Sicilian Circle by Mary Konior

I am working on the Sicilian Circle by Mary Konior from her book Tatting in Lace. At first, I thought it would be a straightforward pattern because I needed an easy one to work on after my failure with the Norma Benporath project (my previous post).

It turned into an interesting tatting adventure with mock rings.

Usually, mock rings are utilised when there are ring(s) upon chains and you want to execute with shuttle and ball rather than two shuttles.  However, in this design, mock rings are used as a design element.

Each of the group of four rings in the photo above are made up of a mock ring with a trefoil sitting on it. The use of mock rings also created the pointed arches in the chains holding the mock rings.

Round 3 (photo above) also utilises mock rings but, unlike Round 2, the mock rings are on the reverse side of the chains.  This is something that I had not used or made before and I find it rather interesting in terms of a designing process.  

In this pattern, Mary Konior used the lock join method of creating the mock rings. I have used the self-closing mock ring (SCMR) instead for mine. I have explained the two methods early in my blog, https://tatsaway.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-make-mock-ring.html

A tip on how to close big rings

Round 3 contains big rings, each with 30 double stitches in it.  Here is a tip on how to close big rings so that the double stitches are snugged up evenly all round.

When all the double stitches are made, I snug up the double stitches on the left side of the ring by slightly pulling the core thread.  Then, I bring the beginning and the the end of the ring close together and pinch the double stitches between my thumb and my index finger. Once secured, I pull the shuttle thread slowly to close the ring. 

Doing it this way ensures the the double stitches will remain flat and not twisted as the ring is closed.