Spring Flower

Happy Earth Day!

I've had this pattern for quite a while, but this is the first time I've made it.  I don't know why, but it screams "spring" to me and I figured it would get me in a spring mood.  For some reason this year I am very reluctant to see winter go.  I wouldn't mind some more cold, however since spring is here, I may as well embrace it:)

I actually started the inner flower twice.  The first time I was working on it late and was tired so I was very sloppy.  For a while I thought I would let it go - as I said it was late and the idea retro lacing was not appealing so I plugged on.  Next time I sat at my pillow I was appalled at how ugly the center was and I decided to cut it off the pillow and start again.  Moral of the story - don't be lazy!  I am willing to let some things go (as hard as it may be!), but some things are too poorly made and can only be cut off.

One of the concerns I had before starting to work the outer round was joining new threads in whole stitch (CTCT, since I know there are multiple names for each stitch!).  Turns out that with some careful tensioning the resulting overlapping threads are barely visible.  Good to know for next time.  In the past I had avoided joining in new threads in whole stitch.

Yes, those spirals were fun to make!  I always find that whole stitch is a bit slower than cloth stitch (CTC).  There are fewer rows to be made so although it seems like the lace makes itself when I am not looking, but each row takes longer.  In cloth stitch I normally tension at the end of every row or even every other row.  In whole stitch, the most I can get away with is tensioning at the end of every row, but it does look better if I tension twice per row.

The flower is ~ 5.5 in in diameter.

And to get me even more excited about spring, the pattern I just pinned onto my pillow is even more spring-like!  I am now in the process of winding bobbins and cannot wait to start!