What is on my needles?

I have a good number of things on my needles right now...all are calling to me softly. The lovely sampler in white Lacey Lamb is half done and has an end-of-the-year deadline. Hecate is languishing, the first panel almost complete and ready for the deep edging. The lovely, powder-blue silk-cashmere leaf scarf is inches from done. So what am I knitting? A doily, which was calling very loudly.

I was visiting a dear friend the other day, and she was "organizing" her things. In the process, we discovered she had DUPLICATES of several old magazines filled with doily patterns. I quickly relocated them to my home, under the guise of helping her "organize."

So here you have them, all in perfect condition, with the charts completely unused. How lucky am I??? I have the most wonderful friends. When I got them home, I sat and looked them all over very carefully, choosing the perfect "first" doily. I have knit many things with a center start, and even things you might call doily-esque (at least my husband always called my lace knitting doilies) but I have actually never knit a real doily. I wanted something nice, but not crazy, with charts that made good sense without intensive research. My husband has dubbed these new magazines (and any new doily things I will now collect) as Stricken Chicken books (referring to me and not the magazines, really.) I apologize to my European readers for his American humor. It is kind of funny though...
I selected a doily pattern by Zdenka Holacka, From Special Diana D944. She knit it in #20 thread on 1.5mm needles and I am using #10 cotton and 1.75mm needles. The cotton was all I had around when I "needed" to cast-on. Since that time, I prevailed upon a friend in California to send me a bit of the 60/2 Tussah Silk from Lacis, that you can see in the picture above. That little package has 500 yards in it! That will be doily #2. I used an excellent start that was illustrated in the magazine, very like the circular start Fleegle showed us (http://fleeglesblog.blogspot.com/search?q=circular+start) using two circular needles, but instead using double-points which is what I did. I really like double-pointed needles, but I know others don't feel the same fondness... It starts with 12 stitches, so is relatively easy to do. I am on row 85 of 119 (considerably further along than the picture above) and will post a blocking picture, I bet by the end of the week. I am loving it and already looking for what I will do next, with that 60/2 silk. Excuse me while I go dig out my reading glasses from my embroidery box...