No 21/25 - Beaded Snowflake

This beaded snowflake is a slight variation of the Minaret Snowflake motif from the book 'Tatted Snowflakes' by Vida Sunderman.

I made this when a friend asked me to show her how to add beads to tatting. I couldn't think of a design real quick, so I picked one of the patterns from the book. The original design was done without the beads. When I was making this, I found a trick of jumping to the next round without using a split chain.

The original instructions are in two rounds, and I hates ends! I took a long look at it to figure out how to jump to the next round without cutting the threads. The thing is, I can make a split chain if the ds are pointing outwards, but in this case the chains in the first round are pointing inwards. I have not figured out how to make split chains if the ds are pointing inwards. I tired it once and end up with the thread on the wrong side for the next round.

Then it struck me! Sure! it says ... first make a ring, but I don't have to start with a ring. Instead, I started with a chain, using a paperclip to create a mock picot at the start of the chain. After I have completed five rings, I made the last chain and join it to the mock picot in the first chain. Then, I made the sixth ring of the first round as a split ring, and another split ring to start Round 2. I wonder if this works as well if the ds are pointing outwards....