Torchon is a geometric lace based on a 45° grid which doesn't lend itself to free flowing (often referred to as floral) designs. Floral designs are not always flowers, many are animals, scrolls, ribbons and swirls. This design explores how to use the geometric grid and still have the curvey shape of a little elephant using a touch of Muaiga lace making (Made Up As I Go Along).
The edges carry three pairs of passives. These are added to and can increase up to 5 or 6 pairs of passives in parts. When there is a ground pair with nowhere to go at an edge, it is taken into the edge as another passive. This pair may be needed again when a new pair is called for a pin or two away, so it only needs carrying a short distance and doesn't get thrown out.
The passive edge is worked with cloth stitch. Make the pins on the inside edge fit to the ground, but try and keep the outside pins evenly spaced.
Where several pairs are leaving the ground and being added to the passives, the edges can become too dense. If there are more than 5, some will need removing. As the 6th pair is taken into the edge from the ground, I remove a pair from furthest from the ground.
When taking in, sometimes two at a time, pairs, try to keep 5 pairs as a maximum which will give each pair chance to be worked in a little way along in the passives where they will move across to the outer edge to be removed further along. Having a more pairs in a passive trail helps to secure the threads before they are thrown out and cut off. There is no need to knot before cutting them off, the tight weave of the passive trail should hold the ends well.
Removing from the left hand side usually takes the second and fourth bobbin, lift each up and make sure you can't see the worker laying underneath the thread. Do not take out two bobbins next to each other, it will leave a hole. On the right hand side, use the third and fifth bobbin from the outside edge, again checking that the worker is not visible under each thread.
Lift the bobbin and lay away from the ones you are working with, usually handy to have a pin placed high up to wrap them around. In case you need to undo and redo anything, don't be in too much hurry to cut these off! Leave 4-6 inches of thread when cutting off, they will be trimmed later.
If there is plenty of thread left on a bobbin after you cut them off, wind it as another pair ready to add back into the work at a later stage. Some sections may only need a new pair for a few pins, so even the short bits can be useful.
The spiders and ground samples are numbered in order of working. The pattern faces trunk at the top, with the tail at the bottom which is worked last. Most of the square blocks are dependant on the previous one having been worked first.
The ground is Torchon ground, half stitch, pin, half stitch, but I altered this on the edges of each spider to Double Torchon ground of ctct, pin, ctct to hold tension better. The whole pattern can be made using either one or a ground of your own choosing. To make the blocks stand out more, add a gimp thread around each one. There will be a video on my Youtube channel on how to do this.
Feel free to do your own thing and swap out the spiders for others, or make it all in a ground of your choosing. The big heart can be made with half or cloth stitch which don't use the pinholes showing inside the heart, I left the holes visible for anyone not using the heart motif or would like to use a different heart stitch, maybe even sequins or beads?
A .pdf of this pattern is available on my Facebook group page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/907516516997481/
