whats in a size

Pin It now!

A spring bonanza! A generous lady from South India I ‘met’ on facebook sent me these gorgeous balls of Lizbeth threads in size 80! Although I tried to dissuade her, and also offered remittance, she would have none of it and asked only for a piece of my tatting (which will unfortunately only get mailed once this pandemic chaos is over). Luckily the threads arrived just before lockdown was declared, phew! 

Can’t thank her enough, despite hubby rolling his eyes at more stash ;-D (whispering - He's the one who bought the 36-piece Ferrero-Rocher boxes to store my threads ... though at the time I didn't realise only size 80 fit in them)

One of the balls had a single ring (the pink petal) with thread still attached. I immediately used up the thread to tat 4 more rings for a complete rosette. Not bad, eh?! I thought it would be difficult to work in size 80. I did tat a bit looser, having heard that the thread breaks when closing. Notice the difference between the pink petal and the rest. 

Hiding the tails could’ve been neater, though.

Heeding Vicki’s call for a fundraiser project, I started the rosettes in size 20. I am taking this as an opportunity to compare the different brands and intra-brand sizes in my stash. Details are tagged on to each.

I suggested this idea to the organisers, but they haven’t worked on it so far. It would’ve been such a great opportunity to create a sort of comparison chart and build on our tatting resources. There are charts, but none that have Anchor listed in them. (UPDATE : I did not include decorative picots in the measurements )

The 2 variegated rosettes on the left are Lizbeth (size 20, and size 80). The rest are from Anchor Mercerised Crochet Cotton and Red Heart so far.

Meanwhile I'm working on extracting a Huguenot Cross from the cross center here. Progress on the written instructions for the MS Cross is slow, though many have requested and received the diagram pdf.

a new old cross

Pin It now!

A few days back this post emerged as top 5 of the week. On rare occasions I know why, such as currently this pictorial is trending due to a Sweedish group. It has been translated and pdf distributed among students, with permission). I have no idea why the magic square became 'popular', but it sparked my shuttles to finally tat the cross from it.

This is the sketch from 2014.
I decided to call it Magic Square Cross, not only because of the source from which it is derived, but also because there is a clearly demarcated square in the centre area in my tatted model.

The basic principle and body is the same, but I altered the stitch count and added a few decorative Josephine knots.
I would say this pattern calls for mindfulness and concentration. I will write/draw the pattern only if there is sufficient interest.

In Anchor Pearl cotton size 8 (= size 20 Lizbeth), it measures a bit more than 11.5 cms x 8.5 cms.

I am posting this from my tablet,  since computer is not connecting to the net - social isolation?! We think the operating system is the culprit, but no techie is available due to a 3-day moratorium on non-essential businesses, etc. My washing machine also blinked and is taking a spring break,  LOL. Right in the middle of my spring cleaning, no less! But I already have enough lemons in my refrigerator to make lemonade!!! ;-P

edged doily

Pin It now!

I took a digital break for a couple of days and found my inbox swamped with emails. Will get to them tomorrow. Thank you for your concern and wish you good health and lots of creativity.

Clover Wreath Doily

Ever since I was reminded of this, I was keen on designing and finishing off the edging. 

  

This is where I’d left off in 2017. A round of 6 medallions around the central one.

I love this shape and would’ve stopped there if it weren’t for the asymmetry of swirl joins.

Quilters are well aware of the versatility of hexagons - create any outline you want by tessellation!

In Anchor size 40, it measures 17 cms x 15 cms 

While I like the swirl join (there is a mistake in mine), I thought it made the focus shift to the filler rings. Hence added another complete round without the swirl join.

If you see light and darks shades in this round, it is not your eyes playing tricks! I had bought 2 balls of this shade years back and stored the 2nd ball nicely. But when I started working off it, it was darker :-( 

In Anchor size 40 -

4 motifs, straight - 14.5 cms

1 motif - less than 4cms

Edging Trials

Refreshed my memory with the opinions and suggestions here.

Clockwise: The top 2 pics in the collage are from 2017. I’ve come some way in designing confidence since then ;-P

3 ideas tried in the bottom right pic (tatting moves counterclockwise). Happened to show this to Ninetta and she offered valuable suggestions. No, the tuft picot didn’t work (left center pic), but the clover and chain curve change did as seen in 3 more repeats (bottom left pic)!

What I forgot, though, was that the trials were worked in the 7 motif piece which had only 6 motifs in the round. When I tried to duplicate this in the larger piece, I realized my error! There was a motif Between the ones at each corner! Back to the sketch board, but it was very easy this time.

What do you think of this?

I got my wish of all filler motifs having 6 rings wherever they may be.

This is only the first of 3 edgings.... After completing all 3, I will upload the pattern.

All Clover Wreath posts, pics, & notes 

the very first one

playing with the medallions

the poinsettia with pattern

Clover Wreath mats