Hen & Chicks Corner

From the previous post, there was the most votes for the fuller version number 3 with the extra ring in the centre so that's the one I'll share with you in this post.

Just for clarity, let me state that this pattern is not my invention:  it is a well-known and traditional edging which appears in lots of vintage and out of copyright publications.  I only designed the corner for it.

Hen & Chicks Edging:
R4-4 rw

leave 4mm bare thread (and between each subsequent element)

R3-3-3-3 rw

*R3+2-2-2-2-2-2-3 rw

R3+3-3-3 rw

R4+4 rw

R3+3-3-3 rw

R4-4 rw

R3+3-3-3 rw

Repeat from *

To Turn the Corner:

After a large ring,

R3+3-3-3 rw

R4+2-2, rw 

(there are no bare threads after this ring and between the following 5 elements)

R2-2-2-2-2 rw

R3+2-2-2-3 dnrw, lock join to last picot of previous ring

R3+2-2-2-2-2-2-3 dnrw, lock join to 3rd picot of previous ring

R3+2-2-2-3 dnrw, lock join to 2nd picot of previous ring

R2+2-4 rw

start leaving a 4mm bare thread again from here

R3+3+3-3

and continue from * above

I hope some of you will enjoy making this lovely vintage edging and corner.  Oh, nearly forgot, I made a video that shows how to make the corner too if you're interested.  You can view it here.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Designing a Corner for Hen & Chicks

I recently shared a video on how to make the traditional edging often called "Hen & Chicks".  This made me think that it would be nice to have a corner for this edging.

The simplest way would be just to remove one lower ring on the corner and that will make it "bend" around the corner.  But I don't like the "empty" corner that this creates.  I prefer to have more on the corner rather than less.

So I made a little corner doodle to test the idea...

Yes, that might work.

Let's tat it and see.

I quite like the size of it but not sure about the empty space in the middle...

What if I remove the tiny rings...

would that be better?

Hmmm, the corner gets more rounded.

Maybe I want to keep the bigger corner

but fill the space?

Then it looks like this:

Here the three corners together:

I unintentionally made one too many picots in the centre ring...

but now I wonder, should I remove it or keep it?

This is often how I design.  As you can see, I don't have a perfect foolproof method!  I'll do some sketches of ideas, then make several testing samples, sometimes cut the samples and re-arrange them until I'm happy with the design.

In this case I think I prefer the last option, the bolder corner with the empty space filled in with the extra ring in the centre.

Thoughts?

I'll now tat a longer length of Hen & Chicks with the corner to get a better idea of the overall look.

I'm sure other people have come up with their own version of a corner for this vintage edging and it would be nice to see other solutions as I'm sure there are many!

I'll write up this version of Hen & Chicks in the next blogpost if anyone is interested.  I made the rings smaller than the version I had in one of my vintage books as I thought it would look better for a handkerchief edging.

Best wishes,

Frivole

More Wipping

Inspired by my Pomegranate handkerchief, I decided to tackle another WIP.  I can't even remember when I started that one… on a long trip I would think - I like to take edgings with me when I am travelling as they are easy and you don't need to carry a pattern with you.  So you can keep your hands busy without too much thinking.

So this one is my Christmas Tree edging.  I wanted to try it not as Christmas Trees to see what it would look like in other colours.  Here it is.

It is tatted in Lizbeth Azalea Med in size 40.

This colour is incredibly difficult to photograph!

It always comes over too saturated.

But it was a good match for the embroidery on the hanky.

Again, I had completed the tatting a while ago and it just needed attaching to the handkerchief.  This time I decided to do it all in one go!  So that was my project last evening.  It didn't even take that long.

Oops!

Just noticed one little tree

is folded down on the left-hand side.

It's not missing!

And guess what?… I have yet more WIPs!  Maybe this can be my "spring resolution":  completing WIPs.  But can I keep it up?...

Best wishes,

Frivole