Victorian Rose Doily
Ah,
the rose doily. I'd originally seen this in 1998 on Janis's website
(which also has a PDF
pattern for them), and absolutely fell in love with it.
I was also at a loss for Stacy's Christmas present, and since
I knew she liked things like wreaths and such, I thought
she might also like this.
So I set out to make a pair of rose doilys. Found a craft shop in Stockholm that sold crocheting thread, whipped them up in early December, learned how to block them on the underside of a dresser drawer, and mailed them off to Stacy. She loved them, and all was well with the world.
Fast forward to this December, when I was
hunting around in my closet for some fabric and stumbled
across the pattern again. It was just as pretty as ever,
and once again I was at a loss for a Christmas present (my
dad's girlfriend Janelle, this time), so I hit Hobby Lobby
and picked up the necessary thread, pulled out my mom's old
silver crocheting needle and got to work. Finished the doily,
blocked it, and mailed it off with my dad's present, so that
was all good.
And then we went to Chicago for Christmas. I brought the thread balls and needle with me because I wanted to make a deep purple and hunter green version of the doily for our living room -- and then my brother and his girlfriend showed up and gave us an unexpected present. What to do, what to do.
It turns out that Cherylin likes doilies, too, so when I showed her the pattern and threads she immediately plumped for the dusty rose and light green version. I finished it while I was in Chicago, blocked it when I got home, and it's heading into the mail first thing tomorrow.