Onion Ring Magic Square with edging

Here is the Onion Ring Magic Square with a finished edge:

The pattern for the edging and the square can be found on my Free Patterns page. If you want to go directly to the magic square pattern click HERE and the edging instructions are available in a blog post click HERE.

The finished square measures 10.6 inches x 10.6 inches when tatted in size 40 thread. I used Lizbeth size 40 in Ocean Teal Medium and DMC Cordonnet Special size 40 in white. One ball of each was plenty to finish the square.

Here are a few more photos:

This edging can easily be turned into a bookmark as well, which I will share in a future blog post.

Edging for the Onion Ring Magic Square

I've created an edging for the onion ring square #2 and onion ring magic square #2.

In Lizbeth size 20 thread, the smaller square measures 4 inches across and the larger square measures 7 inches across. The small square has an edging with decorative picots and the large square has a clean edging. Substitute one for the other depending on your preference. The edging can be repeated and attached to larger versions of the magic square as well.

The pattern for the squares can be found by clicking HERE, and the edging is instructed below.

Due to irregular distances between joining picots, I had to get creative with the stitch counts for the chains. Pay close attention to the chains and what parts of the square they are attached to. Here is a photo of the stitch counts for the small square with decorative picots:

Written instructions are below (see photo above for join locations, see the Reading the Patterns page of the Onion Ring Magic Square pattern for abbreviations)

Beginning at the set of 7-7 rings in the lower left of the photo:

*Ring: 7 - 7 (during repeats, join this ring to the previous onion ring)
Ring: 7 - 7, RW
Chain 6 + 4, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain 7 + 2 - 3 - 1 + (CWJ to prev ring) 1 - 3 - 2 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 7 + 5, RW

Corner Flower
Ring: 10 + 5 - 5
Ring: 5 + 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 5
Ring: 5 + 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 5
Ring: 5 + 5 - 10, RW

Chain: 5 + 7, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain 7 + 2 - 3 - 1 + (CWJ to prev ring) 1 - 3 - 2 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 4 + 6, RW
Ring: 7 + 7
Ring: 7 - 7, RW
Chain: 6 + 9, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain 7 + 2 - 3 - 1 + (CWJ to prev ring) 1 - 3 - 2 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 9 + 6, RW*

Repeat instructions between asterisks around the square.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is a photo of stitch counts for the large square with a clean edge (no decorative picots). Right click and open in a new tab for a larger photo:

Written instructions are below.

Beginning at 7-7 rings where numbering starts in the photo:

*Ring: 7 - 7 (during repeats, join this ring to the previous onion ring)
Ring: 7 - 7, RW
Chain: 6 + 4, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain: 7 + 6 + (CWJ to prev ring) 6 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 7 + 5, RW

Ring: 7 + 7
Ring: 7 - 7, RW
Chain: 5 + 7, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain: 7 + 6 + (CWJ to prev ring) 6 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 4 + 6, RW
Ring: 7 + 7
Ring: 7 - 7, RW
Chain: 6 + 9, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain: 7 + 6 + (CWJ to prev ring) 6 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 9 + 6, RW
Ring: 7 + 7
Ring: 7 - 7, RW
Chain: 6 + 4, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain: 7 + 6 + (CWJ to prev ring) 6 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 7 + 5, RW

Corner Flower
Ring: 10 + 5 - 5
Ring: 5 + 10 - 5
Ring: 5 + 10 - 5
Ring: 5 + 5 - 10, RW

Chain: 5 + 7, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain: 7 + 6 + (CWJ to prev ring) 6 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 4 + 6, RW
Ring: 7 + 7
Ring: 7 - 7, RW
Chain: 6 + 9, DNRW, SS

Onion Ring
Ring: 10 - 10, RW
Chain: 7 + 6 + (CWJ to prev ring) 6 - 7 + (LJ to base of ring), RW, SS

Chain: 9 + 6, RW*

Repeat instructions between asterisks around the square.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These instructions were written from my samples and have NOT been test tatted for accuracy. If you notice any errors please contact me so that I can fix them.

Tatting from Norway

I recently received an email from Norway, from a tatter named Liv Strind, asking about using a few of my free patterns for their guild's upcoming magazine. Liv also attached a beautiful photo of her tatting, which she gave me permission to share:

This was made for a wedding book. I just love the combination of tatting, the colors, and the flowers in the background. The edging is from Sumie Tatting 2, and the heart is one of the patterns from my Etsy shop. Liv said the background flowers are from a basic, older pattern, and graciously sent me a PDF file with instructions on how she attaches the central bead. I've been meaning to learn more about adding beads to tatting, and the central bead is a technique that I haven't done before. I hope to give it a try sometime soon!

Frauberger Edging: Pattern Notes

There was a lot of interest in the Frauberger edging that I posted to my blog a few days ago. It will take a couple of weeks to finish the bookmark and to get a proper diagram made, but for those who would like to tat along now, here are my pattern notes:

(Right click and open in a new tab for a larger photo)

Update: Click Here for a more recent post with improved stitch counts

There are many ways to accomplish the order of rings and chains in this pattern. I tried at least three methods myself, and settled on one that I think works best. This method uses no shoelace tricks or overlapping of threads. I have color coded Shuttle 1 and Shuttle 2 work, as well as provided numbers to symbolize the order of operations below:

Step 11 and Step 23 finish with a lock join to the base of the ring. 

The only "odd" instruction is that you will be using Shuttle 1 to create both the inner ring and the bottom chain. Going from Step 12 to Step 13 (pictured above) requires that you do NOT reverse your work, and instead continue with the inner ring using the shuttle that just formed your chain stitches (Shuttle 1). If this is confusing at all, don't hesitate to ask questions in the comments below.

One more important thing to note: Using a Catherine Wheel join will create a smooth, uninterrupted curve of the outer chains. Each Catherine Wheel join counts as one stitch (remember to include this factor when following the stitch counts in the pattern).

To center the floating trefoil over the join, you will need to make TWO Catherine Wheel joins (one immediately before the trefoil, and one immediately after). Make both of your joins to the top picot of the ring below.

I hope this is clear, let me know if you have any questions!

Frauberger edging

I decided to try my hand at converting a Tina Frauberger edging into a bookmark. This is Figure 28 from the 1919 publication of Schiffchenspitze, which can be accessed for free on Georgia Seitz's website for the Archive of Tatting Books in the Public Domain.

Here is my progress so far:

I'm tatting this in Lizbeth size 80 Scottish Thistle. It's coming out to be about the same size as the Priscilla bookmark in size 80. Size 40 would work too, but size 20 is a little too big for a bookmark.

I had the same experience as Frivole when tatting a Frauberger pattern. This one had to be significantly reduced in size from the original (I reworked the numbers from the ground up to make it easier to tat). The only counts that remain true to the original are the trefoils along the periphery of the bookmark. I will share my version of the pattern in a week or two (still thinking about making a minor edit to what I'm using above).