On days like today...

 

 We only have three seasons here in Florida: hot, hotter-and-wet, and mostly-warm-but-occasionally-chilly. Though I do like rain, I never realized before how difficult it is to photograph. Post-rainstorm pictures are simple enough, but I tried and tried to get a decent photo of it actually raining. That last one is the only one I could get that is close to what I wanted, and between the naturally-tilted tree and the slanted rain, it looks crooked.

But on days like today I prefer to get the dull but necessary tasks out of the way, because they are perfect for sitting down with Dickens and a cup of tea. Or trying to put all the patterns you want to use in some sort of chronological order. Or playing this song on the piano.

I hope you are all having a pleasant week.

Return of the neglected doily

I haven't been crocheting very much this past week or so, though I have another project planned that will probably push this one out of the way again. Poor little doily. But a lady I know is having a baby in a few months, and I want to make a pair of booties. I have the yarn, but the pattern I had picked turned out to be a dud. In the meantime, I am back in the land of thread.

You can see what I've been reading there also, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. A friend sent it to me for my birthday and it is absolutely enchanting. I think I could just read it over and over again.

And it is all photographed on the piano because... piano.

...

Linking today with Ginny's yarn along.

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Falling back on flowers again.

"Blessed is he who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact."

-George Eliot

"What a lovely idea," I thought.

So today I am joining along with Ginny's Yarn Along over at Small Things. This is the crochet pattern promised in the last post, a little handbag. It is written in American terms, but a terminology translation can be found here.

Ruffled Drawstring Bag

(4 ply yarn, about 3 oz; size F/5 3.75 mm hook)

With main colour, ch 6, sl st to form ring.

Rnd 1:  ch 1. 12 sc in ring. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 2: ch 2. 2 dc in each st around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 3: ch 1 *sc in first dc, 2 sc in next dc. repeat from * around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 4: ch 2. *dc in first two sc, 2 dc in next sc. repeat from * around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 5: ch 1. *sc in first three dc, 2 sc in next dc. repeat from * around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 6: ch 2. *dc in first four sc, 2 dc in next sc. repeat from * around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 7: ch 1. sc in each st around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 8: ch 2. dc in back loop only of each st around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 9: ch 2. dc in each st around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 10: ch 1. sc in each st around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 11: ch 2. dc in each st around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnds 12 & 13: ch 1. sc in each st around.sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 14: ch 3 tr in each st around. sl st in ch-3.

Rnds 15 & 16: ch 1. sc in each st around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 17: ch 2. dc in each st around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 18: ch 1. sc in each st around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnds 19 & 20: ch 2. dc in each st around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 21: ch 1. sc in each st around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 22: ch 1. *sc, ch 1, skip next st, repeat from * around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 23: ch 3. *dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, repeat from * around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 24: ch 1. *sc in ch-1 space, ch 1, repeat from * around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 25: same as for rnd 23.

Rnd 26: same as for rnd 24.

Rnd 27: same as for rnd 23.

Rnd 28: same as for rnd 24.

Rnd 29: ch 1. sc in front loop only of each st around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 30: ch 2. * dc, ch 1 and skip next st, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next st, ch 1 and skip next st. repeat from * around. sl st in ch-1.

Rnd 31: ch 3. (dc, ch 1, dc) in ch-1 space. *ch 1, dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next ch-1 space, ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next ch-1 space. repeat from * around. sl st in ch-2.

Rnd 32: ch 3. dc, ch 1, dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1. *(dc, ch 1, dc) in ch-1 space, ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next ch-1 space, ch 1, (dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1) 3 times. repeat from * around. sl st in ch-2. End off.

Rnd 33: Join with accent colour. ch 1, sc in each st around. sl st in ch-1. End off.

Handle: With accent colour, ch 200. Thread through rnd 27. sl st in first ch. End off, pulling both strings through loop.

As for the reading bit, I've been spending a lot of time with Bleak House by Charles Dickens on the kindle (my token bit of technology). I have enjoyed reading it so far, though I couldn't stop myself from watching the BBC miniseries. And somehow it didn't spoil it, which must be a sign of a good book.

I have not dropped off the face of the earth.

No I haven't. Promise. I've just been busy doing many uninteresting everyday things. Although I had a birthday, the camera never made it out so the whole day went undocumented. And it's funny, in that not-funny-but-odd sort of way, because as far as I can tell birthdays typically make one feel old, but mine only made me feel young and inexperienced.

So I did the obvious thing: I wrote my first crochet pattern. It was an idea for birthday presents for two little girls, and turned out much better than I had anticipated. The only hitch was writing it down in pattern form, since I just made it up as I went along the first time and had to figure out what I'd done afterward... Anyway, it is pretty much done now, and will be posted here within a few days.