Poppy Doily

For several years now I've salivated over the crocheted motif clothing made by several Ukranian designers, including Antonia Kuznetsova (I wrote about her here).  I've been working on a few small pieces - it's not a quick process, but it's also not really hard once you get the knack of making the netting!  This small poppy doily uses the poppy and leaf motifs I wrote about in the last couple of weeks.  And yes, I've been totally poppy obsessed lately!  They're one of the dominant wildflowers around here each spring and the fields of them out in the desert are breathtaking.  Several years back we threw some poppy seeds around in our front yard and now have our own little patch!

Materials:
*5 crocheted poppy motifs (instructions here)
*4 crocheted poppy leaf motifs (instructions here) 
*cream size 10 crochet thread
*size 7 steel crochet hook
*tapestry needle
*piece of felt - about 14 to 16 inches square
*safety pins - I like using the curved quilting ones

Poppy Motifs
1.  With a slip stitch, join thread in one of the points where the yellow thread goes down into the orange.

2.  Chain 4.  Skip two stitches and attach the chain to the next stitch with a single crochet.

3.  Chain 4.  Skip two stitches again and attach the chain to the next stitch with a single crochet.

4.  Chain 4.  Skip two stitches and attach the chain to the next stitch with a single crochet.

5.  Continue in this way all the way around the motif.  Fasten off.  Weave in ends with a tapestry needle.  Do this with all the poppies.

Leaf Motifs
1.  With a slip stitch, attach the thread to the end of the shorter end of the stem.

2.  Chain 4.  Attach chain with a single crochet halfway between where you attached it and the base of the first frond.

3.  Chain 4.  Attach the chain with a single crochet on the tip of the first frond.

4.  Chain 4.  Attach with a single crochet to the tip of the next frond.  Continue doing this until you've attached a chain to the tip of the last front on that side.

5.  Chain 4.  Attach with a single crochet halfway up the stem end.

6.  Chain 4.  Attach with a single crochet halfway down the other side of the stem.

7.  Chain 4 and attach with a single crochet to the end of the next frond.  Continue chaining 4 and attaching to the end of fronds until you've attached a chain 4 to the end of the last frond.

8.  Chain 4 and attach with a single crochet half way to the end of the stem you began on.  Chain 4 again and attach to the end of the stem.  Fasten off and weave the ends in with a tapestry needle.  Do this with all of the leaves.

Putting the motifs together:
1.  Pin one of the poppies to the center of your piece of felt.

2.  Pin on the rest of the motifs.

3.  With a slip stitch, attach the thread to one of the chain 4 spaces of the center poppy.  Whenever you attach the thread leave a long tail so you can sew in a good length that won't end up working its way out.  And from this point on I find it easiest to work the netting if I put the piece of felt on a hard surface I can hold on my lap - like a large, thin book.

4.  Chain 4 and with a slip stitch attach to the closest chain 4 space on the nearest poppy. 

5.  Chain 4 and with a slip stitch attach to the next chain 4 space in the poppy you attached the thread to.

6.  Chain 4 and attach with a slip stitch to the second poppy.

7.  Chain 4 again and with a slip stitch attach to the next chain 4 space on the first poppy. 

8.  Chain 4 and attach to the nearest chain 4 space on the nearest leaf.

9.  Chain 4 and attach to the next chain 4 space on the first flower.

10.  Continue connecting the motifs together with chain 4 netting until you've worked your way all around the center poppy and are back at where you began.

11.  Now work down the space between the leaf nearest you and the poppy across from it.  There isn't a set way to do this - I try to keep from ending up with any large spaces, like the one you see below - I undid the thread and re-netted that area.  Sometimes you'll be attaching the chain 4's to a chain 4 space that already has an attachment in it - just play with it until you have an area that lies flat and doesn't have any large "hole" looking spaces.  Fasten off thread.

12.  Attach thread at the top of the leaf you've been working on and work down the next space, attaching the leaf to the next poppy.  Fasten off thread.

13.  Continue attaching leaves and poppies all the way around the doily.  Remove the doily from the felt, weave all the ends in, and repin to the felt.

14.  Attach thread to one of the outside chain 4 spaces.  Chain 4 and attach to the chain 4 space to the left.  Chain 4 and attach to the next chain 4 space.  Chain 4 and attach in the same chain 4 space. Chain 4 and attach in the next chain.  Chain 4 and attach in the next space.  Chain 4 and attach in the same space.  Continue around the entire doily keeping the same pattern.  Fasten off thread and weave in the ends.

And there's your doily!  I have dreams of making a shawl from these motifs someday!

Happy Creating!  Deborah