Ever thought of crocheting a door curtain? No, me neither, but a queen size bedspread? Yes.
And I'm clearly not the only one. I was amazed when reading The Good Weekend a month or so ago to find that one of Renya Xydis' (apparently a Sydney hairdresser) favourite things is the bedspread that her grandmother crocheted for her.
Recognise the pattern? Mine is crocheted in 4 ply Heirloom brand cotton. 5 x 6 squares each 37 cms square, and the edging of my own design is about 14 cms deep.
So, approximate final measurements ... 213 x 250 cms. I must weigh it one day to work out how many skeins I must have used. I crocheted the bedspread square by square over about two or three years when we were living in Sydney. When I finished it I had such crochet fatigue that I had to learn to knit.
Making my crochet bedspread was actually inspired by an exhibition that I saw at Elizabeth Bay House, years back, when I was living in Sydney. The exhibition, 'And So to Bed', told "the stories of the changing styles of beds, bed hangings and bedding" and is where for the first time I saw a knitted counterpane (bedspread). I was so impressed and as I couldn't knit at the time decided to crochet one. Now that I can knit, of course all I want to do is knit one.
3 comments:
WOW... A whole bedspread?! I'm really impressed. I'm sure it will be a family heirloom that BB will come to cherish years from now. I admire your dedication to a single project for so long...
Holy dooley Amelia!! That's the bedspread you crocheted?? That is divine!
This is fabulous isn't it?
I took the "Golden Hands Monthly" magazine in my 20s and although I started [and finished ;o)] some pretty daunting projects, I have never tackled one as ambitious as this - except maybe Kaffe Fasset's Foolish Virgins - but I digress....
Also, your use of the word 'counterpane' reminds me of the Bill Bryson anecdote from Neither Here Nor There: he stayed in a seedy B&B in Dover when he first set foot on English soil as a student in the 1970s; the landlady said: '...and any stains on the counterpane have to paid for...'. Which was fine, except he had no idea what a counterpane was - he says he "vaguely remembers fiddling with the window".
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