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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