Making Lace in the Air

In the midst of all the festivities, I am still working & trying to be creative. Currently I'm doing what Maggie Righetti in her book: "Crocheting In Plain English" calls "making lace in the air". Isn't that a beautiful way to describe the lovely art of crocheting?!

In this same book she describes how crochet came to be:

"Nameless women in the British Isles and Europe and the Americas took this simple idea of pulling loop through loop, expanded upon it, and made it into a fine art. Unbound by tradition and unfettered by restrictive social structure, it was the pioneering women of the United States who did the most with the new textile craft. They cunningly devised spaces and places and made filet cloth with which to drape their windows. They made spirals and pinwheels and popcorn blocks; they put the blocks together and draped their beds in elegance. They worked their stitches loosely and lacily and draped their bodies with wondrous shawls and capelets. They worked their sitiches firmly and evenly and clothed their families with caps and hats and slippers and hoods, weskits and waistcoats, scarves and soakers.

These nameless women sent drawings and instructions of their creations to New Idea Woman's Magazine, Godey's Lady's Book and The Ladies' World, where other women read about this new-fangled art form, adapted, and improved upon it."

Yesterday (with Norah Jones singing "Come Away With Me" in the background) I started crocheting a beautiful scarf that has a shell stitch and a miniature version of the old stand by pineapple stitch (one of my favorites), which this pattern calls a strawberry stitch. I LOVE IT! The color is "Renaissance Rose" ~ and doesn't that just sound ritzy now?! I'm hoping to have this lovely scarf finished and up for sale on my Etsy shop by the end of the week. Look for it as my "Strawberry Fields Forever" scarf.

Pictured with the scarf is a custom order I just finished for someone special. I made one in a heathered pink for Chelsea for Christmas, which (as soon as I can capture her) I'll snap a picture of to show everyone. I'm planning to whip another one up soon for my Etsy shop. (Hmmm...what color should I make it?) Think I'll call it "Chelsea's Big Blossom Cloche".

Just a little historical tidbit:

Did you know that the old~fashioned pineapple stitch has always been so popular because the pineapple is the symbol for hospitality? I've always loved to have touches of them sprinkled here & there throughout my home. I even have two lamps in my front room that have pineapples on the base.

Here's that big beautiful snowflake ornament from Baby Sister Bridget. Is that gorgeous, or what?!