Crochet... Doily Making

Some folks may hear the word "Doily" and cringe. They may think old fashioned and lace with frills. But not me. I adore Doilies! My mom had them on every table while I was growing up, under every lamp. They're beautiful and stunningly elegant in Ecru or Ivory.

Some years back... I forget how many. 10? 15? Somewhere in the middle? My Gram came to visit me while I was living in Washington state. For Three Glorious weeks. We traveled all about like vagabonds during that wonderful visit... Seattle, Portland, Snohomish, Victoria BC. It was busy, busy, busy and quite delightful.

But truly... my most treasured memory from that visit - My Gram taught me how to crochet doilies. Over those three weeks together we made about 4 dozen doilies just like these [I probably made 3 while Gram made the other 37]. She was giving them as gifts that year... for her local Senior Center, I think. Sure, I already knew how to crochet... but had never quite figured out how to read the pesky diagrams on doily patterns. Mom had tried & tried to show me, but in the end it merely took a nudge from my Gram. She had brought this brilliant pattern with her and was very patient and willing to work through all the many mistakes I made. I really loved how delicate the stitches were, the teeny hook and the feel of the thread on my fingers. My first introduction to the art literally got me hooked! I'm a lot faster at working them up these days... but nothing like dear Gram - that woman can crochet like the wind!! It's amazing :)

This past week I decided to change out the stone tiles we've been using under our bed side lamps. I looked through about 50 doily patterns, all of which were very lovely. Yet once again decided upon this Divine pattern from Gram. It made my heart so happy to work on this pair!

While I worked away I could recall all the music we listened to during those weeks [Nanci Griffith was a Fave for us both at the time & I got her hooked on the Indigo Girls], the stories we shared and all the side splitting laughter we enjoyed. We've always gotten along like school girls - my Gram & I, despite our 50 year age difference. I cherish all our visits together but this one was a particularly magical time for me. And probably goes a long way to explaining why whenever I make a doily... 9 times out of 10 this is the one I choose!