multiplier effect of mistakes !

Doubling the Fun …

Mistakes can double the enjoyment; can double the opportunity. That's the reason you see 4 'snowflakes' instead of the desired 2. There is a common thread running through both ‘mistakes’ which involves a thread size mismatch.

The Snowflake Within

Remember ‘The Flower Within’ series where I tried to highlight the flower within various snowflake patterns ? Well, this time I reversed the trend, trying to bring out the snowflake within – oh what a cold heart this snowflake flower has ;-)

The Twenty-First Day of December Snowflake

Lene Björn

from 24 Snowflakes in Tatting

for 2016 Snowflake Challenge on Craftree

Threads : Anchor embroidery 4615-1335 ; Anchor MCC size 40 (4054) black & white.

Techniques : Josephine Rings (JR), thrown/floating rings, Lock join (LJ), Catherine Wheel join (CWJ), directional tatting, 2 shuttles

Mismatch of threads !

 

I started with 2 strands of the variegated embroidery thread . Only one black JR could fit in the cramped center space! Further, the size 40 white in Round 2 was much stiffer & thicker. Made a few stitch adjustments - decreasing chains by 1ds. Interestingly, black thread is 'normal'.

Yet, I realized that continuing on to Round 3 with 2 strands would’ve definitely cupped the piece. It was looking so pretty, that I went ahead to complete the present round, and stop at Rnd 2. I like the smaller size as well – just over 2 inches.

Measurements : Rnd 1 : ¾” ; Rnd 2 : 2¼”  

 

Started a new one right away, this time with 3 strands of embroidery thread along with the size 40 crochet cottons. Went smoothly & lay flat.

Measurements : Rnd 1 : 1” ; Rnd 2 : 2½” ; Rnd 3 : 3¾” 

TIP : I used 1 CWJ to anchor the trefoils in Rnd 3. This was counted in the chain stitchcount. Experimented with placement, & found that it did not matter whether the join was made before or after the trefoil.

• Perhaps the JRs in last round could’ve used fewer half stitches. They are too close to each other; compounded by variegation it all looks too dense & busy :-( 
• This is a great pattern to showcase fancy variegated threads or expensive HDTs because a lot of the tatting is on chains. 
• One thing that escapes me is why the black JRs seem to fill the inner space. Need to see whether it is a matter of using 2 different threads/colours or just my own tatting goofs.  

The Twenty-Second Day of December Snowflake

Lene Björn

I’ll start with the correct version (left one in pic), and then recount my mistake, which of course occurred prior to this & was shelved for over a month.

Threads : Anchor Mercer size 40 (4054) – black, tinted pink – 1203, & green - 00229

Techniques : Josephine Chain (JCh), thrown/floating rings, Lock join (LJ), Catherine Wheel join (CWJ), 2 shuttles

 

• A Lock Join causes a slight dip in the chains & this would’ve given a more petal-like effect in round 2, but with the black core thread blip showing. In order to avoid this colour blip, I chose to do a CWJ. 
• Again, as in previous snowflake, it made no difference whether CWJ was made before or after the thrown ring. CWJ was counted as 1ds here.
• I couldn’t get the star-like points that Lene has in her tatted model. Probably had to do with smaller size of green thread. 

Measurements : Rnd 1 : ~2⅜” ; Rnd 2 : ~3¼”  

• For the Josephine Chains, I went for a mirror effect, using all 1^st half stitches on one side, a very small picot, & all 2^nd half stitches on other. (In the correct version I did the opposite - shs on the way up & fhs on way down).
• The pattern doesn’t call for a vsp since the thrown rings are on the Josephine chains of round 1. Since I wanted to play with colours, the ring was thrown to 2^nd round & a vsp was needed in round 1 for joining.
• This is a pretty straightforward pattern. However, to keep tabs on the half stitches, I drew tally marks for every 10 half stitches, while dropping & 'posting' the shuttle after every 5 !

Now for the "forced adaptation" due to mistake in first attempt ....

The Heart Within

Day 22 adaptation

Doubled Up !!!

So here’s what happened … I got confused about the stitch count for the Josephine chains & got no answer when I asked on Craftree. Was the number meant for each side of the chain or for the complete chain ?! I went with the former, resulting in Double the chain lengths !!!

This pic shows the correct version on top. Inset, to the left, is round 2 which required doubling of the stitches too.

But doubling also brought an opportunity to try something different.

I played around with the long Josephines (they actually looked like a large flower - it is over 4" wide across)! Folded them over, and I saw Hearts being formed !!! 

The collage showcases the process I went through - very very fiddly, since this was an afterthought. If one has to make it again, one can add picots for joining & securing as one tats. In the collage below, I used sewing thread to join temporarily, snipping it off in the end.

In this case, though, a mismatch in thread sizes actually came to the rescue ! It is probably the first time I’ve tatted with different thread sizes in a regular pattern. The larger size 20 for round 2 helped me keep the same stitchcount that was used for size 40, but it spanned the distance & avoided the cupping issue. Easier to change thread size than to rework stitch count.

Threads : Anchor Mercer size 40 (4054) – black & tinted pink – 1203 for round 1

Size 20 vintage maroon (022) & black for round 2. The new black thread is much thicker than the vintage thread.

Techniques : Josephine Chain (JCh), thrown/floating rings, Lock join (LJ), an adaptation of Join on Smooth Side (JSS), shoe lace trick (SLT), very small picot (vsp), split ring (SR), reverse join (RJ), 2 shuttles

Measurements : Rnd 1 : >4” before folding ; 2½” after folding . Rnd 2 : 3¾”  

Pattern for Round 2 of adaptation :

Shuttle (SH) 1 – black ; Shuttle 2 – maroon

abbreviations listed in Techniques above ; fhs - 1st half stitch ; shs - 2nd half stitch.

Join to a folded arm of chain from the previous round . (refer to enlarged pic above)

With SH1

Ch : 6, 4shs, vsp, 4fhs, 6. JSS to next arm BUT instead of completing the JSS with a shs, make a SLT in order to switch shuttles.

With SH2

SR : 8/7 .

R : 8-8 .

SR : 8/7 . RJ to next arm thus switching shuttles.

Repeat from chain all around.

NOTE : If only 1 colour is used, simple LJ can be made instead of JSS & RJ. The latter were used only to regulate the colour blip.

Okay, I’m off now … apologies for boring you out of your wits … but you know I’ll never learn ;-p

happy tatting

&

happy Tat Days to all who are attending