Good morning, there's a chill in the air this morning and I'm sitting here writing with a cup of tea and a blanket!
The website was slow moving when I checked this morning... I'm not sure how to get it moving faster but I will keep trying! Hopefully it hasn't been too slow for you by the time you are reading this. I was thinking of beginning a YouTube channel to record the process of making some of these motifs - would this be something that you would be interested in? I'm still figuring out how to film such tiny action clearly - if anyone has any tips please do drop a comment below or write to me on instagram :) (@crochetciuin)
Anyway! Last night I finished the Wild Rose Design (fig 44 in Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No1) - you'll find the main image for this on page 12 of the book and the instructions start on page 12 and continue until page 15. This is a lovely motif to make as there is a lot of variety in the design and not too much repetition so it feels fun and relatively easy to make if you have made previous motifs.

Like most of the figures in this book, at first I felt a bit intimidated but once I sat down and read the instructions and took them bit by bit I realised that there wasn't anything too new to learn (from the motifs I had made previously). Surprisingly the bit I found most challenging was the Rosebud (pictured below - far right semi circle), as always I found a bit of experimentation was the best way to figure out what the instructions were asking me to do. I've written some notes below which I think might be helpful to know for anyone thinking of making this motif and as always please let me know if you have any questions or notes yourself that you think are helpful when making this motif! See end of post for further pictures of the motif.

Fig 44 Notes (helpful for understanding construction of bigger motifs, sewing smaller motifs together, shaping objects)
The half open rose is worked directly on the 25DC (on the Padding Cord) - not on a ring like the centre rose
The 3 petals of the half open rose are done on the same piece of thread and pc (ie don't fasten off after making the 25DC)
Remember to pull the tension a bit on the PC as this will shape the petals.
For the leaves - you can choose how many big and small leaves you would like - I chose to do 6 big leaves and 3 smaller leaves.
For the bud; ensure you pull the padding cord after completing the first row as this shapes the outer leaf/bud and makes it easier to understand when the pattern says work the inner / outer parts. Helpful to refer to the picture in the book also.
"3 sl st up" in the bud instructions - I took this as meaning 1 sl st in the next 3 stitches - this interpretation worked well for me
When the pattern says "continue last row to cord" I took this as continue to work 2ch 1DC in each loop down the other side of the chains until you reach the cord.
The stems - I did these at varying thicknesses - 6, 4 & 2 strands of PC - the varying thickness is slight but it adds interest to the design.
As always, thank you for reading and I hope you found this helpful. I'm moving on to Fig 49 (Blackberry Design) next, featuring many Clones Knots!! - a fabulous reason to practice! :) See you soon.
If you are interested in reading about how I started Irish Crochet Lace I have written a small blog post about it here  and also if you would like to see what else I have been making lately you can do so here too!
Go raibh mÃle maith agaibh,
Crochet Ciuin
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