Bucks fans (simple pattern)

This pattern (see left) uses 8 pairs (or 16 bobbins). The previous beginner patterns have been Torchon, but this is Bucks Point. As you can see, I'm not very good at Bucks Point! I find it hard to tighten the threads correctly. Torchon threads can be tightened easily as they tend to run from pin to pin, and can be tugged as hard as you like (unless the pin comes out!) Bucks Point ground is a bit trickier. However, when it's done well, it has little hexagons in it and looks more delicate and attractive than the right angles of Torchon. The lace is also worked on a different grid to Torchon.

Since they aren't many bobbins in this pattern, I've just hung the bobbins and got on with it. The fan is rather like half a diamond. This means that you need to have all threads ready on the right before you start working the fan. This means working some Bucks Point ground to start with. This is half stitch, twist both pairs once and pin. You can twist more than once if you want. See the description of Bucks Point ground for more details.

The right-hand side of the fan is exactly like the diamond; you pick up one pair of threads on every other row until you have the maximum, then you drop a pair on every other row. The left-hand side is a gentle curve in the pattern. This doesn't happen naturally with the threads, as the left-hand threads would hang straight downwards quite happily if you pull them too hard. You can to encourage the curve. A good way to do this is to keep the bobbins definitely to the left of the pattern. So for the first half of the fan, when you tighten them, you are pulling them away from the straight line towards the curve. Then for the second-half of the curve, don't tug them too hard (or they'll straighten up).

You can see that the edge of the fans have a series of loops. I think this makes the lace look a little more frilly. You achieve this by twisting the threads more at the edge pins. Here I've twisted them three times (rather than the usual once). You may see that there is no loop where the fans meet each other. Here I haven't twisted the threads at all. How many times you twist threads is up to you. Usually, if you twist them at all, you can twist them more than once. It produces a different effect, but this can be quite subtle.

I have given a close-up of the lace so you can see where the threads go. However, close-ups always make lace look ugly, so here is a photo closer to the real size. Bucks Point should be small. In fact Bucks Point bobbins are not spangled (with beads on) to get more on the pillow.

This is Bucks Point because of the Bucks Point ground, and the hexagonal grid. However, there are also Torchon fans which work in exactly the same way. Click here for more details.

Bucks Point is not really my type of lace as I'm a bit clumsy, and it seems to end up loop-sided whenever I do it. Torchon patterns suit me better, with a pin to tighten against! There are a couple of patterns inspired by Bucks Point here, but if you decide that you like Bucks Point, I suggest that you buy a book on it.