a new look or ...

… turning over a new leaf ? mocking or reversing ? Fancy a tatted troll !

For Georgia’s Online Class one of the patterns shared was a troll pattern! Reverse rings again – caught my fancy, as well as it’s potential to turn into an angel (but that for another day). Time for yet another refresher.

Small, cute, beckoning. Found a shuttle with some size 20 white thread left. Perfect. Completed within minutes.

Troll with an Afro !

Slight adaptation of 

Tatted Christmas Troll by Ruth Perry

First off, this rings-only pattern has 2 central rings (head & body) with thrown/floating rings for limbs and ears. There are multiple ways to work this, as annotated and compared here. 

Further, the Reverse Ring can easily be substituted with a mock ring – the SCMR (self closing mock ring) !

Body and Head

I followed the pattern instructions, using a single shuttle & reverse rings.

But I pulled out a long tail from the shuttle – enough to wrap around your hand for the 2 central rings plus the bit that is used up as core thread inside these 2 rings. 10-15 inches is more than sufficient, in size 20.

For eyes, string 2 beads on this long tail (not in original pattern).

This tail is used to wrap around hand as core thread, over which Reverse stitches (unflipped) are made/wrapped as in second half of split ring.

TIP : Loop the long tail. This can be done in 2 ways.

1. as we do for a split ring (SR) – over and around finger to hold in pinch ; or
2. as for left handed tatting – under and around finger to hold in pinch.

In both cases, the loop is made with tail and the unflipped stitches with the shuttle.

Yes, you guessed right – reverse ring is a split ring without the first half – it is all second half !  ...

UPDATE (Dec 27, 2016) :  A short explanation of how to work a Reverse Ring... Wrap the ring thread exactly as you would for a SR, with hand in the SR position ('dead spider'). Pretend you are about to start a SR, BUT, tat Only the unflipped stitch or 2nd half side throughout. Unlike a SR, where we usually begin with 1st half (normal double stitches), then work the 2nd half with 2nd shuttle in Reverse/unflipped stitches, in RR, we do Only the 2nd half for entire ring using 2nd shuttle.

Appendages

Hands, legs and ears are all thrown rings around a central ring. I tatted them as backside rings using the reverse order half stitches (RODS), and posting the shuttle before closing each ring. Posting shuttle keeps the ring from curling when closed.   

Eyes

Bead for eyes was brought forth 1ds away from the ear, without changing the overall stitchcount.

Afro cut

Long picots, snipped across at end. Each cut tail was rolled between fingers to untwist – this is super fast! Leave as is, after trimming. Original pattern calls for fraying and lovely fluorescent threads are used!

Okay, this is an aging troll with thinning hair ;-P Should we give him a wig?

I skimped on the hiding ends procedure by tying a bow around it’s neck with the tail ends.

Georgia shared a cute idea in class – fold the limbs & stiffen the troll into a sitting position !!! I would love to do that – if only my thrown rings weren’t so firmly in place with no wiggle room.

many thanks to Ruth & Georgia for sharing this enjoyable pattern

SCMR and Reverse Rings  

a comparative chart

This revisiting of reverse rings and the SCMR option got me thinking of their characteristics and the outcome is this tabulation. It is based on my present comprehension, and if there are any errors, Please let me know before the mistake(s) spread.

Sufficient conditions are listed; there can be exceptions and situational tweaks. 

Mock it, Reverse it - nothing is written in stone ! 

For Reverse Ring tutorials/videos, synonyms, options, scroll down to Thrown/Floating Rings here. 

Please note that reverse rings can also be worked if one is using 2 shuttles. But a single shuttle suffices if there is thread from the ball to loop for the ring.

An understanding of the characteristics of each, can help us choose one technique over the other, play with colour placement. eg., tatting a 2-coloured onion ring might be more convenient if tatting the inner ring as a reverse ring. 

Download pdf here : SCMR vs RR Table

Download pdf here : SCMR vs RR Table

see also Central Ring with Thrown Rings

happy tatting with a :-)