crochet

Winter’s First Snow doilies

by thornberry

Did I intimate that unless I’d made a doily I couldn’t consider myself a real crocheter?  I suspect that I did.  So I made one.  In fact, I made two.

Winter's First Snow doily - A by you.

The first is made with size 20 crochet thread, using a 1.25mm hook.  I found it bloody difficult.  The pattern was straightforward enough (when I followed it properly – I had to pull out three rows of the outer lace because I’d assumed what would happen next instead of actually reading it and I was wrong) but keeping adequate tension on that stiff cotton thread was hard work.  I did a better job of it once I got to the outside part.  The inside is much too loose and the definition of the pattern is lost in all the loops.  So I tried again in a thicker yarn.

WInter's First Snow doily - 4 ply cotton by you.

This one is in 4 ply cotton, with a 3.5mm hook.  The tension is much more consistent and the lace pattern more clearly defined.  You can really see the difference between the two here.

Winter's First Snow doilies by you.

The 4 ply doily ended up being almost 11 inches in diameter.  The thread one is around 7.5 inches in diameter.

4 ply doily vs size 20 thread doily by you.

The pattern is a free one, Winter’s First Snow, available here.  It was interesting to make these two but I doubt that I’ll become a regular thread crocheter.  My crochet technique makes it hard to get the right tension.  Possibly it’s partly due to my arthritic hands (I have rheumatoid arthritis in remission) but I think it’s likely to be the way I hold the yarn and hook (not the way that ANY of the books teach you).  No matter!  I enjoyed my foray into doilies.