Wide Irish edging hints and tips

You can find the instructions for this beautiful edging in "Crocheting Edgings," edited by Rita Weiss (Dover, 1980, available at Amazon. You can buy the book, which I recommend because it's full of pretty edgings, or you can buy a PDF of just this page). The instructions are cryptic, although I did manage to follow them. Here are some hints and tips that will help you follow the instructions in the book. These photos are by me.

The edging consists of a filet edge (footing), picot ground, and fan-shaped motifs. Each fan motif is edged with four trefoils as seen in this picture.

One motif

Materials:

• I used a size 10 white thread, DMC Baroque, with a size 9 (1.4 mm) hook. You could try an 8 or a 10. Ecru might do, but I prefer white for Irish crochet.
• Try smaller threads. This would look very delicate in size 30, e.g. DMC Cebelia 30. But learn the pattern with 10. Smaller threads of course require smaller hooks. I have successfully made it with size 20 DMC Cebelia using a #11 (1.1 mm) hook.
• Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

This pattern needs to be crocheted fairly tightly, or the picots won't look right.

Picots -- Try making the picots by doing ch-6, sc in 4th ch from hook instead of ch 5 and 3rd ch. For most picots, put the hook through both top threads (front and back loops), then make an sc. This creates a neater, tighter picot. DON'T do this in the trefoil picots! (See section on trefoils below.)

Fan motifs consist of:

7 ch base
6 tr's separated by 1 ch
5 (dc, ch 2, dc) meshes
5 3-tr clusters
4 trefoils

A cluster is made with three tr joined at the top.

How to make a cluster of three tr's:

Step 1, first tr:

Wrap the thread around the hook twice (yo 2 times).

Insert through the space in the previous row and catch the working thread (the thread coming from the skein).

Pull it back through. Four loops on hook.

Yo, and pull through the two closest loops on the hook. Three loops on hook.

Yo, pull through next two loops. Two loops on hook. Leave them there. Go to step 2.

Step 2, second tr:

Wrap the thread around the hook twice (yo twice).

Insert through the space and catch the working thread.

Pull it back through. Five loops on hook.

Yo, pull through two loops. Four loops on hook.

Yo, pull through two loops. Three loops on hook. Go to step 3.

Step 3, third tr:

Wrap the thread around the hook twice (yo twice).

Insert through the mesh and catch the working thread.

Pull it back through. Six loops on hook.

Yo, pull through 2 loops. Five loops on hook.

Yo, pull through 2 loops. Four loops on hook.

Yo, pull through ALL FOUR loops.

Ch. In this pattern, that will be the first of 5 ch for the first 4 clusters; the last has just the one ch after it.

Isn't that pretty? It takes practice. In making a cluster to identify the steps here, I had to rip it out and redo it about four times. But once you get into the rhythm of it, it's... I hate to say it ... but it's easy.

Trefoils are 3 picots made on the same base. Many Irish-style patterns use trefoils and shamrocks. This is my take on the kind on a "stem" as in this edging pattern. Ch 9, sc in 6th st from hook in back loop. Ch 4, sl st in small hole at the base of the first picot. Ch 4, sl st in the small hole in the base of the 2 previous picots. Ch 3 and connect to the previous row, or wherever the trefoil is anchored.
Details of the first picot in a trefoil: In making the first picot for a trefoil, insert the hook into the single thread at the top of the ch (back loop), not under the two at the top (front and back loop).

Using size 10 thread and a #9 hook (1.4 mm), 20 motifs make a length suitable for putting on a pillowcase.