Sharon's flakes

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Just too tempting to forego! Sharon shared 2 new snowflake patterns recently and I got to work immediately. Now, they look pristine in white, and snowflakes should be white. But you know me – I want to spice up the challenge and took to colours to see how they’d look. Also, to bring out the flower within.

This is the first snowflake (pattern here) originally worked continuously with one shuttle and ball, climbing out with a split chain. 

My coloured  rendition is done with 3 strands of Anchor embroidery thread 

which is equivalent to a Lizbeth 20. And no split chains.

Black shuttle for central ring & orange 0333 'ball' for rosette chains : <1¼" or <3cms

Mustard 0306, ctm : <2¼" or 5½ cms

Green 0204, ctm : 3" or 7½ cms

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This is the 2^nd snowflake she posted here.

I used Anchor 40 this time, but worked continuously. 

Measurements after each round : 1”  ;  1½”  ; 2½" or 6 cms. 

Started with maroon, ctm for the central ring and 1^st round, then switched the core thread to cream. I kept the maroon shuttle, but snipped off the ball. 

In order to get the desired colour placement and eliminate colour blips, I used 

the Slope & Roll join instead of lock join in the 2 outer rounds; 

SLT to make the split chain in maroon, 

and the Reverse Join to switch positions after the split chain.

I remembered how to do the split chain, but unfortunately the colour is hard on the eyes and somehow that segment twisted while linking. The camera shows it all, sigh !

Future Ideas:  
This snowflake could work beautifully as repeatable motifs linked for a larger lace. 
But as I worked the outer round, it struck me how beautiful it would look as a continuous doily – the ‘formula’ for the last round can be repeated (with additional side rings) ad infinitum without having to change the stitchcount at all! 
Perhaps one of the middle or last round can have the central floral motif all around ?!

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Wish I'd taken pics after each round for both snowflakes, 

because each round is beautiful and elegant!!!

In fact the rosette reminded me of a poppy despite the orange shade.  

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And playing around, notice how cozily the 2 designs can fit together ....

 

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I absolutely love Sharon's diagrams – simple and clear. 

And you can find the legend to those cute symbols here. 

Many many thanks, Sharon!

Cornucopia of Blossoming ideas

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Combo ideas with blossoms motifs.

You might remember Alibaba had tied 20 thieves to the ‘board’, isolated from each other by invisible walls, while he went back to hunt down the rest. But it was festive season so in a humane gesture he temporarily set them free – snipped their shackles so that they could enjoy the ‘outdoors’, chat and catch up with each other. And as they mixed around, their huddles threw up a cornucopia of possible ideas shaping future projects …..

Please note that the original Blossoms motifs (or sprays) are not linked at this stage; they are merely arranged into possible shapes (a few of which have been shared earlier). For better definition of shape, one can add a few strategically placed leaves and similarly fill in any gaps.

Rushing out from their confinement, they took on the shape of bouquets!

 

 

Blossoms Bouquets #1 to #4 

Some crossed paths and fluttered around like butterflies!

 

 

 

Blossoms Butterflies #1 to #6 

What a couple of squares these dudes turned out! 

 

Blossoms Squares #1 & #2

Then there was a trio of siblings renewing their bonds of love and blood. What better shape than a heart?!

Stitchcount for Blossoms Heart #1 is notated on the tatted model itself, including the total number of petals/rings in each. Each ring has only 2 numbers since the 2^nd half of ring is a mirror image. A single numeral means all 4 segments of the ring have same count. Numeral in the box indicates number of rings/petals.

Opposites attracted too, ending in cozy embraces!

 

Blossoms Yin-Yang Pendant/Bracelets #1 & #2

Bosom pals huddled together, but larger huddles were also seen. Pretty wreaths, but were they playing or planning an escape?

 

 

 Blossoms Wreaths / Garlands #1 to #6

Some just went nuts, playing choo-choo train! Or was it to scour the perimeter for possible escape routes?

Blossoms Edging #1

These are starting ideas that need a bit more definition in terms of shape.

Put on your thinking caps and let’s get creative!!!

All Blossoms Motifs patterns can be found listed under Nature 2D.

After this temporary sojourn, the 20 thieves were once again rounded up and corralled which is where they will stay till the remaining 20 are found. There might be another cornucopia in future….

tatting n chatting

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You know how it is with most Japanese/Korean blogs – such beautiful tatting, yet it is near impossible to leave a comment there. Thought I’d take a few minutes to ‘introduce’ a couple of such bloggers.

Recently I stumbled upon a prolific & skilled tatter ‘moondrops’ and scrolled back to all her tatting posts. Wow! She has made so many large projects and multiple times ( Mystery Doily, many magic square patterns), too! Do take some time out to visit her blog and be amazed. And it tickled me pink to see Ninetta's treble triangle motif and also my spiral snowflake worked just as beautifully.

Then there’s sekiraralace. You just Have to see this cute yarn ball bag she tatted. Such a simple concept really – 2 small doilies/coasters attached with an insertion! Check it out. I did manage to leave a comment there by clicking on the heart sign, but it shows up only as a number….I couldn’t retrieve my text, but hopefully she got to read it.

Now here’s a site that gets me laughing. John Atkinson is just so creative with his hands, brain, words, images! Nothing to do with tatting, but a good dose of intelligent (mostly) and irreverent (always) fun. From the time I came across it a few months back, I wait eagerly for his next cartoon.

And last but not least, Helen Walters created an entire wreath of poppy ice drops (my secret fb correspondent sent me a screenshot) inspired  by my tiny heart poppy which in turn is a 3D adaptation of Mónica Manceñido’s heart!!! Isn’t it fantastic how patterns move and inspire?! The poppy ice drop pattern is now shared on the Shuttlebirds site.

I read that this year jute poppies were sold/gifted in the UK to mark the contribution of Indian troops during WW1.

I absolutely love the poppy flower - the colours, the elegance, the independence! Should really make an effort to tat this one again and diagram the pattern properly. 

till next time, then .... have a great weekend with tons of tatting for the coming season!