Irish lace

In what little time I have to sew and knit lately, I've managed to grab a few moments here and there to  work on a new sort of project for me. A couple of years ago a good friend gifted me with a pretty massive stack of vintage and antique crochet and knitting books, ranging in age from about 1915 to the 1950s. The vast majority of them are crocheted lace patterns (plus one KILLER 1930s knitting book, which I've got plans for later this winter), and while I've never been much of a crocheter, some of these lace patterns are just too pretty for me not to try my hand at it. 

I decided to try and stick with something fairly simple for my first go 'round, so I picked this fabulous Irish lace jabot pattern. There is no dat on the pattern, but I'm guessing it's from around 1940. It has taken me MONTHS (ok, honestly I have no idea when I started this thing, but if feels like eons ago) to finish this thing. Mostly since I only had little bits of time here and there to work on it, and even then I couldn't work for very long in a sitting because it started to make my hand cramp after a while. Maybe this should tell me something about my tension? 

A lot of these patterns call for size 50 crochet cotton, but I had a hard enough time finding 30 anywhere. I'm seriously doubting whether 50 even still exists, but it seriously has to be about the size of hand-quilting thread because the 30 is pretty darn tiny. Anyhoo, this pattern was not only simple, but it was one of the few that called for 30 to begin with, so I guess it was kismet. After the foundation rows the jabot is worked back and forth in a "U" around the center, building outward in a series of simple 7-chain loops. The final three rows are done with an alternating 7-chain loop and double crochet shell. I was kind of winging it on the final rows, since I couldn't tell from the picture exactly what the edging was supposed to look like. In theory, this is right. Either way it looks pretty, so who cares, right? The entire piece is about 18 inches long, and gets folded in half when worn. I have no ideas what I'm actually going to wear it with since almost all of my clothes have "V" or scoop necks, but I'll figure something out. It's just too awesome not to wear. 

I still need to hit it with a little bit of starch to get the ruffles to hold really well, but overall I'm really happy. I'd say for a first lace project it was a success. Has anyone else been trying their hand at something new lately? I'm always keen to learn new skills (because I clearly don't have enough projects already). Even if I only end up doing something once I can at least say that I have. 

(You've also got a little sneak peak on Tabitha of what I've got to share with you all in my next post, however belated). 

The fall weather seems to finally be here to stay in Kentucky. This weekend is supposed to be pretty chilly, and I'm loving it so far. Mr. S is off work next week so I'm hoping to get in plenty of time outdoors with my boys, plus lots of sewing time since I'll have an extra pair of hands around to help with the Tasmanian Devil who thinks he's two already. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!