet of women past and just absorb all of their tried-n-true techniques.

One of those techniques would have to be the fashioning of lace from a broomstick. 

*Who ever thought of using a broomstick?

*And why?

*Was it a popular method for women to crochet lace?

*Are there examples of this type of lace in someone's archives somewhere?

*That I could see?  Touch? 

Well, I didn't use a broomstick handle for this crocheted broomstick lace -- but my Boye 50 plastic knitting needle and this book:

The patterns & directions in this book are sooooooo easy to understand.

And of course, the book includes a pattern for the cutest dishcloth.




The crochet cotton is from my stash and I used my G hook.

And since I seem to obsessed with cherries of late (btw -- my sister must have taken extreme pity on me after my mushy-gushy fiasco [aka -> Dawn's attempt at cherry pie] because she baked me the most delicious home-made cherry pie.....which I ate all by myself reluctantly shared.)

But this dishcloth needed a little something extra.

So I browsed this fabulous book:

cutest cherry pattern ever in here!

And found just what I was looking for!

Ohhh. There's nothin' like a cherry on top.
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exquisite

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My Exquisite doily is done.
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And I must say that the doily is indeed exquiste.
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It has to be the softest, most delicate doily that I have ever made.

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Even our dirty-bike-lovin'-wants-to-fly-jets-or-play-for-a-major-league-baseball-team-11-yr.-old son commented on how beautiful the doily is...
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Okay. So we probably won't mention that to dad.
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But truly! -- Mary Werst is such an exquisite crochet designer because this has to be one of the most beautiful things that has ever come off of my hook.

a flowery finish

~

As I wandered the forest

The green leaves among,

I heard a Wild Flower

Singing a song.

~

The Wild Flower's Song by William Blake

Yippee. My Chain of Flowers scarf is finished.

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So easy. And so fast.


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And the varying shades of purple are my absolute favorite!


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And it's so versatile too -- love that.
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Perfect for tees, shorts, dresses -- casual or dressy.


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chain of flowers

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My apologies to Andi -- to whom I promised that I would not start another project.

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...ahem.

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But honestly, a chain of flowers scarf?!

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It just begs to be made.

This book came off of my shelf:

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& I found Mary Jane Hall's pattern for the cutest, summery, flowery scarf.

I am using my J hook with the yummiest of colors in Red Heart variegated yarn and stitching up these 12 flowers so, so quickly.

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Hopefully it will soon be draped around my neck complimenting a tee & shorts.

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And goodness! With all of this rain -- okay. flooding -- that we have received recently, we truly need the beauty of the flowers and the simplicity of the farms & their fields.

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And of course -- a chain of flowers scarf.

cherry pie potholder

Cherry pie has to be my most favorite pie.

And I got it in my head that I would make one. From scratch. So after pitting about 400 cherries & smelling the pie bake in the oven I couldn't wait to cut a slice & enjoy this delicious treat.

After pulling it out of the oven I realized something extremely obvious.

This was not going to be a delicious pie because the cherries were swimming in red water. Yes, bobbing up & down like apples in a wash basin at Halloween time. Ugh. I mean! --it was awful all the way down to saturating the crust into a wet, soggy mess....

Okay. So making a cherry pie in my kitchen is just not happening. But.....I could crochet a potholder that looks an awful lot like a cherry pie, right?

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This didn't start out as a 'hey! why don't I make a potholder that resembles a cherry pie?!'


It just began with putting colors together from scraps of cotton in my stash & using a G hook...


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....and of course, I had to look up a motif in one of my most favorite books:


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..and did you know? Edie Eckman has another you-must-add-this-to-your-collection book:





So I sat and paged thru these 2 delightful books, & decided on motif # 24 & border #21.

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Then by continuing to crochet round after round in either red, white or butter yellow, this became 'potholder-size' rather quickly.
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And the back of this cherry pie potholder was just as easy -- simple sc, hdc or dc crocheted in a circular pattern.
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My culinary skills may be lacking, but hey! ---> I can replicate a cherry pie with just plain ol' crochet cotton & a hook.

it's a petunia purse

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The ripples are done and whip-stitched to the african flower hexies to make ---
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Ta-da!
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My petunia purse.

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I found one of my old purses that fit right into the main part of the crocheted piece and after removing the strap from that old purse --
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I crocheted around a plastic ring & attached that to the main portion of the bag for the strap.
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And yes, I had to nix the zipper idea -- the teeth of the zipper would have frayed (and basically eaten) the rippled edge.
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But nevertheless, it is a smashing petunia bag that both of my daughters think they're going to use before I do..........

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Not.

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Happening.

hexies & ripples = a purse, of course

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My utmost thanks to Aisyah, who directed me to this tutorial for crocheting African Flowers. I have seen these on ravelry & flickr and AbSoLuTeLy love them.

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And yes, putting aside all other projects, I sat by the pool & began these delightful hexies.

But what to do with them?

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Aha. Of course -- a purse.

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But what to do for the body of the purse? How 'bout crocheted ripples?

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I have plans to attach a zipper to the upper edge and my wants-to-be-a-fashion-designer-daughter was adamant that I add some sort of strap.

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Of course this is all still in the planning stages, but even if this does not turn out how I envision it -- just the formation of these african flowers and making ripples is keen enough for me.

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soft as a lamb's ear

lamb's ear:

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With fuzzy, silvery green, soft as suede leaves, Lamb's Ears are favored for their foliage, rather than their flowers. They flower on tall spikes in shades of pinkish purple or white, in the late spring or early summer. Some gardeners's find the flower spikes charming and others cut them off to encourage the foliage, as with Hosta. Bees are not so fussy and love the slightly fragrant flowers.

~~~~~

I have another lovely work on my hook. It's one of Mary Werst's doilies ---> Exquisite from her gorgeous book:

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I am using my most favorite crochet thread: Aunt Lydia's Bamboo crochet thread, & yes, I almost let out a squeal of delight when I saw that they now offer shades other than white & cream.

This pure pink color is so downy-- it reminds me of the lamb's ear that we have growing in our garden.

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It is the softest, most mesmerizing thread that just seems to quietly sing with each stitch.

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No.

Not a word to my husband that I am now hearing thread sing to me.....

Because honestly -- it's quite like therapy to feel the uber-creaminess of these stitches forming into this delicate doily.