Pretty Oddity

It's a beautiful, ovecast day today. It's definitely going to rain. I would have wanted to go out, but reading (while eating hot puto* smothered in butter) next to a window while the rain is pouring outside is also wonderfully appealing. I'm definitely done with the Champagne-Colored Doily, all I have to do is block it and post pictures. Now I'm working on this:

See, this is why gauge is very important. This purple "doily" is turning into a huge people eater. I barely started with it and it's already more than eight inches wide. I just hope the lady who gets this for the Doily Swap will like it and will have somewhere to put it. I mean, it looks fairly impressive (READ: hella big) from where I'm looking, but I would also want it to be useful. Form follows function and all that.
People always ask me why I'm so crazy about crocheting and knitting. I can't say I'm crazy about it, but I definitely see how amazing it is to turn a pretty ball of yarn into something complicated. By manipulating string using a hook; twisting, turning, building it stitch by stitch, you come up with something that showcases its beauty even more. This is especially true when you make doilies. Not to mention, crocheting doilies is an exact art. Each stitch has a purpose in the whole scheme of things. If you miss a stitch or you put even one extra, it won't look right.

And finally, what bigger joy is there to know that you are capable of creating something beautiful with humble materials, that you speak and understand a code only a limited number of people in this world can know, and that you are helping carry on something that is thought to be a dying art? The knowledge is satisfying and wonderful, I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.
*Puto is a kind of steamed cake made of rice flour. It's usually eaten in the morning with cheese or butter or both. It's wonderful with coffee or hot chocolate. Just thinking about it makes me gain five pounds. Mmmmm.