Doilies Revisited

Thank you all for your kind comments on my reminiscences last week. I was especially grateful to Jim for writing in about the Tall Mouse. The store I remember was in Brea, and I wonder if that store relocated to Yorba Linda? Nevertheless, I am very pleased to hear that it is celebrating 41 years in business. Since I now live in an area that has lost several craft and yarn stores in the last couple of years, it's nice to know that longevity is possible in that business.

All my reminiscences led me back to where I started with crochet. I honestly don't remember learning to knit and crochet. It was just something we did at home. But I do remember spending a lot of time in my teens and twenties crocheting doilies for some reason. I'm not entirely sure why I spent so much time on doilies. I never finished one, and I remember having serious gauge issues at the time. Blocking was also a foreign concept to me back then. However, working on doilies was good experience for me. I got to practice basic stitches, and I learned to read crochet symbols fluently, since all the designs were charted rather than written at the time. As a matter of fact, I still have 2 "Magic Crochet" magazines from the 1980s, which is what I used as my source of doily patterns. I have to say that their patterns still feel fairly fresh to me. Each magazine has a lace collar that I would love to try my hand at.

Anyway, this past weekend, as I was looking around for a cooler project to work on in the heat, I decided to start a doily. The first few rounds felt odd because it has been so long since I worked with thread and steel hooks, but then it came back to me and started to feel more comfortable. Taking my time, I got 7 rows done.
I think my tension has improved over the years. The pattern is called "Glorious Gray Pineapple Doily," and I am using Grandma's Best Crochet Thread from Caron. It feels a bit stiffer than the threads of my youth, but I like the way it is working up.

So today is that most wonderful day of the year, at least for anyone working in a public library. Today is the first day of school here in my little town! We will continue to get slammed with book returns for the next week or two, but today my work life begins to approach something like normalcy after the chaos of the last 2 1/2 months. You better believe we are all doing the happy dance at work! I am also excited this morning because I decided over the weekend that I need to get out of the house more in the evening. Ever since I was promoted almost 2 years ago and began working on Wednesday evenings, I have really given up on all my evening activities. But it is time to change that, so I am planning to attend my local Stitch & Bitch this evening. Now that I have decided to go, I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully we will have a good turnout, and I will be able to see some old friends from knitting guild as well as meet some new people.