Before & after pineapples

[UTUSN]

Recently got clued to the feng shui of pineapples (good luck). My grandmother, mother, and aunts used to (O.K., what's the hand sewing form: Crocheting is yarn? Needlepoint is design-on-a-background? So what is (knitting) string into doilies/armrests/etc.???) do this third thing, almost always using the pineapple design. All those, lo, many years I never knew why--did they only know the one design? When I asked an old relative recently, she gave the good luck reason. Then the net gave the feng shui reason. So I've been chasing down pineapple artefacts (ceramics, lamps, whatever) as much for the family tie as for the other.

So I found one, looking too post modernly drab. A couple of pics from Google gave a clue to some colors. I was looking for some ocher but only found terra cotta. The darker green here is "Fresh Green" but it clashes with "Pear Green". May perhaps re-do the foliage with darker greens. No attempt is made at accuracy.

[hippywife]

1. Making doilies and the like

is called tatting.

I had no idea about the pineapples being good luck. Hmmm.

Have fun with your new hobby! :hi:

[UTUSN]

8. Tatting!!!!!1 Thank you!!1 You don't know how long the lack of this word has

nagged at me. The lampshade (purposely skewed) was my grandmother's work, not the clearest example of their pineapple work. The porch light fits the hospitality mode.

[SoyCat]

10. The lacework in the photo is crochet. I am positive because I've been doing it since I was six.

[UTUSN]

14. O.K., then, crocheting it is!!1 No shuttle involved in what I saw at home

Just thin metal needles (steel?) about 6" long and the thickness of sturdy toothpicks, and for use with thread/string. Google for "crocheting" shows me mostly the clunky drumstick-type needles with yarn for sweaters. Thanks.

[hippywife]

11. Here's a site that has pictures of

some examples of tatting patterns:
http://www.craftown.com/tat.htm

Tatting uses a tool called a shuttle:
http://images.google.com/images?q=tatting%20shuttle&sourceid=mozilla-search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi

I wish I had the patience to learn to do it. Not many people do it anymore. I can remember my best friend's grandmother and great-aunt doing it.

As another person posted, that shawl appears to be crocheted. I've never learned to do that either.

[China_cat]

12. I tat. I also teach tatting. Where are you?

[Haole Girl]

2. Yes, pineapples also mean hospitality in the Hawaiian culture:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

3. Here in the Florida Keys pineapples are a sign of hospitality,

and I have a pineapple lamp that I light every night and can be seen when anyone passes my front window.

I never heard that they were a sign of good luck, but I'm happy to know that since I just bought a new sofa with pineapples worked into the design of the fabric. So thanks for the good news!

Just adding a p.s. - we successfully grew a giant pineapple in our daughters yard this past summer...took forever. We were worried that the iguanas would eat it as they are very destructive, but then our maintenance man from Guatamala said that iguanas don't eat pineapples. Yes, I'm a fountain of useless information!

[UTUSN]

5. A couple of links - Actually, good luck for bringing wealth (hospitality is fine, too)

http://www.fengshuibestbuy.com/HH3703-pineapple.html


http://www.dragon-gate.com/shopping/product/productDetail.asp?sku=MS122&id=922&cid=19

[tinfoilinfor2005]

7. Gee, and all this time I just thought I was making wise financial

decisions! Now I KNOW I'll stock up on more pineapple decorations! :)

[UTUSN]

9. LOL LOL LOL !!!1 n/t

[Drum]

4. I've always heard that the pineapple is symbol of "home"

and "hospitality."

Here is something from "Social History of the Pineapple":

Pineapple as Hospitality Symbol
Fancy dish number 2 In larger, well-to-do homes, the dining room doors were kept closed to heighten visitors' suspense about the table being readied on the other side. At the appointed moment, and with the maximum amount of pomp and drama, the doors were flung open to reveal the evening's main event. Visitors confronted with pineapple-topped food displays felt particularly honored by a hostess who obviously spared no expense to ensure her guests' dining pleasure.

In this manner, the fruit which was the visual keystone of the feast naturally came to symbolize the high spirits of the social events themselves; the image of the pineapple coming to express the sense of welcome, good cheer, human warmth and family affection inherent to such gracious home gatherings.


Pineapple as Artistic Motif
It is hardly surprising that this communal symbol of friendship and hospitality also became a favorite motif of architects, artisans and craftsmen throughout the colonies. They announced the hospitality of a mansion with carved wood or molded mortar pineapples on its main gate posts such as those shown here at a home in historic Haddonfield, New Jersey.

They incorporated huge copper and brass pineapples in the weather vanes of their most important public buildings. They sculpted pineapples into door lintels; stenciled pineapples on walls and canvas mats; wove pineapples into tablecloths, napkins, carpets and draperies; and cast pineapples into metal hot plates. There were whole pineapples carved of wood; pineapples executed in the finest china kilns; pineapples painted onto the backs of chairs and tops of chests.

http://www.levins.com/pineapple.html


:hi:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

6. Thank you for this!

We often welcome our visitors with a fruit plate, the greens of the pineapple being the center piece of the plate, with other tropical fruits circling the leaves. Everyone oohs and ahs at the presentation. It does feel homey.

[China_cat]

13. Charleston, SC has a pineapple fountain

downtown.

[UTUSN]

15. Wow, beautiful !!!1 n/t

[Deja Q]

16. Pineapple #2 looks rather happy... is there a Ms. Pineapple nearby?

:yoiks:

[UTUSN]

17. I thought that that newest, clinging leaf (like on a cauliflower) needed to be

the more tender greenish (pear) color, but it definitely needs some toning down, darker green.