Doilies Ain't for Dummies

Okay, so I've started crochetting doilies. Is it a sign of old age? Doddering spinsterhood? Reversion to Victorian sensibilities? A desire to cover the arms of my furniture with lacy loveliness? Actually, none of the above. Still, you may think that hip people do not crochet doilies. But after having mastered the basics of crochetting with wool and making scarves, baby blankets, shawls, and other such items, my crochet teacher decided that I, a somewhat hip person, needed to move onto new challenges, thus, the doilies.

However, doilies ain't for dummies. First there are the tools of the trade. A size 2mm hook, crochet cotton, and the glasses without which I wouldn't be able to see the stitches.





And then, there is the pattern. Some patterns are written out, but doily patterns are often written as a diagram - and these diagrams in themselves are almost works of art. This pattern is the pattern for the second doily below.





Then, you have to take the raw materials and translate the diagram into....a doily. Working with cotton presents its own challenges, the main one being that it is very thin, and fingers seem almost too big to manage such fine material. Then there are the stitches - chain, single crochet and double crochet, with an occassional triple crochet thrown in. Then there is the tension - the art of creating even stitches. Then there is perserverence - particularly when you discover that you've made a mistake on the previous round, and you have to rip it all out to go back and fix it up.

But eventually, time passes, stitches join stitches, round and round, and a new doily is born - humble work done by humble hands. Its true - you can buy doilies at the Dollar Store, probably for a dollar. But that doesn't translate into the sense of satisfaction one gets through the very act of creating a beautiful doily with nothing more that a few hours of hand work.


I prefer to call my doilies 'lace mandalas' - this gives them a more hip and modern appeal. Below is my first 'mandala'.





And here is my second.






These mandalas are for the school potlatch - they will be part of the 'give-away' - the culminating event of the potlatch, when just as it sounds, we give lots of stuff away. All the kids are busy making things, and I am making mandalas, as well as some crochet scarves.


My next project is called 'filet' - yet another doiley-type art. Watch for updates when I finish the first one.