Victorian Lattice Lace

I've been working on a table runner and a lace edged pillow case in various patterns of Victorian Lattice Lace and decided to design and work up my own pattern.  As Halloween is coming I took my inspiration from there.  One word, I can't draw.  My pattern designs never end up looking like what they are to other people, but I always know what I mean.

Lattice lace is a design made up of open and closed squares that are crocheted using single, double and/or treble crochet and chain stitch.  The shaded areas are double or treble crochet and the open areas are the corresponding number of chain stitch.  Given this I printed out graph paper (as it is nearly impossible to find it in stores now) and drew the design on the graph paper then colored in the lines.

You see what I mean about drawing

I decided to use double crochet.  The material is size 10 cotton crochet thread and a size 7 hook.  If you don't do a lot of crocheting you don't know that as the number gets larger the hook and thread get smaller.  Here is the hook.

I first did the Jack-o-lantern then the words as this piece is worked from the bottom up.

Looks OK, but I wanted a smoother edge and a more halloweenish color.  So, I added a border.  The v shaped stitch is called a lacet stitch and it is worked over two blocks.

Into a dye bath of yellow onion skin and, voila...

I'm very happy with the way it came out.  Stay tuned for more designs.