#but it would be interesting to compare doily 9 in particular against other patterns he published earlier and later

[journeyman-tier-fibercraft]

Under the read more is quite the photo dump. I wanted to see both doilies next to each other in their best possible showing (dark table, decent lighting) but that's a pretty small surface in my home so I got a LOT of photos in many different angles.

I think what really gets me about doily 9 is the decrease row being so visible and visibly cutting off the outside border portion from the inside. With any other designer I wouldn't think about that at all, everything else about doily 9 seems more intentional, but in the case of Niebling's designs it doesn't fit. Here you can see the other patterns published along side the original doily and they (for the most part) exhibit Niebling's penchant towards seamlessly flowing designs. If there's a sharp change in pattern, it always looks fully intentional. It doesn't look intentional in doily 9, at least not to me. (For some counter? examples I found several Niebling doilies with what seem to be decrease rounds that distort the stitches in a way that makes it highly visible. However I don't have access to all of the charts to check if they're decrease rounds or something else. Additionally I think none of these interrupt the flow of the pattern nearly as severely as the decrease row in doily 9.)

On the subject of the other works included in that particular publishing, Helenium some things in common with the original doily. You can take a look at the charts here, it also is knit with patterning worked every row, includes make 3 into 1 stitches stacked on top of each other, and has lines of stitches between yarn overs that are crocheted together during the bind off in a similar manner. None of this is particularly odd in Nieblings' work except the patterning worked every row. But the shared publishing and similar vibes is something to note. (As a side bar, Helenium with plain rows Might be possible, the beginning 20 rows as written increase either 4 or 8 stitches per row which isn't good. However, the last half of the first chart increases between 8 and 20 stitches per row. I'd have to do more math and possibly knit it to know for sure but I just don't love that design as much.)

TLDR; Doily 9 looks and knits more like what I would expect from a doily, but doily 8 looks more like I would expect from a Herbert Niebling design.

Both doilies next to each other. And one slightly confusing photo showing the different in size between them. The original doily is only barely larger than the center circle of doily 9.

Both doilies next to each other from the side light is coming from.

Both doilies next to each other from dark side. Standing at the edge of the table so maybe 3 ish feet away.

I made use of my ADHD hyperfocus and cast on this doily again. But instead of knitting the pattern as written like on the right, I knit One plain knit row between each pattern row. Same needles and yarn, no changes to the pattern otherwise. On pattern row 18 (actual rows knit 36) compared to the original pattern's 42 rows.

I'm SO interested in this, the in between rows make the yarn overs behave so much better. And the math checks out perfectly for this! Each row increases about 8 stitches every other row which is perfect for knitting a circle in the round. The ravelry page's example looks more like the fucked up one (doily 8) but I have to wonder if this pattern was originally written to worked like this new one (doily 9).