I'm back...

And I hope to be here for awhile. Life keeps throwing punches, and I try to roll. My mom has been sick, and I was using my extra time (that means blogging time) taking care of family stuff.

Behind the scenes, much was happening Chez BadCat. As some of you know, I have been bitten by a doily bug. I decided to try a small doily design of my own, to learn new techniques and possibly venture out to a more complex design in the future. I asked for a few volunteers (victims) and I have results to show you today! This first specimen is my work. I call this pattern The Little Flower. Sweet, yes? I used a standard cast-on from a German doily pattern, making a loop with the thread and picking up stitches with my needles from either side of the loop. I used #10 crochet cotton and US 2 needles. The irregularity in the center is actually the yarn end, which was not woven in yet. It measures about 10 inches across.
This lovely specimen is from Cindy Perra, who used Alpaca/Merino and a US 2 needles. It measure 12 inches across and she used the Emily Ocker start. This link show some nice pictures of that start: http://www.spellingtuesday.com/circular_co.html
You can visit Cindy here: http://craftycinderella.blogspot.com/
Next, we have this wonderful specimen from Mary Hudzinski. She used the Emily Ocker cast-on and it measures just a tad wider than 11 inches across. She used Euroflax laceweight linen on US size two needles.

This beautiful blue specimen is from Judith Gilbert. Judith used Rosemarie's Belly button start, which you can see here:

http://mytwosticksandsomestring.blogspot.com/2006/05/belly-button-start-for-circular.html

She used Socka sock yarn, US 4 needles and is measures about 13.5 inches across.

This petite and lovely specimen is from Jeri Riggs. She used #10 cotton, US 00 needles and this cutie measures 7.5 inches across. Jeri used the same standard German doily start that I used. You can visit Jeri here: http://jeririggs.blogspot.com/

This lovely specimen is from Judi Farley, who used US 1 needles and Knitpicks Palette (fingering wt) It measures 12 inches across. And I love the picture as much as the doily!Last, but certainly not least, this terrific specimen is from Susie Jordan. She used # 10 crochet thread in a cream color and US 1 needles. It measures 10” across. Isn't it lovely?

I just adore how all these little flowers look and was thrilled to have the knitters above share their skill and time with me to get this pattern ready for all of you.

I will Post the instructions and chart later this week. I hope this will be a perfect project to work on your circular starts. Until later, knit on!