Red beads contrast against the white rayon lasting cord to make an interesting and distinctive diamond or lozenge pattern. The beads must be selected very carefully because the over-all size must fit the space they fill in the pattern and they must have holes large enough to take two strands of the knotting material.
Each diamond is a pattern unit, and it is knotted from eight doubled cords or sixteen ends. The directions cover one unit and the transition from one unit to the next, both horizontally and vertically. In the knotted piece that was photographed, the cords were mounted with Reversed Double Half Hitches and a row of Horizontal Double Half Hitches were tied immediately below the mounting knots. The mounted cords were then counted off in groups of sixteen ends. No pattern was knotted in the centers of the diamonds in the first row, so the pattern in that row is a series of chevrons.
Back in the before times one thing we did a fair amount of was camping. The best part of camping was always the campfire. Getting the fire lit though could be a problem- hence the need for fire starters. I could always buy fire starters but we always have dryer lint, have a back stock of candles from dead Nancy & we usually buy eggs in cardboard cartons. In my area (the 716) I can find eggs in cardboard cartons at Aldi, Lexington Co-op & and Whole Foods. (Just a reminder that if you have Amazon Prime you can often get further discounts at Whole Foods. Try it for a 30-Day Free Trial).
If for whatever reason you don’t have candles you can always find some at Dollar Tree or buy Gulf Wax via Amazon.
It is important that when you melt the wax you do it in a double boiler. You could buy a new double boiler (but seriously, don’t buy a new one just for wax melting) or you could jerry-rig what I did- which was use an old pot and a coffee pot I snagged at a thrift store. Be aware that once you use the pots for wax melting to *not* use them for food.
The Octagon Pattern For Bedspreads No. 853 dates from 1920 and was originally published in Corticelli Lessons in Crochet Nook No. 13. I have been searching to see what the original yardage of the Mercerized Cordonnet was but thinking it was nowhere near the yardage of crochet thread today but thinking it was closer to the 100-125 ish yards of tatting thread). I suggest using Aunt Lydia’s® Classic Crochet Thread Size 10 White as a replacement (white thread is approx 400 yards)
Each octagon measures about 5 inches in diameter, and for a spread of average size, it will require about 255 of these motifs, of 15 motifs in width and 17 in length.
Ch. 3, 17 d.c. in the ring, making 18 d.c., join to top of the chain of 3 first made.
2nd row:
Ch. 3, 1 d.c. in the same st., ch. 1, *2 d.c. in next st., then make 1 bead as follows: Ch. 2, work over this chain, holding it between first finger and thumb, having space between first and second finger for the thread; put hook under this thread from the left and swing hook half around and under on the right side halfway back and pick up a loop under on left, halfway back pick loop up under on right side. Continue in this way 8 times in all, thread over and pull through all 9 sts., ch. 1. This makes the bead. Skip 1 st., 2 d.c. in next, ch. 1; repeat from * for the remainder of the row and join with sl.st. in top of the chain of 3.
3d row:
Ch. 3, 1 d.c. in same st., 1 d.c. in next st., *make 1 bead, 1 d.c. in top of next_d.c., 2 d.c. in next, ch. 2, 2 d.c. in next d.c., 1 d.c. in next; repeat from * all around and join to top of the chain of 3.
4th row:
Ch. 3, 1 d.c. in same st., 1 d.c. in each of next 2 d.c., *1 bead, 1 d.c. in each of next 2 d.c., 2 d.c. in next d.c., ch. 2, 2 d.c. in next d.c., 1 d.c. in each of next 2 d.c.; repeat from * all around the row and join to top of the chain of 3.
rows 5-7
Work in this manner, increasing one stitch on each side of the chain of each row.(the chains are of two stitches each, all but the second row.) Continue in this manner until there are six beads.
8th row:
In this row, instead of making a bead, make a chain of 2, still keeping the chain of 2 between groups as before.
9th row:
Increase next to the chain of 2 on each side the same as before, and 2 d.c. over the chain of 2 on the line of beads, making 20 d.c., chain of 2 between and 20 more d.c. Continue in this way all around row, and crochet together with next motif the width of one of these points with single crochet on the right side forming a little rib in the joining of each one. As you continue adding motifs they are joined with one of these points to the new motif each time until the whole six sides are filled.
Notes
Use half motifs to fill in the space along the edge after the spread is fastened together.Finish with fringe
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