I recently overheard a mother and daughter talking while looking at some crochet pattern books at a local craft store. The mother told the daughter that she used to crochet. The daughter expressed interest at this but the mother told her that “all crochet looks handmade by a grandma”. I was slightly offended by this considering for a long time I only knew how to crochet. I personally enjoy (and appreciate) handmade items and I love crochet.

So I decided to dig through my projects and find something that was fun, current, and still functional. I found this: a crocheted bowl. This bowl is crocheted using cotton fingering weight yarn. It is then stiffened using a warmed, one part water/one part sugar mixture. Surprisingly, it stiffens very well but needs several days to dry. This could be done with any doily pattern you can find. I think it’s a great way to make a doily a little more current. It makes a wonderful house-warming gift, is firm enough to hold goodies in, and even better? There are so many wonderful colors of cotton out there now so you don’t have to settle for the classic white. I’ve also done doilies using worsted weight cotton to increase the overall size. Imagine the possibilities!

Read more about guest blogger Andrea Sanchez.