Wish you a healthy recover, bulldinkie & am glad your daughter is there to help. I read on the site that sharee posted the dimensions: Set of Six Cabbage Leaf Placemats (43517): 17" x 13" each. & somewhere (comments section, maybe) I read where it takes 2 of these for dinnerplates...they are quite realistic looking, aren't they! I like mine for my large bunny! Jeanne S.

Octogon is a basic layout. If you want it less holey, start with a chain 3, rather than chain 6 Ch 3; slip stitch for form circle; ch 3; 2 dc into center; chai 3; 3 dc into center; repeat for 18 dc; 6 ch 2 spaces; join to top of beg. ch 3. Slip stitch to first ch 2 sp; ch 5; dc in same space; one dc in each dc to next ch 3 space; dc, ch 2, dc in next ch 2 space. Continue aroun doing 1 dc in each dc and one dc chain 2 one dc in each space. Join to 3rd chain on beginning chain 5. Continue in this manner until desired size is reached.

I use a lot of linen placemats and it is very vexing to want the kind that's on the bottom of the stack. No matter how careful you are, you can easily wrinkle a whole pile of them. My solution was to design a cabinet with doors that open to reveal a bank of very close together pullout shelves, so each kind is stored in its own stack and I can peel off what I need in a jiff. Below that I have several deeper (meaning the sides are higher) pullouts which are for napkins. I have some dividers on those to keep those stacks from falling over. As we only use cloth napkins, I need a lot of storage for them. HTH, Molly

kwsl, as it turned out, there were lots of wine glasses on the table, but that happened after the photo was taken. The prior month's hostess not only brought a red wine for the entree, she also brought a white for the soup and salad courses, and a late harvest Riesling for the dessert. At the prior luncheons, we've only had wine with the entree, which was what I was prepared for. Suddenly I was in a flurry getting out appropriate glasses. My "casual elegant mixed pieces" setting using a stemmed goblet and a stemless wineglass went out the window. I have been to formal dinners using coasters with placemats. While no doubt proper, I don't like it for a very stupid (on my part) reason. I'm a klutz. I'm always afraid I'm going to get engrossed in conversation, half-miss the coaster as I set my glass down, and make a mess. :-( Linelle, I had a Middle Eastern roommate for one semester in college who treated me to homemade cabbage rolls. I looked forward to the meal all day. It was my first foray into Middle Eastern food, so imagine my surprise when I took the first bite and tasted cinnamon in the meat. She had worked hard to make a lovely meal. I told her it was wonderful, but it really wasn't my cup of tea. I have never been able to find Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, so I use David's Kosher Salt. With the subject of salt having been brought up, I thought I'd compare the two. According to the Diamond Crystal website, 1/4 teaspoon of their salt contains 280 mg of sodium. According to the box of David's, 1/4 teaspoon of David's contains 590 mg of sodium - twice as much at Diamond Crystal! I had no idea. If Food Lab is correct and most recipes are written for Diamond Crystal, I need to start halving the amount of David's I'm using! When I run out of David's, I think I'll order some Diamond Crystal from Amazon!