Renulek Summer Napkin 2014 Tutorial: Round 3

We are now beginning Round 3 of Renulek's 2014 Summer doily.

Reminder:
The - represents a decorative picot, and the ^ represents a very small joining picot.  If you blow up the picture, you will be able to see the difference in picot sizes.  And + will mean joining picot.

Also, if you do NOT do a split ring or two colors, you can use a single shuttle and ball to tat Round 3.

So, let's start with the ring I have sticking up over there on the left.  Starting at one of the decorative single rings on Round 2, create a ring.



R: 3-3-3+3-3-3; reverse work = RW

chain 6 ^ 6 RW
R: 8+8 (join to first ring of triplet) RW
chain 6 ^ 6 RW
R: 8+8 (join to center ring of triplet) RW
chain 6 ^ 6 RW
R: 8+8 (also join to center ring of triplet) RW
chain 6 ^ 6 RW
R: 8+8 (join to final ring of triplet) RW
chain 6 ^ 6 RW

Repeat this series around.

On other rounds, I have recommended split chains and rings to climb out and move to the next round.  Looking ahead, I don't recommend this as a transition from Round 3 to Round 4, so we are going to cut the threads, six inches or so from the work.

Put the core thread on needle (above left, light color). Poke into the tip of the decorative ring and through to the reverse side. Put the chain thread onto the needle (dark pink, below) and carefully find the spot at the top of the adjacent stitch in matching color on original chain stitches.  Poke through to reverse.  Tie half a square knot and snug again.

In the pictures above, notice that my doily is very rippled.  It is doing that in large part because my darker thread, the one I have called cherry blossom, is stiffer than the other two threads I have used, even though they are the same size.  

What can you do when this happens? From experience I know that things will probably be okay, but I like to block at this point to make sure everything is going to work out.  If not, better to know sooner than later.

Blocking may sound difficult, but my technique is simple.


Above left, get your work wet.  I recommend using cold water in case of dye runs or shrinkage.  Should not happen, but you cannot be too careful.  Have a towel ready (right), one that won't transfer color or lint to your work and is okay to mess up if your work should leak.  Lay the work on the towel and fold the towel over and press to absorb excess water.  Open the towel.  Your work will be pressed into the towel a bit.  Lift it off the towel and lay back down.  You will now finger press the work into shape.  You could also use a blunt narrow tipped stick, such as a cuticle stick, to help shape.

On this particular piece, I want my decorative rings in Rows 2 and 3 to be positioned attractively and the outer chains in a nice arrangement.  I was able to achieve this using my fingers only on this piece.

Allow your work to air dry completely, and we are ready for Round 4!