a slave to urges

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I’ve been pretty lethargic these last few days – picking up the shuttle and/or Cluny loom for short durations only. Reading, watching tennis, and now housecleaning (Not my favourite urge, mind you) seem to occupy my time more than my passionate urge to tat. Oh, and I fought my urge, staying completely off the grid for a couple of days - detox, perhaps?

But I couldn’t resist the urge to tat this latest from kukkatatting! It’s her 94^th scmr medallion and I love the picot flowers all around giving the snowflake a flurry look. Except for the ones on the tips, the picot flowers are linked to each other, and I missed out one attachment. 

Worked in size 40 thread, it measures over 7cms across. I hope she does not mind me copying her pattern. In case of any complaint, I will delete this post with due apologies.

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After a few days of musing, here’s how far the Scrappy doily has come. I absolutely Loved all the advice I got (thank you once again, gracious tatters/crafters), and it has guided me in this round so far.

I started by sketching an outline of the 4^th round (which you may remember was ovoid), and then sketched a couple more lines around it to balance out the asymmetry. 

Also, I increased the size and number of rings at the starting end to overcome that missing ¼^th inch. I haven’t needed to add too many additional rings along the side, though. Let’s see how it turns out. I’m enjoying the figuring out process, without applying high-end mathematical calculations ;-P

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And a couple of weeks back I did finish sewing in Jane McLellan's leaf braid edging on to my MIL's saree. I didn't want to end up with all the sewing in one go (blossoms motifs and edging together). This is actually a pic taken much earlier.

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Meanwhile, I Have finally made the Cluny Butterfly and will share it once I finish writing the pattern. Lots of trials and friendly feedback, but may still need to be test-tatted, so get your shuttles and scrap threads and Time ready for a request :-D

I need help

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So you may remember that I’m trying to make my Scrappy doily oval instead of round. This is round 4 completed.

Now I’m not really going for pristine and perfect here – it’s simply a fun relaxing recycling project. Nevertheless I would surely like the doily to be oval And keep it’s shape throughout. I’m hoping it ends up as a doormat - it is already pretty dense and stiff and some fabric below will make it durable.

Question #1 - How do I achieve it? 

I made the end rings on both rounds slightly larger. But the Rnd 4 ones on the left bottom (in pic) are larger still. I got it to look ovoid there. The other end, though, has a wider arc. I will make the rings large in Round 5, hoping to repeat the left side. 

Will it be sufficient? Any other suggestions before I begin?

Question #2 – Provided I am satisfied that the oval is symmetric, Should I continue with normal rings in later rounds? Will the oval shape continue? After all, I cannot keep increasing the size of rings ad infinitum.

From round 3 onwards, I added a very small picot for attachment so that I have a decorative picot overlying the next round (as seen after round 4). I kind of like it.

The 2 threads you see emerging after each round are because these are mock rings (scmr), not normal rings. I have only one shuttle filled with white thread; the coloured bits are all loose scrap threads - they come and go ;-P

I've not decided how to fill the center yet, but no hurry there.

At the end of 4 rounds it measures 3¼ x 2¾ inches, but one side is ¼" longer than the other. All Anchor size 20 thread.

3 colour Cluny tatting

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In the 2-Colour Cluny we worked with 3 threads – one on the loom and 2 for weaving. I showed how to add & hide the 3^rd thread, how to alternate the 2-colour weave, and how to avoid colour blips when closing. We now move to 4 threads where 3 will be used for weaving. Since they are all different colours, we get 3-coloured stripes or bands on the Cluny leaf.

These pics were also taken last December. I discarded an entire set of pics for the 3-colour Cluny (3-CC), and re-photographed with more comprehensive steps, but have included 2 from that batch here. That first 3-CC is the one just before the split ring in some of the pics.

If I were to tat a 3-CC now, I would definitely follow Edwige’s first step which I called ‘hitch the loom’ to remove the blip at the bottom of my tallies. 

Three-Colour Cluny Leaf

(4 threads and 3-coloured striped Cluny leaf)

Try different number of passes or wraps for a banded or graduated effect. eg. in the collage above, the pendant is a hanging Cluny where I started with 2 wraps of each colour twice, then narrowed the stripes to 1 wrap each. A crystal bead had been strung on the loom earlier, between Warp1 & Warp3 (ie. the top loop).

Choose any order of weaving, place 2 colours on the left and 1 on right, and so on. Lots of possibilities!

I have used a card loom. But choose a loom of your choice - the principle & concept remains the same. 

Refer to basic Cluny colour variation pictorial for any missing details.

Loom/Warp thread : mustard 

Weaving threads   : Colour 1 on the right – green;

                  Colour 2 on the left – pink ;

                  Colour 3 on the right – yellow.

Sequence of weaving : green, pink, yellow.

1 wrap/weave = 2 passes (across Warps and back to starting side)

 1. Wind the loom as usual, with 3 Warps, using mustard thread.

One 3-CC has already been made, followed by a split ring. 

Pink is hidden within the left side & yellow on the right side of the split ring.

I have threaded the weaving threads. Tapestry needle works well, but shuttles are fine, too.

TIP : Place the needle(s) on a flat surface when not in use, to avoid tangling.

 

2. Move green and yellow to the right – Under, Over.

NOTE : In order to avoid any colour blip, hitch the loom with the colour of your choice. 

(not done here, unfortunately)

3. All positioned, we are now ready to weave.

 

4. Move green to the left for 1^st pass (Under, Over, Under) …

 

To add new thread: This is the stage where new thread can be added. In case of my first tally, I had to add yellow colour. The collage shows how I trapped the new thread within the first green pass. The tail can then be lined along/parallel to Warp2 or Warp3 to hide, and snipped after a bit of weaving. See adding new thread options here -

5. and back to the right for 2^nd pass (Over, Under, Over).

1 wrap/weave complete.

 

6. With pink thread -

1^st pass to the right (Under, Over, Under) …

 7. and back to the left (Over, Under, Over).

1 pink wrap made.

Keep packing down the weaves.

 

8. With yellow thread, keeping it above the green –

1^st pass to the left (Under, Over, Under) …

 

9. and back to the right (Over, Under, Over).

1 yellow wrap made.

3 wraps made so far, one in each colour.

 

10. Start with green again, keeping it ABOVE the yellow.

TIP : Leave some slack along the edge, enough to span the 2 coloured wraps before it comes into play again. Pulling it too close will distort the tally edge.

 

11. Repeat steps 4 to 9 to desired size, shaping the Cluny leaf along the way.

 

12. To hide colour blip :

Insert all 3 needles through the top loop from below….

 

13. … threads are emerging out through the top loop now

 

14. To close tally - 

Remove top loop and start pulling Warp2 downwards till the loop disappears completely.

Notice how all 3 colours are emerging from the top, covering/hiding the mustard loom thread. 

For the next element, we can easily pick the colour we want to show.

 

If we skip step #12, this is what happens (tally on right in pic) – In my first 3-colour tally I forgot to pass the green thread through top loop before closing. That thread emerges from the right side, making it untidy and leaving some mustard blip.

 

15. Slip the bottom loop off the loom and pull Warp2 upwards to close it.

 

16. One 3-Colour Cluny leaf complete!

See the tiny mustard blip on the right side of tally base? 

This is the blip that hitching the loom prevents! 

My pictorials show only the basic Cluny leaf being worked in colours. But as I pointed out at the start, this colouring of a Cluny leaf works just as well for a hanging Cluny leaf, a Split Cluny or a broad Cluny (which will be the next in this 2018 Cluny tatting series). 

As a reminder, here’s a throwback pic of my trials shared here. Most of these are hanging Cluny leaves. I was trying to get the 'hang' of coloured Cluny tatting!

All my Cluny Tatting pictorials are listed here.

...series to be continued