Ralph finally got to use his Anniversary/Christmas present. He ordered a knife sharpener, and it got delayed in shipping, so he didn't get it until Monday after Christmas. By that time, I was back at work, and he was watching Allison. He said he got it out of the box once, and was just looking at it, and Alli came to help. He didn't think the idea of sharp knives and Alli went together, so he boxed it all back up and put it away. On New Year's Day, when I was home to watch Alli, he got it out and got to play with it. All the knives in my kitchen are sharp again! (This was a win/win present!)
After Christmas, I did sit down and work on a new doily, and it went together very quickly! I think I finished it up mostly on New Year's Day. Probably because it was so closed to Christmas, it "called to me" in Christmas colors. The name of it is "Bell Edged Mat" - not too inspiring! It turned out a bit brighter than I envisioned it, but not too bad. The original pattern was done in all one color - white. I thought about doing it in blues with silver bells, but...I didn't have any silver thread here, and didn't want to go to town and face the ofter Christmas crowd! I think I could have used gold thread for the bells, too, and it wouldn't have been as bright, but...I didn't have gold thread here either!
I did try a new (to me!) technique. I added beads to the edge for the bell clapper instead of picots, but...I didn't thread all the beads on before I started. That is the only way I knew how to crochet with beads, but recently, someone on one of my Yahoo Groups mentioned that she just picked up the bead with a smaller hook - size 10 or 11, and pulled the thread through when she wanted to add a bead. That worked great! I might try some more beads in my doilies, since I won't have to count them and thread them all before I start! Since doing picots are not my favorite technique, this may be a nice replacement, depending on the doily.
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