a wee bit bold

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…ummm, perhaps? perhaps not.

Next leg of the design journey from mistaken round to snood-in-the-making which I now think can hold it’s own as a doily.

Continuing from where I left off last -

The outermost beige round ended with 45 repeats. That’s 15 more than the 30 in central beige round. And it measures about 6¾” in Anchor size 40.

The main dilemma was connecting it to the previous round. 

I set 2 guidelines –

1. it should be in brown ;

2. it should be fairly open and airy, yet durable.

That’s when I remembered this post by Lilas Lace – those intertwined/interlaced double picots had caught my eye. She herself has since used the effect in her own doily here.

6. Made the shorter brown round with 30 repeats. All chains.

Ch1  : 5 lp (8mm) 5 lp 5, lock join

Ch2  : [ 5 + 5 lp 5, lj ] x28

Ch30: 5 + 5 + 5, lj

The long picots (lp) are 8mm tall.

7. That round went fairly easily, but designing the next to fit in nicely took a lot of trials. I had 15 extra points to take care of!

This pic (sorry about the quality - it was taken with my tablet) shows the 1^st and 3^rd trials; the 2^nd trial has already been snipped off since it didn't work at all.

This round is a mix of rings and chains.

Ring: [ 7 + 7. rw

Ch   : 5 lp (1cm) 7, lj ,

         7 + (interlaced) 5 lp 7, lj,

         7 + (interlaced) 5. rw ] x15

The long picots (lp) are 1cm tall.

I like how it finally turned out.

Meanwhile I have completed the final outermost round, but will share only after filling in the center.

It was while answering Emily’s comment that I finally hit on the name – Repetition Doily/snood. It is a reminder to the original Repetition Mat (in 'Mastering Tatting') - the round which ended up in the center later. It is also a reference to the alternately  repeating rounds of clovers v/s chains. This is a common theme of Lyndsay Rogers' book where the objective is to take the tatter through simple to complex using simple techniques. 
All rounds in this doily, too, can be worked with one shuttle and ball,  except for the construction sequence. 

Now my question is –

Considering the numerous additions I’ve made, can I share the stitch count for Lyndsay’s round as well?

Russian Bracelet and Brooch

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 aka The Importance of Polyester !

BRACELET PARACORD - 

This link was shared in a fb group and it was fun to come back to 3D tatting.

But I decided to do a short beaded version for earrings. 

One can start the split ring braid with a normal ring.

For the ring and chain scroll I chose to work with shuttle and ball continuous thread instead of 2 shuttles, with beads strung on ball thread.

I made 16 chains with 8 beads on each.

Really, for better results, for the intertwined elements to keep their shape, polyester thread is an essential.

This is how it looks from the back....

... and against a black background.

Simple Anchor size 40 thread and size 18/0 seed beads. Final measurement – 2¼” long, ¾” broad.  

I tried another pattern. This time the DOUBLE-SIDED BROOCH. This pattern is made of 5 individual rosettes or medallions. After all 5 are completed, they are interlaced/intertwined. I’ve done this type before, though not so dense.

I have no trouble tatting large rings. However, in order to get a stiff ring, I increased the stitch tension. You can see the mess I made (even broke the thread once while closing a ring, and then switched to mock rings).

I’ve decided to scrap this project. No use until I have the right thread. What has been your experience? Any tips?

It’s a pity I couldn’t get better results – the video demonstrations are very clear! I’ll jot it down as gaining some more experience :-D

do the twist

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knit legwarmers 

Finally blogging about an old project, started on 11^th Jan 2016 and completed on the 31^st Jan, and gifted in Feb 2016. Legwarmers for my MIL. The third set I’ve knit for her – she finds my hand knit ones much more warm and comfortable and obviously customized :-D

She had asked for blue and this was the best shade in the pure wool quality. I've suggested shaping the knees, but she prefers these. 

The day I started knitting this, I thought I'd gone blind - the shade was too dark to work with. Very soon the eyes acclimatised.

Yet, the camera had a tough time getting a good fidelity.

Again, I combined 2 stitch patterns from Lesley Stanfield's The New Kinitting Stitch Library. 

Stitch/Pattern #305 is the broader strip. Originally these strips were separated only with a couple of purls. I inserted the narrow braid-like strip from #309.

This came to a multiple of 14+2 stitch repeats [2 purl,7,2 purl,3].

Twist Stitch is common to both. In the narrow braid, the twist alternates.

UK #12 needles for the cuffs, and #10 for the body.

Jaypee double knit Shade/lot: 044931. Around 5 balls (~250 gms) were consumed.

As you can see, I tried various backgrounds, locales, camera/flash settings to try and capture the pattern in the midnight blue colour. It can be quite frustrating.

The knitting journey was undeniably successful and I happily did the twist !!!