Onion rings

... not the ones you eat, although I do like those too, on occasion.  I really like onion rings.  I've liked them since I first came across them in a pattern.  The first time I made them, they were all over the place - very uneven and I think I changed the way I made them each time I encountered one.  I believe I made them by making the central ring and then the two outer rings were actually chains.  

Not too long ago I was digging through the online tatting class and I found a lesson on onion rings (I think from 2002?).  I was intrigued to see that they could be made with rings only and no chains were needed.  The edging pattern is from the class.  I am still not 100% happy with the onion rings - they don't like to lie flat! but they are starting to look better than they did.  This pattern is the first time I ever made anything resembling an edging.  It's also the first time I had to use the shoe-lace trick.  I knew what it was and how to do it, just never had to use it before.  It doesn't really get used unless you're working with color.

The two motifs are the first time I encountered and made onion rings.  The one on the left is one of my favorite motifs ever!  All those tiny rings thrown off the onion rings are so cute!

The edging and the two motifs are made with DMC 80.  The 2 motifs are from DMC Tatting for Today.  Or something like that - I don't have the book here and don't recall the exact title.