More crocheting and doilies

So I found my digicam ... finally.  I had set it down near hubby's hobby corner after showing him this little snapshot of our dog's dedication to duty:

Pre-Rinse is more than a nickname - it's a calling!

The dog has very few chores, but this one is definitely his favorite: pre-rinsing dishes for us.  That's the rice steamer bowl, and I still haven't quite figured out how to keep the rice from sticking to the very bottom.  He was chasing it around the kitchen in his determination and zeal to get every last grain of rice off the bowl before he figured out to pin the bowl against the wall to make it hold still.

So my digicam sat in hubby's area, mainly because he has almost the same model of camera too and I was thinking mine was his.  I finally remembered where I left it and liberated more doily crochet pics.  Here is what I've packaged up to send to my sister for her holiday gifts ... and I beat my self-imposed deadline of April Fools' Day!  (Sis asked, "Why April Fools'?"  My reply: "It isn't as soon as Valentine's Day!")

Doily and 4 coasters for my sister

I figure the colors are appropriate, given the NFL (American football) team choices under that roof ... if I could have found the colors for the local minor-league hockey team up there I probably could have made both happy.  Oh, it's the exact same doily pattern as the variegated holiday pineapple doily but done in solid colors.

Mom, I am almost done with your requested off-white doily ... but I used a different pineapple pattern for it.  I just started the last round, but it's a bunch of little stitches so it won't go out until probably next weekend because I'll at least block and pin it out for you.  Val asked for an in-progress pic of it which I haven't snapped yet.  I'll probably take a "before blocking" pic since my before-and-after-blocking coaster pics didn't turn out like I wanted.  I saw someone post that crochet people make blocking sound "mysterious and magical" ... it's not mysterious at all (hot water plus pinning out), but it sure does feel like magic as I am pinning out a doily and the pattern stretches out in all its glory!

There was more I was going to post, but just can't recall ...