I originally designed this little heart to use up the threads left on my bobbins after making larger patterns. It soon became a project in it's own right when l used different fillings, passive stitches, edges and threads. Keeping to the same 4cm outline pricking, it became a handy way of experimenting with different ways to fill a small, curved shape.
The Honeycomb ground filling is based on approx a 60 degree grid. This is a six sided grid instead of the 4 sided Torchon style grid. I like to use half stitch and twist, pin, half stitch and twist, which creates two twists after the cross instead of the usual one. This gives an even hole surround to the honeycomb holes. This can be varied by using different combinations like two extra twists on the legs or around the pin, for a different effect. Well worth experimenting with this very useful ground.
Honeycomb is made by working one part of the stitch on the first row, then on the return, the second part of the stitch.
On this little heart pattern, the edge pins cannot line up exactly with the honeycomb grid, so you have to use some artistic licence. Offer the pair to the first available pin, and then to the next one along to see which looks best. Remember, you may need the next pinhole for the next row, so that is something else to consider.
Near to the edge, where there may be a very close line of honeycomb stitches, you can choose to miss these out and stretch the honeycomb to reach the edge, or work them to keep the ground close to the edge.
Curvy edges create the need to add, throw out, and carry pairs. This means the edge should be able to hide them as you go along to avoid knots. Cloth stitch passives are the most forgiving. Work the edge passives and pick up the pair you want to carry or remove, continue to cloth stitch through these and work the outer edge pin.
To 'bounce' a pair off the edge - Work the pin and either swap the worker with the ground pair, or return the pair to the ground after working the pin.
To carry a pair- Work it in with the passives till the pair is at the pin where you want it to re-enter the ground. This makes a slight difference in the thickness of the edge so you don't want to carry too many extra pairs.
To remove a pair after working it into the passives from the ground - Pick the second and fourth bobbin from the outer passives (making sure they are the ones that don't show the worker underneath when you lift them, if they do, choose the third and fifth bobbin) and lay these back by lifting them upwards and lying them above your work so they don't get in your way.
Don't cut these off yet, if you have made a mistake, you can reverse your work and pop them back into place, but once cut off, you don't have this option.
I made this large heart with crochet thread 20 to make it easier to see during a live pillow in a zoom group.
