I have a sneaking suspicion, going by the profusion of daisies that have blossomed in my back yard (from the plant I planted last year), and by the pervading scent of Jasmine in the air, that Spring may have finally sprung!
I also have this insane urge to buy some lattice and drape a wisteria plant from it. I may yet do this. I’ll see how much they look like setting me back at the nursery when I go for a walk sometime in the next week!
But what have I been working on? Well you may ask! For some reason I fell in love with a bullion stitch bookmark on Ravelry and scheduled a lesson for myself to learn this amazing new (to me) stitch.
Being in a crochet type of groove, I was inspired by this magazine, which I then bought,
Because …
So I decided it was high time that I learn Irish Lace Crochet. So I headed off to this site, and downloaded myself a 100 year old DMC instruction manual. (Specifically Dillmont, Th. de, ed. D.M.C. Irish Crochet Lace. Mulhouse, Dollfus-Mieg & Cie, [c.1900], 63 pgs and 7 linen patterns.) (I love the internet!)
I began with some leaves,
Then a flower,
Then I decided that my thread was FAR too dense to get the intricacy I was aspiring too, and so I headed back to Morris Craft for a finer gauge.
In between all of that I have also been slowly progressing with the Crown Prince Square. It’s repetitive, and not all that challenging, so I’ll need to finish it fast before I lose interest in it all together!
Just one more repeat of the middle section, then the border of crosses, then it’s on to the outer lace!
Somewhere in there I also made a gnome. *grins*
I’m not sure Elizabeth is as impressed as I am …
ghoti industries 
Gosh your crochet is just coming along in leaps and bounds, I’m so proud of you!
The bookmark looks lovely but I’m most impressed by the rose and leaves. How are you finding the 100 year old pattern instructions? I must admit that I find patterns written before 1930 a bit hard to parse sometimes.
(something strange is happening with my internets, apologies if you get this comment 15 times)
Eeee! Thank you! 😀 The Rose and leaves weren’t nearly as frustrating as the darn bullion stitch!
They are only really upsetting me because they aren’t as dainty and delicate as the lace pieces I have stashed away up in the attic! Hence the DMC 80 (I may be insane). But I’ll get there damnit!
Rats. And I thought I’d be able to ask you for an approximation 😛
Actually, they aren’t bad in the DMC book. It is rather well put together so you can figure it out. You seem to need to read the whole thing though, as it starts at first principles and builds on them. Either that or you keep flipping back pages. 😉
I have made various bits and pieces of Irish motifs but it was a while ago. However, if you want me to look into something and interpret it I’m more than happy to. Crochet homework is my favourite type of homework
I’ll see how much my piece does/does not resemble the pattern before I call in the expert 😉
*hugs* thank you!
I don’t know whether Elizabeth is impressed, but I certainly am. The gnome is adorable and the rest… incredible. I’m very very impressed.
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Thank you! I’m working on it 😉 I’ll get to where I want to be eventually 😀