Summary: This small doily is a cut-down version of a pattern I have found now in 4 published sources, all versions different. I wanted to try it out in a small sample before knitting the whole thing, because the directions seemed unnecessarily complicated and I wanted to see if I could simplify it. Turns out, maybe not, but I produced a different, smaller design of my own which is very nice.

Photos:

1. Lavender small version, my own redesign of the doily cited below
2. White, Coats & Clark version knit by Pat Stevens.
3. Lavender, my small version as knit, folded in half to show the extreme surplus of increases.

4 & 5: Charting and design work in progress.

The first place I found the original design published was in the book Kunststrikk Vol. 4, which is not at this moment (Jan 2012) in Ravelry’s library. It’s by Ragnhild Falch Ervik, in Norwegian, with written-out patterns. It has 102 rounds.

A somewhat different version appears in Furze Hewitt’s Traditional Lace Knitting, where it’s called Radiant Star. Page 24. Hewitt has added a wide band of faggoted background between the main motif and the edging; her version has 91 rounds.

A late discovery of an English language version exactly like this one, in an OOP Coats & Clark pamphlet:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pine-cone-s-391. It has 70 rounds.

An even later (July 2012) discovery: Cal Kallstrom has found a charted version in German. MEZ Decke Modell Nr. 5143. His copy is obscured along folds with age-yellowed tape, but the folds seem to be along a line running up the center of the leaf where it should be possible to reconstruct the illegible symbols. It has 68 rounds.

The one I borrowed, blocked, and photographed (shown in white) is 12” in diameter, and the thread seems to be size 30 or somewhat finer. It was knitted by Pat Stevens from the C&C booklet, and is shown on a wooden table in my photo. I’ve added this one as a separate “project” to link the photo to the correct pattern.

February 5, 2012: I plan to chart and revise this pattern, making a smaller version to test the charting before I proceed to chart and knit the full doily. Casting on for the first go-round.

February 8: for what it’s worth, it looks like the edging pattern in the C&C book is written correctly (and knitted correctly in the sample I photographed) and was totally messed up by the knitter of the sample shown in the pattern booklet.

February 11: finished my test version, just the center pinwheel and the first pair of leaflets, with edging scallops all around. Blocking will tell whether this thing has been adding stitches way too fast, as it seemed as I was knitting it. If so, partly the designer’s fault (heavy increasing in the central spiral) and partly mine (adding too many scallops too soon).

February 12: I’ve now blocked and photographed my cut-down version. I think it’s fairly successful. And perhaps more important, it showed me that the pattern as published in the Coats & Clark pamphlet probably deserves to stand as written despite the annoyance of having to work pattern stitches on every round.