I’ve been taking a while on this one-- partly because I found it a little boring and partly because I’ve been working on other things at the same time…

I’ve run into a bit of a problem with the pattern, too. On round 23, I noticed something strange. There are two repeats shown of the “solid section” of the doily. Well, they don’t match! Everywhere else, so far, they’ve matched, but not here. There are similar issues with rounds 24 and 25 as well. Not only do the two repeats not match, but the one to the right (without the chain-counts) is not symmetrical. One side calls for “2 dc cluster” (or what I’d call “dc2tog”), while the other follows the pattern set by the left-hand repeat, which calls for “dc, skip one stitch, dc”.

I think I’m going to follow the repeat with the stitch counts and just figure it’ll be ok.

Looking at the only two photos of this doily I can find, at present, it looks like some of the 3-ch spaces in the first “solid section” won’t block out completely flat, so I’m trying to reconcile myself to that before I even get ready to block. (g)

Finally finished! This doily got so boring to crochet, which is why I set it aside for a while and had to force myself to pick it back up. Too repetitive-- especially toward the end-- and I never like it when I don’t feel confident that a doily will block out nicely. I hope it’ll look ok when blocked, but I don’t see myself making this one again, unless I forget how dull it was…

Finally blocked it today. I’d been dreading it, and it wasn’t a joy to block. (Hint: It’s easier if you block the tips of the first layer of “coffee bean” shapes but not the second layer. Instead, go ahead and start blocking out the lacy fans, taking care to keep the “spines” alined. The second layer of coffee beans kind of takes care of itself, this way.)

Unfortunately, as I was nearing the end of the blocking, I found a pretty big mistake. Not big enough that it will be glaringly obvious to the casual observer (especially once it’s been put somewhere, with something on top of it), but big enough that it contributes to blocking difficulties and makes me a little annoyed with myself. No way I’m going to try to fix it, though.

My mistake? At one of the places where you chain a certain number, single crochet around the previous two chain loops, then chain another number, I omitted the sc and the second chain portion. OOPS! ~sigh~ Oh well. I don’t think I’ll be making this one again, since I didn’t enjoy it, but at least some of the blame for the difficult blocking goes to my own error.