Tail of 2 Bookmarks

Tale of 2 Bookmarks or Bookmark of 2 Tails ?!

( all coloured bold fonts are direct links to site/blog/post)

Jane’s Bookmark

Designer : Jane  McLellan

Now here’s a pattern that I have adored & has been on my to-tat list for like ages !

Yesterday dawned with a refreshing monsoon shower & as we lazed on the balcony, I finally got around to tatting this. I also got the opportunity to tat with this new colourway – it was lying in my stash for many months now. The pics don’t do justice to the colourway …

This pattern can be downloaded from Jane McLellan’s site , & also from Jane Eborall’s Pattern pages (it was first published here).

Thread : Bliss size 7 (?)

The finished bookmark measures just under 7” in length ; 1” wide.

My  Notes :

• FS/BS tatting all through. 

• I made alternate Split Rings with the other shuttle, in order to consume the same length of thread from both shuttles, as well as keep the colourway even. This called for backside tatting of every alternate SR. Here’s how I tackle it : 

FS/BS  tatting  in  a  Split  Ring

Abbreviations : FS/BS – frontside/backside tatting ; SR – split ring ; fhs – first half stitch ; shs – second half stitch ; ufhs – unflipped fhs ; ushs – unflipped shs ; RODS – reverse order double stitch ; RORS – reverse order reverse stitch

About Reverse stitch, here 

SR  tatted  from  Frontside :

This is the normal way .

1^st half of SR is made with normal Double Stitch (fhs, shs) ;

2^nd half of SR with Reverse Stitch (unflipped hitches in reverse order) ie. (ushs, ufhs)

SR  tatted  from  Backside :

1^st half of SR is made with RODS (reverse order double stitch) ie. (shs,fhs) ;

2^nd half of SR is made with RORS (reverse order reverse stitch) ie. (ufhs, ushs). In other words, the 2^nd half of SR is tatted with unflipped hitches, but the order is that of a ds.

This SR, when viewed from the front side, will appear ‘normal’, with complete double stitches throughout. 

• In order to add a tassel, I made one extra small ring at the end. It was a SSSR (single shuttle split ring) with the thread ends hidden within. Nothing to tie & sew, since the threads that emerged from the SSSR were mingled with the tassel threads.

I enjoyed Jane's Bookmark so much ! It is so easy & quick to tat up :-)

Could I resist doing another ? No (sheepish grin)

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Double Charm Bookmark 

 pattern : Jane's Bookmark Cross by Grace Tan

This time I tried Grace Tan’s stitchcount  Along with Annie’s Granny’s triangular ‘faux pas’ (she’s made a Square, too) in size 20 thread (Anchor MC 4054-0020 maroon)

 

Looks like a tail with 2 charms …. I will be using these as charms (especially the short straight sections) for future bookmarks, as well !

Thank you, Jane, for such a fun & versatile pattern :-)

Check out Jane’s other clever, creative patterns at her site here!

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Robin’s  Frauberger  Bookmark

Reworked  pattern (here) : Robin Perfetti

I had finished tatting the tails & charms to Robin’s Frauberger Bookmark soon after posting the bookmark , but was going to show them along with a post on Cluny Tatting. Turns out that post is going to be fairly long (as usual !), with lots of pics.

I added 2 tails to the bookmark. I’ve done this earlier with Gina Brummet’s Spiral Bookmark, here.

So, Why  Does  a  bookmark  need  TWO  Tails ?!

Here are the choices :

1. Playful fun 
2. Whimsical quirk ?
3. Aesthetical proportions ?
4. Practical functionality ?

All of the above or None of the above ?

For the Spiral bookmark, it seemed like a fun, quirky idea to use up the 2 small shuttle shaped motifs as charms.

And then there was the practical aspect – when using a bookmark in a reference book, one can bookmark Three places at the same time !

For instance, Nicholl’s book (in the photo) has the text on one page & the images/Plates on some distant other. It can be quite a chore to frequently flip from one page to that other. The 2 tails, with charms helps me keep track, without disrupting my reading ! And each time I stop/pick up the book again, the places are already marked.

For the Double Charm Bookmark above, it was again bit of a fanciful flight !

For the Frauberger Bookmark, it was proportionality. The body is broad (2”) & a single tail in the same size 40 thread seemed disproportionate. A 2^nd tail filled up that ‘space’. And I really needed to practice making tallies/clunies. Despite that, each tally has it’s own Tale to tell ;-P!

UPDATE : This is how it looked with a single tail & charm. It just Had to have 2 tails !

And this bookmark goes into my knitting book … how many times have I needed multiple bookmarks/page holders when trying to choose patterns ?! Two tails ? Hey, more than 2 tails would be even better ;-D   This is also a note to self to make more 2-tailed bookmarks for my other pattern books !

Tail & Charm  for  Frauberger  Bookmark :

UPDATE : free  pattern  d/l for Tails  & Charm

• Tally/cluny leaf alternating with a Split Ring (8/8) in size 40 thread.
• I didn’t keep count of weaves in the cluny … to much concentration was required just to get the shape okay. Each tally was eye-balled to an approximation.
• Charms follow the same pattern as the bookmark. The only addition/tweak I made, was to add a very small anchoring picot at base of chain & trefoil on either side. This prevents the trefoil from possible flopping.

Books  in  Photo :

The Country Diary Book of Knitting by Annette Mitchell

The Stories of English by David Crystal

Tatting Technique & History by Elgiva Nicholls

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While checking the motif number, I noticed that my 2^nd round of the 25 Motif Challenge comes to an end ! How time flies when one is having fun ! Most of my inclusions involved getting out of my comfort zone by learning something new, applying it, tweaking something,  or creating my own pattern. Time to start the 3^rd round ? :-D

Motif # 25/II for 25 Motif Challenge 

My sincere thanks to All designers mentioned in the post

We have all gained due to your sharing 

Related Posts : my working of Frauberger Bookmark

my working of Spiral Bookmark