Monday 16 July 2018

Wimbledon motif

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My personal tat-along for Wimbledon 2018!

2 weeks of Wimbledon. Not that I watch all the Center Court matches. Yet I needed to satisfy my tatting hands while I watched. Something medium-sized, not too stressful, where my eyes could focus more on the game…

Clover Mat
Lindsay Rogers’ ‘ Mastering Tatting’
 

July 2, evening.

After quickly completing my kitchen chores,  we sat down to watch Federer (defending champion) vs Lajovic.
I had earlier readied 2 shuttles, ctm, with Lizbeth 20, Vineyard Harvest. This variegation reminded me of the tournament colours and towels – but perhaps my memory was faulty coz I couldn’t find any magenta this time! Still, it had green for grass and shades of purple for royalty & tradition, and let's pretend the magenta represents strawberries! 

This is how far I reached after that speedy match ! 
I’d barely got the hang of the pattern when it was all over.
Now to watch Brazil vs Mexico - FIFA World cup. But the motif remains solely for the great W.

At the end of Federer’s Round 2 match. 
I had to switch to direct tatting (unflipped stitches) for chains to keep track of direction. 
The working of this pattern reminded me of the Magic Square.

His Round 3 match was too late for us to watch. 
So this was done during his Round 4 match against Mannarino. Another Master class!
Techniques
2-shuttles, thrown/floating rings,  inward picot, lock join, picot join to right. 
Optional: fs/bs tatting, direct tatting (reverse stitch).

Quarter-final and he’s out, shockingly. But this is how far I got.
I was pleasantly surprised that the mat was almost the same size 
as the one photographed in the book.

I finished it off during Kerber's semi-final match. 
Her quarter-final with Kasatkina was an amazing match with both ladies 
playing some spectacular tennis. Eyes glued to their play!

I had deliberately left off the central ring (which could’ve been worked as a thrown ring) 
because I had this fear that there could be cupping. 
Adding the central ring later meant I could tweak the stitch count to suit the space. 
Sure enough, I added 2ds to each segment.

Yellow is for the tennis ball!
The completed mat measures 5X5 inches.

I consider this pattern easy in terms of the techniques employed, but requires Mindful tatting- what joins where, etc. Possibly my attention was so divided that I could not memorize the joining points even till the end. 


But the book itself made me comfortable.  I absolutely love the book binding – a normal spine on the outside, but spiral binding on the inside. The pages lie completely flat and I can easily tat along without damaging the spine.

Diagram is large and clear with only a couple of picots missing. Easy to keep track and follow along. Central ring count was missing but easy to guess with the entire pattern following the same count. In fact one can easily choose a different multiple and yet get the same result - only smaller or larger depending on one's choice. 

evenings of tennis and  football are over for now
but tatting goes on forever !

14 comments:

  1. Beautiful work,and nice to see a book review from you. I love this book and always love to see what colors people pick to do things in😀❤😀

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    1. :-D Carollyn, I’ve had her Tatting Collage book for a couple of years now, yet haven’t tatted anything from it, despite so many inspiring patterns/ideas! I hope to set that right now.

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  2. I also love this book! I had to smile at your back and forth of tatting review, Wimbledon, and World Cup... it was almost like watching a tennis match! ;-)

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    1. I’ll take that as a compliment, Diane :-D So glad I could communicate my love for tennis and tatting through this post.

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  3. Well, the quarter final gave plenty of tatting time and in Anderson's subsequent semi final you could've tatted the whole motif! Brilliant to leave the central ring to the end.

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    1. How true, Jane :-) I was disappointed by Anderson's tame show in the final. I was rooting for him this time (once he beat Federer of course) :-P

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  4. I like this book too, I have a couple of patterns I want to tat, well they are on the list.
    Wimbledon, sorry no thanks, I’m not into tennis, I did watch some of the football, with a husband who said he was not interested,.... funny that because when I looked up he was watching too, and not reading his book. I’m a F1 fan and have been for a very long time, from the days of James Hunt
    I love your doily looks lovely in that thread, and just as good with or without the centre ring.

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    1. We are only WC football watchers (hard to ignore the fever/spirit), Margaret, but enjoy watching men's tennis throughout the year, Especially when Federer is playing & our service provider is airing. But I do keep track of the tennis tourneys.

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  5. Beautiful motif and great your work :)

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    1. Anetta, I am so happy to see you back! Hugs and Best wishes

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  6. That is a pretty mat! I think you had fun tatting while watching the games and it's good you didn't get distracted and made any mistakes.

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    1. Oh yes, I did have fun, Lavi - busy hands is what I like ;-P
      Luckily no retro-tatting, but I had to keep very close tabs while joining. The stitchcount itself is elementary.

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