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Megadahlia
by Franklin Habit

Translated and adapted from "D'oyley in

Dahlia Pattern" from Weldon's Practical
Knitter (1880s)

Voilà mon Megadoily.

I am a man with strong opinions about

doilies.

I like them. They’re useful. They keep

the reading lamp from scratching the
end table and the teapot from
scorching the tray.

I know, and am often reminded, that

it’s possible to live a happy and
ful�lling life with scratched end tables
and tea brewed in a microwave. But
this path is not for me. 

So I own, and make frequent use of,

doilies. Some are heirlooms, like the
one I often use on top of the sewing
machine cabinet. It was crocheted by
one of my great-grandmothers. Some
have been rescued from dusty piles in vintage shops. Others are my own work.

Does this leave me open to criticism? Indeed, to scorn? Yes. In our year of grace 2023, my open
espousal of the doily often makes me a �gure of fun. You might think, from the ridicule to which I am
subjected, that I have taken to wearing a powdered wig and traveling the streets in a sedan chair.

Only one of those things is true.

A recent visitor to my apartment �icked the ravishing specimen of Jazz Age hardanger that sits
under my pincushion and said, “Hey, grandma, maybe it’s time to skedaddle into the new century.”
And I said, “Stop calling me grandma, Dad.”

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The only problem I have with doilies is that I have too many doilies. Even with regular rotation, so
that nobody feels left out, there aren’t enough horizontal surfaces in the apartment to
accommodate those I already own, forget about those I’d rather like to knit.

And there are so many I’d rather like to knit.

This late nineteenth century darling, from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, has been ringing my chimes
for years.

the original Weldon’s Illustration

I love everything about it, including the old-fashioned British spelling of doily as d’oyley. You would
think that’s French, and I imagine it once was; but these days in France (I’m living in Paris now) the
common term for a doily is “un napperon.”

Like many 19th-century doilies, it’s not afraid to try something new, to blaze a trail. The edging
(which was originally intended to be sewn on, though I’ve elected to knit mine on) is utterly bananas.
I cannot believe, and neither will you, that it does what it does in so few rows.

So, yes. Beautiful doily. Not that it would take up much space, but still – how could I justify knitting
it?

Then I got a message from Knitty, asking if I’d like to drop in and do something special for the
anniversary. And I said sure. And they said how about something in this big gorgeous bulky yarn.
And I said sure. And then I realized that if you knit an itty bitty delicate doily in big gorgeous bulky
yarn, it ceases to be a doily and turns into a lap blanket.

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