Puncetto Snowflake - Part Three

Continuing on with our little Puncetto Snowflake (see Part One and Part Two), we left off last time finishing up the top selvedge.

When you get to the top and do your last two stitches in the last hole, continue on and join the selvedges with two more rows of two stitches, this time hooking into the stitches of the previous selvedge as shown below:

Second-to-last row.

Last row, return to the extreme right edge.

Turning the work back 90 degrees, it looks like this.

If you're done here, you can just make a small stitch to secure both thread ends in the corners and trim the excess. You could put your Puncetto Snowflake into one of those cards that have a cut-out area on the front inserting perhaps a red, blue or green background and send it off to your favourite stitching friend.

Or, you can finish the edge as you would if you were going to insert your snowflake into a piece of fabric. This makes a nice lacy edge even if you're not inserting it. Doing the edging also hides imperfections in your selvedges and somehow stretches the piece out and back to square if it has become warped in the stitching process.

To add the edging, we're going to continue on with the thread from where we left off at the corner.

The outer lacey edging is just like making the small holes as we did in the first and last rows of our design. Skip one stitch and insert your needle into the next, leaving a bit of a loop do a hooking on stitch and two return stitches to form a column. Continue on to the end of the row. For this design, you should end up with 17 loops (or small holes) because we have 34 stitches along the edge and we're putting a column in every second stitch. I turned the work so that my stitching is along the top, I find it easier to work this way.

Here we are at the end of the first edge with 17 loops or small holes.

Turn the work and insert the needle into the same hole to form another column at a 90 degree angle with a loop which spans the corner:

Continue on in the same manner as before and make 17 loops or small holes along each edge until you meet up to where you began:

Here you will need to insert the needle into the same stitch as the previous column so that you can form the corner loop. Do your hooking on stitch taking care to make your corner loop the same size as the others. Then take your needle behind both vertical threads and do two return stitches to form a single column. You end up with your needle and thread in front of your stitching instead of behind it where you normally would be. Pass the needle through the corner loop to take your thread to the back.

Here we are, all finished our Puncetto Snowflake!

I soaked mine overnight in some Marsiglia soap (as it's called in Italian) to whiten it back up. I had a few blood stains to get rid of for which the best remedy is your own spit - no really! It works like a charm. Then I ironed my snowflake face down on a towel. To finish my thread ends, I just did a really small stitch on the back with both thread ends on either corner and trimmed the excess thread.

Puncetto Snowflake - Part One

Puncetto Snowflake - Part Two

I'd love to hear from you if you found this a useful exercise, and even if you did not, please post below!