As the legend says, knitted Irish lace was invented by sailors. Being far from their home, missing the green hills of sweet Ireland, in their leisure hours they knitted flowers and shamrocks from threads of ship ropes.

A more plausible story tells that the knitting of Irish lace was generated by the fashion for Flemish openwork, or more precisely, for Brussels lace. This lace was incredibly expensive. And in order to feed their family, the poor Irish came up with their own, original way of earning money. But unlike the craftswomen from the continent, they used a hook, not a needle. This way the work progressed much faster.

The description of Irish lace, as a type of openwork, completely coincides with Brussels lace - these are individual complex motifs connected to each other into a canvas using a background or directly. The difference lies solely in the technique of execution. And, of course, in the national flavor.

The basic elements of Irish lace seem to have remained the same - these are still the same leaves, curls, flowers and complex figures. However, over time, Irish craftswomen developed some features that distinguish their work - for example, voluminous elements, pompoms, bows made of knitted braid.

Is it possible for a modern needlewoman to learn how to knit Irish lace? It’s not only possible, but also necessary, because Irish lace is back at the height of fashion! What is needed for this? Not much: desire, perseverance, and also yarn and a hook.

Threads for Irish lace need different thicknesses, otherwise you won’t get special voluminous motifs. Traditionally, Irish knitters used linen, but modern needlewomen have a hard time finding it. However, yarn is also suitable for Irish lace - thin mercerized cotton is especially good.

It’s worth clarifying a little which threads are needed and why. The thinnest threads are used to knit the background. Threads of medium thickness are needed for knitting the main motifs. Thick threads are needed to create volume. A warp of thick thread (called bourdon) is tied with threads of medium thickness. Sometimes for bourdon they use threads of medium thickness, folding them three to six together.

You need two hooks for work. The thin one is used to knit the background, and the thicker one is used to perform the main motifs.

We've sorted out the tools and materials. Maybe let's try some simple Irish lace?

Irish lace knitting for beginners

The technique of knitting Irish lace is slightly different from the usual crochet technique - because of the bourdons. Bourdons are used in every element. Let's try to knit some flower. For example, the traditional “rose”. How to start? First, wrap the thread around your fingers 3-4 times to make a ring. You've got a bourdon. Now, using the bourdon as a ring of air loops, tie it with columns. It is also not prohibited to use decorative elements – ringlets and picots. Then we make bourdons for the petals and tie them too. There may be more than one row of petals.

All elements are crocheted in a similar way - curls, leaves, flowers. Try to connect some of these elements. We have chosen the simplest elements for you - the ideal Irish lace for beginner knitters.

Irish lace connection

To knit Irish lace, it is not enough to stock up on all kinds of flowers and leaves. These are just separate elements that still need to be connected to each other. Irish lace is joined in different ways.

The easiest way is to simply sew the motifs together. But this is not the best option. Real Irish lace is connected using a knitted mesh.

There are a huge number of grids - straight and oblique, with identical and different cells. But in any case, mesh connection is a rather complex process. Let's see how to knit Irish lace like a pro.

To begin with, you will need a fairly large tablet - large enough for the pattern of your future product to fit on it (if there are a lot of parts, at least one, the largest one, should fit). The motifs are laid face down on top of the pattern. Place them in groups or individually - create a composition to suit your taste. Then the motifs are fixed with pins. And after that they begin to connect using the mesh.

We remind you that the mesh requires thinner threads - this is necessary so that the mesh does not catch the eye and is really a background. The mesh in knitting Irish lace is the most painstaking and time-consuming part of the work, but, alas, you cannot do without it. Crocheting Irish lace is considered one of the most labor-intensive types of needlework for a reason.

You can also join Irish lace with a needle. Not to sew, but to create a mesh with a needle. It's not easier, but maybe it will be more convenient for you. The mesh is created from threads by weaving, and at the same time, each thread is wrapped around, creating the effect of a knitted column.

As you can see, the Irish knitting technique is quite complex and time-consuming. Irish lace turns out to be not so simple for beginners, even with step-by-step instructions! But everything is difficult only the first time. Believe me, if you have the desire to master this technique, nothing will stop you. And maybe you yourself will competently tell your friends how to knit Irish lace.

Initially, lace was knitted from white and cream-colored linen and cotton threads. If you look at antique products, they are all one color - either white or the natural undyed color of linen.

Moreover, if you look at modern masterpieces, you will see that these are the colors that give lace sophistication and tenderness.

Nowadays, with such a variety of yarn colors available for sale, craftswomen create multi-colored fabrics. Thanks to this, Irish lace acquired a different, more modern look.

While you have not yet gained experience, it is better to start knitting items from one color of yarn, and do not forget that it is more preferable to use threads of light shades. Firstly, this way your product will be closer to the classics, and secondly, it is always easier to knit from lighter threads than from dark ones, and especially black ones.

Also, for the initial stage, it is preferable to take threads that are not very thin, for example, so that the length of the thread of 100 g is no more than 300-400 m and the hook is 1 mm, this will make it easier for you to knit motifs, and you will see the result of your work much faster.

And later, when you feel confident, you can try thinner threads.

Naturally, from thin threads the product turns out to be more airy and delicate, but everything has its time, the main thing here is not to overdo it.

You should also take into account that Irish lace is knitted from threads of different thicknesses - for bourdon, for motifs and for decorative mesh and tying motifs.

At the very beginning, you can knit without bourdon, which means you only need threads for the motifs and for the mesh.

For motifs, thicker yarn is used, and for tying elements and mesh, thinner yarn is used. You will also need two hooks.

Now let's talk more about the composition of the yarn.

If you decide to knit a summer version, it is best to use cotton and linen.

Perhaps you have already noticed that mercerized cotton is available for sale. Not everyone probably understands what it is. I'll tell you about it briefly.

Mercerized cotton – This is a cotton thread that is processed using special technology. The result is a yarn with excellent qualities, such as silkiness, softness, color fastness, strength, wear resistance, and moisture absorption. Products knitted from mercerized cotton look like silk. That is, they have all the qualities of cotton, only more improved. In addition, the product becomes more attractive due to its silky shine.

A variety of products are made from these threads - blouses, dresses, tops, tunics, sundresses.

In order to decide which crochet to knit this thread with, you need to try to knit a chain of air loops and see what comes out of it. The braid should be tight, in no case should it be loose, otherwise your product will stretch and will not hold its shape.

You also need to pay attention to ensure that the thread does not cling to the hook or become shaggy. Those. you should get a loop of such a size that only the hook fits through it, and there is not a large gap left. The braid of air loops should be smooth and dense.

For warmer items, use wool thread. It could be a vest, blouse, cardigan, coat, shawl, stole, scarf or beret.

The tool for making Irish crocheted lace is a crochet hook. Since threads of different thicknesses are used to work with lace, you also need to have hooks of different sizes.

The ability to choose the right tool for the job is the key to success in the work of a true master, without any exaggeration!

The correct choice of hook, as well as the threads used for knitting, is of great importance. The quality of knitted products, as well as the productivity of our labor, largely depends on the correct choice of tools and devices. Therefore, the selection of tools must be approached no less carefully than the selection of materials for knitting.

Hooks come in different varieties - metal, wood, bone, plastic. At the same time, they have completely different thicknesses (from 0.5 to 15.0 mm) as well as lengths: short ones for regular knitting and long ones for Tunisian knitting.

Metal hooks, for example, slide through loops particularly well. It is very convenient to use steel hooks. Thin aluminum hooks often bend, and when the coating comes off, they stain your hands and yarn.
Wooden ones are only suitable for very thick knitting and soft elastic thread, otherwise they will quickly break.
Bone and plastic hooks are light and pleasant to work with, but they are fragile and wear off relatively quickly on the yarn, which is also important.

The hook number is determined by the thickness of its working part - the head. If the thickness of the head is 3mm, then this is hook No. 3, if 2, then it is No. 2, it’s easy and simple to remember.
But at the same time, it is necessary to remember that the hook selected for working with the threads chosen for your product must be 1.5 - 2 times thinner than these threads. This is necessary so that it grips the thread well, and at the same time does not split it.

In terms of thickness, hooks are thick and thin - from No. 1 to No. 6.

Thin metal hooks (No. 0.5 - 1.5) are used to knit openwork items - lace, napkins. Products made from wool yarn are usually knitted with thick hooks (No. 2-6). If you use a thick hook for thin threads, the knitted fabric will be openwork with large gaps. A dense fabric can be obtained using thick threads and a thick hook, or a thin hook and thin threads.

The texture of your knitted product will depend on how you choose the combination of hook number and thickness of the knitting thread. By varying, you can get completely different results than those described in knitting magazines, which means your product may differ from the original one. For our classes, steel hooks No. 1 – 1.3 are suitable.

Materials

As a rule, knitted Irish lace is made from white threads. For some products, linen threads are used. Previously, flax was practically not used in the manufacture of Irish lace, since good quality threads were not available. For some time, Irish lace was woven with yellow-cream silk thread, but the use of silk has always been limited.

Knitting Irish lace requires thread of three thicknesses:

Thread of medium thickness for making the pattern itself,

Thick thread for the base of the pattern,

Thin thread for mesh.

In our case, cotton yarn “Iris” and white bobbin threads No. 10 are suitable.

Knitting Irish lace requires some skill in crocheting. In fact, the patterns are not made in successive rows, as in the case of conventional knitted products, but require more complex execution. Irish lace knitting begins with the motifs that make up the pattern itself. They are usually made by tying a thick main thread with a medium thread. Having finished the motifs, they are fixed on a paper template on which the patterns of the future Irish crocheted lace are drawn. The template contains the contours of the motifs and the lines along which the fastening mesh should be connected.

Then the motifs are connected to each other with a thin openwork background (mesh), thus forming Irish crocheted lace. To do this, the motifs are placed face down on the paper and connections are made.

Irregular mesh is commonly used in crochet to connect Irish lace motifs together to create a cohesive piece from the individual elements. The basis of this work is the arbitrary arrangement of chains of air loops, which are connected to each other by columns.

We begin the work by making a life-size pattern for the product. Then a tight flat edge is knitted along the contour of the pattern and secured to the pattern. After this, the entire inner fabric is filled with lace elements, which are connected to each other by bridles.

Since we're talking about breeding, I suggest you watch a wonderful video by Yulia Mazan. This is a very painstaking work, even jewelry work, requiring perseverance, attention, and certain skills.

The most important tool for knitting Irish lace is a crochet hook. You need to have several hooks, since when knitting lace, threads of different thicknesses are used.

It is best to buy hooks from 0.5mm to 1.2mm. This is necessary so that you can always choose the most suitable hook.

We will also need tailor's pins. They should have plastic balls on top. We will use these pins to pin our elements for subsequent assembly of the product. It is better to buy several boxes of these pins at once, because they bend, or sometimes their heads fly off. It is better to throw away such pins immediately. And we will need a lot of pins, so it is better to always have the required number of pins on hand.

The next required tool is a needle for stitching knitted fabrics - it should have a blunt end, it will be more convenient. You can also use a needle to connect lace elements.

We will also need nail scissors, preferably sharp ones.

You shouldn’t skimp on these little things, because the convenience of our work and subsequent success will depend on these little things.

After we have prepared all the necessary materials, we can proceed to the next stage - try to start knitting our first motifs.

It is believed that Irish lace is usually made from white threads. For some products, linen threads are used. Previously, flax was practically not used in the manufacture of Irish lace, since good quality threads were not available. For some time, Irish lace was woven with cream-colored silk thread, but the use of silk has always been limited. Now there are a huge number of threads on sale in a wide variety of colors and shades, as well as of different quality. So the choice is ours.

When knitting Irish lace, three different thicknesses of thread are required:

1. A thick thread is needed for the base of the pattern.

2. Medium thickness thread for knitting the pattern itself.

3. Thin thread for knitting an irregular mesh.

You need to start knitting Irish lace with individual motifs that will make up the pattern itself. Typically, motifs are knitted from a thick thread, which are then tied with a thread of medium thickness. When the motifs are connected, they need to be fixed on a paper template (pattern).

For the pattern, you can use several sheets of A1 format; I use old wallpaper. Then the finished pattern needs to be transferred to the material; for example, you can use disposable tablecloths, which are sold in any household goods department, and their price is quite reasonable. Already on the material, make all the necessary and necessary adjustments: neckline, armhole, length of the product.

Once the pattern is applied to the material, we can baste the pieces and do a fitting to see how our product fits.

The patterns of the future Irish lace should already be drawn on the prepared template.

The motifs are already connected, secured with pins on the template, and now we begin to connect them together with a thin openwork background, an irregular mesh, this is how Irish lace is obtained.

Little secret: When connecting motifs, they should be placed face down on the template. We do all the work on the wrong side.

The basis of knitting an irregular mesh is an arbitrary arrangement of chains of air loops, which are connected to each other by columns.

The mesh can be made by changing the number of links in its components. Then you will get truly unique, elegant models.

The peculiarity of the fabric is that it can be knitted in any direction. If you have learned how to knit an irregular mesh, then you can start working on Irish lace.

First you need to steam all the finished elements, then lay them out on the pattern with the wrong side up and secure all the elements with pins.

For this purpose, I have a large piece of foam plastic 1500 * 1100 * 5 cm, on which a plastic bag is put on top, since the foam crumbles. The main thing is that it is convenient for us to work.

Now our task is to fill the free space between the lace motifs with an irregular mesh.

1. We insert the hook into the fabric of one of the lace parts, after which we pull out the working thread and make the first loop. In order for the thread to be well fixed on the product, you need to pass its short end through the thread bow and tighten the knot. When the work is finished, we pull all the remaining “tails” through the canvas.

2. Cast on 4-6 chain stitches. In order to find out the required size of the chain and where to attach one mesh element to an adjacent lace piece, you need to pull the thread several times in different directions. This way we can determine the nearest loop to which the air chain will hold.

When the air loops reach this place, insert the hook into the thread bow and make a double crochet stitch. Then follows a new chain directed to the nearest lace motif, and again a stitch with two, three or several crochets.

3. We knit the mesh in the required directions, alternately performing chains and stitches with two, three and four crochets. The mesh is called irregular because there are no universal recipes - the number of air and thrown loops will depend on the distance between the lace motifs and on our desire.

Irregular mesh is commonly used in crochet to connect Irish lace motifs together to create a cohesive piece from the individual elements. The basis of this work is the arbitrary arrangement of chains of air loops, which are connected to each other by columns.

We begin the work by making a life-size pattern for the product. Then a tight flat edge is knitted along the contour of the pattern and secured to the pattern. After this, the entire inner fabric is filled with lace elements, which are connected to each other by bridles.

Since we're talking about breeding, I suggest you watch a wonderful video by Yulia Mazan. This is a very painstaking work, even jewelry work, requiring perseverance, attention, and certain skills.

The most important tool for knitting Irish lace is a crochet hook. You need to have several hooks, since when knitting lace, threads of different thicknesses are used.

It is best to buy hooks from 0.5mm to 1.2mm. This is necessary so that you can always choose the most suitable hook.

We will also need tailor's pins. They should have plastic balls on top. We will use these pins to pin our elements for subsequent assembly of the product. It is better to buy several boxes of these pins at once, because they bend, or sometimes their heads fly off. It is better to throw away such pins immediately. And we will need a lot of pins, so it is better to always have the required number of pins on hand.

The next required tool is a needle for stitching knitted fabrics - it should have a blunt end, it will be more convenient. You can also use a needle to connect lace elements.

We will also need nail scissors, preferably sharp ones.

You shouldn’t skimp on these little things, because the convenience of our work and subsequent success will depend on these little things.

After we have prepared all the necessary materials, we can proceed to the next stage - try to start knitting our first motifs.

It is believed that Irish lace is usually made from white threads. For some products, linen threads are used. Previously, flax was practically not used in the manufacture of Irish lace, since good quality threads were not available. For some time, Irish lace was woven with cream-colored silk thread, but the use of silk has always been limited. Now there are a huge number of threads on sale in a wide variety of colors and shades, as well as of different quality. So the choice is ours.

When knitting Irish lace, three different thicknesses of thread are required:

1. A thick thread is needed for the base of the pattern.

2. Medium thickness thread for knitting the pattern itself.

3. Thin thread for knitting an irregular mesh.

You need to start knitting Irish lace with individual motifs that will make up the pattern itself. Typically, motifs are knitted from a thick thread, which are then tied with a thread of medium thickness. When the motifs are connected, they need to be fixed on a paper template (pattern).

For the pattern, you can use several sheets of A1 format; I use old wallpaper. Then the finished pattern needs to be transferred to the material; for example, you can use disposable tablecloths, which are sold in any household goods department, and their price is quite reasonable. Already on the material, make all the necessary and necessary adjustments: neckline, armhole, length of the product.

Once the pattern is applied to the material, we can baste the pieces and do a fitting to see how our product fits.

The patterns of the future Irish lace should already be drawn on the prepared template.

The motifs are already connected, secured with pins on the template, and now we begin to connect them together with a thin openwork background, an irregular mesh, this is how Irish lace is obtained.

Little secret: When connecting motifs, they should be placed face down on the template. We do all the work on the wrong side.

The basis of knitting an irregular mesh is an arbitrary arrangement of chains of air loops, which are connected to each other by columns.

The mesh can be made by changing the number of links in its components. Then you will get truly unique, elegant models.

The peculiarity of the fabric is that it can be knitted in any direction. If you have learned how to knit an irregular mesh, then you can start working on Irish lace.

First you need to steam all the finished elements, then lay them out on the pattern with the wrong side up and secure all the elements with pins.

For this purpose, I have a large piece of foam plastic 1500 * 1100 * 5 cm, on which a plastic bag is put on top, since the foam crumbles. The main thing is that it is convenient for us to work.

Now our task is to fill the free space between the lace motifs with an irregular mesh.

1. We insert the hook into the fabric of one of the lace parts, after which we pull out the working thread and make the first loop. In order for the thread to be well fixed on the product, you need to pass its short end through the thread bow and tighten the knot. When the work is finished, we pull all the remaining “tails” through the canvas.

2. Cast on 4-6 chain stitches. In order to find out the required size of the chain and where to attach one mesh element to an adjacent lace piece, you need to pull the thread several times in different directions. This way we can determine the nearest loop to which the air chain will hold.

When the air loops reach this place, insert the hook into the thread bow and make a double crochet stitch. Then follows a new chain directed to the nearest lace motif, and again a stitch with two, three or several crochets.

3. We knit the mesh in the required directions, alternately performing chains and stitches with two, three and four crochets. The mesh is called irregular because there are no universal recipes - the number of air and thrown loops will depend on the distance between the lace motifs and on our desire.