Split RingsWhy use a Split Ring?Mainly to "climb out" or "bridge" from one round in a motif or doily to get to the next round and continue on without cutting and rejoining the threads.InstructionsMaking split rings isn't really hard to do. First, a little setup description. Setup to do a normal ring. Now look at the setup. There is essentially a "top" and "bottom" working thread. The first part of the split ring is done over the "top" working thread as usual. The second part of the split ring is done over the "bottom" working thread. It may feel a little awkward working over the "bottom" working thread (close to your palm), but it does get easier after a few times.Wind two shuttles in the continous thread method, for a one color ring. Or wind a different color thread on each shuttle for a two color ring. Knot the threads together. Make the first part of the ring as usual of say 6 double stitches. Now lay down this shuttle (draped over the back of your left hand), pick up the second shuttle and without moving the working thread, do the second part on the "bottom" part of the working thread close to your palm. Keep the ring tightly spread around your fingers. The stitches on this part of the ring are Not transfered. You make the stitches in reverse order, 2nd half of the ds then first half of the ds. The most important part is Not to transfer the stitch. Really you are just making a loop around the bottom ring thread. These unturned stitches will slide on the ring thread. Make the 6 double stitches for this part of the split ring. Lay down shuttle 2 and close the ring with shuttle one. That is all there is to it. You can make picots on the split side of the ring and joins. The joins on the split side must be made with the shuttle or the ring won't close. Split Ring PatternsRosemarie Peel and Pam Palmer use split rings as ways to get around without lots of ends. The nose on Pam's dragon is a split ring and so is the pigs snout. But you will find yourself rewriting tatting patterns to use the split ring. I know Teri's heart book, and Kuhn's Joy book , and I'm sure there are some in the Anne Orr books. By the way both Pam and Rosemarie's directions for split rings are excellent, straight forward and simple. There is a tea cup and saucer pattern posted by Suzann Welker that you can do to practice on the split rings and chains.Take it a step further!There is a motif online that incorporates split rings along with split chains. You can find these instructions at Snowgoose.Check out another page called Dreams of Lace. She has a bit about the usage of split rings along with a drawing.
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