Spinning Wheel ~ the final steps

I've been asked several times about finishing the Spinning Wheel glass mat. So, I've decided to share what I do with pictures.

The thread is size 20 Lizbeth, #684 for the chains, #119 for the rings. The shuttles are Starlits without points that I purchased at the Lafayette Lace Days. When I'm tatting a Spinning Wheel, I steam each spoke as I finish it, otherwise it curls up on me and that drives me crazy!

Here you can see that I'm ready to make the last center ring. There are no special twists or turns. I just make sure that everything lines up so that I can join to the previous ring and the first ring. Since I'm using two colors, I use the shoelace trick at the beginning and end of each spoke. When I'm using one color, I simply switch shuttles.

Here the final center ring is joined, and I am ready to start the last spoke.

I continue tatting the outward pass in the same way I have for every other spoke.

Here you can see that I've used the shoelace trick, and I've tatted the first three rings for the last pass. Next comes the part that I found tricky when I first tatted this little doily. Now that I've made so many of these, the last part comes naturally.

With any luck, I'll have a video to post tomorrow showing how I finish from this point.