Doily Fever

Doily fever has taken hold around here. First it was Nieblings Lyra pattern. Still a doily pattern even though I'm using lace wt. yarn to make a shawl.

Then, it was the Birch Catkins Summer KAL on the Niebling Yahoo group. It's a small doily, so I decided to use thread. Here's my first weeks start.
I'm using #30 Cebelia and size 2mm needles. Used Emily Ocker's circular start and opted for two circs instead of dpn's. There's a rapid increase of sts in the first 10 rnds. Most of what you see is called Hex Mesh, a favorite stitch of Mr. Niebling. Some people hate it because it's worked with a double YO, but once you get a rhythm, it's not bad at all. Though, see those larger line of holes running between the two sets of needles. I stupidly used a double YO there and even though I pulled it as tight as I could, they're a different tension than the rest. RIP. Don't try to stop me, by the time you read this, it will already be done. Maybe my second try will be better because now that doily fever has hit, I'm not giving up.

There will be plenty of new doilies in the future, too. This book, newly reprinted by Lacis, arrived on Friday.
It contains many gorgeous Niebling designs. As soon as I saw it, I ordered two other doily books from Lacis. Yep, I've got the fever. Though, it may be in my genes. My mom has been telling me stories about the beautiful doilies in the parlor of her grandmothers house. And, the ones my great-grandmother made for my grandmother. Wish one of them would have been passed down to me, think how special it would be!

I recently discovered a long lost piece of my own handwork. Made a couple of years before I started knitting. It's called Hardanger and this was my first piece.
It's a type of embroidery and cut thread work. First all the embroidery is worked with pearl cotton and then areas of the fabric are cut and some of the threads are drawn out with the remaining ones being tightly wrapped.
No knitting projects to show, but I do have some handspun. First off, Wensleydale in Elektra dyed by Lisa. Despite my best efforts, this skein does not at all match the Jonquil skeins spun some time back. It's definitely heavier. Swatching will determine whether I'll be able to use it in the project or not. Lovely color, though!
And, I finished a spindling project! Always feels good when that happens. This is 596 yds of Merino/Silk spun from the ButterflyGirl Plumaria batt. It was spun on the spindle shown--pink Mother of Pearl, also from ButterflyGirl.
Originally, I had the intention of spinning sock yarn, but now I'm thinking it would be better suited for a shawl. It has that sort of crunchy silk feeling and seems like it will be nice and drapey. Am considering a Flower Basket shawl, or maybe Sivia's Norwegian Woods. Other suggestions will be happily entertained.