Mad Caterpillar

My great grandmother used to make these by the bucketful, and every time we'd go to visit her she'd send me home with one or two. I didn't appreciate them as a young girl as much as I do now, but fortunately I had the sense to hold onto them. Now that I am older, I know the skill and the love that went into them, and I treasure them for the heirlooms that they are.

With my foray into the world of granny squares, I have found that crochet can be kind of addicting. And for some reason, I started to wonder if I could create one of these little lace pieces myself. So armed with this book, a ball of cotton thread from Joanne's, and a tiny crochet hook that had heretofore only been used to pick up dropped stitches in knitted socks, I proceeded to make the wee trifle above. Despite several mistakes I think it turned out rather pretty, although it is indeed very small. I have a couple ideas for what I will do with it, but in the meantime it does make a lovely trivet for my favorite teacup: