sunflower

Sunflowers.  I just love their heavy heads of golden brown goodness.

Ah, sunflower, weary of time,


Who countest the steps of the sun;


Seeking after that sweet golden clime


Where the traveller's journey is done.
-William Blake

So when I can combine the lovely art of irish crochet with the making of a sunflower doily....well that just gets my fancy like you can not believe.

And wouldn't you know it?!  There's a book with just that pattern. 

I love, love, lOvE this book.  The author, Judy Crow has hit upon some gorgeous, out-of-the-ordinary patterns and stitch configurations that just seem to jump right off of the page...

...and onto my hook.

The petals did seem to take forever, but because the pattern for them was easily memorized I could almost do them while standing in line at the grocery store.  (Notice I said almost -- my kids seem to give me the hairy eyeball if I pull out my crochet projects while the cashier is ringing up our corn flakes.)

I would have never thought that I could take one of my most favorite techniques (irish crochet) and use deep, vibrant thread colors...

 
...to make a sunflower doily.