Hair Pin Lace 6 - Working in Rounds

Did you know that you could make doilies using Hairpin crochet? This was a revelation to me!

I have found a set of vague instructions, so of course I had to take up the challenge and see if I could design my own. I am given to understand that each successive round should contain double the number of loops from the previous round. I have absolutely no idea how to join the beginning and end of each round except that a slip-stitch is involved. So, with this scarcity of facts to hand, I invite you to come with me now as I puzzle out the solution!

 Let's be honest! I could write this post so that you would believe that I am awfully clever and magically produced the perfect design, but that's not what happened. It has taken some experimentation, some trial and error and some problem solving. I hit the first problem immediately. Standard crochet involves a simple formula for increases depending on the height of the stitches used. I know of no such formula for hairpin lace. The centre of my doily would not lie flat unless I; a. left a hole in the centre or b. reduced the width of the braid.

So here's what I did.

First round:

• I'm using Scheepjes Cotton8, a 4ply yarn. I begin using a 3mm hook, a 2.5cm (1") wide frame. I make a braid with 20 loops on each side. As the centre of this doily will be quite compact I keep things simple and make a single Dc (Sc-US) on either side of the spine.
  
• I am instructed to run a thread through all the loops on one side of the braid and gather to form the centre of the doily. You can use either sewing thread or yarn. My best solution was to thread a needle and run it through the untwisted loops, twice, while they were still on the Hairpin frame. Do not pull the centre too tightly closed, knot to secure.
• While the braid is still on the frame, run a long contrast colour thread through the loops on the opposite side. Keep the working loop on the hook before carefully removing the frame.
  
• Join the two ends of the braid at the spine by either making a slip stitch into the start of the spine, in the middle; or by sewing the equivalent of a needle join. I have not found a way to make this join completely invisible. You can hide your yarn-ends in the centre. Flatten the round into a disk.
  
• Leave the contrast yarn in the work until you have either edged or joined this round with the next. This yarn helps to keep the loops in order and all facing a uniform direction. It makes joining and edging much easier.
  

Second Round:

• Following the only formula that I've been given, I use double the number of loops, so this time I am making a 2.5cm (1") wide braid with 40 loops. This time, I'm using 2Dc (Sc-US) in the Front Left Loop on either side of the spine.
  
• Once it is made I run a contrast thread through the loops, one on each side before removing it from the frame. At this length the lace has a tendency to twist so keep it flat before carefully joining it as before. This time you will need to carefully weave the yarn-ends into the spine on the reverse side.
  

Third Round:

• To add a little variety, but still keeping things fairly straightforward, I am making a braid with 80 loops a side and working a Dc (Sc-US) into the Front Left Loop, plus another into the Back Left Loop. (Here's something to consider. The more stitches that are used to make the braid, the further apart the loops become and the longer the braid would be.)
  
• Add the contrast threads and carefully remove from the frame on a flat surface, before joining at the spine as before. 

Joining the Rounds:

Rounds One and Two

• Lie the disc inside Round2. 
• At this point I have to decide whether to keep the loops straight or to twist them. Because the disc has half the number of loops compared to Round2, I have to join one loop from the disc to two loops from Round2.
• I start on the disc, picking up one loop so that it is twisted and begin with either a Slip-stitch or a standing Dc (Sc-US),Chain1.
• *Now I place the hook through 2 loops from the inner edge of Round2, I've kept mine straight and untwisted, and make a Dc,Chain1.
• Dc,Chain1 into the next single loop of the disc.
• Continue from* until I reach the starting point and needle join. The ends are easily woven in on the reverse. The doily looks a little scary at this point as it is not laying flat.
  
• The first two contrasting yarns can now be removed.

Rounds Two and Three

• I joined these rounds in exactly the same way.

Edging

Although I don't do fru-fru I decided I'd like the border to be a little frilly! I worked a simple border in three rounds.

Round One

• Beginning anywhere on the border, I worked into twisted loops and started with a standing Dc.
•  *Dc, Chain1. Repeat from* working a Dc into each twisted loop around and Slip-stitch to that starting Dc.

Round Two

• *Dc in the next Chain1-space, Chain2. Repeat from* around and Slip-stitch to the starting Dc.

Round Three

• *Dc in the next Chain2-space, Chain3. Repeat from* around and needle join to the start.
• The last contrasting thread is now removed.
• At this point my whole doily looks a little scary, so I say a prayer to the Crochet gods and after blocking it all turns out just like I'd hoped!!
  

Some time ago I bought some DMC Natura Linen yarn to try out but have never found a suitable project. The natural fibre in the yarn makes it a little different. It has some stiffness with a tendency to split and there is some variation in the thickness of the yarn. So I decided to try a more monotone doily using the same pattern. It used less than 10grams/30metres of each yarn. I was quite surprised. I'd only ever seen pictures of these doilies before and they looked flimsy and insubstantial. The Linen doily particularly keeps it's shape well and although light weight, neither could be described as flimsy.

If you would like to follow my instructions yourself you might find these links to the previous posts helpful:

How to make basic braid.

Variations on basic braid.

Edging and Joining techniques.

Perhaps you've already made a Hairpin Doily or you'd like to experiment with some of the more complex braids, in case I'd love to hear about what you did and how you got on.

That's almost the last post in our Hairpin Lace series. So if you ever see anyone presenting just a set of basic instructions for Hairpin Crochet, as if that's all there is, I hope you will tell them to be very ashamed!! 

Oh gosh! Did I say almost? There is yet one more work in progress, it's a bit out of the box and off the wall, so we'll see how far I get with it before I promise anything!

 

Fastening off...