It's called a compass rose. Here's a website that tells of it's origins.
http://www.gisnet.com/notebook/comprose.html
Thanks to everyone who answered. And especial thanks to Heather for the website. Personally, I think "compass rose" is way too pedestrian a name to contemplate for a lace pattern; I like the the Polish "rose of the winds" *much* better, so will settle for the "wind rose", which seems to be a secondary option...
I saw one -- just the 8 basic points, but surrounded by lovely, rounded, arabesques -- recently, in a book I'd been reading, and have been obsessed by it ever since :) At first, I thought that just figuring out how the lines of the arabesque crossed would lay the curiosity to rest, but no; I spent the last couple of days drawing different possibilities and figuring out how they could be worked with bobbins... :) I think I got two (simpler) versions "straight", at least on paper. The more involved ones (one in PG) will, *hopefully*, stay dormant until I've tried the simpler ones on the pillow *and* until I've come back from Ithaca... Sheesh, but I hate those "lace itches"...
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
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