The Tablecloth

Now with the holiday brouhaha is over and Mr. Yarnworks is back at Camp Shelby, it's time to work on the tablecloth.

Back at the end of October, I was commissioned to turn a 15" doily into a 4 1/2 foot tablecloth...with no pattern to guide me. But you know how I love a challenge!

Here is the original doily. This woman's grandmother made it, but she has since passed away. In their family, it was tradition for the grandmother to make the bride a crocheted tablecloth as a wedding gift. This woman's sister just got married and has no tablecloth.


Here is my progress as of a couple weeks ago. I've added a couple inches since then, but haven't taken pictures yet.

The stitches look thicker and there are two reasons for that. The first is that the size thread that was used doesn't appear to be around anymore...it's thinner than size 20, but not quite as thin as size 30. Size 20 seemed closer, so that's what I went with. The other reason is that I believe it needs to be blocked. For my non-knitting/crocheting friends, that means it needs to be wet and stretched into its proper shape. That will open up my pineapples to look like the original. I will probably block it midway just to know that my measurements are correct. I'd hate to crochet it to 4 1/2 feet and block it and it ends up being 5 feet! Better to block it around 3 1/2-4 feet and see what happens.

I have no major plans between now and New Year's, so I'm hoping to get a significant chunk of this project done. Today will be spent mostly working on it...tomorrow too probably. I've already spent about an hour and a half on it today. I plan to take pictures later tonight or in the morning to share with you.

Why the big thrust before New Year's? Because we're all headed to G's house for a very knitterly New Year's. At midnight, G, J, and I will all cast on the Shetland Tea Shawl from A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swanson. Our goal is to cast on one challenging project each New Year's at midnight, and finish by the following New Year's. We all plan to work on the same pattern and the same time, but in different yarns. My yarn choice this time? This lovely alpaca/silk blend in "Eggplant."