The traditional tatted daisy seems the easiest of motifs - just a series of single rings joined at the centre by a single thread between each ring, leaving only the shortest of spaces between the rings, to create a little flower. Certainly the first few rings are easy but the last one poses a problem - when you come to the final join, how do you join the last picot of the last ring to the first picot of the first ring? The space isn't big enough to get your hand into!

Don't worry, it isn't as difficult as it seems. First let's make a daisy:-

1. 1^st Ring
   6 DS, 5 P sep by 2 DS, 6 DS, cl. R, do not RW.

2. 2^nd Ring
   Start as close as possible to the 1^st Ring,6 DS, J to 1^st P of 1^st Ring,2 DS, 4 P sep by 2 DS, 6 DS, cl. R, do not RW.

   Repeat the 2^nd Ring six times in total so that there is a circle of 7 equally sized rings joined at the centre. If necessary, start to fold the lace over so that you can get the rings as close to each other as possible

Next, work the 8^th Ring exactly as the 2^nd Ring up until the 4^th picot which is the one that is joined to the 1^st picot of the 1^st Ring. Don't make that fourth picot yet. Now, look at the lace in its normal position, that is completely open. Next, take the 1^st ring and fold it over so that it is lying with the 1^st picot of the 1^st Ring facing towards the thread that is wrapped round your hand, in other words so that it is lying with the folded over part on top of the lace, in position to make the final join. However we are not quite ready yet to make that join. First we have to insert the crochet hook UP through that first picot of the first ring, so that the hook is pointing upwards towards your face. Swing the handle of the crochet hook under and round so that it is pointing towards your body. The picot will fold over with a tiny twist. Now make the normal join by pulling the thread that is round your hand through the picot we have just twisted, and putting the shuttle through the loop as usual. Make the remaining double stitches to finish the ring. Then carefully unfold your lace and you should be able to draw up the ring with the ball and shuttle threads on the same side at the back of the motif.

This is not the easiest of techniques to master - I learned it by making a whole doily out of this type of motif and by the time I had finished the doily I had learned to get it right consistently! If you twist the crochet hook in the wrong direction the picot will be twisted when you unfold your lace. And you usually don't find that out until it's too late at first - so don't draw up the ring until you have checked that the picot is not twisted when you unfold.

There are a number of ways in which you can finish off the ends with this one. You can use magic threads to pull the ends back through the stitches, or you could sew the ends through the heads of the stitches if they won't pull through the rings. Or you could take a large bead or a button, thread the ends through the hole(s) and make a decoration or pair of earrings with it. Have fun with this one, practise changing the numbers of stitches and picots in the flower, maybe make long picots and fray them to create a soft, feathered effect - there are so many ways of finishing off this little motif. I've always liked it and it's great for using up odd ends of thread as it rarely takes more than a couple of yards at the outside.

This technique is also useful in other tight finishing situations when you can't get your hand into the space for the join - just fold over and twist to get into the space!