Reference / Techniques
Chain spaces and lace
Lace is mostly holes, and the holes have a name: chain spaces. A run of chains bridges between anchor stitches, and the NEXT round treats that bridge as a place to work into.
Two ways to use a chain bridge
- Into each chain: treat the chains as ordinary stitches, one hook insertion per chain.
- Into the space: insert the hook UNDER the whole bridge and work as many stitches as the pattern says. Faster, more even, and what patterns mean by "5 dc in next ch-2 space."
The mesh round
"(Ch 5, sc in next sc) around" makes a round of loops. The following round often works a shell into EACH loop: "(sc, 5 dc, sc) in next space" repeated in every loop is the classic fan medallion, and it has been written exactly that way since the 1840s.
Counting spaces
A space-worked round consumes SPACES, not individual stitches: six loops made means six shells worked. The chains inside a consumed loop are covered by the new stitches and never worked again.