Click here for helix patterns. By the way, the plural of helix is helices, but that isn't generally known, so I am using the word only in the singular.
A roundel looks likes this:
Click here to see how to work a roundel.
Roundels are great fun to work (and design) as the basic grid has no straight lines, so you get unexpected curves. However, I've always found one problem with them. When you have finished the roundel, you have to join the end of the lace to the beginning. This is often a messy process, and I wondered what would happen if you didn't? Well, you'd get a roundel which wasn't joined up, of course. But what would happen if you didn't stop at that point, but just carried on working the lace on the same pattern? You get a helix!
So how do you work a helix? Well, the pattern is just like a normal roundel (and indeed, you can convert any roundel pattern into a helix). You start working it just like a roundel, a little tricky since the start is on a curved line, but no worse than any roundel. The one different for the start is that you do not leave the starting pins in. Those pins gets removed at the same time as other pins, when you have worked enough lace to stop the lace from getting distorted when you remove the pins.
The working of the lace proceeds as normal. Roundels need the pillow to be constantly turned, as the pattern bends round in a circle. However, when the threads start to fall across the lace you've already worked, do not tuck the lace under the threads, but rather make sure that the worked lace lies above the threads. Carry on working. Once you have got to where you started, just carry on working! If the worked lace gets in the way, then push it gently away. I found it started making a spiral naturally!
I did find a slight problem when I was working round the pattern for the second time. I had made a slight hole in the paper nearly the middle, and when I came round again, this hole got torn, and I was having to put in pins by guesswork! perhaps I should have used thicker paper for the patterm, or perhaps just been careful not to tear the paper! I managed to still work the pattern OK.
I found that two complete rounds of the pattern were enough (especially with the tear!) and it makes a reasonable helix. Of course you could make it longer if you wish. You tie off each pair (probably with a reef knot, as if you were working a strip rather than a roundel. You certainly don't join the end of the lace to anything else!
You will want to hang it up. I suggest threading hanging threads through both top and bottom. This means that you can hang it one way until the lace starts to droop round the edges, then you can hang it the other way. It looks the same either way up, and hanging it 'upside down' will get rid of the droop. Of course, eventually it will droop the other way, and then...
The other potential problem is "telephone cord syndrome". Old fashioned telephones are attached to their dial unit with a cord. This cord is usually a helix, and sometimes it gets a wiggle in it. Thius is because the middle of the helix decides that it is going to twist in the opposite direction to the rest. If this happens with your lace, then first rearange it into its flat form.
Then pick it up by the top thread, carefully, and the helix should appear.
© Jo Edkins 2017 - return to lace index